#mobileappguide

Unravel the app development process and glimpse how we make your app dream a reality. Visit us: Avant-Garde Technology

The convenience of mobile apps has revolutionised the way businesses function in today's fast-paced environment. The salon industry is one that can tremendously benefit from a mobile app. A salon booking mobile app can improve client experience and business growth by streamlining the appointment booking procedure. We will lead you through the process of developing a salon booking mobile app in this step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Define the App's Goals Begin by identifying the goals of your salon booking app. Determine which core elements you want to add.

Step 2: Planning and Research Conduct extensive market research to determine the target audience, competitors, and industry trends.

Step 3: Design and User Experience Create visually appealing and user-friendly designs. Ensure a consistent user experience by emphasising intuitive navigation, simple interface elements.

Step 4: Creation Select an appropriate mobile app development platform and programming language. Ensure high-quality coding and efficient app performance and implement the core features.

Step 5: Testing and Integration Integrate critical features such as appointment scheduling, payment gateways, and push notifications. Conduct extensive testing to discover and correct any problems or glitches.

Step 6: Publication and Marketing Make your salon booking app available on popular app stores such as Google Play and Apple App Store. Use smart marketing methods to raise app awareness and attract users.

Step 7: Collect User Feedback and Improve Encourage users to submit feedback on their app experience and further try to improve the user experience.

If you are looking for some really useful advertising strategies which will definitely work out, have a look at this extended mobile promotion guide!

Here is the last part of our super useful mobile app advertising guide. We do hope these tips can help you bringing many of your ideas to life and your app can become really successful. Do not forget to check out https://applead.net/en to find more information about mobile app marketing services. Enjoy your reading!

Advertise your app with the help of a good video

Video in mobile app industry is probably one of the most efficient and powerful ways to get your message across. You may think that we are tendentious, but we are certainly not the only ones who are sure in it. If it is done right, a good demo video for mobile app could bring you a few marketing benefits. First, it may help you increase your application visibility, boost user retention and engagement and receive more (qualified) new downloads. And we do not even mention branding and also SEO benefits.

Nowadays people are very demanding, and they usually do not have time for downloading every app which they read or hear about. It is true for owners of smart phones and journalists or bloggers alike. A great demo video can let you show in a very brief time what your application is all about. It can sound cliché but that is really true: if an ordinary picture is worth a hundred of words, just imagine what results a good video may achieve. Here are presented several useful tips which can help you produce an effective demo video:

Get to know to your audience. Remember about your application potential users at all times when making your video and script;

Make a script. It is going to save you lots of time and let you ensure that the message which you convey is right. Just like in case with your website, you should not be afraid to get some feedback on the script (before you start creating your video). If you could, try to make it more emotional and story telling;

Make it brief (from 20 seconds to one minute). You can be tempted to demonstrate every great feature of your new app, but the fact is that people are not going to take the time and watch your  three minutes long video;

Focus mainly on the benefits and add some value. You should focus your attention on what makes your product unique and worth installing. Avoid boring phrases and keep things dynamic;

Make it effective. Your main goal is to demonstrate what your application is all about, but you should make people remember it and give them an   opportunity to download it. Ensure that you display the name of your app, its icon and a direct call to action inviting your viewers to download this app on the app stores. Indicating your website address can help as well.

Be simple. If you are not an expert in videos, it is much safer to be simple not using some complicated scenario or crazy and cheap-looking effects. A simple structure will be enough.

So you have made (or hired a professional to make) an awesome and effective video, and now you can use it everywhere for advertising your app. Some App stores (like Amazon and Google Play) have been letting you add your video there for a while. You could (and must) use your video on your personal website as well, at events, tradeshows, in your public relations attempts and when advertising on social media. After trying your new app out, people who are watching your application video is probably the best thing which could happen. Get an advantage out of it.

Paid advertisements

Paid promotion is becoming an essential part of online and app advertising to an increasing extent. The great thing is that such platforms as Facebook are still available to the most part of app developers as they can afford it. And even in case you cannot really afford to do a full-time advertising campaign, you may still spend a little amount of money in order to get some very valuable information.

For instance, let’s suppose that you have created a messaging application. In your advertisements you may test messages which advertise various features in your mobile app. You may run ads which will be highlighting games, free messaging or phone calls and the best stickers. Then you can see which ones work best for you. When you understand what attracts your target audience, it makes advertising your app just a bit easier.

