Tech Marketing Made Easy: 4 Ideas for Launching Your New App

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Tech marketing. It’s not as simple as you might have hoped for. You’ve developed a new app that is either going to take the world by storm or assist your company in achieving it’s goals, or both! Now how do you launch the app?  It may actually not be much different than launching a new product or solution but there are some things your must do to help make the launch successful. Let’s take a look at some tips to following when launching a new app.

1. You Have to Set Goals

Once the app has been created it’s fairly critical, like with most launched, to define the success desired.  Setting goals is just as important as the app itself.  Remember to set goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevent, and Timely). An example of a goal that isn’t SMART is:

Every Android user download the app in 3 months

The above goal, while measurable and timely, is not attainable or that relevant to what you need. Not ever android user is your target market for example. So, this goal is not SMART.

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It’s important to keep scope in mind when setting goals.  Who is your audience?  How many of them use smartphones or tablets?  These answers should guide your goals.  Something like this may be a bit more reasonable: 

Generate 1,000 downloads within one week of launch based on my current lead base

See the difference?

2. Create a Marketing Video That Showcases the App

Marketers realize these days that content is king, content that showcases the app is a must-have when launching an app.  As you prepare for the launch, you’ll need to focus on different channels to drive app downloads and a video that shows how the app works is ideal to share with the press, social media, newsletters, etc…  There are other downloadable apps that can capture a high quality video taken directly from a phone.  A simple 30 second clip should suffice.  Another pro tip would be to take screenshots of the app to share in junction with the video.  Some channels may not allow for video and the next best thing would be imagery.

3. Promote Your App Like a Mad Man…But Don’t Spam

Social media may be your best friend to lean on during the launch.  Weeks before the launch copy should be drafted for all social media channels.  Each channel has different parameters for how much can be said and drafting these announcements beforehand will make the day of and week of launch much less stressful.  A simple copy and paste and publish and you’re on your way.  Talk to your manager and see if you can hold a contest in junction with a hashtag.  Hashtags are used for multiple reasons but one of my favorite is holding giveaways.  Create a unique hashtag and ask your followers to repost using the hashtag for a chance to win the prize.  This will get more eyes on your app and the launch of it.

4. Utilize The Media

Press still controls a lot in the world we live in.  The more write-ups you can get in different outlets the better, but focusing on the outlets that make the most sense is ideal.  If you’re launching a new app on customizing shoes, getting inked in Shoeholics would be more ideal than getting written up in Rolling Stone. Be in touch with these outlets throughout the launch process.  Draft a press release and send out a couple weeks in advance of the launch.  Offer the press a sneak preview of the app so they can download it ahead of time and give an accurate review / story on the app.

Others areas to consider are paid ads, even Google’s PPC might be valuable if targeted keywords and the app go hand in hand. Either way, ensuring content is ready to be published and shared is critical to success.