Nowadays, people browse the internet through mobile devices and – more importantly – spend more than thrice as much time in apps compared to mobile browsers. Consequently, you need a waterproof concept for your mobile app promotion.

In the following, we will present great strategies to ensure that people find and download your app.

When Mobile Overtook Desktop

Since the mobile sector increased with reference to internet usage in the last years and finally overtook desktop computers, the need for mobile apps and mobile app promotion grew, too.

Companies, brands, traditional media – they are all adapting their services to mobile formats to expand their audience and stay in contact with their customers more easily.

In 2016, the average time spent in mobile apps per day was more than 3 hours, which is triple the amount in comparison to 2011. The time spent in mobile browsers didn’t even double in this time period to an amount of approximately 50 minutes per day (according to eMarketer).

Since the general time spent on mobile devices is increasing steadily, the amount of usage of mobile browsers amounts to 10% only. This emphasizes the need for a well-designed mobile app promotion.

Time spent with in-app vs. mobile web in the U.S. © ayeT-Studios

You can see the consequences of this process in the masses of competitors if you want to build an app.

Business of Apps released statistics stating that the total number of mobile app developers worldwide is higher than 8.7M. The amount of mobile apps available is even higher.

This high level of competition also underlines the necessity of a successful and well-planned mobile app promotion.

The 5 Factors for Successful Mobile App Promotion

What makes a strategy for your mobile app promotion successful? It’s not about taking only one measure and expecting tremendous results.

We collected the 5 main factors for your mobile app promotion that will make your app go big.

Paid Ads – User Acquisition

With mobile app promotion, developers want their apps to become popular. This can only be achieved if as many people as possible use the app on their mobile devices.

Acquiring users can be tricky since there will be various apps with the same character as your mobile app.

To attract users for your product you need to think about:
(1) Where should it be promoted?
(2) How should it be promoted?
(3) Who should promote my mobile app?

Here are some basics about these aspects for your mobile app promotion strategy.

(1) Media Channels

You can use all media channels that are present today to start your mobile app promotion. If it’s social media pages that you create, websites for your product or a TV clip:

The more budget you have, the more channels you can use to advertise your app during your mobile app promotion.

Since you want to attract new users, you should choose ways to get in touch with them directly on the channels they frequently use.

(2) Ad Formats & (Non-)Incent Advertising

If you choose an ad network for your mobile app promotion, they will offer you different kinds of usable ad formats. Each company has its own focus on certain aspects but there are some basic advertising formats for mobile app promotion we want to present:

Incent AdFormats:
– Offerwall: Several offers are shown to users. When they choose and complete an offer they will receive a reward in exchange.
– Rewarded Video: People love videos and their importance in mobile advertising has grown in the last few years. So-called rewarded videos also offer an incentive if people watch the full video. At the end of the video an end card (interstitial) is presented to the user with an invitation to download the app.

Non-Incent AdFormats:
– Banners: Banners are the classic part of advertisement in the mobile market, being shown in some part of the screen. You can clearly see that banners are ads because of their inconsistency with the rest of the screen.
– Native: In contrast to banners, their modern brother – a native ad – is built into the website or app in a way that it is perceived as part of the original content of the app or website.
– Interstitial: It works the same way as a banner with the difference in its size because interstitials cover the full screen. You need to click it away to continue the game, return to the menu, or to start the next level.
– Video: Just like with rewarded videos, users will watch the video and see an end card afterwards. The only difference is that the users won’t get rewarded for watching the video.

Basic ad formats for mobile app promotion © ayeT-Studios

You can also buy incent and non-incent installs for your app. This article will show you how to use them for your mobile app promotion.

(3) Ad Networks

Many companies nowadays offer mobile advertising to boost your app. They help you increase popularity and visibility of mobile apps with a personalized mobile app promotion strategy.

Of course, you need to pay for their services, however, you will get good results. So your money is well-invested.

Marketing through Influencers

Influencers who are active on social media channels can also push your mobile app promotion by publishing content about your app.

This will spread the word about products and since the audience is interested in the same topics as the influencer, you can be sure that these people tend to download and use your app.

Do you want to know more about mobile user acquisition? Click here for detailed information.

App Store Optimization (ASO)

App Store Optimization is an aspect for your mobile app promotion you can either do by yourself or pass it on to ad agencies who are specialized in this field.
Improving certain elements can clearly help your app ranking, which makes it the key factor of your mobile app promotion. Click here to get a very detailed description of ASO.