Deep linking

Time passes, and deep linking strategy becomes more and more significant to mobile app marketers. It is especially true for those apps which have lots of content. Deep linking is kind of a bridge between mobile applications and the web. When user is on a mobile device, a deep link may send them directly to the corresponding app content. And if this user does not still have your app on their device, they may be suggested to install it. So you may see that it lets mobile app publishers leverage the web in order to increase downloads, instead of just relying on App Store mechanisms.

Lifetime customer value

If you still do not know about the lifetime value of your clients, you are not going to find out exactly how much you should spend on getting the new ones. But it may be a tricky thing to measure as the user value is not always simple. However, you still have to do this in order to get more users.

The viral loop importance

A viral loop is giving your customers a desire to share information about your product with their relatives and friends. A traditional example is when a mobile application gives users the chance to show off their friends tweeting their high score. Keep in mind that viral loops usually do not perform great on your first try. It takes a few iterations in order to get it right, so keep doing it and improve each part of this process. 

Do “real-life” advertising

Honestly, we have not had with it much experience. We did try to use flyers and such kind of things, but there was not much of success. It does not actually mean that it is not going to work for your app: some thinking out of the box could sometimes do wonders. If you decide to try it, ensure that you measure it so that you might know if it really works or not. You have to go and meet other people at exhibitions, conferences and meet-ups. However, at such events receiving some feedback is more significant than selling people on the mobile application.

Cross-advertise your product

It is really huge. In case you are quite serious about making a mobile app business, then you have to build more than just one application. If your potential users are practically the same group of people in all these various apps, you have a great opportunity for cross-advertising. It means that even a free version of your application, with no income model whatsoever, may be an awesome first step to the future apps which generate income.

You may cross-advertise on your personal app website as well, you can do it on your own blog, within your apps, on your email list, on social media, by sending people push notifications, providing that the message which you are sending is relevant to those who receive it. In case you are just a beginner and you have only one mobile app, you may contact other app developers with applications targeting the same product niche (but of course not your direct competitors) and suggest them doing a partnership. You may start with tweets, in-application messages, whatever and then see where it goes.

Surprise people on app launch day

The day of the launch for your mobile application has to be the peak of your “advertising crescendo” . Everything we have talked about should lead to this moment. Except maybe if you go for a soft launch (or want to present your application in another country first in order to test the waters), it is high time for you to make as much buzz around your new app as it is possible. That is when you have to get journalists or bloggers to write about your product (if they also publish a direct link to the App Store page, ensure that your application is actually out there – it usually takes some time for it to become accessible worldwide).

You have to inform all people who showed interest in your app, gave you some feedback and also those who helped you that your application is ready: Facebook friends and fans, email list contacts, Twitter followers, readers of your blog, forum buddies, app developers and real-life friends… just everyone! With a new App Store for iOS 6 categories are sort of hidden. So unluckily, even in case you have done a great job and become pretty high in the charts of your category, it will not give you so much visibility. But it does not actually mean that you should no try to generate as much noise and downloads as you may. Give your application in people’s hands, receive high ratings and build momentum.

Refine engagement with the help of push notifications

In app industry, push notifications may be a wonderful instrument to send significant information to your users and make them come back to using your app again and again: new available content which they really care about, some special offers, cross advertising, etc. Your customers do not necessarily check your app out too often, but in case they have it on their mobile devices, it should mean that they thought it brings some value. And you do not have to be afraid to contact them.

Select the right advertising campaigns

Playing with the price of your application and making advertising is a great way to increase your app downloads which will hopefully enhance your income as well. There are a few things that you could do on your own so that people may notice the change of your mobile app price, but the more efficient way to increase downloads is by far using the services of a third party that specializes in application download increasing.

It will not often be free (though it might happen). And maybe sometimes it can be pretty expensive. However, many of the given apps have millions of active users, and being characterized could give a great visibility increase to your application. If your mobile app has everything we have already talked about here, then you may not just easily make it to the top charts (at least, in some countries) but also stay there for some time. It is enough for building a solid base of users.

Measure, refine and keep advertising

There are lots of things which you should do before the launch of your app, but advertising does not stop several days after your product has been presented. You should measure what performs great and continue doing it. You have to refine your application so that your users could be both happy and interested. …and you should keep finding new useful ways to make people talking about your product and sharing it with friends.

