How to Plan for Successful App Launch

Dot Com Infoway - Whitepaper/ Mobile Apps Marketing

How to Plan for a

Successful App Launch?

“Make your Apps Discoverable”

www.dotcominfoway.com

What’s Inside?

Lay Down the Groundwork

Setting Yourself Apart

The Fundamentals

Generating Hype

Don’t Make these Mistakes

The Number One Key

How to Plan for a Successful App Launch

NUMBER OF APPS AVAILABLE ACROSS VARIOUS STORES

mobile apps have been developed in

3 years.

300,000+585,000

450,000

82,234

DAILY SMARTPHONE APP CONSUMPTION,

MINUTES PER CATEGORY

24%

27%12%

11%

7%

Games Social Media News

Entertainment Other


SOURCE : FLURRY ANALYTICS 2012

SOURCE : MOBITHINKING STATISTICS 2012

Everyone and their brothers seem to be

launching new applications. The app market is

booming in concert with widespread smartphone

dissemination.

Statistics on this matter suggest that the

saturation point is still well into the future, and that

the market will continue to be very strong for a

long time.

It’s not surprising that many believe applications

will continue to become increasingly central to

people’s lives, nor is it much of a stretch to agree

with them. Many applications serve very useful

functions, while many others are remarkably – even

impressively – useless.

Everyday, new applications are introduced,

and more and more consumers can’t function

properly without these things that didn’t even exist

a few years back.

Interestingly enough, the degree of an

application’s utility doesn’t really have any

relationship with that same application’s

popularity or pricing. Both the useful and the

silly have the same potential for profit and

notoriety.

LAY DOWN THE

GROUNDWORK


LAY DOWN THE

GROUNDWORK

Much of the popularity and success of an application lies in the preparation that

goes into its launch. Many potentially killer apps have fallen by the wayside because

of lack of such preparation. A poor launch will generally translate into poor overall

dissemination, which will end up spelling the death of such a venture.

What can you, as an application developer or marketer, do in order to ensure that

your application launch will be a highly successful one? There are several general

points to consider. We can definitely take a look at scores of examples of successful

launches and glean commonalities from the data. We also need to keep in mind that

ingenuity and creativity shouldn’t stop with the development of the app itself.

SETTING

YOURSELF APART


SETTING

YOURSELF APART

With millions of applications in existence, you need something extra-special to

put your own app front and center on the public stage. Launch marketing is more

important than ever for application success, and will continue to be as long as this

market is a moneymaker.

Thousands of the applications in existence nowadays are exceptionally ingenious

dare we say revolutionary – but very few of them are going to make it anywhere

solely on inherent strengths.

The primary key to a successful application launch is good marketing. In this paper we

will be discussing several key aspects of such marketing.

Hopefully after reading this you will have a very clear and well defined idea of the

degree and scope of preparation you need in order to put together the best

application launch you possibly can.

THE

FUNDAMENTALS

Maybe you think you’ve got something special with your app, and maybe it

really is. But without a very specific launch strategy it’s not going to be that golden

ticket to fortune and success for which you’ve been praying. The small things are very

important; there are several of them that must be fully considered and executed

before your launch will be feasible.



Number one, you need a good brand name for your application. “Angry Birds”

probably wouldn’t have taken off the way it did without its evocative and funny title,

so think of something that sums up exactly what it is – but is fun and memorable as

well.

Make it short and sweet, and you’ll probably have a better time of things. You should

come up with a list of five possibilities, and then run them by your colleagues, family,

and anybody else whose opinion you value.

Also invest thought and money into the creation of your logo and icon. You

probably already know from experience – some logos just ask to be clicked, while

others languish in anonymity.

Make yours something fresh, eye-catching, and pertinent to the nature of your

application. You’d probably do well to hire out for creative input on this, but if you

have excellent artists, drafters, or graphic designers in house, then get at it and enjoy

the experience.

BRANDINGBRANDING


Competitive Analysis

Figure out what your closest competition is out there, and the best way to compete with

them. You’d think that having a unique application would be the best thing, but honestly it’s

much easier to market and launch an application that serves a familiar function. This being

said, don’t imitate or ape the competing applications. Find a way to set yours apart as

different, better, and innovative when compared to the others.

App Store Submission Tips

As of the writing of this paper, the App Store online is the place to launch applications. If

there happen to be any others by the time you read this, then you should gear your launch

for as many of these other “stores” as possible. The most important part of putting your

application on the App Store is selecting which category to put it into. There are several

subcategories as well. Figure out which one is suitable, as well as which one will best allow

your product to stand out.

Pricing Your App: Factors to Consider

You’ll need to decide on a consumer price for your product. Make sure you put both

market research and basic accounting to work here… don’t just come up with a random

figure. See what other apps in your category are priced, and what those apps offer compared

to yours. Figure out how many people you think will want to purchase your app… take a low

estimate. Then do some math and figure out what the gross profits will be at different price

points. Of course you shouldn’t overprice, but you should be aware that underpricing will

make your product seem insignificant too. Find a happy medium.

