Full-cycle solution for APP promotion, from product positioning to effect monitoring!

Every time I write something, the two most troublesome parts are: one is the title, and the other is the opening paragraph. Because when it comes to the output of content, it can be said without hesitation that it is out of selfish motives. I think it is necessary to take some time to organize and summarize at each stage. Since it is a summary, there is no need to write those "weird words". However, I couldn’t resist the desire to show off as a young boy and wanted to share it with everyone. On the one hand, you can hear different voices, and on the other hand, it can force yourself to pay attention and think better.

The Internet Conference held in Wuzhen has just passed. Today, when everyone is optimistic about the Internet, one problem we have to face is that the competition for App promotion is becoming increasingly fierce! Recently, I chatted with some friends and realized more deeply how difficult it is for traditional industries to transform into Internet products and promote them in the mid- and late-stages. After a period of exploration, our own products are gradually getting on the right track. Combined with what has been mentioned above, this is a summary of the operation and promotion of the APP. Since what I say may not be correct, and no one can think for you, just think of it as my own suggestion.

Okay, enough nonsense, here is a simple directory:

1. Product positioning

2. Competitive product analysis

3. Market analysis

4. Promotion plan

5. Effect monitoring

6. Stable optimization

Let me simply divide it into these 6 major sections. I personally think that as an ordinary CP, it is ok to basically achieve these. If you want to be promoted to a higher level, you may also need to consider team structure, performance appraisal, and team management. . . . . These are beyond my current capabilities, so I won't try to teach them to you.

1. Product positioning

I have such thoughts thanks to some inspiration I got from reading "The Lean Startup " in my early days and some understanding of products when I was involved in the product team in the early stage of its establishment. Product managers will think more deeply about which groups of people’s needs a product needs to satisfy, that is, all issues should be considered from the perspective of needs. Well, we should do the same for operating cats. Clear product positioning and target user positioning are the cornerstones of operation and promotion. In my opinion, all promotions are centered around them, which requires us to pay attention to the following points:

1. Product classification in the market

When submitting an APP in the developer backend, you must think clearly about which category your product belongs to. From the distribution chart of new applications added by Xiaomi in the first half of 2015, it is not difficult to see that the market has many categories, and the number of new APPs in each category is also increasing. What is more intuitive is that the degree of competition incentives in different categories is also different! However, no matter how competitive the competition is, you should keep your products in the same category and don’t switch back and forth. Otherwise, you may end up with the following situation:

2. Target user analysis

We talked about categories before. In fact, in each category there is not only competition but also users with different preferences. Common user characteristics include: age, gender, interests and hobbies, personality traits, etc. On the one hand, building user portraits can help you better cater to the needs of your product audience during promotion, thereby acquiring high-quality users and continuously improving and iterating your product. On the other hand, it is also about understanding the market, which will be discussed in the following market analysis.

2. Competitive product analysis

As the saying goes: "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat." When doing competitive analysis, the focus of the product may be on UI interaction, functionality, etc. In addition to this, operations also need to pay attention to the following aspects of competing products:

(There are certainly other aspects, but let’s just mention these four for now.)

1. Product market positioning

2. Target group of the product

3. Operation and promotion plan and strategy

4. Market Data

Take our own product 'WiFi Spy' as an example, it is a WiFi tool product. In fact, there are already countless of them in the market, and the master key that everyone knows is a giant. But the existence of such giants also means that you will have the opportunity to grow by standing on the shoulders of giants. At this time, because your own keywords are not included in Baidu, you can use the Baidu Index to look at some of the data of your competitors. On the one hand, these data can help you understand the characteristics of the audience you are about to face. On the other hand, you can record the time period of the historical peak and collect whether they have done corresponding activities on online media channels or social channels during that period. If you can find them, you can continue to analyze the forms of their activities, etc., and then reserve experience for the next activities of your own products. The market data mentioned here refers to some data from the app store , such as the download volume, number of reviews, star rating, etc. of competitors in each market. These actually reflect how much they value this market. What other reasons are there for liking a certain market, besides the huge volume it brings? You have to believe that everything you are going to do next may have been figured out by your predecessors. To improve your work efficiency, spend some time to see how others do it.

It’s just a simple little picture, I won’t go into details!