Summing up

Advertising your application cannot be an afterthought. That is not just a one-time effort either. It is all about:

Creating the right application and making it right, with your potential     users and keeping your user experience in mind;

Understanding what makes your customers come back to using your mobile app, and what actually makes them share it with friends;

Listening carefully to your users and other app developers’ feedback, finding out how people can use your new mobile app so that you could refine it;

Making an online presence, demonstrating your application in its best     light;

Making people interested and keeping their interest;

Optimizing the page on app store so that as many potential users as it is possible could find you out there;

Contacting the right way those people who may be interested in your application so that they talk about your new product;

Doing cross advertising with your other relevant applications or other app developers’ products;

Selecting the right promo campaigns which can give your application an increase when it requires it;

Keeping on measuring in order to find out what works great and what actually does not, refining your application and advertising it.

What can be a key to your success in mobile app development? The right chosen advertising strategy. Check out the most useful and easy mobile tips.

Here is the third part of our extra useful app advertising strategy guide. Enjoy more tips and useful advices on mobile app marketing and do not forget to check out https://applead.net/en and use the professional services of our specialists!

Receive some feedback

You have an awesome idea, have already done the research and know that you are creating the application which your potential users want and really need. That is great. But would not your new product get even better if you asked your targeted audience for feedback as well? Do not you think that your app will be much cooler if you ask your developer colleagues for their opinion about the app you are creating? Just your ideas are not worth much. The execution of these ideas really counts.

So stop thinking that people are just going to steal your awesome idea. Most part of them does not really care about your product, and even if they love your idea (or have thought about it before) the chances are that as you are already making it, they will not. Anyway, everyone can steal your idea after your app has been released (and they will also know what people really like or dislike about your version). So here is our recommendation: consult someone on your idea, just everyone who is willing to listen to you. Take into account what they can say.

Feedback via social media and your own blog

We have already mentioned it in the previous part that you might use your personal blog and accounts on different social media in order to make people interested and get in contact. If you have such online presence, then ask your subscribers on Twitter what they actually think about your new mobile idea. You may discover the competitors that you had not even thought about and also get some interesting ideas.

Early on you have to ask the visitors of your blog, fans and subscribers what they think about the designs of your new app: its icon, your home screen and other things. You have four different icon concepts and you hesitate which of them will be better? Share it with people and they will help you make a decision.

Feedback via crowd-sourcing campaign

Such campaign may greatly help you with a few things. Of course, it is a good way to receive some money for your app development and advertising. However, it is also an efficient way to receive early feedback, make people interested and generate some buzz around your mobile app. No one really cares about your new project? Well, then something is wrong with it. Probably your pitch is not that good, or your approach is not right.

You can make people follow you, they are really excited about your upcoming app and offer you different ideas? Then you are on the right way, and your future users are going to share your new mobile app with their friends when it is ready. However, do not get us wrong, a crowd-sourcing campaign is really a difficult task. Especially for you app, as there are lots of them. You require a great online network, video and pitch (and a nice dose of hustle as well).

Pre-launch feedback due to third-party websites

With the increasing difficulty for mobile app developers to get their new mobile applications in the users’ hands, some “pre-launch” mobile platforms have been developed. The main goal for such websites is to cause some interest and following in upcoming mobile apps, and let mobile app developers receive feedback on their new designs, ideas and the market they are getting into.

Feedback from app developers and other people in mobile industry

It is obvious that you want some feedback from your potential users. But receiving the opinions of other app developers about your new app is important as well. They are creating or have been creating a few apps, tried plenty of mobile applications and they do know what they like and dislike. Your colleagues may share the things which worked for them and which did not, and what they think might work for your app. They could point to your design’s flaws, or mistakes in your pitch or advertising strategy. They might help you discover an awesome blog which may help you get started or just get better.

Go to conferences, interact on Twitter, different forums, discuss your app in special groups on Facebook and get the advices of the experts. But do not spend there all your time. And keep in mind that sometimes you should give before you get, so do not hesitate to help other people and try to bring some value. Thank people who are helping you.

Feedback from the influencers and your target audience

In case you have identified a particular niche for your mobile application, you should reach out to people who are likely to be quite interested in it. If you are making an app around something you are really passionate about, then you should know the forums and other places online where people tend to discuss your hobby. If you are new to this niche, you have to start looking and interacting on websites where your target users are.

Do not spam and irritate people with your mobile app idea. Just start making a “relationship” with them earlier, introduce the thing you are now working on and identify the influencers in your niche. Find out who is quite knowledgeable in your product niche, who has written books or just has a strong following on the topic you are interested in. Then contact these people.

The same thing here, do not spam and ask them to discuss your app to all people they know. You have to choose a humble approach and ask for their ideas and feedback on how to make your new app better. Do not make your email letter too long and respect their time. Suggest them testing an early version of the app, for instance.

