2015 App Promotion Guide (Full Version)

Online channels

1. Basics are online

The major mobile phone manufacturers' markets, third-party application stores , large platforms, PC download sites, mobile WAP sites, collection sites, mobile Internet application recommendation media, etc. can basically cover the Android version release channels: the first step of promotion is to go online, which is the most basic. No need to break the bank, just maximum coverage. For many years, I have always agreed with the truth that the wider the product is, the better it will be promoted.

● Channels: Baidu, Tencent, 360, Alibaba, Huawei, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Coolpad, OPPO, VIVO, Gionee, Meizu, Google Play, other Internet mobile phone brands, Wandoujia , Jifeng, Anzhi, PP Assistant , Flash Assistant, Mobile Manager, etc.

● Operator channels: MM Community, Wo Store, Tianyi Space, Huawei Zhihui Cloud, Tencent Application Center, etc.;

● PC: Baidu Apps, Mobile Assistant, Software Manager, etc.;

● Wap sites: Paojiao, Tianwang, Lexun, Yisou, etc.;

● Web download sites: Sky, Huajun, Feifan, Greensoft, etc.;

● iOS version release channels: AppStore, iTools, 91Assistant , PPAssistant, SyncIply , KuaiYongAppleAssistant, iTools, XYAppleAssistant, limited-time free collection , etc.

2. Operator channel promotion

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have a large user base and can pre-install their products in operator stores, leveraging capabilities that third parties do not have. If the product is a good one, they can also receive subsidies and support from them. The marketing department should have dedicated channel specialists to communicate and cooperate with operators and come up with plans for project tracking.

3. Third-party stores

Due to their early entry and large user base, third-party stores have become the traffic entrance for many apps. There are nearly a hundred third-party application stores across the country. Channel specialists need to prepare a large amount of materials, conduct tests, and connect with the application market . The rules of each app market are different, so it is crucial to communicate with the person in charge of the app market and accumulate experience and skills. If you have sufficient funds, you can place some advertising spots and make recommendations.

4. Mobile phone manufacturer stores

Major manufacturers pre-install stores in their own brand of mobile phones, such as Lenovo Le Store , HTC Market, Huawei Smart Cloud, OPPO Store, Samsung Store, Meizu Market, etc. The channel department needs more operations specialists to interact with mobile phone manufacturers' stores.

5. Promotion through Points Wall

The " Points Wall " is a page within an app that displays various points tasks (downloading and installing recommended high-quality apps, registering, filling out forms, etc.) for users to complete tasks and earn points. When users complete tasks within an application embedded in the offer wall, the developer of the application will receive corresponding income. The points wall grows quickly and the effect is obvious.

Most of them adopt the CPA model, with prices ranging from 2 to 5 yuan (the industry's unspoken rules generally deduct the volume). However, considering comprehensive costs such as active users, the cost is relatively high and the user retention rate is low . Companies in the industry include Dianru, Youmi, Anwo, and Limei. The points wall is suitable for large teams with funds that need to develop users as quickly as possible.

6. Ranking promotion

This type of promotion is an informal means, but it is very popular in China. After all, most Apple mobile phone users will use APPStore to download APPs. If your APP is directly in the top few positions, it can certainly quickly gain users' attention and obtain a higher real download volume.

However, the price of manipulating the rankings is relatively high, and is affected by Apple's rules, so it fluctuates greatly. Since this type of promotion is relatively costly, it is usually done in conjunction with news hype, which makes it easy to become famous quickly.

7. Promotion on social platforms

The current mainstream smartphone social platforms have clear potential users and can promote products quickly. This type of promotion basically adopts a cooperative profit-sharing approach with various cooperation methods.

8. Advertising Platform

The volume increases quickly and the effect is obvious. The cost is relatively high. Taking the current mainstream platforms as an example, the CPC price is between 0.3-0.8 yuan, and the CPA is between 1.5 yuan and 3 yuan. It is not conducive to team promotion and use before entrepreneurial financing.

9. Exchange

There are two main ways to exchange volume:

● Mutual recommendation within the app: This method can make full use of traffic to increase exposure and downloads. The scale is not large, but the exposure is good. Apps with built-in recommendation positions can exchange traffic with each other, but this requires a certain number of users as a basis.

● Buy volume in exchange for traffic: If you are unable to bring traffic to a certain app or the volume is very small, you can look for an alliance to increase traffic in exchange for high-quality resource positions in the app store or convert it into money for promotion. This method is also a relatively practical one. Stores including App Store and Xiaomi can exchange traffic. Through certain agents, you can also exchange traffic with 360, etc. This may have better results than doing CPT directly on 360.

