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App promotion is another term for mobile marketing and refers to the process by which app developers advertise their app. Consumers downloaded a record 64 billion apps in 2021, which is an incredible achievement for app promotion efforts. As there are more than 2 million apps on the app stores, it is difficult for one app to stand out over another. It is vital to ensure that your app has a solid mobile user acquisition strategy for promotion.
App promotion channels
Mobile User acquisition (often shortened to UA) is the act of gaining new users for an app. Mobile user acquisition includes both paid and organic channels. In the context of UA, App promotion is a strategy designed around generating installs, usually achieved by advertising campaigns and promotional offers, ie.paid activities. Lets looks at these app promotion channels in more depth:
Paid mobile user acquisition : Paid user acquisition refers to all paid marketing activities taken in order to drive new users to an app: therefore, paid user acquisition is a form of driving non-organic installs.
Organic mobile user acquisition; This refers to app installs that are not prompted by marketing activities, but which happen when users are not influenced by advertisements.
While organic installs may be important as an indicator of the users’ interest and loyalty to your app — as they spontaneously downloaded it — this app promotion technique has some drawbacks. For instance, with organic installs you may have less scalability, it is harder for you to reach a wider audience, and you also have lower targeting ability.
Paid user acquisition on the other hand, has a variety of strong positives:
- Sophisticated targeting ability : this app promotion technique has targeting power that comes from the use of machine learning algorithms and A.I., As they allow us to collect data, analyze users’ behavior, and predict future trends. A good targeting ability is crucial in your app promotion technique because it allows you to target high-quality users, who are more likely to interact with an ad, install the app and perform post-install events — thus generating in-app revenues.
- Acquisition strategies are automated: Thanks to the programmatic technologies, processes within your paid user acquisition strategy are automated. That means for this app promotion technique advertisers only need to set their goals and provide the necessary budget and creatives.
- Pricing model options: Lastly, with this app promotion technique you can pay for each performance according to the different pricing models you opt for in the app install campaign. This can either be paying for each install with the CPI model, or for each selected in-app event in CPA campaigns — which is also less risky for advertisers and their ROAS, as with in-app actions they have already generated revenues from users.
App promotion Strategy
Developing an effective app promotion strategy is the number one most important thing when it comes to optimizing your mobile user acquisition. If there is no strategy, the execution of your app install campaign will fail. The following are 5 important factors advertisers that need to consider when it comes to implementing an app promotion strategy:
- Goals: Knowing the goal of your app install campaign is the first step. Do you want to focus on the number of app installs, or is there another KPI further down the funnel, such as in-app purchases that you want to focus on.
- Creatives: Deciding what ad formats you want displayed is key for every app promotion strategy. Do you want to display videos, natives or banners?
- Budget: knowing how much you are planning to spend, as well as the payout model is a fundamental first step.
- MMP integration: In order to track installs & in-app events, advertisers need to integrate with Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) via a SDK link inside their app.
- Targeting criterias: lastly deciding which platforms (iOS or Android) and which locations you want to target will be key to zoning in on your ltv users.
Finding the right users at scale
Start by doing some research on your target audience. Know what factors are important for them when it comes to apps. By researching your audiences and what they want, you can begin to develop a mobile user acquisition strategy that speaks to them. This will help you optimize your app promotion campaigns and get the best possible results from them.
Automate campaign optimization
The next strategy for app promotion is using digital display marketing: Digital display advertising is a term used for any kind of graphic advertisement used online. These are ads such as banners, videos and native ads. You can leverage Mapendo’s solutions to automatically optimize campaigns to maximize your KPIs and find profitable scale.
Aim for ROAS and long term profitability
In app install campaigns it is essential to keep an eye on your efforts and spending in order to see if your campaigns are successful and if your users are high-quality users. In the context of app promotion keeping track of the ROAS (return on ad spend) is extremely helpful. It is important to establish app install campaign goals in advance. Doing so will help you to better manage mobile user acquisition profitability and strike the correct mix between scalability and long-term growth.
About us
Mapendo is a tech platform for app user acquisition. We are a fully managed DSP, which runs machine learning powered CPI/CPA app campaigns. We help mobile apps acquire high-quality users at scale with programmatic traffic. Our ads reach 300 million people in the US every day and generated 1 million conversions for our clients in the last quarter.