3. Market Analysis

I believe everyone is becoming more and more familiar with how to do keyword optimization, or ASO , in the App Store. So what are the rules of many domestic application markets ? Will copying Apple's approach still work? Everyone has many questions. In fact, I am just like everyone else and have many puzzles. But this does not prevent us from briefly talking about the domestic market.

To a certain extent, the rules need to be in the hands of a certain group of people. I believe that whether in the domestic market or the App Store, there must be some people who are quite familiar with its rules, but this does not mean that every team or individual has sufficient reasons and motivations to share for free! Apart from leaking some business secrets, in my opinion, on the one hand it can help the company's products to continue to develop, and on the other hand this barrier also makes competition more fair. After all, it is shameful to get something without working for it. Only by paying can you get something.

So what else is there to talk about without talking about algorithms? Based on my experience, Zimu will briefly talk about the characteristics of several domestic markets.

Xiaomi Market:

Among many markets, it is a conscientious market that attaches more importance to user experience. The overall design is concise and the classification is clear. Keywords can be set in the background. As long as there is a position to be ranked at the front, there will definitely be volume. As for the quantity and quality, you can look at the user reviews on Xiaomi Market and the device statistics on Umeng . As long as you study carefully, it is still possible to get free recommendations for high-quality products in the category.

360 Market:

Forgive me for telling you, but don’t think about position without quantity. Similarly, if there is no space, don’t even think about measuring. Just by looking at the volume of the products at the top of the list, you should understand that this is a market that depends on volume! Take your time.

Baidu Market:

There are a lot of activities, a lot of publicity and support. Recently, we have changed the backend to cooperate with the general trend. Thank God! Keywords in this market are very important, and we must believe that their ability to search on PC is also applicable to mobile devices. It is a blessing to be labeled with a good and correct label! In addition, according to internal data, the user profile of Baidu Mobile Assistant is mostly males aged 20-25, mainly distributed in large, medium and small cities, and tend to be losers.

Note: Please make good use of Baidu Index.

App treasure :

It is a very strict market, and it is said that it is impossible to optimize by download volume and ranking. It is worth mentioning that high-quality comments can be ranked at the front without time constraints, so hurry up and take action with keywords, and remember to like it! In addition, tools like micro-download have already entered the 2.0 era, and many people are still guiding users on WeChat to switch to their built-in browsers to download apps. If you don’t know, go research it now!

Pea Pods :

"Don't call me App Market, or I'll get angry with you." Search this article to see how Wandoujia tells you what sentiment is.

Oppo:

If you share the same understanding as me: female users will choose OPPO phones more often. Then please think about whether the product positioning and target users are here!

Meizu:

Contrary to OPPO, most of the users of Meizu phones are male users. So, based on the points that the target users need to analyze, can some of Meizu's data bring value to you? Just a few words to start a discussion. Think about it yourself.

That’s all I have to say about market analysis for now. There may not be as much practical information as you expect, and some parts are not detailed enough. If you want to discuss in depth, please make an appointment with me privately and bring the "practical information" you know.

Four: Promotion plan

In another article I wrote called "ASO Integrated Marketing ", I mentioned: "The core of promotion is strategy. What operational promotion needs to do is to integrate resources and then maximize the use of resources." In layman's terms, when fighting with the enemy, after a set of combined punches, there must be a fatal blow if you want to win! Promotion requires a multi-faceted approach, trying every conceivable avenue and method, constant trial and error analysis, waiting for an explosion, fighting your way through numerous channels, and winning with the last move!

So how do you develop a promotion plan? Provide the following ideas:

1. Set promotion goals

2. Develop a promotion plan

3. Calculate the promotion budget

About the goal:

Simply put, why do you do it? How to do it? What is needed when doing it! In my opinion, this is the manifestation of the unity of knowledge and action. In most cases, many friends know how to do something, but don’t know why they should do it; or they know why they should do it, but don’t know how to do it. But I think the former is more terrible, so never do things aimlessly. (What a nice bowl of chicken soup...)

About the promotion plan

“Promotion is by no means something that can be achieved overnight. Although in real life we ​​are often pressured by KPIs and other factors to achieve quick success, we have to admit that ASO optimization will accompany the entire life cycle of the product and is closely related to product operations !” Important words, say it twice. Since it cannot be achieved overnight, a promotion plan should be formulated according to the purpose and important time points should be grasped.