10. AppStore search rankings

Now many companies have been able to secure a place on the list. Usually this is a big gimmick, but if the product is not good, it will eventually fall off the list.

Offline channels

1. Pre-installed by mobile phone manufacturers

It exists when it leaves the factory, has a high user conversion rate , and is the most direct way to develop users. The user ramp-up cycle is long, and it takes 3-5 months from test package submission - passing the test - trial production - mass production - sales to the user.

● Promotion cost: The pre-installation payment price for application products ranges from 3 yuan to 3 yuan, and the CPA price ranges from 1.5 to 5 yuan. Game products adopt a free pre-installation and subsequent profit-sharing model, with a CPA price of 2-3 yuan, usually a small package stand-alone product;

● Industry companies: Huawei, ZTE, Coolpad, TCL, Bird, OPPO, Meizu, Hisense, etc.;

● Operational difficulties: There are many brands, multiple levels of personnel, and many product projects, which require a professional team to make targeted recommendations and maintain relationships.

2. Parallel imports

The volume increases quickly, and you can basically see users flashing their phones within 2-4 days. The number is large, and basically tens of thousands of phones can be flashed in a day. The phenomenon of repeated flashing is serious. Basically, a mobile phone will be flashed 3-5 times from the wholesale to the channel to the store. The promotion cost has increased dramatically, the user quality is poor, and it is difficult to monitor. Basically, the CPA of a single software for flashing the machine is 1-2 yuan, and the price of chartering a machine is between 5-10 yuan.

Companies in the industry: major national and provincial packages, prefecture-level city retail chain channels, Cool Music Unlimited, Leku, XDA, Flash Wizard, Aishide, Tianyin Communication, Sky, Jinyumantang, Dingkai Internet, etc.

3. Licensed goods store

The users are of high quality and stickiness, the user payment conversion rate is high, and the speed of meeting users is fast. There are many stores and the training of store employees is complicated, which requires a complete assessment and reward mechanism. Basically, the CPA price is between 1.5-3 yuan, and the pre-installation price is between 0.5-1 yuan. Companies in the industry: Leyu, Zhongfu, Tianyin, China Post, Suning, Gome, Hengbo, Zhongyu Telecom, etc.

New Media Marketing

1. Content Planning

Before content planning, you need to do a good job of audience positioning, analyze the core user characteristics, insist on producing original content, and keep updating about three interesting contents a day. Catch the hot spots of the week or day and follow up. Creativity, creativity, let your product tell a story and humanize it.

2. Brand basic promotion

● Encyclopedia promotion: Create brand entries in Baidu Encyclopedia, establish SEO system and Baidu index;

● Question and answer promotion: Create question and answer sessions on websites such as Baidu Knows, Soso Q&A, Sina iAsk, and Baidu Experience.

● Vertical community: There must be corresponding content on social networks such as Zhihu, Douban, and Weibo.

3. Forum and Tieba promotion

Jifeng, Android, Anzhi... You can see many industry forums at the bottom of mobile phone related websites. It is recommended that promoters post promotional posts in the form of official posts or user posts. They can also contact forum administrators to do some event promotion. After posting, you should regularly maintain your posts, promptly answer questions raised by users, and collect user feedback so that you can update and improve the next version.

● The first team: Jifeng Forum, Android Forum, Anzhi Forum, etc.;

● The second team: Moqu.com, Android Forum, Meizu Forum, etc.;

● The third team: Storm Forum, Wood Ant Forum, and DOSPY Forum.

4. Weibo promotion

● Content: humanize the product, tell stories, identify the characteristics of Weibo, and insist on producing original content. Follow up on the hot topics of the week or the day on Weibo and maintain a certain level of continuous innovation;

● Interaction: Follow relevant Weibo accounts in the industry, maintain interaction, and increase brand exposure;

● Activities: When necessary, you can plan activities, forward on Weibo, etc.

5. WeChat promotion

The operation and promotion of WeChat public accounts requires a certain amount of time to settle down. Here are a few steps for reference:

● Content positioning: Combine products to make content aggregation recommendations. The content does not have to be large, but it must be refined and in line with the positioning of the WeChat account;

● Accumulation of seed users : In the early stage, a KPI indicator can be given, with a threshold of 500 fans. Seed users can be recommended by colleagues, friends, partners, Weibo, official website, etc.;

● Accumulation of small accounts: Open small WeChat accounts and import target customer groups every day;

● Small account leads big account: recommend WeChat public account through the accumulation of fans of small account, and import fans to WeChat public account;

● WeChat mutual promotion: When the number of fans reaches a certain expectation, you can join some WeChat mutual promotion groups.