Feedback from awards and app contests

Submit your application to any award and contest you may apply to. It is a great opportunity to get some more exposure (and increase downloads) and it is also ideal for getting experts` thoughts about your new product. If it is a “real-life” competition where you should present your application in person, it is a great occasion for you to meet with your contestants and people in the mobile industry and ask for their opinion.

Localize your app

In case English is not your native (or second native) language, then localization is absolutely necessary. You may start with presenting your app in a language which almost no one speaks in the world, but if you really want your new mobile app to succeed, then you should consider localization process. If your application is created in English first, in this case localization could make sense as well.

If your mobile application starts getting some traction in the native language markets, you should keep an eye on how your product is actually doing in other countries which speak various languages. Especially important are the ones with high growth (such as Russia, China, Argentina, Israel, etc.).

Translating the name of your product and the app store page into another language may increase your app downloads greatly. It could bring you more unhappy users as well, but the benefits are too great not to use them. However, localization is much more than just ordinary translation. You should go some further and localize your application so that it fits the culture of the targeted market and so that it could be well understood by all these users.

Consider the app store optimization

Okay, so you cannot count just on your page in the App Store to increase your downloads. But does it actually mean that you do not have to do everything you could in order to give your new application as much visibility as it is even possible on the App Store? And do everything you could to turn the ordinary visitors into your active users? Nope! ASO is maybe a little overrated, but it is the thing you should do and the decision you should make in order to receive the most downloads. Some of the things are easy to do and quite obvious, but it never hurts to do them.

Pick up the right name for your app and required keywords;

Design a beautiful app icon, connected to the design of the app;

Choose your most explicit screenshots, and think about     adding text captions in order to explain them;

Write a good application description (keep in mind the copywriting tips) which makes people reading it want to download it and try it out;

Make your app ratings better (we talked about it at the very beginning)

Make your app be reviewed

In case you do not have lots of money which you might invest in promotion process, then your application future success mainly depends on the coverage which you can get. You requite people to learn about your new application. And a perfect way to make it happen is a good blog post or an interesting article on a widely-known website. It is not that easy, since all bloggers and journalists are pretty solicited every day and just do not have time to try out every single mobile application. It means that you need to pitch it the right way and to the right people.

Some words on paid app reviews

Some of the mentioned blogs might ask you for some money in exchange for a great blog post about your product. If you make a decision to pay, ensure that it is really worth that and that it is actually going to bring you the loyal customers. Ensure that your potential users read this blog as maybe your money would be spent elsewhere better.

Determine your blog and press contacts

Do not waste your and other people’s time: pitch your mobile application to those people who might be really interested in it. Contact individuals and try to avoid mass emails. It will take you some more time, but it will guarantee you that your chances will increase. Find out who writes about your type of mobile applications and the best blogs where your app can be covered on. But do not be afraid to target smaller blogs first.

Try to figure out the newspapers which might cover your mobile app. Check out the most popular of them and find those journalists who specialize in writing about mobile apps. Talking about “traditional” journalists, a good press release is also a great thing to have. Check out the ones who talked and are still talking about the kind of app which you are planning to launch. Reach out to them and ask them for some feedback. Figure out if there are any magazines in your application niche which might care about your application and which you might contact.

Pitch Ideal

Knowing exactly whom to contact is your first step. Now you should make this group of people really interested to read your email, try out your new product and then write about it. Different bloggers and journalists usually get lots of emails on a daily basis, but they cannot review all of the apps suggested. However, they keep looking for awesome new applications and stories to discuss (it is actually their job). In order to do that, you require the right pitch.

You need not only the perfect sentence which can explain what your mobile app is all about and for what reason their audience has to care about it, but you also have to ensure that you have included some major elements into your email, such as:

The name of your app as it is presented on the App Store;

Mention your main audience, what your application does and why its approach is original;

The price of the app;

A direct link to your app page on the App Store (or personal website);

A couple of your greatest screenshots;

A brief promo video;

Contact information and Skype ID.

Also, it will not hurt to greet this person by their name, and demonstrate that you know and like what they have been writing (or other things they might be doing). In case they answer to your email and show that they are interested in trying out your product, you should send them some promo codes.

Tell your story

Some mobile applications have some really awesome stories behind them. And if you have an interesting story to tell about your own mobile app, do not hesitate to do it. Put it down, and use it when you will be contacting different bloggers and journalists.

