As of August 2024, over 2.3 million apps have been published on the Google Play store by approximately 700,000 publishers. Currently, publishers release over 1,000 apps on Google Play per day, making it an extremely competitive marketplace for any start up app.
But what about the App Store — is it any less competitive for a new startup business to launch its app? Not by a long shot, as over 2 million apps have been published on the App Store by about 850,000 publishers. At the current rate, publishers release approximately 1,200 apps on the App Store, which is a bit higher than on Google Play.
As you can tell, whether you decide to publish an Android or iOS app or both concurrently, your team will have a tough time promoting it. How do you even begin to stand out with so many app competitors, especially the established players? Unfortunately, the odds are not in your favor, but this doesn’t mean you should abandon the app stores, as they still offer plenty of potential.
Therefore, to succeed in the app stores, you must formulate several effective strategies for promoting your start up app. The more comprehensive and detailed your list of strategies, the more likely your team will be able to drive through the results you want. However, this doesn’t mean all strategies will work, so you must implement the right ones from the planning to the release phases.
And yes, how your team plans to promote your app should start during the planning phase — not later. That’s because the success of an app is linked to accurately identifying its niche and target audience early on.
What Are The Key Strategies For Promoting A Start Up App?
Several effective strategies for promoting an app include the following:
- Niche: Choose a niche for your start up app that closely aligns with your goals, long-term objectives, and vision. Ensure you or your team properly research this niche to determine whether it’s profitable and will remain in demand in the foreseeable future.
- Market Research: This is an elaborate process for identifying the overall state of the industry, the competition, and the target audience. Your team must collect and analyze customer data (where possible) and segment this audience based on specific data points and ideal customer profiles. Ensure your team regularly runs surveys and engages with your potential audience within their online communities.
- App Store Optimization (ASO): Your team must implement an ASO marketing strategy for your app to benefit from additional visibility due to organic searches within the app stores. The team must pay close attention to the app’s title, descriptions, keywords, installs, user engagement, in-app purchases, reviews, and updates. Then, optimize any of these if they’re causing your app to dip in rankings.
Should My Team Use Social Media To Promote My App?
Yes. Your team should first identify the platforms your users engage the most when conducting market research. For example, if your target audience trends younger, they’ll be more active on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. But if your target audience is older, they’ll prefer Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.
Therefore, it’s only sensible that your team focuses on promoting your start up app exclusively on the channels you’ll find your audience. These seldom make up more than two or three social media platforms.
The Bottom Line
Promoting your startup’s first mobile app will prove challenging, and that’s putting it mildly. The competition in the app stores is extreme, and many established mobile apps already enjoy the lion’s share of the marketplace. However, your app still has a winning chance with the correct implementation of app promotion strategies.
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