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The ten commandments of mobile app marketing
Digital Growth Day, London, September 18 2014

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ABOUT US
We are Big Ideas Machine. We market apps and help technology
companies with their PR, marke<ng, social content and launch strategies

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the future of PR is no longer just about media contacts. Instead, we believe that PR needs to
blend the strengths of good media rela<ons with content marke<ng, events, and a whole
mixture of digital and offline communica<ons. We have created Big Ideas Machine to deliver
a new kind of PR and marke<ng for our clients

4.
blimey! that’s a lot of apps
between the two main app stores there are currently 2,500,000 apps available
•Over 1.2 million apps now on the App Store
and 1.3 million on Google Play
• 75 billion apps have been downloaded so far
on iOS and 50 billion on Android
•Gartner projects 269 billion app downloads
by 2017 with 95% being free
1,300,000 1,200,000
iOS Andoid

5.
how many downloads do I need?
gaining significant ranking in the app stores varies between OS, category, and free vs paid
• Getting ranked in the top 50 grossing charts requires much lower revenues for
the Google Play store than the Apple App Store
• However, an app needs to generate this daily average for a longer period in
Google Play than in the Apple App Store to obtain this top position
Revenue generated by applica2ons with rank 50
United States, Top Overall Grossing, May 2013, Daily Average
iPhone
iPad
Google Play
$0 $2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $8,000 $10,000 $12,000 $14,000
Source: Distimo

6.
how many downloads do I need?
gaining significant ranking in the app stores varies between OS, category, and free vs paid
• 2.5K free downloads are needed
per day to reach rank 50 in the
Amazon Appstore (x9 less than in
the Apple App Store for iPhone)
• revenues needed to get a 50 spot
for paid apps on Amazon were 2.8
times lower than in the Apple App
Store for iPhone in May 2013 0
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
Free Ranking Paid Ranking
downloads
Source: Distimo

7.
app marketing – where’s the love?
a significant majority of developers underestimate the investment needed to market an app
• AppFlood’s survey of over 1000
small, medium and large
developers found that over 78%
had allocated $5,000 or less for
marketing
• only 9% of small developers had
used a specialist PR agency
versus 18% of medium/large
developers
big developer
medium developer
small developer
what was your allocated budget?
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
$10,000+ $5,000-$10,000 $4,999 or less
Source: AppFlood, “Developer attitudes to app marketing”, 2013
http://appflood.com/appflood-wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/AppFlood-Developer-Attitudes-to-App-Marketing-2013.pdf

8.
The depressing bit…
statistically, the chances of making millions from an app are slim to none
• 60% or more of developers don’t break even (AppPromo)
• 81% of the top grossing apps come from 50 companies (Midia Research)
• On Apple's store, 105 companies accounted for the 350 top grossing apps, while
on Google Play, 81 companies made up the list (Distimo)
• 84.9% of the top grossing 700 apps were games (Midia Research)
• 1.6 % of developers make more than the other 98.4 per cent combined. Of 3m
mobile developers in the world today, more than half make less than $500 per
app per month (Vision Mobile survey of 10,000 developers)
• 24% of developers interested in making money earn nothing at all. A further 23%
make less than $100 per app per month (Vision Mobile survey of 10,000 developers)

9.
The depressing bit…
statistically, the chances of making millions from an app are slim to none
6%
11%
Revenue distribu2ons -­‐ Android vs iOS first
16%
10%
20%
developers below the app poverty line
% of developers using each plaBorm as primary
Source: Vision Mobile, Developer Economics Q3 2014
Android
iOS
15%
23%
15%
35%
49%
0 25 50 75 100
<$100 $100-500 $500-5,000 $5K-25K $25K +
of developers have an app earning >$500K per month.
Together they earn mul2ples 1.6% of the other 98.4% of developers combined

10.
“hope is not a strategy”
our favourite quote from former Mayor of New York, Rudolf Guiliani
• the odds are against you
• app marketing is still an afterthought
• the barriers to entry are continually rising
• consumers are fickle (and less willing to pay if they
are Android users)
• large companies and brands need internal facilitators
• there’s a huge amount of apps appearing all the time
• there is no magic bullet for success

11.
developers must wear multiple hats to self-publish
requires extreme multi-tasking, or more sensibly, more resources
product manager
game designer data analyst PR & marketing
manager
community advertising guru
manager
it’s no longer enough just to focus on developing an app -­‐ instead you need a long term
strategy for success -­‐ both for user acquisition, retention and revenue.
Plus, with F2P now the dominant model, it’s essential to understand how to harness
mobile advertising and IAP

12.
the ten commandments of app marketing

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1st commandment: quality, quality, quality
• the #1 rule for app success
• benchmark!
• be unique/different
• test and get feedback
• stand out to secure reviews
• customers can smell a rat
• the app stores love quality and polish 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
7% 6% 5% 4% 11% 9% 16% 14% 24% 20%
29%
38%
100%
iOS and Android app user reten<on
months since acquisi<on (%)
Source: Flurry Analytics 2012

14.
2nd commandment: have a strategy
What
formats will I
launch on ?
What’s my
marketing
plan?
What’s my launch
strategy?
What is my
app for ?
Is my app any
good ? Will it
create buzz?
How will I
position my
app?
Why is my app
better than the
competition?
What’s my
post-­‐launch
plan?
What does my
app do?
What ‘s my
testing and user
feedback plan?
What’s my
business
model?
Self publish or
publisher?