Do not turn down your opportunities

In case your application has become successful and people really like it, there are great chances that you will be contacted by others. As much as you could do, send them the promo codes which they need and accept to do interviews and answer their questions. You will never know who is going to read or listen to it.

Waiting for new helpful information in mobile app marketing? You are in the right place. Find the best advertising strategy following simple tips.

Here is the second part of our super efficient mobile app advertising guide. We hope you liked the previous part and are ready for more useful tips to learn, so…enjoy! Also do not forget about more parts coming up soon and please check out https://applead.net/en in order to see our best offers on mobile app marketing. So let’s get started! Measure user retention and find out how people use your mobile app

App downloads are of course very significant, and they are actually a key metric of your future success. But like we have already mentioned, it is not all about downloads. If you want to get good income from your iPad or iPhone app, you should make people come back to it again and again. You have already done your best to build a nice user experience and created a beautiful design. You always listen to feedback when your users give it to you, both online and in real life.

But some users may not use your iOS mobile app the way you expected. So it would be really good to know how long they use it, how many times they are coming back, whether they share your app with friends, what app features they are using (and which of them you should remove). The great news is that there are many nice instruments (and some of them are absolutely free) which can let you do it. Just choose the one you like and learn more.

Measure the effectiveness of your app advertising channels

In order to promote your mobile app, you should try all kinds of things, different methods and strategies. You have to make people know about it by efficient channels so it would be nice to know which of them are effective. Knowing that, you can decide what is really worth it and what is absolutely not. You may focus on the things which bring the most downloads, or on the things which bring the highest income. Such instruments as Distimo’s AppLink, Yozio or Tapstream can let you do it. For Android mobile applications, Google Mobile App Analytics could let you do the same thing.

Advertising exchange

If you are just a beginner in app development, the chances are that you have a quite limited budget. Probably, you cannot afford to promote on mobile apps where users will be interested in your app as well. Such service as TapForTap can let you do free tap exchange: you just trade clicks with other mobile app developers. You demonstrate advertisements for other mobile apps, earn the credits and spend them for your own product. If you do not mind using the ad banner (you may have an in-application purchase which includes its removal), it could be a great way to distribute information about your new app.

Creating your own website is essential

You cannot rely just on your page in the App Store. You should make people easily find out about your new app on the web. You require a place to refer them to (journalists, bloggers, and strangers). And you also should build a community around your product. It means that having at least your own website (and maybe even a blog) and using the major social media platforms is essential. When should you do it? Right now! You not only need a good website (or a page at least), but you also should create it asap. You will eventually need one for branding and support, so you might as well use it before launching the app.

You may start with an email list subscription form and a landing page, then you can add your blog and download links and finally add proves and positive user reviews. So right after you choose the name of your app, its main concept and a couple of screenshots designs, you have to go ahead and make your app website.

The major elements your app website should have

The website is that place where you may demonstrate your new product in its best light and show it to the visitors, and also a place where you may easily explain the problems you are solving with your app. You should make it simple to scan and read. There are a few key elements you have to include (or consider at least):

The name of your app and its icon;

List of devices on which it is available (with the screenshots of the app inside or a video capture);

Application pitch: a brief sentence which will explain what your mobile app really is and why it is a must have product;

App store badges where the application may be downloaded;

A direct CTA: before launch it is mailing-list subscription form, after - download button;

App advertising video: the fastest way for people to initially estimate     your new app;

Elements of social proof (after app has been released): user reviews, testimonials, Apple features, awards won, etc.;

Major screenshots and benefits: you have to explain in details what real value your product brings and demonstrate its major screenshots;

Support and contact info: be easily reachable to both your users and bloggers;

Info about social media: direct links to your accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.;

Press kit: you still need the one even if you think it is outdated;

Direct links to your other products (in case you have them, and in case it is relevant to your new application audience).

Blog or not to blog, here is the question…

Some app developers truly believe that a personal blog for a mobile application is not especially useful. Some of them are sure that a blog for a business is absolutely not useful. We have built our own business around content advertising and we share things on our personal blog (and awesome app videos). So you probably already know what we think about all that.

For your new mobile app, a personal blog is a perfect way to:

Make your current and future users interested in your product sharing the building process and designs of your app;

Keep them curious about what is happening: app launch, different updates and new useful features;

Share new interesting content about your app niche, your main mission, or you can even teach people something useful: a productivity application may have a blog with helpful tips on being even more productive and, for instance, a football application can let them know about main football news, players, etc.

The more interesting content you share with your users, the more visibility your new mobile app is getting.

