7 major trends in mobile app marketing and promotion in 2019!

In today's mature application market, consumers are more cautious in choosing the applications they commonly use in their lives. Data from market research firm App Annie shows that consumers use an average of only 10 apps a day and regularly uninstall those they no longer use. As the competition for users becomes increasingly fierce, mobile app marketers must continue to understand this complex and changing industry and respond to new opportunities with mature strategies.

Recently, Headway Digital, a world-renowned consulting firm, has worked with major brands to complete the 2019 mobile app marketing strategy planning.

Here are the top 7 mobile marketing trends for 2019:

1. Increased transparency will boost programmatic mobile app advertising

2018 may go down in history as the year of ad fraud. Marketers have gradually become aware of some of the shortcomings in the industry, and many scandals have been exposed one after another. In 2018, a year marked by a spate of fraud incidents, nearly every mobile marketing conference had a panel discussing the issue, and as a result, transparency in mobile advertising increased significantly. Among them, the improvement in programmatic advertising is particularly significant. There is growing consensus that programmatic advertising will be an effective way to reduce ad fraud. As this trend continues, more marketers will transition to using programmatic advertising for in-app bidding, with full transparency into the name of the website or app where their ads appear becoming standard.

2. Further segmentation of market positioning and audience groups

The more competition there is in the mobile market, the more app marketers need to launch smarter, more integrated campaigns. In 2019, strategic positioning and market segmentation will become more refined, and the use of second- and third-party data tools will become more effective. AI-based smart targeting tools will improve marketers’ ability to reach potential audiences. Better targeting not only improves marketing effectiveness, but also improves the marketing experience for end users, who will see more relevant ads that match their specific interest preferences.

3. Advertising materials will become more creative

In 2019, people will pay more attention to new creative models, especially interactive and incentivized advertising models. If done right, playable and game-style ads can also spark user curiosity, allowing marketers to show users the most compelling aspects of their app without having to solve the installation problem first. Short video ads have also been gaining popularity over the past few months, with 87% of online marketers reporting that they use video content in their marketing strategies. It looks like this trend will continue to gain momentum in 2019.

4. Higher attribution standards

Marketers are increasingly enthusiastic about advertising transparency and are pushing for attribution standards to improve further. In 2019, multimedia product presentation systems (MMPs) will be tasked with easing access (i.e., less fees) to multi-touch attributes and custom attribute windows. Multi-touch attribution, especially VTA+CTA, not only gives marketers better insight into the entire user experience, but also provides a powerful mechanism to reduce ad fraud. For example, by tracking the ratio of assisted and attributed installs and observing unusual attribution distribution patterns, marketers can easily spot the presence of bad actors in their attribution environment. While there is no silver bullet, multimedia product display systems must adapt to market demands and provide marketers with the tools and protections they increasingly need.

5. Reliance on outsourcing and external experts will increase

Currently, the application market is large and chaotic. The number of apps in Apple's App Store has exceeded 5 million, while the number of apps in Google's Google Play has also reached 5 million. App marketers are working hard to break through the clutter. As app tools and strategies become increasingly complex and data-driven, more and more app developers are turning to external experts and agencies to manage promotion channels such as payment, ASO optimization, retargeting, and analytics. In addition, app developers are turning to smaller app stores such as Amazon Appstore, GetJar, Appolicious, and the Samsung store as a channel to reach new users. These new users are more willing to explore and try out new apps in app stores other than the App Store and Google Play.

6. Game app developers will pay more attention to emerging markets and female users

Game application developers are often the first to enter emerging markets to compete for market share and seize development opportunities. According to a recent report released by market analysis agencies Newzoo and Headway, the Latin American game market grew by 20% in 2018, becoming the fifth largest game market in the world. In addition, female players have emerged as a new force. As of 2018, the number of female mobile gamers has grown to 65% of the total female population in the United States. More importantly, compared with male users, women are 79% more likely to make in-app purchases when playing mobile games. Therefore, the female group has become a "piece of fat meat" that major application developers are competing for. As women prefer games with strong core characters, communities, and lots of customization, these game features will become a major trend as developers begin to fully develop games and apps with women's thinking in mind.

7. The growing importance of influencers in mobile gaming

Mobile app marketers have begun to recognize the value of influencers and use them to promote their apps to new users. In 2019, the influencer industry will move towards quality rather than quantity. While influencer recommendations have proven to be effective in encouraging users to download games at a faster rate, as paid influencer livestreams become more common, app marketers will have to work harder to build strong partnerships with strategic influencers. In turn, these strategic influencers can develop more authentic promotional strategies for their user base. Influencer marketing strategies will focus more on building long-term relationships with a small number of targeted influencers and quantifying those results.

Source: White Whale Out to Sea