6 Top Tips for Marketing your Mobile App

1. 6 Top Tips for
Marketing Success
Lee Stott
Technical Evangelist
Microsoft
@Lee_Stott
LeeStott@Microsoft.com

2. Tip 1.
Preparation…
You can prepare for your
games release in advance
to get the most out of all
your marketing activities so
the outcome is successful.

3. Stand out from the crowd
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What is the purpose of the your game?
What are the benefits of playing your game?
What makes your game unique?
What makes your game better than the competition?

4. Know your audience
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Who is most likely to download your app?
Age
Gender
Occupation
Lifestyle
Geographic location

5. What are your channels
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What sites your audience is likely to visit?
Would they use online searches to find your app?
What sites offer content that might be related to your app?
Are there other channels, social media etc..
A. Websites, online publications, e-mail newsletters, social
network pages and groups, forums, blogs and Twitter
users that your audience is likely to follow or that would
publish information about your app or be interested in
talking about it.
B. Offline events and publications that your audience might
be interested in, or that might be related to your
application.

6. Define your Ad
• Write down a single phrase that describes your game
• Write down a few more supporting phases that further
describe how your game works
• Choose a simple but descriptive name for your game
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
It should be easy to spell and pronounce.
It should be memorable for the people you want to attract
as users.
It should be easy to find.
It should not be in conflict with existing trademarks or
reserved names.
It should match your game’s dedicated web address. Can
you set up a webpage with that name?
It should be unique. Two games with the same name is
confusing.

7. Build your story
• Focus your efforts on content
• Links to all the social channels you create for your game
• Make sure that all of your content is “sharable” on at least
the most popular social networks in your market.
• Materials explaining, demonstrating and supporting your
game
• Direct links to the app download page in the
corresponding market

8. Tell your story
• Positive quotes and reviews from others
• “Keep it alive”
• Links to other games you have published.
• A “Contact us” section. This might be as simple as
a contact email address or a contact form.
• An “About us” section.

9. Don’t let it die!
Updating contents on your game on a regular basis
plays a key role.
It creates the feeling that the game has a living,
breathing developer or team of developers behind it,
and that it will remain updated.

10. Search Engine Optimisation
• SEO efforts. Always remember these three key
points when defining your own specific keywords:
1. Keywords must be relevant to your application
and the contents on your website.
2. Incorporate keywords that are frequently
searched for using one of the online tools noted
below.
3. Apply your previous learnings and keep
language as natural as possible.

11. We Want to Hear
• Have your materials in place to support the
marketing opportunities - logo assets, game
assets, PDF flyer
• Have key summarises on the
game/audience/monetisation/features/benefits
etc
• Don't be a stranger - make contact with the
platform vendor or you could be a best kept
secret

12. Use your networks
• To generate “buzz”: Let other people talk about your
game and share and distribute your contents.
• To reach a wider audience: Social media can help you
reach users who may not be actively looking for your
game.
• To facilitate communication: Give your current and
potential customers an alternate means to connect
with you and other users.
• To build a community: Encourage loyalty. Happy
customers will be your best and most enthusiastic
evangelists.

13. We Want to Hear
• Don't be a stranger - make contact with the platform
vendor or you could be a best kept secret
• Don't open up by asking for investment money....sell
your game concept and why it will come alive on the
vendors platforms.
• Investment may come if the vendor buys into it but
nothing more off putting than talking money in the
opening remarks
• Keep feeding back to the platform vendor on
updates and performance as they platform may give
it additional promotions

14. Test, Test and Test
• Perfect your application before its launch
• You need to get second and third opinions of what
others like and dislike
• Microsoft facilitate distributing your application to a
limited audience for beta testing purposes.
• Recruit volunteer beta testers through your website
and social media channels.
• Make a list of common specific questions they need
to answer after trying out your application (around
usefulness, ease of use, graphics and responsiveness),
but also let them tell you about their feelings and
impressions after interacting with it for a while.

15. Dress to Impress
• Video will help to visually bring to life your
application and highlight what it can do.
• Plan your story (script) in advance before you
shoot any footage.
• Showcase your games use and standout features.
• Highlight how it’s special.
• Make it attractive for your target audience.

16. Tip 2 . In- App
Business Models

17. Make the choice
You will probably market your application through
one of these four main business models:
1. Free download
2. Paid download
3. In-app advertising (which can apply to paid or
free downloads)
4. In-app purchasing (which can apply to paid or
free downloads)

18. Tip 3. Bought and
earned media

19. Getting it known
• Advertise through other mobile devices
• You can create ads to reach your audience when they
use their smartphones or tablet devices.
Mobclix (www.mobclix.com),
BuzzCity (www.buzzcity.com),
Mojiva (www.mojiva.com).
• Advertise through social media
• Social media channels generally allow creating
different types of ads or sponsored results you can
leverage to promote your application.

