You’ve developed a fantastic mobile application, but it’s not gaining the traction and recognition you were hoping for. Building a successful app goes beyond its creation; it requires effective marketing strategies to make your app visible to the right audience. So, how do you make your app stand out in a crowded marketplace and entice users to download and share it? The answer lies in app marketing.
An app is only as good as its users, and people won’t discover it on their own. With countless apps available in the market, how do you ensure yours is relevant and captures the attention of potential users? Being unique certainly helps, but regardless of your competition, your goal should be to become the most visible. When your app is the talk of the town, you’ll witness a surge in downloads.
Creating a mobile app is only the first step; marketing it is equally crucial, yet often overlooked by many app developers. There are various ways to promote your app and strive for supremacy in this competitive landscape. The question then arises: should you engage a PR firm to handle your app marketing or do it yourself?
According to Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, “Companies should focus on their core competencies and outsource everything else.” While this philosophy holds merit, hiring a PR firm for app marketing offers several advantages. It enhances your app’s credibility and visibility, as being featured in news outlets has a far greater impact than traditional advertisements. The visibility gained through a PR campaign can surpass that achieved by ads, resulting in increased downloads. Furthermore, the return on investment for a PR campaign is often higher than that of an ad, making it a worthwhile investment.
On the other hand, if you choose to handle app marketing yourself, you must consider the true cost of in-house public relations. This includes expenses such as hiring marketers or PR staff, salaries and benefits, office space, stationery, and other internal bills. Do you possess the necessary PR expertise? What strategies have you employed to market your app? Tweeting, Facebooking, and sharing with friends and family may not be sufficient to capture significant attention. To succeed in the attention game, you must think bigger and be more aggressive in building relationships with the media.
Developing and executing an effective PR campaign takes time, and it’s essential to evaluate whether you could achieve greater results by focusing on other aspects of your app’s development. To make a substantial impact, you must target a larger audience and employ the most powerful marketing weapon available – viral videos. Creating a high-impact video that ignites curiosity and prompts users to download your app can propel you to dominance within your niche. By employing savvy distribution strategies, your video can be shared far and wide, making your app the most seen, talked about, and downloaded.
Unlike you, public relations firms specialize in generating earned media coverage for their clients. They possess the expertise in pitching stories, writing and distributing news releases, scheduling speaking engagements, and building relationships with the media. PR professionals have cultivated relationships with media contacts for years and maintain regular communication, increasing the chances of achieving media placement in prominent outlets. Hiring a professional PR firm means they will manage your app marketing campaign comprehensively, including SEO, social media, and online reputation management. This could be the defining factor between your company’s survival and potential failure.
Ultimately, the decision to hire a PR firm or handle app marketing yourself depends on where you can optimize the most benefit for your app. Consider your resources, expertise, and the desired reach of your promotional efforts. With the right marketing strategy and execution, your app can become a driving force in its niche, capturing the attention and loyalty of users.