You’ve done the hard part, meticulously pouring over lines of code to build your latest iOS app. And while you may be able to breathe a little easier seeing your app in the marketplace, you’re not done yet. iOS app marketing is a crucial yet vital part of any app’s lifecycle to ensure it succeeds after launching.
Apple tightly regulates the apps that are allowed to appear on its store, so by showcasing your work there, you’ve already started promoting it. By being on the marketplace, your app has an air of legitimacy and more appeal. That’s not enough, though, and like any business, you need a marketing plan.
If you developed an iOS game, learn who will mostly be playing it and then market it to that demographic. If you developed an app to boost productivity, it may be appealing to business professionals. And if you made a photo editing or a creative app, your best bet is to advertise to freelance artists.
Knowing how to market your new app is crucial to your business. Keep reading below for tips on how to attract people to your new iOS app!
1. You’re More Than Just Your App – Build Your Digital Presence
The best way to sell your app is by not doing that at all. Instead, you should focus on building your personal and professional digital presence, and leverage that to drive users to your app. Most people don’t download apps that are advertised through Twitter or Facebook.
However, focusing on building your own following on major social networks will give you the power to sell your app to more users. People are more likely to download an app if an actual person recommends it to them.
As the app’s developer, you should also focus on building an online presence to humanize the business. It’s hard to not seem robotic on digital marketplaces like the App Store. By building a personal following, the app and the company behind it can seem more human.
People love using things that they can put a face on, so they’re more likely to download the app if you personally advertise it.
2. iOS App Marketing Is about Fitting into the iOS Ecosystem
The best part about iOS is its unique aesthetics. The operating system is immediately recognizable for its sleek and almost flat user experience. It’s also recognizable for its uniform design across the App Store’s apps.
Apps need to fit the Apple ecosystem to be downloaded. It’s what people purchase Apple products for – to experience their unique take on user experience. Interfering with that will only drive down your engagement and downloads.
The best way to ensure your app stays true to the iOS theme is to use an app creator. By using a company or a piece of software centered around staying true to the iOS theme, you’re guaranteed to at least keep the same pace as your competition.
3. Be Yourself, Be Unique, Be Iconic
A huge part of that unique iOS experience is the appearance of different app icons. They all follow a similar sort of design template – and most of all, they all adequately represent what they do. The icons blend into the overall look of iPhones while still communicating the services they provide.
For example, the GroupMe icon features a text bubble with an emoticon in it. The light blue icon fits with iOS’s design, while the text bubble notifies users that its a messaging app. It even takes it a step forward by suggesting it’s for recreational messaging – through the emoticon.
When people can easily tell what an app does, they are more likely to download it. The app’s logo is also more likely to spread through social media channels, increasing your online presence.
4. Launching the App Is the First and Most Important Step
Immediately after your app’s launch is a vital, pivotal time. It’s when you see whether your app will succeed or fail. The more engagement, downloads, and reviews you get during your launch, the better set up you are for the future.
At launch, you benefit from the novelty factor. Most typical users won’t see your app at launch. Instead, most of the people who will download your app are those looking to fix a specific problem.
They have a specific niche, and they are the ones to decide whether or not you fill it. They determine whether you get to enter the mainstream market based on how well you fulfill their needs. By appealing to your initial audience after the launch, you may be able to use them to enter the mainstream market.
5. Encourage Users to Review Your App
Most people don’t download apps unless they have been used before. People want to see if they can trust an app or not before they hit download. And the best way to demonstrate that you’re trustworthy is through reviews.
Encourage your first app users to review the app. You can do this through notifications. If you worked hard on the app, you shouldn’t need to worry about getting five-star reviews as they’ll come naturally.
6. Understand the Importance of SEO
The same way websites depend on search engines to make or break them, you depend on the App Store’s search function. You need to engineer your app to appeal to the App Store’s search algorithms to rise in the ranks.
By building an app store optimization strategy, you’re almost guaranteed to boost your search rankings. All you need to do is to take advantage of existing SEO strategies and apply them to apps. The research is already done – you only have to come up with a strategy for your app.
7. Engage Users through Notifications
One of the best ways to quickly build your engagement statistics is by notifying users about your app. It’s even better to notify users about sales or chances to get deals on improvements for the app. They’re more likely to touch a notification that tells them they have a chance to score a cheap deal.
Just make sure not to bombard them with notifications. Sending too many push notifications is a perfect way to get people to uninstall your app.
The Difference Between Small Developers and Big Ones Is Marketing
Your app is basically no different from the ones made by big companies with lots of resources. They both run on code, they’re both designed to fulfill something for users, and they’re both labors of love. The only difference is their iOS app marketing.
Larger companies can spend more on their marketing strategies, getting them larger download and engagement numbers. While you may lack the resources they have, you can still develop an effective marketing strategy to boost downloads.
The more you read about marketing, the better decisions you’ll make for your strategy. The more information you have, the better off you are. We have lots of information to offer you.
So keep reading here, and you’ll be ready to go toe-to-toe with the large app developers in the app market!
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