Mobile App Marketing Help Needed

[ednri871]

Has anyone had experience marketing a new mobile app? I have been working on an app that I will be releasing on both ios and Android in the coming months. What are some strategies you guys have for marketing. Whats the best bang for your buck?

Also some other questions:

What hosting would I use to easily scale my app's load if traffic picks up quickly?
Is it best to release the app on both ios and Android at once?

[Kent_Thompson]

I just released an Android, iOS and Kindle Fire app, pretty much all at the same time. My logic is that it is better to do it at once because how many times do you hear "we have an iphone app...android coming soon" and I wanted to have everything ready from the start.

You'll probably get a certain number of iOS signups right from the start because of the way that Apple puts you at the top by release date right when your app gets approved. Not so much for the others.

You will probably need to market your apps just like you would any other website and drive traffic directly to your app store pages. That is my strategy. My product integrates with facebook directly so most of my signups will come from referrals and not me promoting the product directly. Having a "viral" element will help, but I don't know what your app does. Maybe others can comment on more specific strategies for your niche.

Regarding your scaling, my product runs entirely on Amazon Web Services. It's 2012 now and cloud hosting gaining momentum. What's great about that is that you can start out literally paying < $20/mo for hosting, but as your needs grow, you can easily add new servers to your cluster. By "easily" I mean that it is instant to do from AWS. It does need the right architecture from the start. My application will automatically scale up and down the servers to meet the traffic demand.

There are so many other goodies inside AWS that I could probably write a book about. It makes it possible for small businesses to have an unlimited scaling capacity right at their fingertips...something that was not possible a few years ago.

I would be more than happy to assist in answering any other questions you might have.

[ednri871]

Thanks Kent. The app will have a nice viral mechanism behind it.

I am outsourcing the production and coding of the app. Anything I should tell my programmer about integrating the correct architecture for scaling? The last thing I want is to create a hugely successful app, and then have it crash because fo that very success.

[paulfranklin]

Hi,

Is it a game or utility app? If it is an utility app, it should have purpose right? Use Google Adwords Tool to find the number of global queries for that. For a game app there is always traditional marketing methods like app review submission and app directory submission etc.,

[ednri871]

It's a game. I have been building a list for it and have over 600 people thus far, but that's a far cry away from what I'd like to have upon launch. What are the best directories and app review sites out there. I came up with a bunch from searching Google, but if you have any others that would be great!

[jeskola]

Originally Posted by ednri871

It's a game. I have been building a list for it and have over 600 people thus far, but that's a far cry away from what I'd like to have upon launch. What are the best directories and app review sites out there. I came up with a bunch from searching Google, but if you have any others that would be great!

Hey

I just released a game on iPad and iPhone. It's been tough to be honest... What price you selling for?

We originally were selling but now made it free and working on in game monetization. Downloads went from a handful a day to hundreds a day.

Drop me a pm and we can talk some more / share ideas on marketing?

[Cedevita]

How much does it cost to devlop an app ? i was thinking to make something local related with parties around, but have no idea about the budget needed.thanks

[jeskola]

Originally Posted by Cedevita

How much does it cost to devlop an app ? i was thinking to make something local related with parties around, but have no idea about the budget needed.thanks

For a game ... Dev, design, marketing, ongoing updates etc probably need a good 20 - 30k

[Silentkiller1]

You need to market it more practically than just waiting for people to download it. If you want to get downloads just drop me a PM.

[the11project]

how much for a utility app?

[Cedevita]

Originally Posted by jeskola

For a game ... Dev, design, marketing, ongoing updates etc probably need a good 20 - 30k

wow that's a nice amount of money.. What about utility apps?

[AlisonTaylor]

I would probably look heavily into using social media as a tool for d/ling the app. Exclusivity can bring a relatively unknwon app into thousands if not tens of thousands of downloads very quickly when using peer recommenedation through twitter/facebook etc.

A 'use Facebook to signup' call to action can really work wonders. I'm seeing this happen with BranchOut lately.

[Severin]

I too am toying with the idea of an app, I'd love to charge for it but i realise it could have more success if it was free. The thing is I'm confused about how to monetize it if its free, I've heard that in-app advertising through a network has a very poor ROI. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

The app will be entertainment/novelty based and is certainly unique.

Thanks
Sev

[trousemoore]

I suggest to start with the promotional way on the active community sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and so on.... so that it reaches to each and everyone. Provide a downloadable link with your tweet or share, so that it gives a direct approach to this application. Try this and i am sure, it will work for you.
"YouAppi dot com"

[MobiDev]

Here are some easy and effective tips on how to market your app http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/advertise-app/