App Name

This is where mobile app promotion starts. The app name needs to make a good impression straight away, combining app function, creativity, and attraction at the same time.

App Design and Icon

The first visual object that is seen of your app is the app icon. It should match the general design that was chosen for the app to convey consistency.

Screenshots and Feature Graphic

Good screenshots give users an insight into your app. The more features you show, the more convinced they can be.

Feature graphics are only available on mobile devices but it should not fade into the background. With mobile app promotion, you need to reach all potential users.

Video

You can present your app in a short video. People like watching videos more than reading text, so you can easily convince potential users to download your app if you create an appealing clip.

App Description

Catch your user’s attention in the first paragraph and, depending on the app store, you can implement some of your main keywords. An enthusiastic and informative text can be persuading and push your mobile app promotion some more.

Keyword Search and Optimization

Each app store page works with keywords, the same goes for your mobile app. Finding and testing the right keywords is the first step. However, the permanent optimization of them is more important for mobile app promotion. Monitoring and, if needed, changing the keywords could lead to better results.

Eager to learn more about your perfect keywords? Then take a look at this article.

Building Your Own Brand

A brand name can be catchy and attract new users for your app. It’s a tough road until it becomes popular on the market but you can make a good start by creating more media coverage.

This aspect of mobile app promotion can be executed by the app owner. If you are not familiar with digital media, you can hire experts.

Build Brand Assets for Your App

You can establish your brand by creating a well-designed website where you publish all necessary information about your product. Add links to the app store and your social media profiles and make sure the website gives all information new users might need.

• Build a website for your app
• Include app download links on your website
• SEO matters here
• Create a blog section on your website
• Feature the app in your emails
• Consider alterative app stores
• Always collect emails
• Cross-promote your app (if you have other apps)

Apps are clearly preferred when going online with a mobile device © ayeT-Studios

Leverage Social Media

It’s one of the most powerful channels you will find: Many products have already gone viral through social media. You can take advantage of these channels for your mobile app promotion by publishing content about your app and letting it circulate.

• Use Dubbler
• Post on Pinterest
• Share your content
• Get in touch with your users
• Join developers & entrepreneur groups on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, and so on)

For more information about social media app promotion, click here.

Get a Ton of PR

Press releases will help you spread the word about your mobile app in other media institutions. If you can convince editors with a piece of paper, you can be sure that they will mention your app in a future article.

• Apply for awards
• Contact bloggers who would care
• Do “real-life” marketing / recruit customers locally
• Run a contest on your social media channels
• Reach out to influencers
• Comment on blogs
• Exchange shares with other influencers
• Get speaking opportunities

 

App Promotion Sites

You will find different websites on the internet to spread the word about your mobile app.

Forums, blogs, or review sites list and rate various mobile apps to give a first impression to their audience. A great way to promote your app! So try to get featured on mobile app review sites of official blogs.

Do you want to know more about it? Click here and read about app promotion sites in detail.

App Improvements

Improving an app is not a shame, even famous apps have not been perfect right from the start. You adjust your app to the needs of your users.

What exactly does your app need to become better and which feature is even superfluous? We have some tips and tricks on how you can revamp your app:

Get Feedback of Other Developers

A sorrow shared is a sorrow halved. Since other developers have the same problems, you can ask them for support. You can expect a professional advice because they know about this process.

Check Out Competitors

You can learn from the mistakes of developers with apps that have the same function as yours. Especially reviews and users’ reactions will tell you what you can do better and what you should pay attention to.

React to User Feedback

App developers rely on their users and their experiences with the app. So, start mining your apps reviews.

You should be truly interested in constructive criticism and suggestions because they are worth a mint. Users will be happy if they are heard.

Respond and Try to Resolve All Your Negative Reviews

This measure has 2 big advantages:

• It gives you a better ranking because you take care of your users and their sorrows and criticism.
• You can collect ideas for improvements for your app since they will explain what exactly led them to give a negative review.

Updates

When you have fixed the weaknesses of your app, the next thing to do is to update your app.

You don’t have to this for every single error. However, permanent updates show your users the dedication you have for your product.

Take Advantage of Localizations

To localize your app implies hard work, if you do it 100%:

Matching app name, screenshots, and description with the respective target language is the beginning of catching the attention of new users.

To make sure that these users can properly use your mobile app, you need to localize your app itself and its whole content, too.

