APP channel promotion needs to go through three stages: promotion strategy-implementation-effect review. How to do each step well?
ASO gradually rose in 2014, and then went through the ranking 1.0, popular search 2.0 era, and now the high-cost 3.0;
In 2015, information flow advertising such as Guangdiantong, UC, and Toutiao exploded;
In 2016 and 2017, as the brand effect of mobile phones strengthened, app stores overtook other platforms.
In 2018, leading platforms such as Weibo, WeChat and Douyin continued to release traffic dividends;
…
In recent years, the volatile Internet market has spawned many promotion channels. Here we summarize a relatively complete set of App promotion strategies. If your products and business are in urgent need of expansion, you might want to stop and read this carefully.
The Three Doors of App Channel Promotion
How can we do a good job in channel promotion? It needs to go through the following three stages of cycle:
The promotion strategy is to plan the promotion plan by determining the product positioning, combining factors such as cost, market, target population, and selecting the channel promotion combination that best suits itself.
Implementation requires familiarity with the rules of each channel. In addition to covering as many free channels as possible, other channels should also be used within one's means, and energy and time should be spent on areas with greater returns.
Effect retrospection is the most important part of the promotion process. After the channel promotion begins, it is necessary to monitor the promotion effect in real time, evaluate the actual effect of the promotion plan through digital monitoring, return to the first stage to improve the plan, and then launch the next round of promotion.
How to formulate a promotion strategy
Depending on the positioning and tone of your product, you should choose the promotion strategy combination that best suits you. Subway advertising, TV advertising, news reports, gift giving by scanning a QR code, online alliances, topic marketing, celebrity recommendations, etc., these are not a single form of publicity, but one of a combination of marketing strategies. The superposition of promotions in multiple dimensions can often make the effect of 1+1>2.
Generally speaking, it is most effective to use multiple promotions in a short period of time. For example, a person sees an advertisement on a large LED screen while driving on the road. Because he is driving, he does not download it immediately, but he has left a first impression; a few days later, he sees the advertisement again in the elevator at work. Because he is not connected to WiFi, he still does not download it, but he has become a potential user; at night, he opens his mobile phone to check Weibo, and the advertisement appears again. It happens that he is connected to the home network and playing with his mobile phone. There is also a very convenient download entrance on the Weibo advertisement, so he downloads it and successfully converts into a user.
The conversion effect of promotion is not achieved overnight. The combined coverage of multiple nodes is the most efficient. Users are like the arrogant Zhuge Liang, who often needs three visits before he is willing to come out. The promotion strategy must cater to the behavioral logic of users, do a good job in marketing positioning and market research, and open up online and offline joint channels in multiple dimensions to maximize the extension, complementarity and repetition effects of promotion and communication.
What are the promotion channels?
Not all successful plans are suitable for copying. It is necessary to choose channels and formulate plans based on your own product positioning. So what specific channels are worth referring to? There are dozens of mainstream practices in detail. We have classified them here and picked out some of the more effective methods for your reference.
(1) Promotion on App Store
Major application stores and download sites are the main battlefields for users to download apps. Except for installation package downloads, almost all downloads come from these distribution channels. Regardless of the size of the channel, these stores and download sites must be filled up first. There are also some free resources to be fought for, but most of them still rely on spending money on ASO optimization.
Mobile phone manufacturers’ app stores: Now mobile phone manufacturers like Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, etc. all have their own app stores. These mobile phone stores are industry-leading in terms of both user volume and App recommendation mechanism. They can be used as the main promotion channel. It is necessary to pay attention to the download frequency every day, invest the most resources, and give priority to the first recommendation position.
Third-party application markets: such as App Store, Wandoujia, Baidu Mobile Assistant, 360 Mobile Assistant, etc. Third-party markets exist in major mobile phone brands and have a relatively high market share. They can be used as a secondary channel for App promotion and customer acquisition. Among them, those with large platforms for traffic diversion, such as Tencent App Store and Baidu Mobile Assistant, can also be used as primary channels.
Mobile software download sites: such as PC6 download site, Hiker software site, and friendly mobile site, can be used as general channels for App promotion and customer acquisition. Users only need to be able to search for them here. Since the traffic of these websites is relatively low, you don’t need to spend too much effort, but it is best to cover them all.
Quick Apps: If your product is more of an application, you can consider listing it on Android’s Quick Apps. Although the quick applications jointly created by nine domestic manufacturers last year failed to become a hit, they still have potential in the future as long as mobile phone manufacturers continue to work hard.
(2) Online alliance promotion
Points Wall: Various tasks are displayed in an app (such as download, registration, installation, etc.), and users can get virtual currency rewards by completing tasks on a page embedded with a points system. According to CPA (cost per action) billing, as long as the user completes the corresponding task, the developer can get a share of the profits. This method is effective but the retention effect is not particularly good.
