Where can I advertise apps?

Your app is ready. What’s next? This is a question you need to ask yourself while your app is still in the development stage. As soon as your app is ready to launch in the app stores, it would be best if you got those user acquisition numbers moving ahead. Looking at the rate at which spending on mobile advertising is growing, you may need to start immediately. 

In 2021, mobile advertising spending reached a record 288 billion U.S. dollars worldwide. This figure marked an increase of 26.6 percent compared to the previous year, and according to the latest data, spending will amount to nearly 413 billion by 2024. While keeping these numbers in mind, you can imagine how the mobile advertising industry creates endless possibilities to advertise apps in competitive markets. Simultaneously, it is challenging to rank among millions of apps available for downloads as brands continue to devote higher budgets than ever to advertise apps.

As the smartphone adoption rate reaches an all-time high, mobile apps leave no stone unturned to get and acquire new users first before anyone else. Therefore, as app developers and mobile marketers, you need to advertise apps while being updated with the latest trends in your category of apps and what’s best working for you to stay ahead of others.

Why advertising mobile apps are need of the hour 

The smartphone subscription rate will continue to grow in the foreseeable future as the number of smartphone users in 2022 is projected to cross 6.5 billion users. While China, India, and the U.S. dominate the smartphone market penetration as the top 3, it is also paramount to consider that these countries rank in the top 3 for the global population index covering almost 40 percent of the total population worldwide. 

There is an incredible opportunity for advertisers to tap into these markets to advertise apps and reach closer to their acquisition goals. 

How to advertise apps 

Mobile marketers can consider advertising apps by breaking them down into these simple steps – 

• Study your users: Your app will engage a specific group of users with similar intent in your app’s category. Using platforms like Apptopia and App Annie will help you identify and narrow down your audience profile. 
• Research your competitors: This will help you know what other app developers are doing in defining KPIs, app functionalities, app rating through reviews, and user feedback on app stores. 
• Choosing the suitable advertising payment model for in-app advertising: There are various cost models to consider when launching your campaigns like CPM (Cost Per Mille), CPC (Cost Per Click), CPI (Cost Per Install), and CPA (Cost Per Action).
• Choosing the right type of ad format: Ads can be placed at multiple touchpoints when the user interacts with the device. Some of the most considered ad formats are Banner Ads, Interstitial Ads, Rewarded Ads, and Native ads.
• Choosing the right platforms to advertise apps on social platforms like Facebook, Google, Instagram, YouTube, etc.
• Chose and implement an MMP such as Adjust, AppsFlyer, Koshava, and Singular to be able to track where your users are coming from and how they interact with your app.

Learn more about how mobile advertising works

Where to advertise apps 

Here are some effective ways to advertise apps that can support advertisers in growing their app’s users and bringing them close to achieving the ROI. 

App Store Optimization (ASO): Optimizing mobile apps in app stores to rank better within their search results is called App Store Optimization or ASO. Once your app is launched in the app stores, you can consider ASO as your final stage to complete the app marketing funnel. 

When you advertise apps, all the effort goes into marketing activities using various channels, and the focus on optimizing your app pages on the app store gets neglected. As advertisers, you need to optimize your app store page with the most relevant and updated content. It enables your app’s increased visibility, which gets more traffic to your app store page and increases app downloads which mean lower acquisition costs.  

Alternative App Stores: With known mainstream platforms like Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram offering media to buy and advertise heavily, the advertising market is overcrowded as the number of apps getting launched every day on Google Play Store alone is 2,640, and significantly increasing.

Hence, mobile OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Samsung, and Huawei offer an on-device inventory of their app stores called alternative app stores to advertisers, which allow advertisers to get access to untapped audiences covering a huge chunk of smartphone users globally. By accessing new markets which have more than 1.5 billion daily active users, you can achieve your KPI goals and grow your app’s overall engagement hassle-free.

Alternative app stores by OEMs offer marketers opportunities to push toward their goals by targeting billions of users globally. Consumers downloaded 230 billion mobile apps in 2021 to their connected devices, up by more than 63 percent in five years. As a result, these app stores are an increasingly valuable user acquisition channel for advertisers’ marketing mix. Alternative app stores can help apps reach their target audiences, boost sales and educate consumers on their products and services. 

Learn everything you need to know about alternative app stores

Media Coverage:  Reach out to the press to raise awareness and create buzz around your app. Having connections in the media will advance your brand visibility and attract fresh attention to your brand. Likewise, you can also publish press releases, become your product’s voice, and let the users know what’s coming and how it should excite them. For this, you’ll always need a press kit ready to share with these media houses whenever you’d like them to share and showcase your app’s offerings. 

Social Media Marketing: Social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Quora, and others, are channels that can drive impactful results to encourage your user base to grow. You can build and engage your followers by sharing your brand story while giving them relevant information about your product offerings to achieve your app goals. 

Social media platforms act as your brand channel as well as a user acquisition channel. Brand advertising campaigns via the social channel are measured by Cost Per Mille (CPM) whereas it is measured by Cost Per Install (CPI) for user acquisition.

Influencer Marketing: Connect with influencers who people know and follow. They can be highly advantageous by being your brand’s advocates while talking about your app and promoting it on channels where people interact with them, for example, YouTube. This way, mobile marketers can learn what kind of users would best suit their app’s needs, users’ intentions, and experience of using apps in a similar category. 

User demands are increasing as advertisers look for newer ways to reach out to advertise apps to suitable prospects. Therefore, engaging with your audiences by indulging in marketing activities will always play a crucial role in determining your competitive advantage over other apps in the market with similar offerings. 

Want to know more about how to advertise your app on Mobile OEMs? Let’s have a chat