Low-Cost App Promotion Strategies

Low-Cost App Promotion Strategies comprises two main parts: app promotion channels and app promotion strategies. Both offer practical, professional guidance. Low-cost app promotion strategies comprise two main parts. The first covers app promotion channels; the second covers app promotion strategies. Both offer practical, professional guidance.

Part One: An Overview of App Promotion Channels

1. The Basics: Launch Across as Many Channels as Possible

The first step in promotion is to make your app available. This is the most basic requirement. There is no need to spend heavily; simply aim for the widest possible coverage.

2. Promotion Through Forums, Weibo and Promotional Articles

Forums: On mobile-related websites, you can find many industry forums.
Promoters are advised to use both official posts and user posts to promote their apps. They can also contact forum administrators to arrange promotional activities. After posting, maintain your threads regularly, respond promptly to users’ questions and collect their feedback to inform improvements in the next version.

3. Collaborative Promotion: Traffic Exchanges and Cross-Promotion

In its early stages, traffic exchange through cross-promotion was not well developed. It relied mainly on promoters’ personal relationships and required your app to be able to recommend other apps or websites. The exchange ratio was generally one to one, but there were no specific standards for measuring results. A partner might bring you several hundred referrals a day while you brought them only a few dozen. When you cannot return an equivalent volume, the partnership becomes difficult to sustain. Of course, if you have a close relationship with your partner and they are willing to help promote your app, that is a different matter.

4. Paid Promotion

This includes paid placements within apps, volume-based payment and paid promotion through advertising networks.
At the time of writing, there are many startup and independent developers, and most apps have yet to become profitable. Many are focused on acquiring users first and making money later. In these circumstances, I personally do not think spending heavily on paid promotion is very sensible. Getting the basics right and using creative promotion informed by sound marketing judgment are more viable approaches. Of course, some apps have strong revenue models and are worth promoting heavily. Paid promotion is the fastest promotional approach.

Part Two: App Promotion Techniques and Strategies

The promotion channels have been listed in detail. Sometimes, knowing how to promote an app, combined with knowing where to promote it, can produce remarkable results.

1. Establish Your Primary Promotion Goal: Downloads or Exposure?

An app certainly cannot rely solely on app marketplaces to achieve its target download volume. App operations depend above all on download volume, alongside the product itself. The reasoning is simple: a user may see your app in one app store and feel little interest, then visit another app store to download apps. On seeing your app again, they may find its features quite good and become a user. This is the value of exposure, particularly concentrated exposure in the early stages, which keeps your app’s name in front of users over a period of time.

2. App Stores and Download Sites: Pay Attention to Release Timing and Descriptions

Not every app is suited to a Friday release, because many high-quality apps are updated that day. Independent developers are therefore generally better off releasing updates on Wednesday or Thursday. However, if you believe your app is highly competitive, you could try releasing it on Friday; the results may be better. As for the description, it is less important than the icon, but it can encourage users to download after the icon has caught their attention. For example, a subtitle can exaggerate your app’s capabilities. Attractive screenshots are sufficient; there is no need to spend too much time on them.

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