20. Getting it seen
• Buy space in search results pages
• SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is a form of online
marketing that allows you to promote your
website in search engine results pages
• (SERPs). Paid placement campaigns (also called
PPC – Paid Per Click) are the most common type.

21. Have it reviewed
• Submit your app for consideration to Websites focused on mobile
games are growing in popularity.
• These are some steps you should follow:
1. Make a list of games websites that might be interested in
publishing a story about your game or reviewing it.
2. Write your application’s submission. Personalise it for each website
you contact.
3. Ensure you highlight your game strengths and what makes it
unique.
4. Be polite.
5. Send your request together with a direct access to download your
application. Always make the application free for your addressee.
6. If your application gets picked up and published in the form of a
review or a news piece, make sure you thank them (even if it was
negative).
7. Learn from praise and criticism. Improving by your mistakes is your
greatest investment for the future.

22. Sowing the seed
• Getting the right people to talk about your app
• A single article by a single writer in a single site or
publication could turn into your great
breakthrough.
• Influencers are people with the power to affect
the decisions of others because of their perceived
position, knowledge or authority. E
• Lesser-known writers from major websites have
the power to draw great attention to something
nobody had even noticed.

23. Shout about it
Send a press release
Make a compelling and interesting story:
Include your images and videos if allowed.
Use the keywords and phrases you selected to
optimise your website and create a well-written piece.
• Be concise.
• Include your contact information.
• You can opt to use a free press release distribution
service like openPR (www.openpr.com), pay a fee for a
more complete service like PRWeb (www.prweb.com)
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24. Nurture it
1. Build a community
2. You should already have your social channels up and
running.
3. Develop and build relationships.
4. Search for pages, groups and people in social media
who have a direct or indirect relation to your game
5. Try to actively participate in discussions, offer your
advice, express your opinions, be helpful and share your
knowledge.
6. With time, you will have created valuable connections to
people who might be willing to spread your message.
7. When you feel you’ve really earned the right to do
some self-promotion in those spaces, go ahead and
openly talk about your application.
8. You can expect a payback from many of your virtual
contacts in the form of positive word of mouth.

25. Tip 4. Launch
Preparation

26. Open your Shop
• Create an outstanding shop window
• Your app’s page Marketplace has the same goal as a shop
window: to catch the eye of potential clients and drive
them to eventually make a purchase
• Consider your store page as a miniature version of your
own website. There are limits to how much content you
can publish, so you will need to be concise.
• Publish as many in-app screenshots as possible.
• The first phrase is critical: make sure to pique people’s
curiosity and make them want to know more about your
game.
• Create a thumbnail icon. It needs to attract people’s
attention when they’re browsing through the stores.

27. Getting discovered
• User searches in application stores are very different from those in web search
engines. These searches tend to be more “...to the point”, and most are no
more than three words long.
• A user looking for a good free golf game in a web search engine might search
for “...best free golf game for Windows Phone”. If the same user is using a
store’s internal search feature, they might search for “free golf” or “free golf
app”.
• When writing your texts remember to exclude unnecessary and obvious
words and phrases such as “Nokia” or “Windows Phone”, since users will not
be looking for them.
• Make sure to include other words you might not have given as much
relevance before, like “game” or “free”. Incorporate single words that describe
actions your application performs or helps with, such as “translate”, “browse”,
“uninstall”, “find”, “block”, “call” and “upload”.
• Ask some friends or colleagues to enter an application store and search for an
application similar to yours. Take note of what you learn from their searches
and add the keywords they use to your descriptions.

28. Exploit your own success
• You might have released games in the past, or maybe you
already run a successful personal website or blog, or have
large follower bases in your social networks’ personal
accounts. Don’t hesitate to take advantage of your
reputation and your previous work to promote your new
application.
• Promote your new application within your previous app. If
this isn’t possible, make sure you incorporate this option
in your current or future applications.
• Announce your application’s launch through your personal
website or blog.
• Use your personal social network accounts to
communicate your application’s release to your friends,
family and colleagues. They are very likely to help you
redistribute the news as long as you don’t spam them.

29. Pave your way to fame
• Look for contests that are seeking mobile
applications and submit yours if it complies with
their terms and conditions.
• If the judging process involves public voting, make
sure you apply all your previous learnings to get
more positive votes.
• If you’re allowed to link back to your website,
contests can help you raise your search engine
rankings.

30. Choosing the best moment for
launch
• Smart timing for your application’s release can
help it ride the wave of specific events, seasons or
activities.
• People pay more attention to particular subjects
or themes during certain periods of time, and
searches for related content will increase
significantly within that time frame.

