Too many brands, businesses and mobile developers make the mistake of not planning how to reach their target audience before developing and launching their apps to the world.
You might have the best app out there, but if no one knows about it, it wont be successful. Find out how to drive traffic to your app or mobile site with our guide.
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Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Sites
1.
2. There may be exceptional cases when no marketing is required but
those are quite extraordinary circumstances. Marketing is usually a
combination of what is commonly referred to as POEM, which is short
for Paid, Owned, and Earned Media. The balance differs from case
to case but all of the communication must be executed with quality
and control in order to achieve the outcome you want. Last but not
least, you must measure the results of your campaign to see if you
have hit your goals (yes, set goals!). In this white paper, we will take
you through the different media types and key success factors behind
engaging with your users and driving traffic to your mobile services.
TOO MANY BRANDS,
BUSINESSES AND MOBILE
DEVELOPERS MAKE THE
MISTAKE OF NOT PLANNING
HOW TO REACH THEIR TARGET
AUDIENCE BEFORE DEVELOPING
AND LAUNCHING THEIR APPS
TO THE WORLD.
3. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
3
Marketing of mobile services can be done through an almost endless combination of paid, owned, and earned media.
There are literally thousands of marketing tools, services and channels that offer opportunities to promote apps and
mobile websites. All the choices make it difficult to pick and choose, but if you get it right, mobile marketing can
provide an amazing return on your investment.
1. Planning your mobile campaign
PAID
MEDIA
OWNED
MEDIA
EARNED
MEDIA
4. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
4
Paid media includes all the display media seen on websites, apps, posters, e-mail messages as well as TV
Commercials, Radio and more.
When it comes to paid digital media you usually have the option to pay-per-view/display (CPM) or pay-per-performance
(CPC). The choice for each case depends on how attractive your content is. If your ads and channels have high click-
through rates, per-pay-view will be more efficient; otherwise pay-per-performance is a safer bet as you will know
exactly how money is being spent for engagement. If you have time and resources, the best way is to experiment.
Ad networks usually distinguish between blind and premium networks. Blind means that advertisers can target a
specific audience or content category but have no control over where the ads are displayed. Premium networks on the
other hand, can give advertisers the choice of targeting specific sites
There are hundreds of app and mobile ad services available but based on our experience the most reliable and
resource efficient ones today are Facebook, Google Admob and Tapjoy, outlined below. All three offer pay-per-app
install, which means that you can easily plan and forecast the budget for a certain number of app downloads. Other
great ad networks include Adfonic, Millennial Media, Apple iAds, InMobi, Buzzcity, Greystripe, Jumptap and more. For
a good overview of the mobile ad networks visit MobiThinking.com.
Paid Media
Tapjoy is another premium app promotion network offering several great
targeting methods including Pay-per-Install and Pay-per-engagement. With the
Pay-per-engagement option you only pay once a user has performed a specific
action, e.g. opted in for push notifications. However, skeptics believe that
the user incentive model for accepting advertisement in exchange for virtual
rewards will result in less loyal users than other ad networks.
Gun Bros
in 2011, a game called gun bros saw its downloads
increase from 2.8 million to 6.8 million. the company
attributed the success to tapjoy, which allowed them
to quickly acquire users and engage them without
requiring cash payment.
5. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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The key differentiator of Facebook is Sponsored App promotion. Not only is
it great for targeting a specific target audience but the ads embedded into
newsfeeds can also display which friends already use the app, providing users
with social proof that the app has value. Facebook app promotion is a premium
mobile ad service in terms of cost, but you get what you pay for - which are high
quality users that actually perform actions in the app.
colorsnap, a color matching app by paint company
sherman-williams. in 2009, after a $15,000 ad buy, the
app landed on the top 25 most popular list in the app
store.
Google is the indisputable No. 1 player in mobile. With Google Admob
campaigns, you create ads and choose which apps and mobile websites you
want the ad to appear in, as well as the target audience.