Interstitial ads: Also known as inserted ads, they are actions that trigger full-screen/half-screen pop-ups or embeds when using an App or mini-program. They usually pop up in half-screen or full-screen form when the app is opened, paused, or exited. This form of advertising is often used in the mobile gaming field, and has good performance in click-through rate, conversion rate, and user activity.
Affiliate programs & agents: It is a form of buying traffic. If you settle by CPA, you need to grasp three points: materials, targeting, and price. It is best to agree on a KPI indicator with the other party, such as a 7-day retention rate of no less than a certain amount, or a 24-hour shopping rate of no less than a certain amount, etc. In this way, the quality of users is guaranteed, but you must also be wary of data fraud by advertisers.
Promotion by manipulating rankings: This type of promotion is an informal method, but it is very popular in China. Due to the closed nature of the iOS system, most Apple phone users will use the App Store to download apps, and Android users are now also beginning to use the app market. If your app can get to the top positions in the app market, it can certainly get more exposure and real downloads. However, in recent years, the supervision of app stores has become increasingly strict, and the cost of manipulating the rankings has also risen sharply. It is not recommended to use too many informal means of promotion.
Exchange traffic: You can exchange resources with apps of the same scale and similar user quality as your own, such as application markets, WeChat public accounts, apps and other platforms to divert traffic to each other. The main forms of cooperation are information sharing, event cooperation, focus picture recommendations, content cooperation, etc., but you must pay attention to careful research in advance and try not to collide with your competitors.
(3) New media operations
Nowadays, the new media on the Internet is still a red ocean. It is a common method for major companies to improve brand awareness and reputation through the operation of new media. There are several types of new media for reference in promoting apps:
Basic brand promotion: Establish encyclopedias or brand entries on search channels such as Baidu, 360, and Sogou. The sooner you do this, the better, as it is the most basic operation to establish a brand image. Then set up Q&A on question-and-answer platforms such as Baidu Knows, Soso Q&A, Sina iAsk, and Zhihu to increase brand popularity.
WeChat, Weibo, and Tik Tok: WeChat is still the largest traffic entry point for the mobile Internet. Weibo is still as popular as ever. Tik Tok, as a rising star, has occupied a large amount of people's time. You can achieve brand marketing by operating WeChat public accounts and mini-programs, Weibo topic marketing and KOL promotion, making creative Douyin videos, etc., and taking advantage of the traffic dividend of "two Weibo and one Douyin". At the same time, developing service accounts and mini-programs can also provide users with value-added services.
Industry vertical websites/post bars: Carry out targeted and precise operations based on the industry you are in. You can promote on forum websites or Baidu Post Bar related to your brand positioning, such as Ctrip, Autohome, Anjuke, and Lamama. These vertical platforms are characterized by high-quality users and high marketing value, but they are also the most picky. It is best to write some original experience posts and interactive marketing posts, and flexibly use posting, pinning, and top posts to bring in topics and traffic.
Zhihu, Penguin, Baijiahao, Toutiao, etc.: These public websites and self-media also have a certain exposure rate. Write some soft articles to guide users to download. Maybe an article can cater to hot topics, have high topicality or a high inclusion rate, bringing unexpected results.
Community operation: WeChat group, QQ group, Douban group, etc. The user labels of social groups are very clear, and they are also an important place where target users gather, but they are also very resistant to advertising. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate with the people in the group, or establish in-depth cooperation with the group owner, appropriately implant the brand, sink the promotion ideas, narrow the distance with potential users, and increase visibility.
(4) Online Advertising
Search channel: Search engine promotion is also called keyword bidding advertising. If you purchase keywords, your ads will be displayed first when users search for keywords. It is mainly divided into SEM and SEO. By spending money to buy information, studying the search engine's ranking and recommendation rules, etc., you can make your web pages comply with the search engine regulations as much as possible and make them rank higher. If done well, the exposure will be high, and the visiting traffic will all be potential users with needs and relatively accurate, so it is worth giving priority to your efforts.
Information flow advertising: Guangdiantong, Toutiao, NetEase News, Sina Fuyi, etc. Information feed ads are ads placed in the updates of social media users’ friends, or in the content streams of information media and audio-visual media. Information flow ads come in the form of pictures, graphics, texts, videos, etc. They are characterized by algorithm recommendations, native experience, and can be targeted through tags. The billing methods include CPM-cost per thousand impressions, CPC-cost per click, CPA-cost per action and CPS-cost per sales.
Online media advertising: Portal media include Sina, Tencent, Sohu, NetEase, etc.; vertical media include Huxiu, 36Kr, Chuangyebang, etc.; video media include Youku, iQiyi, Sohu, etc. Videos, articles or advertisements published or reported by these platforms are more likely to have an impact on online platforms and are a relatively good means for small and medium-sized enterprises to promote their brand strength.