Push Notifications to Push Engagement

Users only use a few apps regularly, the rest will be rather untouched or even deleted. You can remind users of using your app more frequently by integrating push notifications.

Integrate Social within the App

Of course you can place a button for your social media profiles in your app. What about a tool where you can invite new friends via social media?

You can give your mobile app a real push if users spread the word about your app, especially if they get a little reward for inviting new users.

App abandonment has increased in the last 5 years © ayeT-Studios

Differences in Mobile App Promotion for iOS and Android

The two biggest app markets are Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. Hence, most app developers focus on creating iOS or Android applications.
Mobile app promotion in these app stores is similar in many aspects. However, there are differences you need to consider when customizing your mobile app promotion to the respective OS.

Specialized Online Channels

As mentioned before, you can publish articles and posts about your mobile app to increase its reach. There are different industry-specialized websites for iOS and Android. So, make sure to choose the right channels for your mobile app promotion.
The world of social media offers many groups, forums, channels, and blogs that specialize on one operating system. So, keep an eye on the right ones.

Ranking Algorithm

Google and Apple created their own ranking algorithms, by which apps end up in their position in the charts. They are updated on a more or less regular basis to prevent any misuse or fraud.
As an app developer it is important to follow these changes and updates and match your mobile app promotion with them. Algorithms consider e.g. installs, ratings, uninstalls, and usage.

ASO

You will also find differences when creating the app page in the respective app store. They consist of nearly the same elements and structure. But there are things you need to consider if you want to get the best results for your mobile app promotion.
Android and iOS have some common elements (e.g. design, wording, content) but they vary the most in usage and integration of keywords:

• Find the right keywords: For iOS apps, you only have 100 characters to set your keywords, so you have to choose them wisely. In contrast, Android apps have their keywords implemented in the description where the developer is not tied to character limits.
• Keyword implementation: While Apple has a keyword field, Android apps contain keywords in their descriptions. App developers can palce them in the text but it is recommended to use a keyword a maximum of 5 times to prevent spamming.
• Design a video: The big advantage for Android developers is to the possibility to create a promotion video for your mobile app that you can place on your app store page. A well-designed video can lead to more traffic for your page.

In these articles, you will find more details about Android App Promotion and iOS App Promotion.

	PLAY STORE	APP STORE
Downloads	Yes	Yes
Revenue (paid apps only)	No	Yes
App starts (how often the app is used)	Yes	Yes
Number & value of reviews	Yes	Yes
Keyword relevance	Yes	Yes
Recently updated	No	Yes
Retention / uninstalls	Yes	No
Country	Yes	Yes
Social proof	Yes	No
Backlinks	Yes	No

Comparison of App Ranking Factors for Google and Apple © ayeT-Studios

How to Begin Mobile App Promotion

To optimize your results, you constantly need to surveil, evaluate, and improve the strategy of your mobile app promotion. Click here if you want to know the first steps for your personalized app promotion.

App developers can also take advantage of ad networks like ayeT-Studios. With multichannel ad solutions, they can acquire massive amounts of users right after your app launch and also grow and engage your user base at a constant level.

Beneath, you can find information about our pricing:

Rewarded Advertising	Android (starting at)	iOS (starting at)
CPI	0,07$	0,15$
CPE	0,30$	0,30$
CPA (Signup, Registrations)	On request	On request
Rewarded Video (CPV)	0,020$	0,020$
Rewarded Video (CPM)	0,50$	0,50$

 

Non-Rewarded Advertising	Android/iOS/Website (starting at)
CPC	0,02$
CPM	2,00$
CPV	0,02$

Although the industy around mobile applications is quite a new one, it behaves like every other business: The product itself has to be as good as possible to be successful! When publishing your app did you think about how to market your app with the help of app promotion services to make it even more popular?

To brave the vast amount of competitors in this industry, you can choose from a variety of app promotion services. They represent different tools you can use to help you to advertise your mobile app.

Navigation

1. Paid User Acquisition	Ad-Networks|Ad-Formats|Influencer
2. App Store Optimization	App Name|Description|Keywords
3. App Promotion Sites	Review Sites|Press Releases|Blogs
4. Building Own Channels	Own Website|Social Media

What Types of App Promotion Services Are There?

We like to separate the app promotion services into 4 different categories:

1. Paid User Acquisition
2. App Store Optimization
3. App Promotion Sites
4. Building Own Channels

For each category, there are several full service providers as well as specialized companies offering only sub services of a certain categories.