6. PR communication

PR is not hard advertising. It is very important to learn to tell a touching story to your investors, employees, and users. In the Internet age, everyone is a fucking media. Whether it is Weibo, WeChat public accounts, columns on media websites or major social networking sites, I have to study how to use these platforms to tell a good brand story. Conversely, these platforms will also be the best channels for users to generate UGC for the brand.

In a startup company, as a PR, you need to have a thorough understanding of the direction of the company at every stage, and then learn to convey a strong voice to the market, investors, and users. This voice is not a blunt advertisement, but rather a topic that makes everyone interested in your story and how to draw everyone's interest to your product. It is best to make it a hot topic in the industry.

Here are a few strategies:

● Maintain stable exposure with daily articles

We will regularly make a communication plan, and decide what message to convey to the outside world every month based on changes in the company and its products. Appropriate expression and continuous content output will gradually increase the company's exposure and industry attention.

● Maintain existing media resources and actively expand new resources

I will continue to communicate and exchange with the reporters and media that I am familiar with, and tell them what our team is doing. I firmly believe that only through repeated communication can the highlights of a story be polished to capture people's hearts. As a PR, you can also sense the media's interests in a timely manner and make full preparations for the next round of reports. When startups do not have sufficient funds for PR, we need to carefully analyze what channels and resources are needed to support the company's voice and opinions at what stage and progress of development. Therefore, we require ourselves to plan to expand some new media resources every week, so that we can have appropriate channels to support the output of events in the future.

● The channel you choose determines the effect of your communication

What story to tell and how to present it to achieve the best communication effect are particularly important in terms of channel selection. For example, for some interviews with company founders, we may prefer high-weighted print media related to industry and finance, which are conducive to large-scale dissemination; for product voice, we prefer new media in the technology field, which can attract more rapid attention in the industry; and for news about event topics, we prefer to choose large portal websites.

In the field of self-media, the strengths vary greatly. It is a good choice to choose self-media with neutral views and strong voices. However, the cost is not the most cost-effective for startups. As for TV media, choosing the right program that matches your potential users is a way to quickly achieve explosive growth of your product.

● Evaluate the effectiveness of marketing communications

These may include population coverage, clicks, readings, likes, etc. The data from each time will tell you how to make the next content better. As a bridge connecting the inside and the outside, PR should also hide among users and highlight the brand's personality in in-depth communication.

7. Event Marketing

Event marketing is definitely a physical and mental job, which requires the entire team to maintain a keen sense of the market. In addition, it requires strong execution capabilities and certain media resources so that the event can be launched as quickly as possible.

The premise of event marketing is that team members need to be exposed to a large amount of fresh information every day. In order to integrate this information, they also need to develop the habit of recording some flashes of inspiration and creativity at any time and share them with other members in a timely manner. For creative ideas that can be applied to the product, we will immediately brainstorm and reason about the events. If we determine that the plan is feasible, we will immediately make a communication plan to match it, start making a project budget and prepare channel resources.

8. Data Analysis

Spend some time every week to carefully analyze the data behind every Weibo, WeChat, and every channel, and you will definitely find the connections and correlations behind the highly disseminated content. This will greatly help improve the quality of content on your official Weibo and WeChat accounts, and make operations more down-to-earth.

9. “Psoriasis Marketing”

For offline promotion, it is not recommended to waste manpower and resources by distributing flyers, etc. Understand the local situation and, if you are sure, place movable advertising space in hot spots, or scan QR codes on the ground, and use gimmick marketing in forms that are popular among the people, such as giving gifts for downloading APPs. It would be best if they are driven away by the urban management, so that the effect will be better.

10. Marketing

Before the fight:

Find one of your competitors and set up a five-member team in your company. Search and summarize the weaknesses of the other company and products from the Internet and personal connections, find the point most likely to explode, and develop a battle plan. This plan must be spreadable, topical, and competitive. Finally, set up an execution group to be responsible for the competition. You can simply notify the media with good relations to spread the news in advance, and prepare corresponding product promotion plans.

In the quarrel:

No matter what the other party says, you just need to keep repeating the other party's weaknesses that the five-person team has studied for several days, and occasionally direct the attention to your own products.

After the fight:

Take advantage of the situation to launch the promotion plan that you have prepared before, let online and offline media channels help you spread the word, and start to increase the volume at the same time, and things may just work.