FIND YOUR PERFECT PLACE IN THE MARKET


It is a big plus if you are able to produce several editions of your application, each one

geared to a specific type of customer.

If it is feasible, make one for different age groups, types of employment, different

language-speakers or ethnicities, etc.

You get the idea… people like customization. In addition, it would be wise to make

“Gold”, “Platinum”, or “Executive” editions with more widgets and features for those

“discriminating types” out there.

Anything to make the customer feel that you have them specifically in mind is a good

thing. Such diversification will also possibly make it easier for you to feature your

application under more than one category in the app store.

SPECIALTY NICHES

GENERATING

HYPEGive them More than Words


GENERATING

HYPEThere are some ingenious steps you can take in order to get the online market

buzzing about your product that involve a more “nerdy” approach. Other app

developers and marketers have been using these successfully for themselves. First

of all, you really need to set up a website for your app. Without this step, you can’t

really do much of anything else online. Put it all out there, but don’t get too wordy…

attention spans are at an all-time low – “too long; didn’t read” is a popular critique

these days.

Aside from your impeccably written, terse, majestic and sparkling website, a couple

or a few splash pages wouldn’t be a bad idea as well. A splash page is like a satellite

website that directs traffic to the main site. Splash pages work the best when they

work different angles on the same product. Try to be as creative as you possibly can,

and make sure the writing and design are on point. In addition, try to do some research

into effective, contemporary App Store Optimization in order to generate more hits

and increase visibility.


Create Buzz

Your sites should be consistently updated. Not only does this have a positive effect on

Search Engine (Google) rankings, but it gets potential customers excited about the

product.

Word of Mouth

Bloggy blurbs are just fine, but you really ought to give them something more than

just reading material. Buzz is created with experiences, not just compelling literature.

So give them some sneak previews. Screenshots of the application in action are

always good, but don’t give too much away. Put out some kind of video that teases

potential customers, leaving them wanting more. Release promotional games, songs,

stories, etc., as long as it’s not anything too lame. Have a promotional edition of your

application available, and send codes to people who you think might help in

generating word of mouth. These could be friends and colleagues, or it could be a

professional app blogger (one of the thousands out there) with whom you’ve

developed a relationship.

Beta Test

One of the most effective ways to generate buzz is to muster together a squadron

of volunteer beta-testers. Internet nerds love and live for this kind of thing, as it sort

of validates the months and years they’ve spent in front of a computer screen. Get

this group of independent volunteers to systematically test your app, providing them

with a form to fill out and allowing for any other additional feedback. The more they

get into it, the more they’re going to talk about their cool experience with others.

GIVE THEM MORE THAN WORDS

DON’T MAKE THESE

MISTAKESBe Nitpicky, and Serve your Customers


DON’T MAKE THESE

MISTAKESMake sure you get everything planned out ahead of time. Things might not go

completely according to this plan, but at least you have some type of template that

will give you some structure. Without a plan, you’re just winging it and are going to

look exceptionally unprofessional. Nobody is going to know what is going on with

your launch, not even within your own firm, and dissension is quite likely to make its

way quickly through the ranks.

No, if you don’t have all your ducks in a row, your application’s launch is going to be a

big mess, so get a very detailed plan together. On top of this, you ought to make sure

that your product is well tested for bugs and glitches. There’s nothing worse than an

application on the market that causes more problems than it solves.

Such a situation is indicative of an app developer who is more concerned with getting

their product to market than with serving customers. Not a good way to be seen by

the public.


Customers are the ultimate judges as to whether an application will be successful

or not. Whatever you do, do not let their feedback go unheeded. Make sure that

customers have their own lines of communication, so that you can hear exactly

what they think about your product. And actually listen to what they say! The fact

that they themselves are not the developers is totally irrelevant, and is actually quite

beneficial.

Customer feedback is, quite often, exceptionally detailed and helpful… a good way to

avoid the need for expensive consultations which will tell you the same thing about

your product. A lot of apps these days disappoint their customers. The developer will

tout their new app as the greatest thing since Shazam, and it ends up being just some

bug-ridden and insignificant waste of time and money. Customers don’t like these

types of situations, and will likely avoid anything you put out in the future. Bottom

line: Make sure your app does exactly what you say it is going to do.

Problems with poor delivery and improper testing usually, more than anything else,

have a lot to do with a lack of adequate time for the application’s development. So

make sure that you and your staff give yourselves as much time as is necessary, and

then add a month or two onto that. Be as meticulous and methodical as you can

possibly be, and your chances of reaping the rewards will increase tremendously.

BE NITPICKY AND SERVE YOUR CUSTOMERS

THE NUMBER

ONE KEY


You’re not going to do much of anything if you don’t get experienced and successful

app developers & launchers on your side! You can do it yourself all you want, but if you

don’t have any experience in this field, your chances for success are slim.

Experience counts in all fields, but especially in new, developing genres of marketing.

If you pay attention to the approach your help takes initially, you may be able to do

much more for yourself whenever the next launch rolls around, but you’d be much

better off with some good help this time around.

How to Plan for Successful App Launch

Technology

Transcript of How to Plan for Successful App Launch