Let’s elaboarte that statement by looking at an example. Taking a closer look at App Store Optimization shows that nowadays, it is crucial to create a compelling video for your app in order to improve your Play Store entry. Therefore, many companies specialize in app video creation, like wyzowl.com and makewebvideo.com.

App Store Optimization is much more than just creating a video though. You need an app description, an app icon, your app name, feature graphic, screenshots and all of that should be keyword targeted. Hence, video creation is a sub service of App Store Optimization.
If you want to know more about App Store Optimization, read this article!

Taking a Closer Look at the Different App Promotion Services

Now that we showed you a quick overview of the categories, let’s take a closer look at each service category and their sub services.

1. Paid User Acquisition

Getting as many users for your app as possible is one of the key factors in giving your app a good ranking in the app stores. It is not easy to reach the masses of mobile users, especially if you want to acquire users for free.

Paid user acquisition is an effective way of app promotion to reach out to possible users for your mobile app.

Ad Networks

When choosing an ad network to spread the word about your app, you will find a enormous amount of companies providing this app promotion service. It is important to ask yourself these questions in advance:

1. How much money can you spend?
2. In which format should your app be advertised?

There are many different ad formats offerd by ad networks to push your app (you will find a listing of various ad formats further down in the article).

If you’re not sure what kind of ad network you should choose as app promotion service,  don’t worry! Even big companies like Google (“Google AdWords“) and Facebook (“Facebook Ads“) act as ad networks for promoting your mobile app.

Both offer app promotion services that are based on a bidding system, meaning the more you spend for your ad, the better it will be placed. This aspect gives you the opportunity to adjust your advertising costs to your current budget, which is an important factor for app developers with a small budget.

Since the mobile market and mobile advertising have increased over the last few years (and it keeps on growing!), some ad networks set their focus on mobile advertising.

Major companies for app promotion services are e.g. ayeT-Studios, Tapjoy and Fyber.

Incent vs. Non-Incent

Another factor within app promotion services is the way you want to attract people:

When offering a reward for downloading and using your app this is called incentivized – it’s the cheaper way to generate users. They will download your app and receive e.g. virtual currency for a mobile game they’re playing in exchange.

On the other hand, if you want potential users to download your app out of genuine interest you can choose non-incentivized advertising in your app promotion service.

The costs for this kind of service are difficult to explain since you want to get ‘loyal users’ for your app. Incentivized app installs themselves are cheaper than non-incentivized, however, you need to consider the retention rate in this context to talk about the real costs for these users.

In this article, you will find more information on retention rates as well as incent and non-incent installs for mobile apps.

Ad Formats

There is a wide range of ad formats, depending on the app promotion service you pick. Before choosing an ad format, you should take your time to think about how you want to present your app to the audience: Design, text and structure of the respective ad can have a deep impact on how users react to your ad.

Here are the most common ad formats:

1. Banner: It is the founding stone of mobile advertising and improved a lot in the past years. Banners are displayed at some part of the screen, with a standard size of 350×50 pixel. In contrast to the beginning, when users thought of banners being disruptive, they can nowadays be implemented way more effectively in the context. The prototype of web banners was developed really early. Nowadays, banners don’t have to be static anymore, they can be animated, have a sound-layer or even get the information of a livestream!
2. Interstitial: You could also call it full-screen banner because it is displayed on the whole screen. This way, more information can be provided and users will receive an immediate impression regarding the product.
3. Video: In recent years, mobile videos have experienced a boost. According to eMarketer, the numbers of mobile video ad budget spend in 2014 doubled in comparison to 2013 – from $720 Million to $1.5 Billion. This progress shows the huge potential mobile videos have when choosing them as app promotion service. Due to the play time of the video, there can be even more context shown to your audience. An option for using mobile video ads in an incentivized way are so-called rewarded videos where users receive a reward for watching an entire advertising video.
4. Native: This is the modern type of banner where ad components are be displayed. When choosing the right place and structure of the ad, it can be very effective. Users won’t be disrupted and will see the ad as part of the website/app.
5. Offerwall: This ad format describes a page in an app where different offers are shown to the users. They can choose and complete an offer and receive a reward in exchange. Offer types may vary, from downloading and using a mobile app to watching a short advertisement about a certain product to completing a quick survey. It is always a good idea to scale the size of the reward with the amount of work a user has to put in to fulfill the task.