You can also run house ads, which are ads that appear in your own
app encouraging users to share their activity. Spooky House Studios, a
development studio recently acquired by Zynga, experienced a 250% increase
in new users after making use of Google’s cross promotion and house ads.
According to Econsultancy, the text-ad campaign accumulated 11.9 million
impressions and a 500% increase in downloads. We recommend Google
Admob as part of the mix for most campaigns.
a canadian e-commerce discount app called
checkout 51 obtained 10,000 installs in just
two days with facebook’s app install ads.
ColorSnap Checkout 51
6. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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Another type of paid media is above the line promotion. This is media that steps out of the computer and breaks into
the outside world through ads on the television, radio, and other forms of traditional media. It gets your brand message
out, but should be combined with below-the-line personalized advertising so that users can relate to the brand
message. In March, chat-app Line’s CEO, Jeanie Han told TechCrunch she was putting more focus on above-the-line
advertising with commercials, radio, and more. By May, Line had 150 million users, a third of which had been obtained
in the past 3 months.
This includes ads in magazines, newspapers, and more. These kinds of
display ads generally work better with some sort of interaction for engagement.
ColorSnap, mentioned above, now has a print ad in a well-targeted magazine
(Food Network) that encourages users to color match items in the image with a
QR code linking to a mobile site that features not only a download link but also
a product search and store locator. By adding an SMS call-to-action to a simple
newspaper ad, Ford saw a 15.4% lead conversion. Leading mobile marking
company Hipcricket’s CMO said it was the most exciting thing he’s seen in
mobile. In 2012, Marks and Spencer installed a special interactive billboard in
London’s Waterloo station for Valentines’ Day to increase multichannel sales.
When an app was downloaded and opened, the user could view the model in
the ad come to life in the app. The campaign seems to have been effective, as
M&S reported an 18% increase in multichannel sales that year.
INDOOR PRINT
ADVERTISING
Marks and Spencer Billboard
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Billboards and posters are great for awareness, but if used alone, have a low
conversion rate for downloads. Poster advertising has generated good ROI for
many brands and is popular in public transportation when it is context-smart.
This type of display advertising usually includes QR codes, SMS shortcodes
and links to the mobile website to drive engagement. Qualcomm Mobile
created a campaign called the Best Bus Stop Ever, which included a poster that
displayed a completely relatable bus shelter question, i.e. “Bored?” or “Seen
it all?” and a mobile web URL. When people visited the site and pressed a
button, they would get a surprise ride in a horse carriage, or even a bus full of
puppies! The Youtube video quickly garnered 2 million views in just a couple
of days, and organic visits to Qualcomm’s website grew by 28%, proving the
campaign effective for awareness, engagement, and increasing traffic. Another
good example of outdoor advertising that drove engagement is the IBM &
Ogilvy France Smarter Cities ‘Smart’ billboards that might double as, say, a rain
shelter. A rainy day would provide perfect context for interaction. The display
ads drove 50,000 unique page views to the URL provided in just a couple of
days, but over months have made the campaign go viral and spread massive
awareness to IBM’s Smarter Cities project.
OUTDOOR DISPLAY
ADVERTISING
ustwo’s bright red “you have no friends and nobody
likes you” billboards have drawn much attention to
their new app rando, but the company didn’t expect
the display to drive downloads; the purpose was to
get people talking about the brand-engagement.
Rando Rando Billboard
8. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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This is probably the most expensive way of purely driving downloads, but very
efficient in driving large scale brand awareness. Generally TV adverts cannot
be justified to promote a mobile app on its own but they can be a very efficient
media when used for cross-promotions, for example when an airline promotes
the new app in addition to new destinations or a loyalty program. There are
several ways to go about TV commercials:
• You can work out a co-marketing arrangement with a mobile manufacturer
and have your app open in the phone during the ad, like how Angry Birds
has shown up in numerous smartphone commercials. This is the most
common way mobile apps are featured on television.
