How To Successfully Market Your Small Business App

Apps for small businesses can boost conversions and sales while raising awareness of your brand.

However the total number of mobile app downloads in 2017 was 178.1 billion. And with this amount of competition, your business must ask the question “how do I market my app effectively?”

This is key because, while mobile apps can totally work in your favor, your small business app must be marketed from the correct angle that focuses on your target consumer base.

Let’s take a look at a few ways to do this.

Make Sure You Generate Positive Reviews

Before we download an app, one thing most of us do is check the reviews. If the reviews are poor, we probably won’t download the app in question. If the reviews are generally favorable? We’ll go ahead and download it.

While you’re ultimately not in control of who leaves reviews, you can generate more positive ones by ensuring that your app gives your customers what they want.

This first of all means that your app has a great UI and is easy to use. An app that is hard to use right from the start will not encourage engagement and likely generate negative reviews.

According to research highlighted by Small Biz Trends, customers want mobile coupons, loyalty programs and solid customer service from an app. 46% of customers also say they want an app to send them push notifications.

Once you know what your customers want from a typical mobile app, it’s much easier to boost engagement. Once engagement is high, it’s highly likely that your app will receive more positive reviews.

Positive reviews are excellent for marketing, and because Google uses them as a ranking factor, they’re also good for SEO purposes, too.
 

Utilize Guest Blogging

It’s been four years since Matt Cutts said that guest blogging is dead. But guest blogging is still going strong.

Guest blogging involves you writing and publishing an article on a high-traffic website in your niche. The aim is to improve awareness of your brand - and app - while positioning yourself as an expert.

Guest blogging works because it exposes you to a wider audience and helps to build your online presence. The more known you are, and the more your business is seen as an authority in your field, the easier it will be to encourage downloads of your app.

While the end goal is more app downloads, it’s important that your blogs are not salesy. Instead, focus on building relationships with people by offering lots of value to the community by solving problems and answering questions. Educate, inform, engage and - when the time is right - promote.

Try Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is when you target an influencer in your niche, and reach out to them about your app. Show them how it works and how it’s going to benefit them and their audience. If they like it enough and can see the value it offers to their audience, there’s every chance they’ll not only try it, they’ll also review it and share it with their following.

Influencer marketing works because - like guest blogging - it puts your app in front of a bigger audience. Even better, it automatically gives your app a heap more credibility because a well-respected influencer has just vouched for it.

To find influencers in your niche, there are lots of influencer marketing tools you can use. Once you’ve identified your influencers, either reach out to them via email or DM, or first work on building a relationship with them and making yourself known by engaging on their social media posts.

Once you do send them a message, make it personable and friendly, and make it about them and what your app can do for them and their audience as much as possible.

Work on Your Brand

If there’s a powerful brand behind your app, it becomes so much easier to market it. Brands - as opposed to the app itself - are what people recognize. Brands become familiar to us, and we see our values reflected in them.

It’s important that you first work on your brand before you launch your app. Once you’ve got a solid brand that’s consistent across all your channels, including your colors, voice and message, marketing your app will become a lot easier. This all begins with your logo.

Every brand must have an eye-catching logo that resonates with their target audience, and which captures their values. If you haven’t yet created a logo, you can use a logo marker tool like Hatchful to make a start.

Don’t Forget Email Marketing

Email marketing remains a force to be reckoned with, especially for smaller businesses. With well over 281 billion emails sent out each day, it’s a great way to market your app.

Moreover, everyone who is on your email list chose to opt-in for a reason - they’re interested in your brand. This means there’s a good chance they’ll be interested in your app, too.

Introduce your app via an email marketing strategy. Of course, not everyone who receives the email will automatically convert straight away, and you’ll need to work out a strategy that encourages more downloads. Perhaps you could offer an introductory price for a week or so, and maybe you can segment your list to get better results. Perform split tests too and crunch your data. Don’t underestimate retargeting, too.

Conclusion

These are 5 ways to successfully market your small business app. If the app gives people what they want, the positive reviews will come. To increase more downloads, level-up your influencer and email marketing games, launch a guest blogging campaign and work on your branding.