How to Promote first app

Hello everyone-

Just wanted to let everyone know that at Millennial Media if you deposit $1 we will give you an additional $100 to spend on advertising your app with banner ads. Use promocode GMSVINAUG when you create a new campaign.

I will be using this to promote the release of my first app hopefully at the end of the month. I am planning on targeting my home town as a ‘soft launch’ then I will advertise to everyone based on my demographic.

What other ways have you found successful with promoting a first app?

Thanks for your input!

MCV

Thanks for the heads up on the Millennial Media promo code. I’ve set up a campaign to test it out, it is currently pending approval.

I can’t say I’ve found anything very effective yet, but I’ve only just started trying to promote my game.

Chris-

What have you tried so far that has not worked? I was toying around with the site ooomf.com, have you ever heard of that? Also, what is the name of your app? I will throw it on my twitter and facebook to help out.

So far I’ve only done a few forum posts which, as I expected from reading around, is hardly a huge generator of installs. Even so, if it’s a few installs I wouldn’t have got otherwise I’m all for it.

Got to try everything. While I take things I read into consideration, ultimately you have to test these things out for yourself. Although for my next app forum postings will probably not be the first thing I do.

Today I’m submitting my app to various review sites, slowly because I’m procrastinating and reading/posting here.

The links for my app are in my signature.

I would suggest if you could contact a number of app review sites to give your first app a try. Those sites could give your app much needed exposure.

Hope it helps!

If the app is tablet compatible you could also add it to tablified.com (they are quite slow recently and seem to avoid adding paid apps maybe because they want you to buy a banner on their site) and Android Tablet Apps (or sth similar - they have an app, they are quite friendly but submission might take some time - I send them e-mails with new apps every time).

Awesome suggestions so far. Good looks on tablified, I have never heard of that before. I was also considering using ooomf.com, has anyone had any luck with that site?

I’m trying to promote my apps with TapForTap in the comming days. Maybe it’s worth a look. It’s easy to integrate with Admob Mediation. But I have no app live including the SDK till now… so I can’t tell you if it really helps to promote your apps.

You said that you plan on targeting your home town as a ‘soft launch’, then consider a local mailout. A welcome card or letter is a great way to attract new users. Here are some other effective promotion ways for you.

Post on Pinterest&Instagram
Just be sure to watermark your images with your app logo. Better yet, share these images on your APP Pinterest&Instagram account.

Answer questions
Help others get the answers they need on Quora&yahoo, and use your app name in your author bio.

Help users promote your app
Add an in-app “tell a friend” feature so that your current users can share the app with their friends, family, co-workers, and colleagues. Incentivize this sharing feature by offering credits or discounts for every new subscriber someone brings onboard.

Encourage customer ratings
Ask your happy users to leave a rating on the app store. You can also invite your friends and families to rate your app.

Use social media
Make yourself click-worthy and share-worthy. Be creative about your intro text.

Ask for positive reviews
Positive app reviews could very well be the best possible way to market your app. Customers will get a visual representation of what others think about it. You can guide your users to leave positive reviews on your app.

Become a guest blogger
Contribute to other websites and share your expertise. You’ll be allowed to put a link back to your app into your bio, that’s for sure!

Apply for Awards
Participating in app awards is the most recommended channel and I would highly suggest you take advantage of it. It can give you tons of press, exposure, reviews and plenty of downloads.

app store optimization
You can optimize your icon, title, description, and screenshots in order to be found faster on official app stores. If you know little about aso, you can hire anapp store optimization company to help you.

Update your app Constantly
Your customers need to know you are always making the app better for them. Keep your app content fresh and let your customers know that you are always planning something more for them to enjoy. Update can also improve your app ranking temporarily.

Participate in relevant activities
Meetups, events and conferences can be a great place to recruit new mobile app users. Simply bring along a stack of business cards with your app download link on them and give them out to everyone you speak to.

Join Linkedin & Facebook Groups
Linkedin is a massive social network with 400 million business professionals and Facebook has over 1 billion users. Find groups that are made up of people that closely resemble your existing customers or your ideal customers and share the app with them. Increase your visibility on social media groups.Explain the benefit of using the app and why they should use the app.