What are some tips for early stage promotion of startups?

1. First release

For startups, the first launch is definitely the most cost-effective means of promotion. Currently, except for Wandoujia , all mainstream domestic app stores support first launch applications and are all free of charge. The first launch data in the markets of 360 Mobile Assistant , App Store, Baidu Mobile Assistant , Xiaomi, Meizu, Huawei, and Oppo are very good. In addition, there are also first launch applications in markets such as Lenovo Wo Store, Weibo Application Center, Sogou Mobile Assistant, 91, and Anzhi, but compared with the previous markets, the data will be weaker. The application for the first launch basically needs to start one week in advance. The first launch in markets such as 360, App Store, Huawei, Lenovo Wo Store, and Anzhi needs to be applied for in the developer background. Other markets basically need to apply by email. The developer center of each market will have documents with detailed introductions.

Currently, the first launch is divided into two types: new product first launch and updated first launch. The first launch of a new product means that the product has not yet been launched on any Android channel . At this time, it is recommended to apply for the first launch in several major markets such as 360, App Store, Xiaomi and Baidu. For the first launch of a new product, the threshold of each market will be relatively low; the first launch of an updated version refers to the first launch every time the version is updated. In order to increase the probability of passing, you can apply for the first launch in more markets.

2. Special topic application

In addition to the first release, each app store also has a special application for this free resource. Currently, Meizu, Xiaomi, Huawei, Sogou Mobile Assistant, and Lenovo Wo Store have special topic applications every week. The topics of Meizu, Xiaomi, and Sogou Mobile Assistant are applied for in the developer forum and announced in advance in the developer QQ group every week. The topics of Huawei and Lenovo Wo Store are applied for in the developer background. What a topic generally focuses on is the quality of the product and its fit with the topic.

3. Self-recommendation of new products

The third free resource of the App Store is the self-recommendation of new products. Meizu, Xiaomi, 360, and Huawei all have new product self-recommendation applications. If you are not accepted once, you can apply multiple times. In fact, editors of OPPO, Xiaomi, Huawei, etc. will also choose products with better quality and give them certain recommendation positions, and the positions are generally quite good, and the effect is obvious.

In addition, Zuimei App, DEMO8, etc. also have product recommendation modules. As long as the product is unique and interesting, you can apply.

4. WeChat / Weibo mutual promotion

Basically, many entrepreneurial teams have their own Weibo and WeChat, or other online media resources. They can try to promote each other with other brands on Weibo/WeChat. There are also such mutual promotion QQ groups, and you can directly find mutual promotion partners in such groups. After all, mutual promotion is free, and continuous accumulation can also bring a certain amount.

5. Vertical media submission

Contributions to vertical media are more inclined towards PR, but the effect of a recommendation to a large vertical media is still very good, especially since it can be seen by more people in the industry and investors . Currently, you can submit articles or apply for project coverage on 36Kr, Huxiu, Lieyun.com , and Chuangyebang.com . In order to increase the chance of coverage, you can also ask friends to introduce reporters and editors of these media.

The above are the more common free resources in the market. They are fair to every developer and there is a good chance of obtaining them . Some of the following methods are paid means, and some involve certain data confidentiality, so the data will not be fully disclosed. If you are interested, you can communicate privately.

6. Ranking manipulation

The practice of manipulating the Android market 's rankings has a long history. It was rampant in 2012 and 2013 and the effects were indeed very significant. However, the effects of manipulating the rankings have weakened a lot now. Currently, there are some ranking companies that can make classified rankings for 91, Android, 360, Xiaomi, and OPPO. Compared with other channels, ranking manipulation is still a cost-effective method. However, there is basically no volume for 91 and Android. If a ranking manipulation company asks you to manipulate the rankings for these two markets, don't consider it. The ranking manipulation effect for markets such as 360, Xiaomi, and OPPO is still good. Basically, the cost of a single activation can be controlled at around 1 yuan, and they are natural users of the application market . It is still very cost-effective. However, major markets have also strengthened monitoring of ranking manipulation, volume manipulation, and comment manipulation, and there is still a certain risk.

There are many companies that can make category rankings in the Appstore , but the prices are much higher. Basically, the top 100 in a category will cost more than 10,000 yuan. But in fact, for products around the top 100 in a category, the natural activations per day for products that are not very famous or that do not attract a lot of traffic are only around 1,000 to 1,500. The cost is very high, especially since it is difficult to maintain the rankings if the number of new additions cannot keep up. Therefore, ranking manipulation on the iOS side is really for rich people.

7. Weibo celebrities

The earliest promotion by Weibo celebrities was probably from January to November last year, when @同道大叔promoted his own app 陪我. Through his personal Weibo alone, the number of activations in a month was close to 300,000. After that, many apps started trying to promote on Weibo . The earliest form was the Weibo nine-square grid , which means that 9 apps could be united, some app introduction-type Weibo posts could be found (such as @app菌), and then some big accounts could be found to repost (such as @微博搞笑排行榜, @英国报姐, etc.). There are several apps that have achieved one million activations thanks to the initial Weibo promotion. In December 2014, they broke the record. In February 2015, for the products that attract a lot of traffic, the activation rate is basically within 50 cents per activation, and the better ones are only 2-30 cents. The general fee for a refund is 2-3k, but the activation rate is 4-5k. Products like tools , women's products, and video reading products can even increase 8-10k activations per activation. In addition, the users brought by Weibo promotion are all downloaded through search in the app market, which directly drives the ranking of the app market. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Once any channel becomes popular, it will be flooded with various CPs, and Weibo is no exception. As the prices of major bloggers continue to rise, Weibo officials have also stepped up monitoring and blocking of such Weibo posts. Currently, many bloggers can only do micro-tasks. At the same time, fans are becoming more and more aware of ads, and Weibo's popularity has been declining. Currently, the effectiveness of Weibo is much lower. Although it is much lower, from a cost perspective, it is still one of the most cost-effective paid channels.

