How to promote apps overseas through content marketing?

Between July and December 2018, the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) in the advertising market increased by 37%, undermining core advertising channels for many companies. Sandra Wu, paid content marketing team leader at 8fit and Blinkist, said that app marketers must diversify their user acquisition channels and master the skills to drive growth through native content advertising if they want to achieve their full-year goals.

So, how can you use native content advertising to achieve stable and measurable user growth?

1. What are native content ads?

Native content advertising is the process of inserting paid articles about products on other media websites. Because users who are willing to spend time reading a 700-word app introduction are more likely to become subscribers and are more likely to talk about these apps with their friends.

Compared to Facebook ads, native ads can reduce CPC by 50% and increase LTV by 11%. Please see the figure below for details.

2. Start with the four articles that best demonstrate the value of your product

For example, Blinkist collects ideas from non-fiction books, so their main value prop is gaining knowledge from books. The best performing articles in these books include "Reading Habits of Top Successful People" and "Five Books That Change Your Life".

3. Develop strategy based on human resources – don’t try to do everything at once

Before expanding to new platforms, a one-person user acquisition team can only optimize articles on Facebook in the initial stage. Once you have a small team, you can start trying other channels, such as Revcontent and Plista.

4. Don’t focus too much on all the metrics – CTR, registration rate and purchase rate are the three core ones

Native ads naturally have higher click-through rates, but if the article lacks the value support of the product, the other two core indicators will suffer. At all times, it is very necessary to keep more than two-thirds of the indicators healthy.

5. Avoid being a “clickbait” and use titles to attract top users

Compare two headlines, the first one is "Five tips for a relaxing holiday in the Alps" and the second one is "Mountaineering apps you need for your holiday in the Alps".

The first one had a 30% click-through rate, but it lacked staying power and only attracted non-mountaineering enthusiasts. The second one saw a 200% increase in sign-up rates, which led to even higher purchase rates.

6. Exercise patience and set clear expectations with executives

It may take several months to see results from native content ads, so make sure your content and leadership teams are aware of this before you launch.

Don’t try native advertising if you don’t have healthy buy-in rates on other channels. If you can’t accept the price fluctuations of Facebook or Instagram, you can spread your paid advertising to platforms such as Twitter and Pinterest.

7. Pitch it to your boss as a combination of paid advertising and organic growth strategies

Although native content is primarily paid advertising, there is still an opportunity to see growth and explosion in organic rankings. Once brands have the opportunity to appear in front of a larger audience, PR problems will also improve.

You can use AccuRanker to integrate paid content into your SEO strategy, track rankings, and build support for an ongoing organic content budget.

Source: White Whale Out to Sea