10 Rules of Brand App Marketing

BRAND APP MARKETING
By Jim Nichols,
VP Marketing, Apsalar
The
NEW RULES Of

G
ames are a driving force in the fast-growing app industry. But there are
now tens of thousands of “brand apps,” designed to do everything from sell
goods to drive rich, immersive engagement. In fact, the non-gaming side of
the app business is growing even faster than the gaming side.
A few years ago, when launching brand apps began to get popular, lots of the
activity was driven by the GMOOT. For those unfamiliar, GMOOT is short for
“gimme one of those,” and refers to those circumstances when senior execs
demand a shiny object instead of allowing marketers to define and implement
tactics based upon a strategic foundation. The objective of a GMOOT is usually
to check a box rather than make a real contribution to a business. And true to
form, lots of those early brand apps did little more than put an “x” in a square.
These days, there are lots of strategic reasons to launch brand apps. For one thing,
comScore tells us that apps now account for more than half of total American
connected consumer time. For another, apps are consumers’ preferred way to
interact with content on mobile. No surprise then that, according to eMarketer,
global app install ad spending will increase more than 80 percent worldwide
this year, to $3 billion. App remarketing and CRM are growing at even faster
rates. But needing an app and successfully launching one are two very different
things.
Launching an app these days is tough. It’s critical that brands utilize best
practices to give their apps a strong start. Here are 10 bits of advice to help you
improve your odds of getting everything right.
2Copyright © 2015 All rights reserved worldwide. | www.apsalar.com
The New
Rules Of
Brand App
Marketing

1
Before you plunk down resources to
promote your app, make sure you have an
app with a realistic chance for adoption
and success. In apps, the name of the
game is utility. Where the best apps
succeed is in giving the user valuable
benefits they cannot get any other way.
For most major brands, that means
finding something category-appropriate.
Charmin’s Sit or Squat https://www.
sitorsquat.com/ clean bathroom finder
was a great example. Instead of trying to
regale us with the wonders of its animated
bear spokescreatures, Charmin and its
app focused on helping people find a
clean place nearby for a “rest.”
BRING THE UTILITY

2
When people think of app marketing,
their minds usually go to the hype tactics
that gaming companies use to get their
offerings to the top of the App Store. Game
marketing is both an art and a science, and
I have tremendous respect for those who
excel in it. But generating frenzy and hype
are not what brand app marketing is all
about. For a brand app to be successful,
it needs to get downloaded by a critical
mass of folks, and then get used with a
reasonable frequency.
Having a popular app in your category
always has value, but what drives retail
app success, for example, is very different
from what moves the needle for casual
games. It’s important to understand how
the app rankings work for your category.
Learn more about the inputs that drive the
app charts so that you focus your effort in
the most productive places.
RECOGNIZE THAT BRAND APP
MARKETING IS A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT

3
You can’t win a speed race if you
don’t understand what’s going on
in your car. Make sure that you have
the data necessary to understand
your marketing performance
and how your customers interact
with your app. While the tools for
app measurement are different
than those for the PC web, it’s
possible to get the same degree of
quantitative insight for apps as you
have for your web-based initiatives.
TAKE A DATA-DRIVEN
APPROACH TO APP MARKETING

Your app store page is like a shop
window -- make sure you spend enough
time making it as strong as you possibly
can. Use Google AdWords tools (set
to Mobile) to identify the most popular
search terms in your category. Describe
your app based on what it does for the
user. Include exciting and appealing
screen shots; you’d be amazed how
many brands shoot themselves in the
foot with blurry low-res ones. Successful
brands test content for their pages, and
update them to reflect new learning,
product updates, and anything else that
will make them more appealing. And
consider video -- more and more app
developers are creating and including
video content in their pages to bring the
features and benefits to life.
4 INVEST IN GETTING YOUR
APP STORE PRESENCE RIGHT

Paid media have become a critical
part of app marketing. But before
you spend a cent on ads, get your
nonpaid marketing infrastructure in
place. Create a mobile-friendly web
presence for your app. Promote your
app on your site and in as many other
brand touchpoints as you can. Print
the App Store and Google Play urls
on packaging, signage, shopping
bags and anything else that touches
the consumer. Incorporate your
app message and links into your
social media presences. Treat this
stuff as job one, not an optional
afterthought.
5 DEVELOP AND DELIVER A POWERFUL
FREE/EARNED MEDIA PROGRAM