8. ASO Optimization​

ASO is one of the most popular promotion methods at present, but for companies in the early stages of their business, you can make some attempts but don’t invest too much energy in it. Of course, it doesn’t mean that the effect is not great, but that the cost is relatively high for small CPs. ASO is mainly to improve the ranking of your app under various keywords , but the current popular keywords are basically monopolized by wealthy tycoons. To give a simple example, for a social product, if you want users to find your app when searching for " Momo ", and you can rank 2-5 for the keyword Momo, it is a very high position. However, for an ordinary social product to achieve this position, it will cost at least 20,000 yuan to find a company that specializes in ASO, and it is charged on a daily basis. But what proportion of users who actually search for Momo every day will slide down to download our app? In addition to keyword rankings, another type of ASO is hot searches. The price of hot searches is currently around 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. For products that attract a lot of traffic, it is still good, but for products with low popularity, don’t consider it in the early stages.

In fact, the clicks and downloads under a certain keyword are very helpful for ASO, so entrepreneurs can also choose some niche words, optimize them themselves, and improve their rankings.

9. Exchange

Exchange volume is currently a more common promotion method . With so many products, if each one can exchange a little bit with each other, it will be a huge amount. Entrepreneurs can find products that suit their target groups to exchange volume themselves, or they can connect to platforms such as 360 and join the volume exchange alliance. Some entrepreneurs may feel that the scale of their products is too small. At this time, they can adopt the route of attacking Wei to save Zhao. For example, Product A can bring us 10,000 units, but we can only bring 3,000 units of Product A. Then you can find other channels to buy the remaining 7,000 units, thus achieving the one-to-one exchange requirement.

There is also another unconventional way. Many large apps have built-in application recommendation positions . You can buy such recommendation positions from your friends in these companies. This will bring in good quality users and certain discounts (please understand the specific method yourself to avoid unnecessary trouble).

10. Vertical Forum

Large vertical forums currently retain a certain amount of traffic and users, and user activity is high, making them a good channel for entrepreneurs in the early stages. For example, in Douban groups and Tieba , you can send private messages to group leaders, bar owners, etc., you can pin posts or organize activities, and the cost is not high, but the number of users brought in will not be particularly large.

11. Alliance / Advertising Platform

Online alliances are a mixed bag of channels, including point walls , lock screens, silent channels, PUSH, interstitials, market recommendation slots, etc. There are few market recommendation slots, but the quality of users is good, so they can be considered in the early stages of entrepreneurship. Other types of channels are numerous, but the quality of users is low. In order to complete their KPIs , many companies will go to this step. For general alliance networks, the activation fee is around 1.5 and the registration fee is around 2.5. There are many channel promotion QQ groups that you can join (search keywords such as Internet, mobile Internet , Internet business, etc. in QQ groups), and there are also channel websites, such as CPA Home, etc., where you can post messages. Basically, dozens of companies will contact you every day, and you can choose the best one.

Youmi, Baidu Alliance, Google Adsense, etc. are also currently well-known online alliances, but most of them charge by click. In the early stages of starting a business, it is better to choose to charge by CPA.

When I say advertising platforms, I generally only refer to major platforms or products with extremely high daily active users, such as Tencent's Guangdiantong , Weibo's Fanstong , and Toutiao 's advertising system. Now Momo has also opened an advertising system. The cost of this type is slightly higher than the previous ones.

12. Campus promotion

Campus marketing has been talked about a lot by many people, but many people have not talked about the actual method of promoting at a lower price. There are two types of ground promotion. One is to set up a promotion point in the school, which is more nicely called a roadshow. This requires a venue. In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the venue fee for one day is basically 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, and the number of registrations brought by a roadshow is only two or three hundred. The cost is relatively high, but the brand promotion is good, at least half of the school knows you.

Another way is to go door-to-door, which is to find students and clubs and ask them to directly invite people to download and register, or to promote the app in dormitories and classrooms. The price of such products in Beijing and Shanghai has reached over 6 yuan, so it is not recommended. However, in other second-tier cities, the cost can still be controlled at 4-4.5 yuan per real registration. Let me talk about the simplest method. Find a few students to work part-time as building sweepers in the boys' dormitory. Give a bottle of Coke or instant noodles to each downloader (the cost is only 2 yuan). In this way, basically more than 60% of the boys will download it. If one person sweeps several buildings every day, there will be hundreds of registrations. You can pay this part-time worker 150 a day, but you must sweep 2 buildings and have at least 100 people downloading. This way the cost will not be very high. All in all, one registration will be between 3.5 and 4.5. Other campus cooperation such as club sponsorship can be put aside for the time being. It is better to distribute brochures. The printing cost of 1,000 brochures (color A5, double-sided) is only 60 yuan, and the distribution fee is 80 yuan. If the brochure design is good, the effect will be good.

In addition to these 12 promotion channels , there are actually some other good methods. Of course, there are some other promotion methods, such as application markets and search platforms, but for us in the early stages of entrepreneurship, they are undoubtedly not particularly suitable; even the above methods may not be suitable for every product. All good channels are tested. The more you do and the more money you spend, the more you understand.

This article is from @Zhihu and compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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