Promotion of applications and games has never been so important. Just imagine that every day or week, dozens of apps get released on the mobile market, and over the span of several years over 2 million apps have been released for iOS, more than 2.4 million for Android and about 2 million more for the remaining platforms. No matter how you look at it, the numbers are absolutely crazy for a medium that barely existed several years ago. This means that you need to pay extra attention to Android app promotion from the very beginning and put more time and effort promotion of your app or game.
That's why we would like to offer a few ways to promote Android apps and games without help of a marketing agency. While these methods won't guarantee the same effect, at the very least these should allow you to reach mild success and make some money from your hard work, which is already better than nothing, right?
Take a look at these methods – most of them are easy to pull off, but some will require dedication and persistence to make sure that the results are satisfying. Let's take a closer look now.
Pay extra attention to the quality
Quality is always important – even if there are thousands of half-baked products out there, you can't afford to make your application or game one of them. Pay extra attention to the quality and take extra time to polish your app – even a few weeks of additional work can make a big difference at launch. Remember – the launch week is the most important period for your app. The more positive feedback, reviews and ratings you will get, the more chances of staying in business you've got. A few bad ratings are always common, but the more glaring bugs and unfinished/broken features are there, the more you will get. Consider doing the following:
- Test your app and make sure there are no glaring bugs and loose ends. Some may say “I'm not like that”, but in reality there is always something one could have forgotten. In some cases, a single oversight can ruin the user experience – make sure you've got everything covered and finalized;
- Test your app on as many devices as possible. Android devices have different hardware with different specifications and caveats, and also different OS versions with specific features. You need to invest your time and effort into debugging and learn which devices require additional optimizations or modifications to work correctly at all times;
- Ask your friends to give it a try. Chances are, they will encounter a loose end or try to do something you have never expected, and thus force you to plug a loophole in your app. However, that's for the better – as long you know there are issues and fix them beforehand, you should be fine;
- Keep up with reviews and bug reports – this way you can make sure that the users who have encountered bugs will not delete your app as soon as possible, and try to convince them to come back if they did. Make sure to inform them about it in the comments to remind them about your application or game.
As you can see, quality is important. It's easier to market a good app than trying to convince the people that the buggy and unfinished app is actually good and worth a try. Respect the time and money of your audience, and in the end, you will get the best results. In some cases, successful developers keep supporting their products for years after the release – use them as a good example and a role model.
App search optimization can make your app easier to find
Search engine optimization is useful to a lot of products and not limited to websites alone. By researching the relevant keywords and using them in the app description properly, you can make it easier to find for potential customers and increase its ranking in the search results. Here are some tips to make App Store Optimization work nicely:
- Write an organic description. Work on your writing skills and learn how to write captivating and interesting descriptions without heavy usage of buzzwords and other things that turn people off. Be genuine and use keywords wisely;
- Look forward to changing the keywords in the future to try to maintain the same position or get higher in search results. Keep it in mind while writing it;
- Consider picking a keyword to use in the app title to maximize the effects;
- Also, consider designing and picking nicer assets for your app page (app icon, screenshots and the preview video) to make sure that the page looks even more attractive to potential customers and convinces them to give it a try.
Localization can expand your target audience
Even today, when there are dozens of ways to learn a foreign language and a lot of people actually speak English, but let's be honest with ourselves – not everyone speaks it fluently and definitely not everyone is comfortable dealing with foreign languages while doing something important or playing a game. Consider providing a localization to the following languages:
- English
- French
- Italian
- German
- Spanish
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Korean
- Russian
Which ones you're going to provide is up to you. You can use freelance translation services to pull it off for an affordable price. Just make sure to pick the right people to do it – check their history and reviews or recommendations from their past employers to make sure you're getting the right person to do this job for you. After all, a bad localization is worse than no localization at all.
In most cases localization increases the conversion rates by up to 20 percent, but in some cases it can multiply the download numbers – which is more than impressive no matter how big or small the actual download numbers are.
Social media is the best source of potential customers
Consider creating an account for your app or game on the major social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc) and use them as the news and community hubs. Remember to ask your friends and family to follow it, because it's one of the best ways to start attracting some attention. Sure, your friends and family will follow you, but then again some other guy will find out about it and then another one and so on. Be genuine, talk to your fans, post news regularly and clean up the spam to make sure hat your page doesn't appear abandoned to new fans.
While communicating, make sure to stay professional and calm regardless of the situation. This will determine how your audience will perceive you as a person and a developer. Non-professional behavior can turn people off. Be genuine, but be professional at the same time.
Popular YouTube channels and blogs can help a lot
You can contact the owners of popular YouTube channels and blogs dedicated to mobile applications and games and see if they are willing to make a review of your app or game or mention it in one of their videos or posts. While it may require a donation, especially if we're talking about big channels, but remember – if the return is expected to be bigger than the investment, then why not? After all, you need every customer you can get.
Incentive traffic can boost your popularity
Incentive traffic can give your application or game a nice boost in popularity. By ordering it from a marketing agency, you can improve your position on the market. A few hundred or thousand downloads like this, and you may have a completely different situation after a while. While some may disagree with this method, remember – everyone is using it. Giving an upper hand to your competitors is never a good idea.
If nothing works, contact a marketing agency
In case the situation seems hopeless, remember that you can always contact a mobile marketing agency and try to set things right. While it may be a tough decision for yourself and your wallet, you need to understand that the only hopeless situation is the one where you let your app remain where it is without even trying to fix this situation and try to take another leap towards the desired results and the target audience.