There will be even more ad formats available for different app promotion services but these are the basic ones, which app developers and publishers should know.

No matter which ad format you choose: Always analyse your app performance and adjust the strategy of the app promotion service you’re using. A well-chosen mixture of various ad formats is the best solution to make sure that you attract many users.

Influencer Marketing

Making your app go viral is a tough task, with millions of other apps competing for new users. That’s why some app promotion companies also offer influencer marketing:

There’s no other place than social media for spreading news online as fast as possible.

A video about your app on YouTube, a post on Facebook reaching millions of fans, or a tweet that shouts out to the followers – there are plenty of people that gathered a great fanbase. So, when selecting this app promotion service you can be sure that these people hear about your app.

Here, you can find more detailed information on this topic.

These formats are used the most for mobile campaigns © ayeT-Studios

2. App Store Optimization

The first impression of a mobile app is important for new users but you can also reach a better ranking with well-designed content in the respective app store. App store optimization (ASO) is a key element when it comes to app promotion services – here are some aspects that should be considered.

App Name

Next to the icon, people will see your app name at first so make sure that it attracts users in the right way. Your app’s name should contain the main keyword and if you have a well-known app or brand,it should contain the brand name. Sometimes, you need to be creative and gather a few ideas to get the best name for your app, or you can ask app promotion services for help.

App Description

A well-written app description can convince the user that your app is just what he is looking for.

App promotion services offer professionally written app descriptions to give potential users a detailed overview of every feature that your mobile app has to offers. With the descriptions provided, it is easy to elaborate the benefits of your app, making a prospective customer in no time.

Keyword Research and Optimization

Companies for app promotion services emphasize effective keyword research and look for the best set of keywords for optimizing your app right way. Through this approach, your app will quickly get a highly optimized and highly viewed profile.

However, make sure that your app description is not overloaded with key words. Otherwise, this could lead to a worse ranking in the app store. A high-quality app promotion service finds a good mixture and makes it appealing to potential users.

App Design and Icon

Great app design and a great looking icon are the basics of app promotion. They are very powerful in convincing people to download your app. Among app promotion services, it is important to create a coherent and beautiful design as well as an engaging app icon for your app.

They are not only creating but also testing design and icons to check out their effectiveness and functionality.

Screenshots & Feature Graphic

When clicking on your app in the app store with their mobile device, the first thing users see is the so-called feature graphic. This image at the top of the page is only available on mobile devices so you need to make sure that you don’t forget this element in your app store page.

The design should match your app, and don’t forget: Mobile devices do not have a very big screen. Hence, make sure you choose an appropriate font size.

The same goes for screenshots: Make sure that they are appealing and do not contain either too little or too much content.

Video

People like watching videos more than reading a simple text because they can get the information without much effort. Take advantage of this feature in the app store and make sure that it is not too long – otherwise it can have a negative effect. App promotion services offer to create beautiful videos of your app, in a high-quality design.

To gain deeper insight regarding ASO, just click here.

Most of the apps are found when browsing the app store © ayeT-Studios

3. App Promotion Sites

Before purchasing a product, people check information, reviews and comments.

Well, the same goes for your mobile app: Starting on your app store page, people will leave ratings and comments about it, which will be seen by new users. There are various other websites where your app can be listed, too.

App promotion services offer to place your app on a website, give detailed information about it, and rate it or leave a comment about it. This can boost your app’s reputation and ranking, too.

App Review Sites

App review sites deal with listing and evaluating apps from the app stores. It is a hotspot for potential users who want to get to know new apps, so you can generate many new users for your app if people find it on such a website.

However, the quality and quantity of articles about apps varies a lot: From very short app descriptions, placing your app with 5 other apps of the same category in one article, to really detailed reviews, including screenshots or even a video about your app to make sure people understand the purpose of your app. App promotion services cooperate with such websites to place your app in there, too.

There are free as well as fee-based app review sites – it is up to you which format you want to use as app promotion service. Mobyaffiliates offers a short list of app review sites for both Android and iOS, paid as well as free. You should take a look at the website first and then decide if you want your app to be presented this way.

No matter what app review site you choose: By this, you will not only gain more media placement for your app but the app can also get a better ranking because of inbound linking from those websites.

Press Release

App promotion services just work online? You’re wrong!

The classical press, e.g. a printed article about your app or your company, may seem as an outdated way of app promotion. However, there are many fans and subscribers who will receive newspapers and journals automatically or buy them. These people are keenly interested in this topic. Especially the audience of professional journals will be interested in its news and articles.