Copywriting

It is a great thing to have a blog and website for your new mobile app. But in case your content sucks, then it will not be much help. If your application pitch includes ten sentences, people will not just bother to read it. In case your blog posts are boring and full of typos, you will not be able to make people interested, and you could not turn your visitors into your customers. And if the content of the app description at App store page is turning people away, then your app will not probably become successful.

You have to make people really want to get your product. You can be perfect at designing and coding the app, but you also should get better at copywriting and advertising. Luckily for you, there are a few great websites which can help you become better at it.

Inbound and content advertising

Yeah, you get it right: you totally need to do App Store Optimization. However, you also should make it easy for people to find you in the Internet. You cannot depend just on the App Store as your basic advertising channel. Forget about paying users for links and web directories. You should start making and sharing useful and interesting content so that people get to know to it and then find you. We know that it is easier said than actually done. Sometimes it is very difficult to find out whether it is working (as it really takes time) or what is working. Do you remember what we said some time earlier about measuring your advertising effectiveness?

That is what it is actually for. Try to give it some time, it is not going to happen overnight. In case you are planning to create a few apps for the same marketing niche, content advertising is a perfect way to go. All the content which you will create could potentially benefit any of the given applications! And if Apple changes its app store once again, you will not suffer so much even in case things do not go your way. By making and sharing nice content you are also demonstrating that there is a real person (or team) behind this app, building trust.

The right CTA

After your mobile app has been already released, you probably want the visitors of your app website to download it. Do not get your potential customers look for these download buttons! You should make a visible CTA. Paste the app store badges and think about adding another one. In case it makes some sense, use new services accessible such as mobile app distribution by means of SMS or sending download links right to customers` mobile phones. If your product is not ready yet, your call to action should be the subscription button to the app`s email list.

What is on the list

Mobile app developers still do not use all the opportunities that mailing lists can give. People signing up for your email news-sheet are those people you can reach easily, and interact. Providing that they are still subscribed, such users can give you the right to contact them directly by email. Facebook statuses, tweets or other social media platforms may be quite useful. But the greatest way to ensure that your targeted users receive information is still usage of their emails. It is your main job to select the right subject lines and write the right things so that they keep opening your letters.

Here are several ways you might use your email news-sheet:

Estimate the interest that people have in your new product (there are still no sign ups? Maybe you are doing something wrong);

Keep your users informed about the date of your app launch. Again, do not forget to mention again what actually your app does, so that they may remember you;

Ask your users for feedback;

Let them know about your crowd-funding campaign;

Ask your users to vote for your mobile application for a contest or award;

Let people know about latest news and milestones.

When you got your news-sheet going, continue sending emails on a regular basis (but not that often) so that people do not forget you.

App Store connection

You probably already know that Apple and Google stores take its share (around 30%) on every mobile app you sell or in-application purchase which you generate. It sort of sucks, but you cannot do anything t change it as they let you spread and advertise your product on their stores. It does not matter how you actually feel about it, we are sure that you do not want to miss the opportunity to receive extra 5%. And not only when people buy your app, but also in case they purchase anything during the next 72 hours on the iTunes store (providing that they do not click on the other affiliate link).

Twitter

We have already mentioned Twitter when discussing your online presence. An account on Twitter for your mobile app could also make lots of sense. Plenty of early adopters prefer to use Twitter, and it is a nice platform where you can interact with them. You might use Twitter in order to share interesting content on your app niche, the latest news about your app, or even use it for support.

You might also effectively use Twitter in order to contact bloggers and journalists. It will not always work great (especially if these people do not know you and your product) and sometimes it will be better to do it on your own account, but your tweet with a promo video might be quite powerful.

Facebook

According to your application and your main audience, a page on Facebook could make lots of sense as well. If you are planning to share pictures, videos or longer texts - Facebook should totally be considered. In any case, you have to create it and save the same name. Such page may be a perfect way to make your current and potential users interested in your new product.

You may ask them for their opinion about your designs, what they would like to see in your mobile app in the future, you might share the great news, etc. Practically the same things you may do via your email list. Do not make it just about your mobile app, though. Not advertising only. There are chances that people will get pretty annoyed with it and just stop following you in case your Facebook page is one huge ad.

Google+

If content advertising is a part of your marketing strategy to attract more users, then you have to link your personal app blog to your account on Google+. It is totally worth it, even in case it is just for a great picture of you which it displays in the search results. Sharing your website direct links takes just a few seconds, so why not to try it?