Navigation advertising: hao123, 360 navigation, Sogou navigation, 2345 navigation, UC navigation, etc. Of course, the better the ad position, the more expensive it is. This method has a good traffic-attracting effect, but the conversion rate is average.
KOL marketing: refers to key opinion leaders, generally people who have a say in the industry, such as experts, internet celebrities, stars, etc. KOL is seen as a relatively new marketing tool that leverages the advantages of social media in terms of reach and influence. KOL’s fans are very loyal and identify with them in all aspects of values, so KOL’s recommendations, sharing, forwarding, etc. all carry a halo, but we must also pay attention to controlling the scale, as users are now smarter. Suitable for social platforms such as Weibo and WeChat.
(5) Offline advertising
Traditional media advertising: Television, radio, newspapers and magazines are collectively known as the four major traditional media. The advantage of this type of promotion is that it is more authoritative and credible than online advertising, can cover the mainstream population with a certain level of knowledge, and is relatively accurate in its delivery. The advertising channels are mainly selected based on the product's tone, such as interviews, public welfare, and sponsorships on CCTV and satellite TV; advertising space in financial and automotive magazines; advertising time on Auto FM and Music FM, etc.
Outdoor advertising: subways, buses, bus stations, elevators, city billboards, etc. The advantages are high exposure and strong segmentation effect. For example, elevator advertising in office buildings can cover white-collar workers very well; advertising at airports can cover high-end business people or travel enthusiasts.
Ground promotion: Traditional ground promotion methods such as setting up stalls, distributing flyers, and door-to-door sales are still effective. With the rise of O2O, many ground promotion methods combined with the Internet have also become popular. In recent years, emerging methods such as flash mobs, live broadcasts by internet celebrities, and roadshows have also been very effective. Nowadays, the cost of online promotion is getting higher and higher, and there are more and more fake traffic. Returning to the original offline promotion is also a good choice. The characteristic is that the quality of users acquired is relatively high, which is suitable for cultivating seed users in the early stage.
Cross-industry cooperative promotion: This model specifically includes offline mutual promotion, online cooperation, and brand alliance. For example, by cooperating with offline stores such as Meiyajia and McDonald's, you can scan the QR code to follow or download and register, and then receive consumption benefits in the store, which can effectively attract offline resources; online, such as the cooperation between Ele.me and Didi, the user attributes of both parties overlap, and there is no business conflict, and they can attract each other by sending coupons to each other. However, you should pay attention to cultivating user intimacy during the operation to avoid new users uninstalling the app after receiving their rewards.
How to implement effect backtracking
Effect backtracking refers to the digital statistics of the effects of the promotion process, and using this as a basis to summarize experience and periodically improve the promotion strategy to make the promotion effect better each time.
Technically speaking, it is nothing more than tracking the source of App channels. Since there are many Android application markets and they do not provide data statistics, tracking is usually achieved by using channel installation packages. That is, different channels are identified by channel packages with different channel identifiers. When users download the App through the channel, operators can view the relevant download data in the background.
Due to the closed nature of Apple's ecosystem, conventional packaging does not work on iOS, and it is often necessary to use vest packages, IDFA, etc. to count data from multiple channels.
These common operations can achieve the effect of channel source tracking, but the disadvantages are also obvious:
Android and iOS channel data are processed separately, and information integration is prone to errors;
Android assumes that multiple channels are deployed based on multiple dimensions, which requires multiple manual packaging, which is too inefficient and has the risk of packet capture;
iOS has too many restrictions, making it difficult to implement multi-channel statistics.
These are not the best solutions, especially for startups or products that want to seize the opportunity and promote and test the waters as soon as possible when all aspects are not perfect. The simplest and most direct way is to use the third-party channel statistics tool openinstall's package-free multi-channel statistics service. Using channel links instead of channel packages can solve the above problems.
Next, you can reasonably improve the promotion plan by screening relevant data indicators and analyzing the overall promotion effects of multiple channels and the promotion quality of a single channel.
When it comes to data analysis methods, there are usually two directions:
Calculate the average customer acquisition cost and the channel with the highest customer acquisition value based on the channel source, and then concentrate resources and increase investment;
Create labels based on user attributes, such as region, gender, occupation, age, income, etc., to find the most suitable delivery channel.
In addition, data analysis should also strengthen the optimization of each customer acquisition link, monitor the churn rate and conversion rate of each link in channel promotion, improve the links with problems, optimize the user experience, and lower the threshold for attracting new customers. Only in this way can we formulate the best scientific and reasonable promotion strategy.
Summarize
Promotion channels are complex and numerous. Promoters need to be as familiar as possible with the effectiveness of each communication channel, link multiple dimensions together, combine practical analysis, improve promotion strategies, think more and expand more, and achieve success through long-term accumulation.
author: Big City Small Things , authorized to be released by Qinggua Media .
