7 Tips for Promoting Your App

Our feature this week is written by Berna Erol, creator of the popular site iPhoneandKids.com, and an app developer herself. Whether you have an app on the market, are in development, or if you’re just thinking about an app idea, these tips are a helpful start in understanding the work involved in app marketing. Good luck!

The app world is getting more crowded every day! At iPhoneAndKids.com, I’ve personally reviewed more than 1000 apps, so my guess is that the number of kids apps in the market exceeds 10,000.  If that is the case, how do you make your app stand out in the crowd? Below are some tips that I hope are helpful to MomsWithApps readers.

You cannot push a noodle, develop a great app

This tip seems like a no brainer, but I think it is often overlooked. Of course we all fall in love with our apps, but after you release your app take another hard look. What are the reactions you are getting from your friends, your users?  If it is not over the top enthusiastic, inquire why not. Maybe there are things you can improve about the app before you put forward promotional efforts. Promotion takes almost as much energy as the development, so first make sure that you have an app that is solid (not a  noodle) before you decide to push hard for promotion.

Perfect your pitch

You need to have a short and easy to understand tag line for your app. Why is it so special? You need to stand out from the crowd. Think from a blogger’s perspective. Bloggers would like to talk about interesting stories, which can be apps. Make their job easier. Try to emphasize the educational aspects of your app.

Reach out via every possible type of media

YouTube, Twitter, email campaigns, forum participation, press releases, and Facebook should all be included in your outreach strategy. Submit your app to iPhone kids app reviewers, and correspond with the reviewers via Twitter. Always include your YouTube video in press releases and emails to bloggers. Moms With Apps has a wonderful list of reviewers on their sidebar, so make sure to check them out. Some review sites include my blog iPhoneAndKids.com, as well as BestKidsApps.com, iPhone4Kids.net, theiPadKids.com, and iPadForKids.com.

Concentrate your efforts

Your goal should be rank in top 100 in the app store in your respective category, so that you can get some visibility. This is not as difficult as it sounds. This will depend on your category but from my own experience usually you need to sell 50+ copies (paid apps) on several consecutive days in order to be in the top 100. Obviously, the more concentrated your efforts, the better chances you have exceeding the “50 sale per day” goal.

Localize

Translate your app into different languages to take advantage of the growing markets outside of the US. Japan is a huge growing market, as well as Spanish speaking countries, Germany and France. I always find good quality translators via Elance.com

Cross-Promote

Team up with other developers to cross promote your apps, place advertisements in each other’s apps. You can also try various different ad networks, such as Admob, inMobi, and VideoEgg.

Go off-line

Imagine that a person’s car broke down on a highway and he is waving for you to stop. Would you stop? Maybe not. What is if you know that person already? It is likely that you would stop and help. Personal connections and acquaintances matter. This is why you need to attend some offline events and meet with as many bloggers as possible. Silicon Valley Apps for Kids , iOS Business meetup group, Silicon Valley iOS Developers meetup group, or other Meet Ups in your area, are all great places to demonstrate your apps and make some great connections.

Do you have additional tips? Please leave us a comment below.