After several mobile application launches on our own, reviewing some more, talking with different mobile app developers and also testing awesome services, we now have a pretty nice idea of what could be done in order to make a mobile application a real success. We have been sharing our experiences in four articles and want to answer the questions which we have got from our readers, such as:

How could I go about presenting a new iOS mobile app?

What could I do in order to ensure that     people will be downloading my new mobile app?

This article is actually meant to teach you kind of everything we know about presenting and advertising an iPhone or iPad mobile apps. It should not be too exhaustive (at least, we are trying to do our best in order to make the articles interesting). Every mobile app is different, and so is the advertising strategy. But it is a great starting point which gives you the options which you could experiment with. So here is the first part of our terrific app advertising strategy guide! Enjoy! (More on mobile app marketing and professional services at reasonable prices you can find here https://applead.net/en).

Make your online presence

It is very important to set up your own online presence, which does not depend on your product. Just face it, the most part of your mobile app advertising is going to be done online, so you have to engage your potential audience on those mediums. In the given section, we are going to show you why a strong online (or mobile) presence is vital and how you can start making it right away.

Creating your own online presence is also significant as it helps you set up a following independent from your product employment or even the companies which you start. For instance, let’s say that you create a healthy following on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Perhaps you have around 30 000 followers in total.

When you present your new product, you have these 30 000 followers whom you could demonstrate your new mobile app. It might or might not lead to lots of downloads, but this is totally better than starting from nothing. Now…let’s assume your mobile application does not perform very well. Perhaps you would like to go out and find a new job, create another mobile app or even start your own company in absolutely different industry. You could make use of your own following in any future attempt.

Such people as Gary Vaynerchuk have created a huge personal brand which they could make use of in any of their new projects. Find out how you could do the same thing.

Places where you can start making a following

First, you should consider establishing your personal website. It should not be fancy, just a brief paragraph about your product, your company and a contact form will be enough. It can help your credibility as you took your time and created the whole website…and hopefully, you have your .com name domain, do you? Next, you should look for the places where you can interact with needed people.

On Facebook you may join special groups where you will meet other app developers and companies and also share experience. New groups pop up all the time, so you should take some time and find what you need. Also pay attention to setting your personal Facebook page. Yeah, it might seem a bit narcissistic, but you could always reserve this page and make it private. Use the page as a pubic place where you can share your ideas, especially in case you keep private your own Facebook account.

Then, Twitter is perhaps the next greatest place to use. Those people who will not respond to emails are going to respond to your tweets. So put your thoughts about Twitter to the side and give it a try. After that, look at such online communities as Reddit, Instagram, YouTube and Quora where you may start talking to people and making a reputation. Provide others with true value and they will follow you.

Maintain your idea

You probably think that your iPhone or iPad mobile app idea is awesome. But it would not hurt to ensure, right? You will be putting lots of your time, sums of money and efforts into creating your app. So you should be totally sure that people are actually looking for such app as yours. So the first thing to do is to determine the demand. You have to know what type of download volumes and income you may expect from this app. Try to find all the mobile apps similar to yours on the App Store. Contrary to the general opinion, having prosperous competitors can be a nice thing.

You just should not have TOO many of them. Such apps available out there show that there is a market for your product. Only you can decide whether you could make a better app, let it be slightly different or advertise it better. If there are no similar apps (or the current ones are not performing quite well), then you have to reconsider your idea.

Now when you have a list of your competitors, it is time to find out how many downloads they are having and how much income they are actually making. You may use a special platform to get estimates. Keep in mind that any download or income numbers which you receive from these platforms will be numbers basing on their algorithms. So it will be useful to compare a few platforms.

Review mining

It does not actually matter if you are creating a seasonal mobile application, targeting a niche market or surfing a trend. You need to analyze what your competitors are doing and read users reviews about their products on the App Store. Thus you can find out what you may improve, how other mobile apps do and what is missing on the marketplace.

The easiest way to get started is read one and five star app reviews. The first can show you what people want to change - these things you should certainly do well, as your competitors do not. Then you need to examine the five-star user reviews in order to see what this product does really well. These are the things which you should do great as well, in case you want to be able to compete.

Sometimes, two and four-star app reviews can be even better as they are providing nice feedback instead of expressing their anger or love for this mobile app. Your product should differ, have an original approach. Review mining can help you find this out.

Pick up your income model

Understand how you could make money. We see two cases when you do not actually need an income model:

You are creating an iPad or iPhone mobile app as your     hobby;

You just want to get users to cross advertise     with other mobile apps.

