If a mobile app is your business, it has to be immaculately constructed and maintained, and launched in the right moment. You have a supporting website (perhaps even your own blog), ads and app store optimization, you have dedicated pages on social networks, media releases,and app review websites. But what else should you know and keep in mind to attract more users to your product?
1. Screenshots on your application store page sometimes can say more than the concisest and well-thought descriptions. While descriptions in the first place must say what the app is, and the value it gives to users, screenshots must show it just as perfectly. If paid due attention, they'll become a great incentive for people to give the app a try. Take a look at Secrets Of The Wizard (an iOS dream book and magic ball app) or Solar (an iOS weather forecast app). Their descriptions are clear and short, and screenshots are enough to realize what the app is about. Even haters of long texts would easily decide whether they like it or not. And there surely are many haters of long descriptions.
2. If your app is a very specialized niche solution and you are well-acquainted with the subject matter, you know the promotional power of dedicated forums and communities on social networks, and how word of mouth can make people want to find out more about your app and what it can give them.
3. For an initially paid app, you may apply the policy of price drops and temporary free offers. There are many websites and sources where news about new apps, price cuts, and temporarily free apps and games of all categories is published daily. There's a great chance to get noticed and attract many people who track such sources, which also include dedicated groups on social networks.
4. In case your business policy allows it, you may try allowing your development contractor use the app as a showcase of their work and expertise, by putting it into the portfolio. The marketing machine of the contractor will push your app as well. It makes sense for reputed companies, because their good reputation will positively affect your own; and their marketing is a great channel for getting new users: their portfolio, case studies, blog articles/announcements, depending on what they can do.
5. Making a promotional/demo video, which can generate both user interest and downloads, often gets overlooked. However, it's great at visually showcasing the power of complex apps on such popular channels as YouTube and Vimeo. For users it's a kind of experience before purchase. And the cost of complex apps often goes beyond the standard $0.99-$2.99. For a demo you'll need to get a good video tool, be creative and have a good, clear voiceover, maybe captions and unintrusive background music. By showing how your app solves problems quickly and easily, you show its worth to users, which can be the final positive incentive. Try to place this within a small amount of time, and constantly hook their attention along the way. Most likely you'll hand this task to a specialized resource which has experience in creating demos.
And a few words for those who start with only one major platform, be it Android or iOS. It's not often possible to build apps for both major platforms, be it a matter of deadlines, budget or target audience. Yet most apps make their way to iOS first, only then to Android, which is much harder to monetize, but boasts the biggest potential audience for free/freemium apps. This is an obvious way to gain more users, but making an app for the other platform is a completely different experience, so keep it in mind. This especially concerns Android, where you'll have to face the problem of not-so-powerful devices and a myriad of screen resolutions, and you'll have to pave your way by continuous adjustments. However, it's not much of a time-consuming problem for your professional software contractor.
Needless to argue that you'll use every traffic source you can. But in the end you'll need to focus attention on loyal audience. However, who prevents you from getting more potentially loyal users, and all the people who might be looking for a product such as yours? You need to know the characteristics of the existing loyal users, track their interactions with your software product, and know where they come from. If you know the sources, you can direct your marketing in the right way, and also vitally, who you need to attract.
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