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Where to Promote Your Android App

Where to Promote Your Android App

By Syed Sofian Rabbani
November 26, 2013

Marketing and promotion play a vital role in determining the success and adoption of any product. The same is equally true for mobile apps as well. After spending several hours, loads of money and resources on app development, every developer dreams of an Instagram or Twitter-like success story. Google Play has turned out to be a gold mine, and registering a revenue growth of 137% during the first 7 months of the year adds to its appeal.

Everyday thousands of apps are submitted to Google Play – between Feb 1 and June 30 2012 an average of 828 apps were launched on the Play Store every day – a number which has undeniably risen since then. But not all of these apps achieve space in the mobiles or hearts of the end-users.  As a matter of fact, the probability of failure is much high. To a large extent, the success of an app depends on the successful implementation of a killer idea, a kick-ass app UI and a social factor which would take the app viral through word-of-mouth.

There are three things which a developer can (and should) do after having a finished app – marketing, marketing and more marketing. If you find that your app has been relegated to the nether-realm of the app store and is not being downloaded as much as you would like, then – apart from wringing your hands – you can take some concrete steps to promote the app itself. Peddling an app is no different to selling anything else in the real world. If the product is great in itself and meets a need, then marketing it thoroughly is the way to go ahead. We provide here a simple, yet effective, marketing strategy specifically for Android apps:

 

Submission to an App Store –

To ensure that the apps’ visibility reaches the largest audience base possible, it is imperative to submit the app to all the prominent stores available. We give you a ready list –

 

Get a Review –

Getting more eyeballs onto your app is a mandatory requirement. Getting your android app reviewed on the popular Android portals is a sure-fire way to achieve this. Several sites do charge for this service, while some sites do provide a review for free, though much depends on the mettle of your app. Almost all such websites receive such huge volumes of review requests, that most of them have stopped reviewing apps altogether.  We have compiled a comprehensive list of review websites which are presently accepting apps for review –

 

 

Forum Communities –

Discussion forums are a great tool for word-of-mouth marketing. Having an app which people talk about and promote for you, is every developers’ dream.  The following forums have specific areas for app submissions and discussions:

 

Social Media –

Keeping communication channels open with your end-users is a mandatory requirement to ensure continued success for your app. Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter etc. are great tools for marketing and self-promotion. By providing a direct line of communication between people and the developer, a strong social media strategy becomes an enabler to the success of your app.

 

Mobile Ad Networks –

Mobile Ad networks not only monetize your app by displaying ads within it, but are also a great vehicle for increasing visibility. Registering on these networks ensures your app gets advertised on numerous other apps. To get you started, our top 10 picks are below:

 

In Conclusion

In the end, creating a killer app is not the end of the journey. Peddling the app and increasing it visibility to ensure success is an ongoing activity which continues as long as the app stays viable.