How to Plan for Launching a Mobile App Startup

Featured article by Vidyut Joshi, head of mobile development team at Perception System

Smartphones are making inroads everywhere. They are no longer treated as simple communication devices; rather they are now increasingly being used as multitasking devices capable of performing complex tasks with meticulous ease and perfection. The efficacies of smartphones have got a major boost thanks to the vast repository of apps. But not all apps manage to make it big.

Thousands of apps get launched every week, but only a handful of them manage to capture the attention of the targeted audience. So, just developing an app is not enough. Your app might have great features but without having a proper marking plan, it will be struggling to expand its reach.

The market is awash with innumerable apps and if the statistics are to believe, one out of each 4 apps that get downloaded never get used by the end users. The success of an app depends upon the number of active users, who download the app, not to uninstall it soon. So, you need to know about the effective marketing strategies, which will establish the new app in the market within a minimal cost. Below we summarize a few points on the same:

A Thorough Market Research:

While your app is in the making, go for a thorough analysis of the key features. It is important to understand the choice of the users; so, make a thorough study of the popular apps already existing in your category and judge why they are liked by people. Follow the customer reviews on the competitor apps to learn about the compliments and complaints. Make a list of the feature requests in the app stores and update your development team about the same.

Social Media Marketing:

The marketing needs to be started on an early stage besides developing the app, because your ultimate goal is to reach customers. Pre-launch campaign in the social media gets a wonderful response from the users. Let people know about why your app is great and why they should use it, while the app is on the process of development. Ask for feedback and suggestion from the viewers. While doing this, do not ignore the newly grown up social media like Pinterest.

Insert links to direct the customers to the app store, to drive successful downloads. Set the option to sign up for free alerts when the app gets launched in the market. You can also use paid ads on Facebook to drive traffic to your fan page. Also develop a separate website for the app or simply add a dedicated page for the app to your existing website.

Use influencer marketing to boost up your promotion further; tell eminent journalists and bloggers about your app, so that they can use it and discuss about it in the public media. Send e-mails to your business network with the details and video demo of your app, and request them to share it in the social media.

While promoting your app, remember that content is the master of all promotions. Develop e-mails, blog posts, social media posts in a very skillful way to influence the users to install the app. A number of apps already being in the market, focus on why the one you promote is special and why people should use it. This is a continuous process as you need to upgrade the content regularly and respond to the reviews and suggestions.

Listing Crucial Keywords:

It is one of the most vital parts of app marketing; you need to jot down the keywords with which your app can be found by the users. First make a random selection of keywords associated with the app; then pinpoint on the most crucial ones. This is not an easy task, because unnecessary repetition is to be strictly avoided.

Use Dynamic Promotion:

Make video demonstration of the app to make your customers understand the functions clearly. A dynamic demonstration is much more powerful than the most skilful write-up about the same. It will have an immediate impact on the mind of the users, creating active users.

Use an App Store As a Base:

Place your app in an established app store which will help increase ratings. Initially it is good to select just one app store, because you are going to make changes and upgradations in the app; so it will be easier to update the changes in a single store. Once the app is established, you can think of expansion. The Apple App Store and the Android Market are the two leading platforms for this purpose.

Make an App Network:

It is a good idea to collaborate with other app makers whose apps have similar functions and who have already started ruling the market. It increases the installation rates successfully.

Consider Invite-only Beta:

Before launching the app in full motion for public, you can use invite-only beta launch, just like Google Plus or Pinterest have done. It generates response from a trusted network. You can correct the UX/UI issues depending upon these feedbacks. A great platform for beta-testing is TestFlight.

Insert Download Links When Ready:

Finally, when your app is ready to hit the market, put the download links in your webpages, blogs, social media pages, email alerts and everywhere possible. Your target is to generate maximum download from the very beginning. It is also very important to plan the release date on a priority basis, because an unplanned release will not get enough attention from the market. Inform the influencers about the release date so that the app gets more publicity through them.

The next step is to minutely follow the feedback from the customers. This will help you know about the bugs, which otherwise will remain unknown to you. Fix the issues reported by the customers and keep updating them, so that they can understand that you are paying heed.

Generating good revenue is of course a good sign of success, but there are more things to be taken in account. It needs constant measuring of the features which are drawing customers, the features not liked by them and how often they are using the app etc. Measuring these parameters will help in consistent development and resultant success.

Keeping all these factors in mind, you will surely succeed in the app market.

Vidyut Joshi is a head of mobile development team at Perception System, the leading Mobile App Development Company. He has been in the industry for 15 years .