App marketing is one of the most challenging jobs for most chat app developers since most will just upload their messaging app to the app store and try to get some PR and that’s about it.
According to Yabb, the experts on chat apps, the problem is, everyone else is using that same approach so it’s a good idea to approach app marketing from different angles to try and find your sweet spot.
Here are 5 quick ideas to help increase your messaging app installs.
1. Use Different App Stores
The Google Play Store and Apple’s app store are not the only places to feature your app and you’d be surprised at the traffic volume some of the alternative app stores actually receive.
For example, AppBrain pulls in 1.8 million users per month, APKMirror 21.5 million per month and uptodown.com receives a jaw-dropping 68.3 million users per month!
By adding your apps to the other stores it’s possible to make up for the missed opportunities in the Play Store and App store.
2. Acquire App Awards
Awards are great because they really help when it comes to getting reviews and of course PR coverage.
Getting PR can drive up your installs like crazy as well as getting a bunch of backlinks to your site or Play Store listing to give it a boost in rankings.
Here are a few of the most notable app award sites:
- Apple Design Awards
- The Webby Awards
- Appy Awards
- Best App Ever Awards
- Best Mobile App Awards
- AppCircus competition
- Ericsson Application Awards
3. Invest In SEO
While the majority of your installs are likely to come from the app stores and social media pushes SEO is still worthwhile mainly because once you begin ranking for a bunch of keywords with good search traffic it’s all passive at that point.
PR and influencer mentions will give you a sharp spike in installs but the shelf-life of a promotion like that is fleeting and you often have to repeat that over and over again.
With SEO the traffic comes in without any more effort.
4. Build A Great Landing Page For Your Chat App
Once you start driving traffic you want to make sure that you’re not burning that traffic by offering a poor user experience.
One key thing to keep in mind is that when people type out a search query in Google or they click on an ad they have certain expectations one of those being that you’re going to satisfy their search query if they’re coming from Google or continue a similar experience from the ad that they just clicked on.
A tried and test marketing framework for building a landing page is using AIDA which is an acronym for:
- Attention: use a benefit driven headline
- Interest: outline specific features that would be valuable to the reader
- Desire: show examples of how those features work (screenshots or videos)
- Action: tell them how to install your chat app
Finally, have your Google Play Store and Apple Store badges clearly displayed so they can download your chat app.
5. Buy Reviews
When it comes to reviews, chances are you’re likely going to have to buy them especially if the reviewer doesn’t see anything unique about your messaging app.
For example, there are tons of chat apps out there so as an app developer I’d highlight the specific features that my competitors are missing and why the reviewers audience would find it valuable.
is the same as everyone else’s out there. If you have awards, have unique features or a unique angle then reviewers may do it for free.
Keep in mind that free reviews can take weeks to get published.
Buying reviews mean you get to skip the queue and get a backlink back to your website which is valuable.
Just make sure that if you’re going to pay for reviews that you choose sites with a high domain authority (download the MOZ toolbar, shoot for DA30+) and that it has decent search traffic (download the SimilarWeb toolbar).
6. Conclusion
Whether you use these 5 tips or not, it’s a good idea to select a handful of ideas and stick to those until you master them and then start using a few more. The worst thing you can do is try to do social media, influencer marketing, PR outreach, app review outreach, SEO, ASO, etc. you’re going to get burned out.
Focus on the long term and short term strategy first, for example, you could focus on using influencer campaigns and ASO that way you’re getting steady app installs from your app store optimization efforts while creating massive bursts in traffic using influencers.
Once you’ve got that nailed then you might get some awards, then get a PR campaign going with SEO so you’re receiving shorts bursts of traffic with influencers and PR campaigns and now introducing new search traffic from your SEO, etc.
