TOP 10 BIGGEST MISTAKES YOU SHOULD AVOID IN MOBILE APP MARKETING

By Venkatesh C.R

Mobile applications have changed the way people live in the present-day world. Technically, they have become one of the best tools for communication, reading news, making decisions, socializing, navigation, shopping, and etcetera. If you are a marketer, a mobile device can be a powerful instrument to connect a wide range of audience from across the world.

Developers and app marketers understand clearly how universal mobile devices are today. This is probably because every day, according to Statistica.com, an average of over 6000 mobile apps are released in the Google-Play-Store and over 1400 mobile apps in the Apple-Store respectively. And since applications contribute a good deal of revenue by charging a small fee on the use of the application, it is estimated that by 2021, the global consumer spending on gaming mobile applications will reach about US$105.2 billion.

According to other reports by Buildfire.com, there are over 2.7 billion users of smartphones worldwide, and this number is going each and every day. About 1.35 billion users use tablets. This is said to have doubled over the last six years. Certain research indicates that about ten percent of people check their mobile phones every four minutes, and ninety percent of this time is found to be spent on mobile applications.

This shows how important mobile-app-development is. Actually, this is a piece of great news for every app developer out there. However, to be successful in this industry, your target users must download and use your application. To make sure this works, as a developer or marketer, you need to follow various mobile marketing strategies in order to achieve a positive result. But many are the app marketing mistakes that most developers make when promoting their apps and this seems to hinder their successful.

In this account, we look at the biggest mistakes people should avoid when marketing their mobile applications.

1.Launching A Web-Based Application

Apple Store and Google Play-Store have over 2.2 and 2.8 million applications respectively. These numbers are ever-increasing by day. It is therefore evident that if your app is designed to be used on a web browser, then you do not completely understand mobile app development. And this will lead users to search for the alternative applications which are designed to be native. In such a situation, your competitor’s applications are the most likely to be downloaded.

One reason behind this is that web-based applications cannot beat native applications when it comes to internet connectivity. They are easy to use, can be used where internet is irregular or unavailable such as in airplanes, and are also designed with powerful UIs and UXs. These are what users look for when searching for a perfect mobile application

2.Not Spending Enough Time On Research

Research is very important in every type of marketing. In this case, it helps marketers get insights in similar applications, and also the behaviour of users towards such applications. It also helps find potential customers which give you a great opportunity to access a stable market. This is one of the vitally important factors that will determine the success of your app. As a marketer, it is reasonable to invest as early as possible on research not only to identify your target customers, but also to know your position among your competitors.

3.Failure To Focus On ASO (App Store Optimization)

Your app will have no use when your target users do not find it on the application stores. To make sure that it is easily discoverable, you need to spend a great deal of your time on ASO- This will help you optimize your applications for the App Stores just like SEO does for the web-search-engines. One of the steps to do this is ensuring that your application has a catchy title and a straightforward description. This promotes your app by improving its discoverability.

Constant improvement and testing are also needed. Marketers should understand that this is not a simple process. However, it is very useful in offering valuable returns. Furthermore, this is considered as a very crucial process in your app marketing for success.

4.Thinking That Mobile Experience Is Similar To That Of Desktop

As a marketer or developer, treating any mobile experience as if it is a desktop application is a bad idea. Apps for mobile devices should be designed with the idea that they will be used in small screens and large computer screens. Every user will do away with mobile applications that try to mimic the page-to-page content as seen in desktop devices. The developer must, therefore, allow more input on mobile than on desktop. Make sure that the content is straight to the point in order to draw much of the attention of the customer. In addition, let the application have a good visual appeal, large buttons, and emphasize more on the most important features on the major page.

5.Failure To promote Your App Using Social Media

Social networking sites are exceptionally good to market or rather promote your app. But most marketers do not seem to care about what happens on these sites. Billions of people today rely on social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn and etcetera for most of their social activities. People read news and blogs, watch videos, listen to audios, and see every kind of pictures on such platforms. If you care about your success in your mobile application development, consider creating a powerful social-media-strategy for your marketing procedures.

6.Underestimating The Importance of Ratings And Reviews

Some customers believe that the value of a perfect mobile application is truly measured by the kind of rating and reviews it has. In most cases, this is what measures whether your application will be downloaded or not. The algorithms of the app stores also consider ratings and reviews as one of the significant factors in their ranking system. Positive feedback is, therefore, a must for your application to be ranked high. Ensure to include a correct submission-system on your applications and also a better user experience for the successfulness of your application

7.Not Starting An Offline Mobile Marketing Strategy

This kind of strategy may depend on various factors such as the target population and the nature of the application. Marketers should find it important to use non digital methods to promote their application to various users who find digital advertising somewhat boring or not really appealing. Considering all other relevant communication channels other than digital can increase your likelihood of success in any app marketing plan

8.Ignoring App Updates

Updates are a great solution for those applications that are receiving negative feedback from your customers because they are either annoying or inconvenient. Such applications are not likely to be downloaded and often leave your app with low ratings and negative reviews. Lack of the core functionality, bugs, and high usage of battery power are some of few things that drive people from uninstalling your application in favour of that of your competitor. In such circumstances, regular updates with improved UX offers a powerful solution for your app

9.Not Marketing Your App Early Enough

Most marketers make the biggest mistake of not starting their marketing efforts early enough. This is not recommended as it leads to less momentum on and after the actual day of release. When developing the app, ensure that you talk about its development on various channels of communication. Encourage influencers from various industries and also reporters to familiarize your application. This will make your customers eager to use the app even before it is launched or even before it hits the applications stores.

10.Not Featuring Your App On High-Quality Blogs

Most users may find it hard to download your application just because it has not been talked about in various news outlets or by the renowned bloggers. This problem can be solved by reaching out to editors and seeing if they can help you promote your application on their articles or posts just after the release date.

But to do this, you need to follow certain steps, not just sending them emails and expecting everything to be done. Since they are busy people, tell them directly about your app, give them your beta version of the app so they can understand how it works in the first place, and give them a clear reason why you want to work with them.

In conclusion, the above ten mobile marketing mistakes should be avoided by any means so as to be sure of successful in the development. Additionally, a good app should have great value in order to retain it in the market for a long period of time.