6 Powerful Tactics to Promote Mobile Apps for Free

Are you looking for ways to promote your mobile apps for free? We’ve rounded up a few cohesive strategies, which you can include to market your mobile app.

6 Powerful Tactics to Promote Mobile Apps for Free

Have you just finished the creation of the perfect mobile app for your startup business or client?

If yes, bravo!

But I’m about to burst your bubble; only half of the work is finished.

The second half of the work is to let the world know about your mobile app.

If you thought developing your app was a challenge — wait until you see the competition in the app stores. On the following graph by Statista, Android users were able to choose between 2.1 million apps. And, Apple’s App Store remained the second largest app store with almost 1.8 million available apps.

statista app store chart

The bottom line is that there is an abundance of mobile apps launched in a year. Naturally, there is severe competition in the two leading app stores i.e. Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

To promote your mobile apps effectively, you need to follow the strategies outlined in this post to increase visibility across App Stores.

Being a startup, entrepreneur or marketer, if you want to increase the reach and visibility of your app, follow this step-by-step process in order to save your time and money when promoting your mobile apps.

 

6 Strategies to Consider Promoting Your Mobile Apps for Free

Here are a few powerful strategies that can be used to market your app without spending a penny. By following these strategies, your app will absolutely be discovered across all major App Stores, over the long term. Let’s dive right in.

 

1. App Store Optimization (ASO)

With over 2 million apps are already in the major App Stores, and getting your app is discovered and recognized is one of the major barriers. Initially, to level up your mobile app, you need to focus on App Store Optimization (ASO), which is often overlooked by many.

According to the graph below,

“Nearly 60% to 70% of app discovery and installs happen by performing searches on the major app store like Google Play and Apple’s App Store.”

app discovery chart

 

On top of that, mobile apps are discovered using “search” more than any other method. This is the only surefire way to get mobile application discovered.

For higher ranking of an app, there is no other substitute in the app store search. You can’t rely on the chance that your app will get featured in the top category results without making extra efforts.

If you want to achieve “holistic” ranking, then you need to focus on the following factors:

  • Use relevant keywords
  • The keywords must be in titles & descriptions
  • Elements of the App Optimization –

 

    • Image
    • Name of the App
    • Name of the Company
    • Price
    • Ratings

 

The elements of the App Optimization have covered by one of the few popular apps like PUBG Mobile, Candy Crush Saga in the Google Play Store. This is what you can see in the below image.

app optimization

 

2. Mobile App Branding

The next strategy is branding, which is defined as a set of marketing and psychological techniques, plus steps to promote a product, persona, and service.

Before starting branding for your mobile app, it is important to answer the following questions:

  • Who is going to use your application and why they are going to use it?
  • What would be the look of your app?
  • What is the message behind your app?
  • What is the tone and voice of your app?
  • How will users get information about the app?

In app branding, here are a few important factors to consider outshining your mobile app across major App Stores:

  • Attractive App Icon: The core element of branding is the app icon. An attractive app icon can easily gain attention. The slick icons can increase the chances of enabling app users to download and access your mobile application. Make sure the app icon must be colorful, alluring, and clickable.

  • Caption: It is important to let people know about what your mobile app does with only one line. This is one of the easiest ways of reminding your users to know the core functions of your mobile app. It must be that easy as people on-the-go can acknowledge your app.

 

  • Demo Videos: For branding, demo videos can be a strong medium. Or, we can say that the demo videos can play an important role in branding. A powerful and well-composed demo video can be the most convincing tool for promotion of your mobile app.

 

3. Microsite for App 

In marketing, using a microsite as an asset to promote mobile apps for small businesses is a necessity. Fundamentally, a microsite refers to a two-to-three-page website, which collects all the information about your mobile app.

A microsite lets users look into your app’s features and tools. To hook new users to your new mobile app and microsite, the “tagline” plays a vital role in the marketing of your app. The tagline informs visitors what the actual purpose of your mobile app is. In actual fact, the catchy taglines must be able to invite the users to your app. Furthermore, the taglines must be captivating enough as it would attract users to sign up. So, make sure to craft your tagline wisely.

 

Optimize Your Micro-site for App-related Searches

Keep in mind, you can NOT depend only on your in-store listings, you need to optimize your micro-site for app-related searches. 

According to the report from Google Trends, “The app-related keywords reveals that the same data: “productivity apps”, you can see the progression in popularity.”

 

app related searches

You can use direct links to the app listing for promoting your app on your micro-site.

 

Pro Tip: In order to achieve more “holistic” ranking for your app, don’t overlook to optimize your micro-site for app-related search.

 

4. Giveaway Campaign  

Another powerful strategy to promote your app is a giveaway campaign or teaser.

All you have to do is create a teaser video, which can work as a catalyst for the promotion of your mobile app. Teaser videos are short videos that tease or entice your customers. They create hype and excitement about your product without having to provide a ton of details — just enough to hook them.

Here’s a great example by LinkedIn.


Don’t forget to link this teaser video link to your microsite if you want to make the most out of this powerful strategy so interested users will know more about the application.

 

5. Feedback on App 

It is important to provide a system to your users to provide ratings and reviews and the total number of app installs. This strategy shows the popularity of the mobile app and will encourage people to download it.

Source: Google Play

 

Reviews play an important role when it comes to app downloads, in fact, positive feedback encourages them to install your app. Every user check review before they install an app so inspire your existing users to give rating which will help you to build trust among new users.

 

6. Reach Out to Influencers

When it comes to app marketing, the best way to promote your product is to reach out to influencers. This is a great strategy to market your app and these foreign connects are exactly what your app needs. Influencers are those individuals who have the power to influence the buying and engagement decisions of a certain group of people.

Reach out to influencers who review the app and write about it on their websites or blogs. They have already huge readership for their blogs which can help you to reach them and increase the number of app downloads.

This strategy can be more useful at the initial level to increase the user base of your app.

 

Concluding Remarks

“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” – Tom Fishburne

These 6 cohesive strategies will help you promote your new mobile app with little to no money down. If your app is ready to launch, start with an amazing and well-performed marketing campaign. If you carefully analyze the marketing trends, then you will be able to track your users’ attention. More you concentrate on creating an ideal strategy for your app’s promotion, the better results you will get.