The official channel to drive content and services to consumers, mobile app downloads, have quadrupled over the last 5 years. (Source: Gartner)

Mobile app has fast become the dominant form of digital interaction.  From entertainment to productivity services, there is an app for everything the world needs (and doesn’t).

But if by any chance you think just publishing your app on the Store would immediately show more leads and sales, hold it. Like any other product or service, your app needs marketing too. There are over two million apps on Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Have you figured out how are you going to cut above the rest and be found on the app store search results?

A basic search at the app store is all you need to get an idea of the breakneck competition awaiting you in the world of apps. It’s important to tell your consumers ‘why you’. While investing in a mobile marketing strategy always pays back exponentially, there are plenty of ways to market your app for free. It’s a good idea to gauge the performance and demand of your app, by starting with a few free marketing techniques and investing a sum when you see good response. Here are a few handy techniques that allow you to market your mobile app for free. 

1- App Store Optimization

This is the first rule of promoting your app. After publishing your app on the store you need to make sure, your app is searchable and easily visible to your target audience. Begin by choosing the right name for your app. It’s half-science, half-art. You need to be unique and at the same time take care of the most searchable keywords in your industry.  It’s a smart move to put keywords in app titles. Including a keyword in your title can help your app rank 10.3% higher than otherwise. (Source: Kissmetrics.com)

There’s a lot more that goes into doing a great ASO for your app. Check them out to make sure you tick all the boxes.

2- Sharing on social media

“Nowadays, social media is the easiest place to go and find something” -David Nail

Exactly. Social media gives you enough opportunities to increase the visibility of your app with organic efforts. Make sure you are regularly conversing with your followers, feeding great content into your social network. It’s important to come out as a brand that knows its voice and is attuned to the industry trends. Great content can generate the need, drive a realization and can make your app a ‘must-have’ without costing a fortune.

3- Create a Website/Blog

I know, some of you must be thinking, who makes websites for apps. But you’ll be surprised to see the results. If your app is your primary channel of sale, it would be a great move to have a website that seamlessly blends into and smoothens the conversion process. Now you’d wonder if a website is a free marketing tool. There are a lot of platforms that allow you to host a free website or a blog such as Weebly, or GoDaddy. Make your website rich in content. It’s a great way to tell the audience why they need your app, how can you make life easy for them, inspiring stories of people who downloaded and how they are making the most of it.

4- Mobile App Review Websites

Just Google “app reviews” and you’ll find an array of websites dedicated to writing reviews about cool new apps. Getting your app reviewed on an app review site is not an uphill task. It just means you will have to send them a pitch and convince them that your app is good enough to be reviewed by them and therefore featured on their site. Many of these app review sites generally judge your app on parameters such as originality of the content, quality of graphical design and the usefulness of your app. Your lead generation would be through the traffic the website attracts and your job would be to impress the audience and invite them to download and install your app.

5- Popularize On Forums

Platforms like Quora are known for the relevance of the leads they generate. Genuine content that is open to questions and even arguments, wins consumer loyalty. So if you really take pride in the quality and robustness of the solution you are providing, go get pitching out there on forums. Start a discussion. Get ready for some healthy debate and counters. You will get to meet genuine consumers, who will prove to be highly relevant leads for you. What more? This will also improve your ranking on Google.

Investing a sum to boost your marketing efforts definitely pays off far better than these free techniques, but for starters who are not yet ready to invest a huge sum, these free marketing tacts can work amazingly well. Try them out and let us know which one was most rewarding for you.

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