31. Tip 5. Maintenance

32. Listen
• Don’t let your guard down – there’s still work to be
done. And if it had a slow start, don’t worry – keep up
the hard work and your game will achieve the success
it deserves.
• Remember these three keys for making the most of
your application:
1. Pay attention to what users have to say.
2. Address their needs.
3. Communicate openly with them.

33. Reply with finesse
• “the customer is always right”.
• Follow these simple rules to reply to or moderate
comments and reviews from other users:
• Avoid deleting comments unless they’re abusive or
defamatory
• Don’t be afraid to publicly explain why.
• Reply to both positive and negative comments.
• Be honest and direct.
• Admit your game flaws and communicate whether a
future update will fix them.
• Accept praise

34. Keep users informed
• Use your website and social channels to communicate
future updates and releases.
• Communicate future updates and when they will be
available.
• When you release an update, make sure you publish
detailed information on changes and improvements
• Give full details on changes included in application
updates.
• If you are making your application available for
another platform, you will definitely want to
communicate it in your own channels as well.
• Current users might recommend your application to
other people they know who use a different platform.

35. Tip 6. Analysis

36. Monitor
• Monitoring and analysing all the elements that
compose your app’s ecosystem is critical to
maximising its success.
• You will need to monitor how your campaign
performs over time and the results of that campaign.
• How users are interacting with your application
• How your application page within the corresponding
store is performing
• How your own website is performing, and the impact
of your activity in social media channels.
• The learnings from these results will help you finetune your marketing activity, discover and solve
potential issues and will prepare you for future
launches.

37. Fine-tune
• Make sure you choose to advertise through services
that offer advanced campaign results analysis tools
• Review how your different keywords and keyword
sets are performing
• Review how your different ads are performing
• Monitor the increase in fans, likes, followers, visitors
or potential customers coming from your
campaigns.
• Identify areas of opportunity and loss and review
your budget accordingly.
• If you’re driving traffic to your own website, review
campaign performance through your chosen
analytics tool.

38. Learn from your users
• You can discover very valuable information from users
who downloaded your game:
1. Are they actually using the game?
2. How often?
3. For how long?
4. What features are they using most? And least?
5. Where are your users coming from?
6. What devices are your customers using?
7. Are they making in-app purchases or upgrades?
8. Are they clicking on ads displayed within the app?
• The answers to these questions will help you discover
your application’s true value to your customers and
identify potential usability issues you could address in
subsequent updates

39. Measure to succeed
• Make sure you integrate an application analytics
solution during your app’s development phase so
you can measure results from the very first day.
There are several solutions
1. Localytics (www.localytics.com),
2. Includeapp (www.includeapp.com)
3. Bango Analytics (www.bango.com)
4. Flurry (www.flurry.com)

40. Measure activity on your website
• Your visitors are an invaluable source of ideas and insights,
so make sure you get as much information from them as
you can. Set up a web analytics tool on your website, take
the time to understand its reports and try to answer these
questions:
• How did your visitors find your website?
• Did they come from a search engine, or are other sites
linking to yours?
• What keywords or phrases are people using to reach your
website?
• Are visitors arriving from one of your campaigns?
• What cities or countries are they visiting from?
• What types of content are they most interested in?

41. Research
• When you find the answers, make the most of this
information by taking action:
• Go back and visit the sites that are linking back to you.
• Try to extract common patterns and trends from keywords
and phrases used to reach your site.
• Are visitors simply searching for your app’s name?
• Are they looking for specific content?
• Do they need to solve a problem?
• Are they looking for a specific version?
• Give your visitors what they came to find.
• Look for popular origins (geographical, campaigns and
devices). Investigate why?

42. Measure
• These are the most important questions you should try
to answer when analysing activity in your social
channels:
1. How did your visitors find your content?
2. What keywords or phrases did visitors use when
arriving from a search?
3. Who is linking to or embedding your content?
4. Which messages or publications had the greatest
impact on users?
5. What are the most and least popular contents?
6. Which contents are being shared? Where and how
are they being shared?
7. Are there common topics in user comments and
conversations?

43. Social Growth
• Social monitoring tools are constantly evolving and new metrics and
dimensions are added every month
• Facebook (Facebook Insights): - Post reach, engaged users and virality (to get
an idea of how interesting your publications are to your page’s visitors).
• Demographic and location data (to find out more about the profile of people
who like your page).
• External referrers (to find out where your traffic is coming from).
• YouTube (YouTube Analytics): - Video plays, likes, comments (to find out what
people like, dislike and value about your videos).
• Demographic data (to find out where your video viewers are visiting from).
• Playback locations and traffic sources (to find out how users found your
videos and where they are being played from).
• Bitly (Bitly Statistics): Click referrers (to find out where your links are being
shared and where they’re being clicked from) Click locations (to find out
where users clicking on your links are geographically located)

44. Now Lets hear from the Indies