15.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
user reads a review or hears about your app
user searches online or on the app store
8
ASO helps your app to be discovered
views app name, icon and description
sounds interesting -­‐ clicks to read more
views info, screenshots and user reviews
downloads
opens!
3rd commandment: understand the funnel
you will
lose users at
every step

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4th commandment: first impressions count
• consumers make snap decisions
• select good screenshots and make a great
video
• Google Play recently overhauled its pages to
include more images
• the icon should be eyecatching
• the name should be clear and relate to what
the app does. Think about embedding a
keyword in the name

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4th commandment: first impressions count
“It’s unfortunate,
but I don’t have time to
download and test every app that comes
out…. a video takes just seconds to watch
and can be the difference in whether an app
gets a longer look.”
Barbara Holbrook, Editor in
Chief, Appcraver
“The bottom line: imperfect app
names force shoppers to work harder,
and that will mean fewer downloads. For all
of the time you put into developing the app,
isn’t the name worth the added effort?”
Interbrand

18.
5mtoht icvoamtems tahned mapepn stt: ourned oewrsnteanrsd what
• Apple sells hardware
• Apple are kingmakers
• Apple likes accessibility
• Google doesn’t want to see lazy iOS ports
• Google are more measured
• Amazon is new and emergent, but its devices
are not as powerful
• don’t forget Samsung!
• Microsoft is investing heavily in its
ecosystem and has less competition on its
store

19.
6th commandment: understand ASO
!
• “Approximately 75% of organic
downloads on Google Play originate
from a user search. About half come
from searching for a brand title, and
one quarter from a more generic
search.” – Fiksu
• “The more net installs, the higher the
browse rank. In short, high volumes
of low cost installs will not help with
browse rank in Google Play – it’s all
about long-­‐term retention.” -­‐ Fisku
!
search app store
family or friend
how do users discover new apps?
3rd party site
app promoting other apps
media
sync software (iTunes)
TV ad
in-app ad
device homepage
5% 5% 3%
career homepage
email tip
other
8%
13% 13%
17% 17%
21% 21%
63% 61%
5% 3% 6%
9% 10%
6%
3%
9%
17% 15%
53%
63%
Android market
App store
Source: Nielsen, Q3 2011

20.
7th commandment: spread the word
• target the media you want to reach and plan ahead
• outside of games, there is little dedicated coverage of apps
unless it really captures the zeitgeist -­‐ think Angry Birds, Candy
Crush, Uber, Snapchat, WhatsApp
• understand what they want to hear about, and be clear, concise
and to the point
• focus on anything unique or noteworthy such as a brand name
• brands should be using all available touchpoints to get noticed
• app store editorial support is the holy grail but few people can
get it or promise it
• remember -­‐ there are zero guarantees of coverage

21.
7th commandment: spread the word
• websites still matter! Can be good for SEO
• integrate with video, social media and links to
reviews
• video is essential and YouTube is the 2nd biggest
search engine in the world
• build hype on Facebook and Twitter. Use it for
feedback and build community. Engage
passionate advocates on a deeper level
• Use cost-­‐effective tools such as SocialBro,
Hootsuite and JustUnfollow to build your social
following

22.
8th commandment: master the mobile ad
• there’s a myriad of networks and acquisition methods – CPA,
CPD, RTB, performance, social, blind, premium, install
exchanges etc
• using mobile ads is essential if your app is F2P
• don’t try this at home kids -­‐ your product needs to be good!
• prepare to spend…BIG
• be in it for the long game – testing, tweaking and retargeting
are key
• understand your numbers – in-­‐app analytics and customer
insight/metrics are essential. Knowing your ARPU, ARPPU,
LTV is key to effective CPA’s…

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8th commandment: master the mobile ad

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9th commandment: cross promotion works
“In a world where most developers are
priced out of the main promotional
channels by the top free-­‐to-­‐play titles,
having a large collection of games that
can cross-­‐promote one another is an
extremely valuable marketing
advantage “
Vision Mobile, Developer economics Q3 2014

25.
10th commandment: knowledge is power
• tracking your app performance and how it is being used is
crucial for insight and updates
• undertake deeper insight into your app and how people
engage with it
• use free tools such as Flurry Analytics
• Google Analytics can now be linked to your developer console
and it shows views on Google Play pre-­‐download (also uses
YouTube views)
• track your app store performance with sites such as App
Annie, Distimo and App Figures
• set up free Google Alerts to track media coverage

26.
a quick summary
• it all boils down to quality -­‐ customers know good from bad
• the bar is rising
• app promotion is an ever evolving art
• first impressions count
• brands have the advantage of existing channels that should be utilised
• have a multi-­‐channel strategy
• be in it for the long haul
• work with experts – PR, media buying, ASO
• there is no single solution for success

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About me
James has over 17 years of B2B and B2C marke<ng experience, ten of which has been spent
working at an Interna<onal level within the mobile sector.
!
Prior to forming Big Ideas Machine, James was co-­‐founder of award-­‐winning PR/Marke<ng
agency dimoso. From 2011 to 2012 James worked as Ac<ng Head of Mobile for the Daily
Mirror, in addi<on to being a consultant for several mobile companies including Flurry, Exent
and Scoreloop.
!
Before star<ng his consultancy James was Head of Campaigns for Muzicall, Europe’s leading
provider of managed ringback tone services. Before joining Muzicall in 2008, James was
Director of Marke<ng at global mobile content publisher Connect2media where he managed
high profile marke<ng campaigns and strategic rela<onships with leading brands including
Marvel, Hasbro, Ac<vision, World Poker Tour, Sony, 20th Century Fox and Manchester United.
!
James has also worked as Head of Marke<ng for mobile plarorm specialist Unipier as well as
Games Product Manager for UK operator Orange where he was responsible for the full
product line. James has spoken at several conferences on app marke<ng including Droidcon,
Develop, App Promo<on Summit and Digital Dragons
james@bigideasmachine.com
@BIM_agency