• Another option is to run your own television campaign. King, the maker of
Candy Crush, took this route and became the first developer to advertise
its game independently on TV. It appears that the first Candy Crush
commercials began popping up more and more in March, the same
month it became the most popular game on Facebook. Also, according to
App Annie, the game’s download rank soared from the month of March
onwards. Brands such as Geico and Hotels.com have also had their own TV
commercials for apps. After Line put a commercial on air in Singapore, its
iTunes rating in the country soared to #3 in overall apps, staying in the top
10 for nearly a month!
• Use Shazam to recognize the audio of the app which then triggers an app or
mobile website to load.
TELEVISION
After line put a commercial on air in singapore, its itunes
rating in the country soared to #3 in overall apps, staying
in the top 10 for nearly a month.
Line TV Commercial
9. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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This category consists of all the websites, apps, mobile sites, Facebook pages and blogs that your brand owns
and manages. If you succeed in attracting your target audience to your own properties then this will be the most
sustainable solution in the long run.
Owned Media
Every app needs a mobile website and every website needs a mobile friendly
version of the site. If your website is already a destination for customers like
many service brands (airlines, restaurant booking sites, etc) then this is the
place to start promoting your apps as well. Otherwise, you need a basic mobile
website to ensure that there is a place for customers to find your app through
search engines, blogs, etc. The most successful mobile app websites usually
include interactivity to get users engaged. According to web info company
Alexa.com, since Instagram provided app content consumption (but not the
whole app experience) on its website, its global site rank increased about 30
places.
MOBILE WEBSITE
If you already have one, this is a great way to promote your app via e-mail.
Wunderlist, which was app of the week in over 100 countries in 2011, has a
newsletter that not only updates users on upcoming features, company news,
but also unfinished tasks in the app.
E-MAIL
NEWSLETTER
Vine
twitter introduced vine on its blog
and it turned out to be the 4th most
downloaded app in june 2013.
10. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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Leverage your existing page or create a new page on Facebook, Google +,
Twitter, and LinkedIn. Get users to talk- wish them a happy Friday, or ask them
questions about the app. Candy Crush has a whopping 34 million likes on
Facebook and constantly asks its users to share photos of them playing the
app. This has become more difficult since Facebook changed the algorithms
for how frequently the content is displayed in the news feed but it can still be
efficient if executed well.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Candy Crush Facebook Page
Candy crush has a whopping 38 million likes
on facebook and constantly asks its users to
share photos of them playing the app!
On Slideshare it’s all about making presentations that are informational or
entertaining. LinkedIn, Salesforce, and many other companies and brands make
use of Slideshare to deliver valuable content to their users. A great example is
TEDx, a content based program that presents independently organized TED
events, or “ideas worth spreading”. Its channel consists of presentations on
different topics from various speakers. TED reports having 800 million views
total outside of YouTube.
SLIDESHARE
11. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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Videos can be helpful for numerous reasons. If your video is really awesome
it could spread like wild fire and help your message reach a much wider target
audience, otherwise, it can be used to demonstrate and educate users about
your service. Videos could even bring viewers into the gameplay, like Limbo
and Mimpi does, or humorously deliver the context in which your app would be
used, like Facebook Home did. What’s great about online video promotion is
that with some good art direction, you can guide the way you want your app to
be perceived by users. Look at the app Paper by FiftyThree, a beautifully done
app promotion video that got 1.7 million plays on Vimeo and became app of the
year in 2012, or Jotly, an app that didn’t exist until its original parody video was
so successful that its studio had to make it into a real app.
YOUTUBE VIDEO
Paper
The app paper by fiftythree, a beautifully done app
promotion video that got 1.7 million plays on vimeo.
12. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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One of the most powerful types of media is the kind that you get through recommendations, public relations, sharing,
organic search traffic, and news articles. It’s promotion that occurs either because your product is good, or because
someone was looking for it, not simply because you paid for it. The best type of marketing is word of mouth; having
real people talk about how great your app is provides credibility. This is called earned media and according to research
by Nielson, 77% of consumers are more likely to buy a product they learned about through friends or family.
Besides the reasoned list above, earned media is also especially attractive because this type of advertising is FREE!
That being said free is never really entirely free due to the effort needed. Nevertheless, earned media does offer some
great ways to help you drive traffic to your app:
Earned Media
Sell your app on independent app stores like Amazon, Samsung, Mobango,
Mobile9, Getjar, etc. The more places you make your app available, the greater
the likelihood it will be discovered. A huge advantage is that independent app
stores have more specific users so you are able to target markets that are more
engaged in what the store has to provide. They also offer different kinds of
benefits to developers that decide to sell in their stores, such as the option to
sell your app as a white label, or a better revenue split than 70% / 30%.
APP STORE
DISTRIBUTION
Submit your app to websites that have review-specific sections, such as
appadvice.com, appstorm.net, 148apps, and MacWorld. This may be a bit
difficult as these websites get numerous submissions, but these sites can
provide good exposure for your app. There are also numerous blogs that
generate a lot of traffic you can leverage. Try reaching out to these bloggers
and ask them to review your app; this was Snapchat’s strategy- the creators’
first choice blogger was Nicole James, a writer for Fuse.tv. She wrote about
Snapchat’s first release as Picaboo on her personal blog in September 2011,
around the same time the app’s ranks began to climb according to AppAnnie.
com. Now, Snapchat is an $800 million company and one of the top apps.
BLOGS AND
REVIEW SITES
13. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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Lyst
Lyst, a social shopping site that got users from
Facebook to spend double the amount of time than
other users. In addition, the Open Graph stories
drew.
Enable and encourage users to share your application and site with other
users. Facebook Open Graph is a great way to give your app more exposure by
allowing users to share their app activity on their timeline with deep links to your
app’s website. The links will encourage the user to use or even install the app.
VIRAL
MARKETING
If paid media is not an option, you can always try to contact journalists and
bloggers (the terms are rather fuzzy these days) to cover your app through
interviews or other types of public relations. Many news sites that cover tech,
such as Mashable, Techcrunch, BusinessInsider and Entrepreneur, have
contact info that allow you to submit your app’s pitch. If they like it, they’ll write
about it for free. Mashable and Techcrunch offer online forms as well as tips on
writing your application. Another option is to get interviewed. Several startups,
such as Snapchat and Instagram, have been interviewed and had those
interviews published on websites such as BBC News. Alternatively, invent a
solution as huge as Twitter, like Jack Dorsey did, and you can have an entire
segment on CBS News’ 60 Minutes.
MEDIA
14. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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Runkeeper Evernote Skitch
runkeeper had a 637% increase in downloads
after being featured in the android market for
only a couple of days – it also climbed to the
#3 spot in the health & fitness category.
evernote skitch, which hit 1 million downloads
and then 3 million in just one month after
being featured.
SEO is a combination of using keywords that are most effective in driving traffic
to your app and promoting your app through other channels. You only get 100
characters for app keywords in the app store, so make sure that they are easily
searched and that there isn’t too much competition for your chosen words.
Check https://appstorerankings.net for insights on your app’s keywords. The
website shows your keywords’ rankings, how difficult it is to find your app with
each individual keyword, and much more.
SEARCH ENGINE
OPTIMIZATION
This is difficult, as only a selective few get featured in app stores, but many
apps that have been featured saw a huge number of new downloads after being
featured. Keep in mind that app stores like to feature apps that help their brand
and its customers, so when trying to get your app featured you may be asked to
make some changes. Loverly, a bridal service app, was featured in Apple’s app
store upon launch, but was asked to make numerous User Interface and User
Experience changes with Apple’s development relations team before getting
published on the feature list.