6
Don’t overvalue the importance of
vanity metrics like daily install counts,
and focus instead on reaching and
persuading quality users to install. What
constitutes “quality” will depend on
your objectives. A quality user might be
someone who makes regular purchases,
or who returns to your app frequently,
or who helps drive others to install. If
you evaluate marketing options based
upon the extent to which they drive
quality installs, you’ll be a lot more likely
to nail your goals.
FOCUS ON QUALITY INSTALLS

7
Copyright © 2015 All rights reserved worldwide. | www.apsalar.com
While Google Play and the Apple App
Store are the largest libraries of avail-
able apps, it may also make sense to
feature the Android version of your app
in other specialty app stores. While all
iPhone apps must be installed from
the App Store, Android allows apps to
be downloaded from other locations
online. Do some searches for specialty
stores that attract your target audience
or are relevant to your category.
CONSIDER FEATURING YOUR
APP IN SPECIALTY STORES

8
Apps lose lots of potential users
in the install process. Some of the
most common reasons why people
abandon mid-process include having
no social-ID-based-registration
process, having only social-ID-based
registration, onerous forms and reg
page performance issues. Also, be
sure and request permission to deliver
push notifications -- about half of users
typically consent, and push messages
represent a very powerful and low-cost
way to drive app re-engagement.
10
MEASURE AND OPTIMIZE
YOUR INSTALL PROCESS

9
Most of your users will forget about your
app before they’ve established regular
usagepatterns.Andrecentdatashowthat
an astounding 2/3 of app users uninstall
in the first 30 days. Your best defense
against uninstalls and “app neglect” is to
drive revisits in those critical first days
and weeks. Apps that are launched on
multiple occasions in the first days and
weeks post-install are far more likely to
remain on a device and become regular
parts of a user’s daily routine. Leverage all
of the tools at your disposal to keep your
app top of mind. Email. Push. Message
centers. Advertising. And analyze your
behavior and response data to optimize
your program.
11
ARCHITECT A POST-INSTALL
COMMUNICATIONS PLAN FOR YOUR APP

10
Copyright © 2015 All rights reserved worldwide. | www.apsalar.com 12
PERSONALIZE YOUR USER
COMMUNICATIONS FOR MAXIMUM RESULTS
All users are not the same. Identify
high-performing audiences for retar-
geting and re-engagement. Focus your
remarketing on the levers that will best
impact your KPIs. If you are focused on
app revenue, identify and message target
groups like shopping cart abandoners,
lapsed users, and heavy buyers. If you
are offering more of a companion app,
concentrate re-engagement efforts on
getting users to relaunch again and again.
There are lots of media companies and
platforms you can use to do any of these
things. As always, what's critical is that
you recognize the need to keep users
engaged, and allocate money and time to
capitalizing on the opportunities.

App Media
Attribution and
Optimization
Get more great ideas and insights
about app marketing by visiting:
www.apsalar.com/resources
Apsalar is the leading mobile app marketing measurement and optimization
company that helps app marketers drive maximum return from all their
marketing investments. With Apsalar attribution and audiences, app marketers
can optimize their media allocation and empower their partners and platforms
to deliver customized communications, for better results at every step in the
customer journey.
Jim Nichols is VP of Marketing for
Apsalar. Jim has 20+ years experience
in over 80 different categories,
including developing successful
positioning and go-to-market plans
for more than 40 adtech and martech
companies. He joined Apsalar after
several years as VP of Marketing for
Conversant, where he led various
efforts in the successful rebrand of
the company from ValueClick, Inc.
The rebrand and associated industry
attention for the company contributed
to the $2.3B sale of Conversant to
Alliance Data in December, 2014. He
is a prolific writer for digital trades on
brand marketing, mobile, video, data,
and custom-er profiling. Publications
include iMedia Connection, Inside Radio,
VentureBeat, ad:tech, ShellyPalmer.
com, Jack Myers, and many consumer
publications. He holds a B.A. in
U.S. History from the Uni-versity of
Pennsylvania and an MBA in Marketing
from the University of Chicago.
With Apsalar, mobile-first companies get the data, information and insights they
need to drive maximum ROI. Apsalar offers powerful and proven solutions that
help companies capitalize on many of their biggest app growth opportunities.
For more information about the Apsalar Mobile ROI Platform,
c o n t a c t u s a t
info@apsalar.com or visit our website at https://Apsalar.com.
App Audiences
for
Remarketing
App CRM and
Prospecting
Audiences
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT APSALAR

10 Rules of Brand App Marketing

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