If it is not your goal, then you have to find out where you could get income from: subscriptions, paid application, ads, in-application purchases, selling a product or service or a mix of those.

Pick up the price for your app

It relates to the previous point. You may decide that your product is free and receive income from in-application purchases. But you still need to decide how much to charge for them. In case you have a paid mobile application, then you may experiment with the price, but be careful of the image which you give to the potential audience. It is simpler to start with a high price and gradually do price drops, than suddenly increasing the price twice. The cost you may charge usually depends on your users and your product. Some people will happily buy it for $9.99, others can be reluctant to pay you over $0.99.

Pick up the right app name

Selecting the right name for any product is not that easy and mobile applications are no exception. We would recommend you to find a name which not only sounds great, but also is quite descriptive and has the main keyword. In case you have a camera application, you should find a name which suggests cameras or photography. When calling up your iOS mobile app, you will also require an “extended app name”: your mobile application name and several keywords to make it absolutely clear what the app is all about. This is significant so that the users could find it when checking out your app page.

Start advertising inside your app

App advertising does not have to be an afterthought. It will be useless to advertise a weak mobile application, and there are particular aspects which need to be considered from the very start.

1. UX

The user experience of your new mobile app is vital for its future success. Your product has to be simple to use right from the very beginning (you will not get more than a few seconds of attention). Some people think that in case your mobile application requires a walkthrough, then you blew it. It is probably not true, but understood. People may not use your product as you were forecasting, but you still need to do your best in order to make it simple for them to use the basic app features.

2. Design

You require a stunning design of your app. If you are not a professional designer, you should hire a nice one. It, in our opinion, is probably one of the best of your investments. Your design should be coherent. It means that the various parts of your mobile application must have the same feel. Also any visual asset which you are creating (including the icon of your app) has to be consistent with the design of your application. Remember that details do matter. Such small things as sounds and the way things move are giving a general great feeling to your users and could make some difference.

3. User retention

It is the most difficult part to get right. If your iPhone or iPad mobile application is great and you advertise it right, you must get some attention. You have to be able to make your app reviewed, receive some downloads and place it in the people’s hands. Mobile app reviews and high download rates are well. Congratulations, now you have people who are interested enough to buy and download your product. And now what?

Will they use it just for 30 seconds and then leave? Will they come back to your app twice and after that never open it one more time? Or even worse, will they just uninstall your app? You cannot rely just on push notifications. The user experience and concept of your mobile app have to be such so that people continue coming back to it.

4. Share mechanisms (aspect of virality)

That is another difficult part (yeah, there are a few of them). Getting in the top charts is really difficult, but possible. But it is much more difficult to stay there. In all cases, you will need to keep on advertising your mobile application and giving it that attention which it truly deserves. You also need your users to become your advertisers. You require your users to talk about your new mobile app with their friends. You requite your users to share the content on their own.

It means that you need to find out what could be “viral” about your new mobile application which will let people share content and make great use of social media by means of Facebook. These “shareable” aspects are going to fully depend on your mobile application, and are your key to success.

5. Customer engagement and feedback

Making your users happy is essential for your mobile application’s success. Receiving good app ratings (4.5+) and positive user reviews helps to enhance the conversion on the page of your mobile application. The more your potential users see that other people like your product and are completely satisfied with it, the more chances that these users will try it out.

So you require two main things:

An awesome mobile application;

A useful way to deal with any issue which your users could have with your product so that you could make it much better.

In order to identify any problems which people might face with using your mobile application, you have to be easy to contact. You should not wait until some negative reviews of your app appear in order to learn about a mistake, a required feature or application crashes. Let your users reach you. Allow them to contact you from inside of the application and from the App Store page (provide them with the support URL). Allow your users contact you easily from your personal website or by means of different social media. When they reach you, you have to listen to their opinion carefully, answer and act on what they are suggesting you (or at least consider it).

Try to do your best in order to turn unhappy or unsatisfied with your app users into people who understand that there is a person behind this mobile app who may be easily contacted and who really cares about their opinion. After you have successfully dealt with a problem or request, these users are going to be happy to leave you a nice feedback. So that people could reach you directly from the mobile application, you may let them send you a tweet or an email.

Such strategy lets you do more than only getting feedback. You may invite some happy users to rate your product and you can send in-application messages for cross advertising. It is a great way to make people know about your most important mobile app news and updates (features, content) and get them come back to using your mobile application. Do not abuse it though, make your notifications really relevant.