FEATURED APP
STORE APP
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Planning your campaign and finding the perfect marketing channel mix is not enough. In the end it’s all about
execution. To ensure execution hits home, figure out who your target audience is and how to speak to them. No matter
how little or how much content you produce it must be of quality. This includes copy for advertisements, beautiful
images and rapid testing to optimize your campaign and reach as many people as possible. The first thing users will
see about your app is your content and how it’s presented. Visuals are the first context clues that give your brand a
personality and tells users what to expect within your app.
When designing your mobile app’s website, keep in mind that people are visiting the site to get more information about
the app. There are reviews in the app store, but users like to see the product for themselves before committing to a
download. Here’s how to make a good impression:
• Love at First Site: Beautiful aesthetics alone are not enough to make the user want to download your app, but
how you present your app and its features says a lot about your brand. Is it boring? Expensive? Stylish? It’s all
about packaging and this does not only apply to your actual product (the app) but any and all visual elements
including videos, banners, and websites.
• Context: Through visuals you can show the context of your app.
• Content: Let the user know what your app is, why they need it, and how to use it. How easily you communicate
this to the user is a part of how they judge the aesthetics of your site.
Rise Stop the Vom
2. Execution
rise, an alarm clock app that was featured on itunes
as the top utility app. the website design is in line
with the app and easily explains all of the app’s
features.
a game called stop the vom is very playful, showcasing hand-drawn
graphics and thus the graphics on their website are playful and hand-
drawn as well. (site of the day on awwwards.com and favorite website
awards) check out the site on stopthevom.com.
16. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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Of course, it can’t just be about appearance. What ultimately drives user retention and engagement is content. What is
said and how it is said is very important. Instagram has over 22 million followers on Twitter and constantly posts short
news statements linking to longer articles. They were featured on Nestivity’s 2013 list of top 25 most engaged brands
with an average user engagement of about 300 retweets or favorites. Here are some tips for talking to your users:
• Become a content creator: Let your app’s page have a voice. Try not to reiterate things that have already been
said on the webiverse many times - differentiate!
• When writing, appear human: Engage with the users and respond to them. Furthermore, sign your responses
with a name.
• Try not to attach every post with a call to action: It’s not necessary to beg your users to talk to you. It’ll
happen naturally if you create a brand image that people want to interact with.
• Start a conversation with your users: Ask them questions; build brand-customer relationships. Depending on
what you ask, this could also help you figure out what your users need and want.
TRY NOT TO ATTACH
EVERY POST WITH A
CALL TO ACTION
START A CONVERSATION
WITH USERS
BECOME A CONTENT
CREATOR
WHEN WRITING,
APPEAR HUMAN
17. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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Finally, you need to use solutions that will allow you to track and analyze your traffic to optimize it for the next
campaign. A very important step to measuring results is setting objectives and from those, creating key performance
indicators (KPIs) to track. Translate what you want into something measurable. For example, if your objective is to build
up your brand, KPIs could be the amount of Facebook likes, video views, and app downloads you received through
your promotion. This way you will have solid results from your marketing that you can use to improve the campaign.
For instance, if you have two banners with different phrasing, you can test both and see which receives more clicks to
understand what works and what doesn’t. There are several tools that you can use to do this:
• Google Mobile Analytics: Google Mobile Analytics not only shows where your app’s traffic comes from but how
your app is used. The platform offers numerous analysis reports and features that allow you to understand and
predict where your mobile app, advertisement, and website’s traffic is coming from – helping you figure out the
best way to attract users and keep them.
• Kiss Metrics: Unlike Google Analytics, Kiss Metrics tells you more about your customer by tracking and
identifying users to build a history on their behavior over time. It assigns a random ID to any unidentified user and
if this user becomes a customer (i.e. registers via form), the system pairs the ID with a name or email address.
You get historical data on the new customers’ previous visits, making it easier to understand who your target
audience should be by seeing how users become customers. Then, you can tweak your campaign accordingly.