Two major online promotion channels: 1. Various stores that can submit APKs; 2. Online media channels; 3. Social channels. I am still learning about channels 2 and 3. I would like to ask my friends for advice!

Phase 1:

A: Use a table to organize the channels for launching products, and familiarize yourself with the rules of mainstream stores one by one. On the one hand, many enthusiastic partners have provided this information for reference, and on the other hand, there are corresponding rules in the developer background. Must see! Here is a little tip for you when searching for documents on Baidu.

B: Preparation of various online materials, such as screenshots, software, etc.

C: Product launch, record the differences in the backend of each store developer. For example, Xiaomi needs to submit keywords. Existence is reasonable, this is the key analysis.

D: Use a table to record the daily ranking changes and download volume for each market.

Phase 2:

A: Based on the previous competitive product analysis, propose hypotheses and prepare for quantitative testing.

B: Collect and understand as much as possible about third-party channels, and keep records.

C: Develop a paid promotion plan based on previous records and analysis.

Paid promotion:

1. Offers Wall

2. Ranking manipulation

3. Guangdiantong , Fanstong, etc.

Phase 3:

At this point, the product has been launched and has generated a certain amount of natural downloads, and you can see the real response from each market. Based on these responses and what you did in the second phase, you should start to consider optimizing rankings and increasing downloads. At this time, the choice of which market to start from depends on your data records (rankings, classifications) in the first stage and your understanding of competitive product analysis and channels in the second stage. Because calculating the promotion budget is based on the understanding of the channels. If you want high cost-effectiveness, you have to spend some money. I won’t talk about things like points wall and Guangdiantong, but I will talk about some details that shouldn’t be mentioned.

Whether it is inflating the volume or inflating the rankings, these are some of the unspoken rules in the industry. Each channel has its own method, and the only way to distinguish the good from the bad is to try more. Note the following points:

1. Real users (although I know very few)

2. Have experience and be able to control risks.

3. It can be operated in different time periods 24 hours a day, and the reason is self-evident.

4. Ways to brush the rankings (machine brushing, server brushing, point wall import)

In addition, the following forms are common. You can judge for yourself which one is better.

1. One-shot flow

This category means that after the first wave of promotion is over, it is simply concluded that there is no effect and then subsequent operations are stopped. If you want to eat a fat man in one bite, you will make things difficult for yourself.

2. Burst flow

“I heard that doing this can bring in volume immediately.” Then a wave of volume was immediately arranged. The data showed that there were hundreds of volumes on weekdays, but suddenly there were tens of thousands in a few days, and then it dropped again. Why did it fall down? He found that there was no change, just like the flow of a pole. This not only makes the background data curve difficult to interpret, but also makes it impossible to find patterns.

3. New version flow

Version 2.0 is about to be launched, please push it quickly. Incorporating important timings is the right idea. But, do you just want to have fun once?

4. Steady flow

Comprehensively analyze competitors, products, markets, etc., and conduct long-term quantitative analysis by channel. Observe the changes in different markets at different stages and at different scales, record data, and look for rules. Make the background data look realistic!

5. Brainless ECG Flow

Generally, they do not consider the long term, and it is a combination of 1.2.3.

That’s all I have to share about the promotion plan. In fact, there are many tables in the actual organization. Many friends may think that those tables are the real stuff. The reason I didn’t share them is because I think it’s better to teach people how to fish. As a smart person, you must know what to do next. Quickly complete a plan in minutes to apply for the funds.

Five: Effect monitoring + stable optimization

The so-called effect monitoring is actually data recording and data analysis . I won’t tell you that I have been recording the daily ranking changes and download volumes since the APP was launched. Isn’t operation a meticulous job? Stable optimization, take your time if you don’t have money!

You can start from the following aspects:

1. Ranking: Category ranking + keyword ranking

2. Downloads

3. Activation volume

4. Registrations

5. Pay

Let's focus on monitoring rankings and download volumes. If you don't keep records, you may not know why the number of downloads suddenly increased today because there is no historical reference. Since optimization is essentially about location and display, why don’t you record it? Regarding the data changes of activated, registered, and paying users, it depends on the product. Finally, I'll end with a picture...

Final Thoughts

Market changes are like weather changes, unpredictable and no one can broadcast them in time. When data and experience accumulate to a certain level, the overall strategy is actually mastered. All year round, spring, summer, autumn and winter, let's move forward together