If your app is mentioned in these media you can be sure that the quantity of potential users is way higher than on other channels. Moreover, most printed media is now available on the internet, too. This leads to your app going even more viral because the press release about your app can be re-posted, linked, commented, and liked.

App promotion services can help you publish some words about your app in these forms of media.

Websites and Communities for Startups

There are millions of apps in the app stores and every day new companies are launching more apps. It is hard for them to compete with the big brands for some space for advertising but among app promotion services, you will also find websites or communities only for startup companies. Like this, it is easier for you to push past the big brands and promote your mobile app with equal brand competitors.

The good thing is that people visiting such communities intend to discover brand new products, so if you have just launched your new app this is one of the places to be. You can either register on these websites on your own and pay a small fee (or, if you’re in luck, it is for free) or you can use an app promotion service to get you online.

Specialized Websites and Blogs

Nowadays, there are blogs and websites for nearly every topic, even for techies and people who love mobile devices, gadgets, and apps.

The chances that you will gain new users are high because blogs mostly have a loyal fanbase who love the same topic as the author. If your favourite author is talking about the app, it can be worth a try.

You can ask the admin or owner of the channel yourself or you can contact a company for app promotion services to do that for you.

For more information on app promotion sites, click here.

4. Building Own Channels

You can also create websites and profiles for your mobile app where you can provide basic information about your app outside the app store. Remember:

The more channels you can be found in, the more visibility you will get for your app.

Website for Your App

It is important to create and optimize the landing page of your app sites. There, people can read all information about your product and your company. If you connect the landing page with other online channels you will increase visibility on the internet.

Social Media Channels

There are plenty of social media channels available and there will probably be even more coming up in the next few years.

It is hard to predict on which channel your app will gain the most users. But make sure that your app is visible on the main social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Depending on the purpose of your app you might also place it in channels like Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and many more.

Also, here you can decide: Do you want to do this on your own or do you want to make it in the most professional way and hire an agency for app promotion services.

Expectations for revenue in digital advertising until 2018 © ayeT-Studios

Where Can I Get These Services

Anyone who is going to release an app should be willing to do the extra work that is necessary for their app promotion.

Almost all people who are likely to purchase your app will not ever get to know about it unless you push it out there. For some app developers, this process is more difficult than creating the app itself.

This is where app promotion services come in to help your app release to a success, no matter if it is for Android or iOS.

Let a company for app promotion services like ayeT-Studios recommend you the best combination of tools.

Below you can find information on our pricing:

Rewarded Advertising	Android (starting at)	iOS (starting at)
CPI	0,07$	0,15$
CPE	0,30$	0,30$
CPA (Signup, Registrations)	On request	On request
Rewarded Video (CPV)	0,020$	0,020$
Rewarded Video (CPM)	0,50$	0,50$

 

Non-Rewarded Advertising	Android/iOS/Website (starting at)
CPC	0,02$
CPM	2,00$
CPV	0,02$

How extensively you can boost your ranking is influenced by various factors evaluated by the algorithm of the respective app store.

One key factor is the number of installs – the more people have installed the app, the higher the algorithm will rank your app.

In this article, we present different app promotion strategies and how you can combine different types of installs in such strategies to make your app rank as highly as possible.

Installation Types: Incentivized vs. Non-Incentivized

There are different app promotion strategies you can use to increase the quantity of installs for an app. You can buy installs and choose between incentivized and non-incentivized ones, meaning:

• • Users will either receive a reward for installing your application (incentivized) or
  • they will download your app out of true interest and won’t get rewarded (non-incentivized).

Both types have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Incentivized Installs: Exchanging Installs for Rewards

In general, you can choose between two app promotion strategies when driving incentivized installs for your app. One of them is based on the amount of installs generated in a certain time whereas the other one considers loyalty of your users.

Burst Campaign

With this app promotion strategy, you can give your application a real push to increase its ranking in a short period of time.

This will lead to a higher ranking, which means more visibility in the charts. If users search for certain apps, the chance that yours will be displayed among the search results will be higher.
As a consequence, you will receive organic installs as well, which is an important factor for your app.

Loyal User Acquisition

This type of app promotion strategy stays in competition to campaigns based on non-incent installs and consequential costs per loyal user. One main factor influencing this concept is the so-called retention rate. In the chart below, you can see some numbers regarding retention rates of users, so you will better understand this term.