• Mixpanel: Mixpanel provides very detailed reports about the activity in your app and provides “data points”, like
tracking credits, for you to keep track of them. Similar to a pay-per-install program, Mixpanel charges by the
range of data points you want. The data gets as specific as how many paying customers are Swiss, came from a
Google ad, and haven’t logged in for a month. You can see exactly who to target and how to target them.
3. Measure Impact & Optimize
18. Brands and developers want to spread the word about their brand and
app and make people love it as much as they do. However, marketers
can easily annoy customers with anything from not reaching out
enough (which according to Gartner can lead to a 15% churn rate in
existing users) to over-promotion (48% unfollow on Twitter because of
too much self-promotion). When there’s a will, there’s a way, and when
there’s a way, there’s a way to do it wrong. Here’s how:
MARKETING PITFALLS
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HALF-BAKED CALL TO ACTIONS
Many applications get people interested but don’t make it convenient to download. Some ads
only provide a url address that do not even have a mobile web version. GoWallet had this
problem- it featured a display in grocery stores that didn’t include any sort of QR code, only a
link to a site that was full-version and much too slow. Be sure to have at least a landing page
that is mobile-friendly and includes an app download link.
HOLDING YOUR USERS HOSTAGE
Let your ads be optional. Papa Johns had trouble with customers receiving spam texts without
an opt-in option, resulting in a 250 million dollar lawsuit - make sure to immediately remove a
user from your mailing list if they request to stop receiving newsletters or SMS messages. It’s
always sad to see a friend go but in the end it’s better for your brand image to set them free.
ONE-TIME EFFORT
If you want high user retention, make sure to update your app’s content and continuously
work on your marketing campaign. According to a survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey, 56% of
users unsubscribe to emailing lists because the content was no longer relevant; i.e., ads get
old really quickly, so don’t forget to freshen up your promotional efforts and track results. After
measuring your promotion results, use the data to tailor your campaign in order to optimize; this
is especially important if you’re making a long term investment. Sherman-Williams is a good
role model; they have been connecting with their customers through the ColorSnap app since
2009 and still, in 2013, have not stopped marketing their app. For your app to grow it needs
nourishment, after all, most of an app’s growth comes after the first promotion when it lands
a spot in an app store because according to Nielson, over 60% of smartphone users discover
apps through the store.
01
02
03
20. There are endless possibilities when it comes to promoting your
mobile application. The best way to approach all your options is to
figure out who your audience is, what they need, and how to reach
them. With this information you can brew the right communication
mix and maximize your campaign. After plotting a marketing strategy,
dedicate time, energy, and budget to the execution. You can forget
about the hype if what you are producing is not quality content.
Finally, when everything is in motion you can track the commotion.
Driving traffic to your app won’t be easy, but your marketing campaign
will be much more effective if given proper success criteria and
metrics. Just spending money on promotions and ads won’t cut it.
The key is to be prepared and have a solid plan down regarding what
channels you’re going to reach, what you’re going to say, and how
you’re going to see if it’s working. Once again, it’s very important to
have a well thought out strategy.
GOOD LUCK!
22. We transform existing businesses and help create new industry leaders in the mobile space through our experience,
technology innovation, UX design and reliable quality solutions. Our services include service concept design, UX/UI
design, native app, HTML5, mobile web and backend development, quality assurance and distribution. With 1500+
projects delivered and 150+ clients we provide solutions for telecom, retail, CPG, media, enterprise, government,
healthcare/pharma, transportation and travel.
For enterprise clients, we offer solutions such as Meetr, a mobile productivity and collaboration solution providing
secure access to documents, business intelligence, meeting planning, data gathering, CRM, ERP and more by
aggregating existing enterprise platforms. solutions for telecom, retail, CPG, media, enterprise, government,
healthcare/pharma, transportation and travel.
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23. Driving Traffic to App and Mobile Apps 2013
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