rich! capricious! : 5 best ways to promote paid apps

How to promote APP through mobile advertising platform? Some developers are burning money, some developers are calculating, where is my conversion rate? In order to better use the mobile advertising platform, we list the following best paid app promotion methods.

1. Start with the creative

The first step is to develop a creative messaging strategy. It goes without saying that consumers are more likely to click on ads from brands they recognize. If you have a well-known brand, you should use it as an important tool. When launching a new APP game, try to associate the game with a brand that consumers are familiar with. EA does a great job in this regard. When they air TV commercials, the EA brand is always displayed at the end of the commercial to let consumers know that this is a high-quality game produced by EA.

If you don’t have a well-known brand, you need to do a good job of introducing the value of your game or app to users. The best way to do this is to provide game content to users for free during the launch period and use advertising to help promote the app. It should be noted that although we hope that the advertisement looks good visually, the visual effect should not affect the delivery of the advertising message.

2. Target User Positioning

Mobile ad networks offer many different targeting methods, and as an ad buyer it is important to clearly define your target users by operating system and region. For example, if you are promoting an Android game, you only need to target Android advertising resources. There is no need to spend money on other advertising resources because the users in these resources are not your target users.

Depending on the game type, related games may also perform well in various international markets. If your game is suitable for other international markets, consider marketing your game in various languages.

3. APP STORE game promotion

1. First impression: App Store login page

The purpose of a landing page is to convert potential users who view your app into users who download your app. Studies have shown that after users log in to the App Store page of an app, the app needs to attract the user's attention within 3 seconds, otherwise they will choose to leave. There are some things to note as follows (for more tips on app promotion, please see Geek Activity: How to Distribute Apps More Efficiently).

2. Detailed App Store description

Having a detailed and concise App Store description is extremely important. The first sentence of your description should spell out the value of your app so that consumers can immediately decide whether to download your app. High-resolution screenshots that visually demonstrate your application are also very important. Be sure to record customer feedback carefully and address issues raised in customer reviews immediately, whether the customer comments are positive or negative. Most users will read customer reviews to see what other users think of your app.

3. High-quality icons and names

Icons and names are also extremely important. The icon must be eye-catching so that the app can stand out. The name should be short and clever. One of the most important criteria for selecting Featured Apps in the iTunes App Store is the overall look and feel of the app. An Apple employee once said, "Why would Apple select an app that doesn't look stunning as a featured app in the App Store? Great design is core to the Apple brand and a factor we carefully evaluate when selecting apps to feature."

Apple also searches for apps that take advantage of the latest operating system versions or device hardware. By contrast, Google, HTC, Samsung, and others want to feature new apps that showcase the capabilities of their devices or operating systems. Infinity Blade 2 and Real Racing HD are two examples of this.

4. How much money do you need to invest in your advertising campaign?

You need to determine the exact cost of your ad campaign, which is a question that has no fixed answer and will vary by app and developer.

One approach is to optimize ad campaign spend based on the lifetime value (LTV) of a user. This approach is popular for games that include a virtual economy with an In-App Purchase system (IAP - see: Amazon App Store takes on Google and Apple with IAP) because the LTV for such games can be very high.

1. Determine RPDAU (Revenue Per Daily Active User)

The first thing to do is to determine what the RPDAU (profitable daily active users) is. Take your total revenue for the week (including all revenue sources such as in-app purchases, ads, services, and any other revenue sources) and divide it by the number of active users for that week. Then divide this number by 7. This approach takes into account weekly usage behavior.

2. Determine LTV (Lifetime Value of a User)

To determine LTV, multiply RPDAU by the average number of days each user is active in the app per month. Most applications have a lifespan of one or two months. Active days will vary by app. An independent tracking method was used to determine this average. This average can be between 2 and 10 days, and may be higher for some applications.

Once you fully understand your LTV, you will know the maximum cost you should spend to acquire a new user. Most marketers recommend optimizing campaign spend based on this number. Advertising is a market-driven economy, and it is not always possible to acquire users at the price you expect. In fact, in many cases, acquiring new users costs more than expected. App developers should consider paying a price above LTV to acquire users in the following situations:

① Release new games

When launching a new game, it is very important to let new users try it out and gain good word of mouth. In this case, you might lose money because consumers are not yet familiar with your game. They need to be actively encouraged and allowed to try it out. If the game becomes popular, spend should be carefully optimized to acquire users with less spend.

② Peak Season

During the holiday season, activity on mobile devices peaks, with many new devices being activated. This is a great time to increase downloads. Users are eager to try out new apps on their new device, which they may have received as a gift.

③ A highly competitive environment

If competitors are actively targeting your user base, you should increase marketing spend to acquire new users. Since you may have locked up your ad inventory, this can prevent competitors from acquiring your users.

④ Ability to leverage existing user base

If you can leverage your existing user base to cross-promote multiple games, you should consider investing more in acquiring new users than the LTV of a single game. This requires the ability to measure the impact of cross-promotion across games in the portfolio. Also consider developing “gateway” games to draw users into your app gaming ecosystem.

While there are many metrics game developers can use to optimize their marketing spend, it's ultimately an art, not a science. Strategically monitoring and optimizing on a daily and weekly basis is the best way to ensure success.

5. Some tips

1. Keep your app size under 50MB

The iTunes store imposes a 50MB limit on app installations over wireless networks. In the Android Marketplace, the limit is 50MB. Keeping your app under 50MB helps it download over wireless networks.

2. Promote on multiple ad networks

Post your ads on multiple ad networks to reach the widest audience. Different ad networks have different websites and applications. If you only choose one ad network, you will not be able to cover the entire market.

3. Change your creatives frequently

You should try to update your creatives twice a month, as creatives lose appeal over time. Additionally, incorporating seasonality and other external events into ad creatives can help make ads more relevant to customers and improve ad performance.

4. English should be prioritized over other foreign languages

Most smartphone users are either from English-speaking countries or have a good enough understanding of English to understand the use of most apps. Culturally neutral apps, such as Angry Birds, are popular around the world because they don’t require players to have a high level of English proficiency.

5. Build an application portfolio

The most successful application developers have an application portfolio strategy and develop a large number of applications. Having more apps helps you cross-promote your games and consolidates the information you learn from different apps. Game development is becoming a "popularity-driven" business.

6. Focus on customer acquisition, not clicks

This is a mistake many marketers make. They spend their energy measuring and optimizing for clicks when they should be measuring customer acquisition. When evaluating the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns, don’t look at click-through rates, but rather at the cost-effectiveness of acquiring new users.