Days	Users keeping the app	Retention rate
1	100	Day1-retention: 10%
3	50	Day3-retention: 5%
7	10	Day7-retention: 1%

Example for retention rates (Day 0 = 1000 downloads) © ayeT-Studios

Advantages and Disadvantages

As mentioned before, one advantage is the mass of installs you can receive very fast and the resulting boost of ranking. Another important factor you should keep in mind are the costs you need to spend for each kind of install:
The CPI (= Cost per install) for incentivized installs is way cheaper than an app promotion strategy only based on non-incentivized ones. The downside of incentivized installs is that users might download and install your app only for the reward, resulting in less user engagement, lower lifetime value and smaller retention rates.

According to mobyaffiliates, who refer to a study by Fiksu, 57% of users from non-incent installs converted to “loyal users” in contrast to 24% from incent installs. (It is not stated clearly what a ‘loyal user’ actually is – this set of data might define it as users with a Day3-retention.)

How ayeT-Studios Improves User Retention

To counteract these factors, one app promotion strategy at ayeT-Studios is the so-called high-retention install. With this special high-retention service, users have to keep an app for at least 3 days before receiving a reward, which leads to much better results for customers and their app promotion strategy.

Retention Rates for high performing apps by app category © ayeT-Studios

Non-Incentivized Installs: When You don’t Reward Users

The advantage on one side is the disadvantage on the other: Since users won’t receive a reward for installing your app, you have more costs in order to receive the same amount of installs compared to an incentivized campaign. If you just started your app business, this could take a big chunk of your marketing budget if you mainly base your app promotion strategy on this element.

Additionally, you won’t be able to get huge amounts of installs in a short period of time.

But it’s worth it. Users will interact and use your app because of their true interest, which is a good basis for a loyal user base and a huge advantage for this type of app promotion strategy.

Either… Or?

Now the most important question needs to be asked: Which type of install will be suit your app promotion strategy more?

Can you choose a method where you will only deal with the benefits and leave the drawbacks behind? The answer is:
Take advantage of both of them. This mixture of rewarded and non-incent installs will let your app promotion strategy shoot up and your app will climb up the charts.

2 Steps to Success

It seems to be common practice to start app promotion strategies with incentivized installs, which won’t take long to deliver results and leads to a higher top chart position of the app.

The next measure is to receive non-incentivized traffic to increase user engagement and enlarge user retention. In this part of your app promotion strategy, you don’t need big amounts of installs as you probably did before.

Dividing your promotion strategy into these 2 parts will cause your app to rank higher in the charts regarding various key factors.

Why You Need an App Promotion Strategy

It might not seem obvious for some app developers or marketers to implement a certain promotion strategy. There are many advantages when running such promotions.

For example, you can get a vital amount of downloads in a short time frame, where most of the installs arise from other sources:

1) Organic installs due to the ranking in the Play Store
2) Recommendations of users (mostly via a referral system integrated within the app)
3) Media-driven attention, leading to users searching for the brand directly

Organic iOS app installs as a result of paid app installs © TUNE

Is There a Plan C?

Is this the only choice app developers and marketers have when planning an app promotion strategy? Or is there an option available which can bypass disadvantages and give a mixture of the advantages in one bundle?
In fact, there is the option of incentivized installs based on Cost Per Action (CPA). By this, you can persuade many users not only to install your app but also to engage with it at the same time.

It’s killing two birds with one stone  – for little cost. The type of action can be anything realistic that won’t take too much time, otherwise users are not interested in achieving the respective goal:

• • Registration
  • Reaching a certain level
  • Completing a tutorial
  • and many more

These are actions users can and will accomplish in order to earn a reward.

Conclusion

There isn’t one formula for the perfect app promotion strategy when buying app installs. Results are still dependent on your app as well as users who are getting in touch with it.

According to the category your app belongs to, your game plan can change in comparison to other apps.

But if yours is developed properly, appeals to your major user base, and fulfils all conditions and functions it offers – then buying installs as your app promotion strategy will create a proper user base and lead to future organic traffic.

How paid campaigns for app promotion lead to more organic downloads © ayeT-Studios

If you are not sure how your app promotion strategy should look like: Don’t worry. There are many mobile marketing companies available that will give advice about possible solutions.

ayeT-Studios is an experienced company in this business and offers a personal customized app promotion strategy to give you the best results, no matter if you have an Android or iOS application.