The mobile app industry has experienced meteoric growth in the past years. Now, we can access any service right from ordering our favorite meal and booking a cab to monitoring our health and finding a nearby mechanic with a few taps and swipes on your mobile phone. And this is obviously not possible without mobile apps.

With the myriad of apps available in the play store, the competition among businesses to stand out and achieve success also increases. That’s why biggies like Uber and Swiggy leave no stone unturned while promoting their apps. In this article, we have explored a few tips that can help you stay ahead of the competition when you promote your app. 

So let’s dive in..

How to Beat Competition While Marketing Your App?

1. Cater Your Ads to the Preferences of Your Target Audience

Most apps fail because their owners focus on making money instead of enhancing user engagement and adding value. To achieve long-term success, you should pay more attention to your users’ preferences and needs. The better experience you deliver, the more profits you will make.

You must always know who your target audience is, along with their age, gender, lifestyle, and online behavior patterns. This information will help you determine how you should convey your message to them. So, never ignore the importance of knowing your users, as these insights can unearth ample marketing and revenue opportunities.

2. Know Your Competitors

The availability of a wide range of apps in the market can overwhelm users and make it difficult for them to choose the best one. If you know who your competitors are and what they are offering, you can focus on your points of difference and let your users know that you are offering them an app that they can’t get elsewhere. For instance, you can:

• Include your app’s unique selling points to highlight what features it has that aren’t available in your competition’s app.

• Explain how your app avoids the pitfalls that users complained about in your competitive apps – without mentioning or criticizing your competitors.

It will allow your potential users to instantly identify what differentiates you from your competitors and choose you over them.

3. Leverage Geolocation and Time Targeting 

Knowing when and where a specific user segment engages with your app can help you create strategies to boost your conversion rate. It has been observed that most applications related to shopping, lifestyle, and casual gaming are installed in the evening. For instance, an ecommerce application should be promoted between 6:00-9:00 pm to reach a wide range of audiences. Geotargeting combined with competitor research and a compelling message are the key ingredients for a successful marketing campaign.

4. Show What Your App Can Bring to the Table

Most marketers spend most of their time explaining the features of the app and raising awareness around it. You should avoid this approach. Instead of focussing on features, you should inform your potential users how your app can solve their problems and make their life easier. Shedding light on the ways you can help them save money and time or work more efficiently will be enough to persuade them to install your app and get an edge over your competitors.

5. Build Connections With Social Media Influencers

Celebrities, bloggers, and social media influencers can help you take your app promotion to a whole new level because they already have an established and active follower base. So, connect with influencers who are willing to promote your app on their page. But make sure to invest some time to find relevant influencers in a niche prior to reaching out to them. 

Show them you have got a cool app that will benefit them as well as their followers, discuss your goals, and ask them the best approach to influencing their followers to install your app. You can go for sponsored content or even create a video. No matter which approach you follow, partnering with an influencer will considerably increase your app’s user base.

6. Use Paid Ads

Social media paid ads are a great way to reach out to more potential users. In fact, they are responsible for 40% of mobile app downloads. You can read Jonathon Spire’s full TokUpgrade review to understand the organic reach. Since organic reach is getting harder with each passing day due to the fierce competition, it is essential to maximize your visibility via ads. 

Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are some of the sought-after platforms for running ad campaigns. Once you run an ad, make sure your targeting is as granular as possible, monitor your analytics continuously, and scale your ads by increasing your budget when you hit a milestone.

7. Post Ads in a Video Format

Ads in a video format are both entertaining as well as engaging. They will immediately convey the message of your app without imposing any limits to your creativity, helping you to hook your users. In fact, 30 seconds of continuous attention sets the creative spirit of marketers free from 300×250 banner prison. Thus, to be at the forefront of user engagement as well as acquisition, you should add video ads to your app promotion strategy. 

8. Run Online Contests

Who doesn’t love contests? Contests are a great way to engage your potential users, drive traffic to your app store page, and enhance your installation rate. Make sure to run a contest that is easy to enter and give your target audience something fun to do. For example, you could run a contest for suggesting the best captions on Instagram or Facebook. But do not forget to ask the participants to share the post and sign up on your app.

Alternatively, you can integrate the contest with your application and promote it via social media platforms. Your users just have to install your app and sign up for the contest, while all you have to do is raise awareness around your contest.

9. Use a Referral Program

Setting up a referral program allows you to leverage the power of the biggest marketing tool, i.e., Word of Mouth, which influences 50% of customer purchase decisions for some applications. Rewarding your existing users for sharing your app with their friends, family, and colleagues via social media is an effective way to boost your downloads.

10. Pay Attention to the Feedback of the Users

Feedback is the most effective but overlooked strategy because it deals with real people and thus brings forth real outcomes. Generally, it goes both ways — you tell your users how your app can add value to their lives, and in return, you get some friendly reviews or suggestions on what’s good and what should be improved. 

Users who leave any kind of feedback are probably the most interested in your app. So pay attention to their views on your and your competitors’ applications. Also, conduct surveys, go through the feedback, perform A/B testing for your icons as well screenshots. Don’t leave even a little room for improvement if you really want to live up to users’ expectations and stand out from the competition.

Final Words

Since a plethora of apps emerges every day, promoting your app and beating your competition demands a lot of dedication, diligence, and determination. Following these ways can help you widen the reach of your application, build the brand’s credibility, stay ahead of the competitors and create a barrier that they couldn’t surpass.