If you’re looking to monetize your own mobile app, you will need to implement well-planned marketing strategies for a successful launch. In this blog, you’ll learn about the best marketing and monetization strategies to increase the number of app downloads and generate revenue in a highly competitive market. If you are at the idea stage of our app you should check out how to build an app first. Marketing Before Monetization Displaying an app on the Apple App Store is a popular choice, but the process can become a huge obstacle for a small app developer trying to launch their new app. With thousands of apps being submitted each day, the competition can be too overwhelming. In fact, the iOS Apple App store design currently displays fewer apps on the main page, which makes it even harder for a new app by a new developer to be recognized. As a small app developer, you should focus on making your app easy to find. You can get your app to appear in a web search, rather than focus your time and energy on the app store. This way, you can increase the chances of people finding your app without having to waste time-fighting for a spot on the homepage of the Apple App Store. Having a website that’s easily accessible by mobile devices can also increase the number of downloads and increase the conversion rate. Whenever a user browses through your website, they should see a banner ad with a link that can direct the user to a store allowing them to download the app. In this case, an interstitial ad won’t work as well. Though banner ads don’t convert as well as interstitial ads, Google usually negatively targets interstitial ads. In addition to using ads, successful marketing involves connecting with the right allies. One way to approach this is to combine the experience of your individual app with the experience that another app provides. This ultimately creates an app with extended benefits for the user. Partnerships will allow your app to be viewed and used by a larger audience and can make your app more useful to your users. Take, for example, the partnership between Yummly and Instacart. Yummly (a recipe app) and Instacart ( a shopping app) have combined to provide the user with a complete cooking experience. Yummly users find recipes on the app and then have the ability to shop for these ingredients through Instacart. This is just one example out of the numerous partnership strategies you can implement when creating your own app. Reaching out to influencers that can post on social media is another great way to promote your app. Also, be sure to feature your app in emails, social media posts, and blogs, create a demo video and apply for awards to increase awareness for your app. Encourage people to rate your app and ensure that you provide a great customer service experience. No matter what marketing strategy you pursue, ensure that you market over a course of multiple months in preparation for your app launch. Many beginners assume that marketing for only a few weeks is enough to increase awareness about the app. A few weeks is nowhere near enough time in the grand scheme of things. When the day of the app launch approaches, having those months of marketing preparation to back you up will help a lot. People will already know about your app and start downloading it. There is always monetizing on a global scale. Don’t forget the rest of the world. Make sure your marketing efforts extend to other countries as well. There is a lot of potential for your app out there and you don’t want to miss out. How To Monetize Your App Monetizing your app can come in many forms – making your app a pay-to-download app isn’t the only way to generate revenue. Apps such as Facebook, Spotify, Waze, and various other app types are free to download but run ads and other models that make money. Below is a list of ways that you can use to monetize your app. 1. In-App Ads – Native, Banner, Interstitial A native ad is non-disruptive advertising. These ads typically are formatted to match the design of the actual app so that the user doesn’t even realize it’s an ad. A banner ad is a web banner usually consisting of an image or animation. This is more obvious as it does not match the design of the app. An interstitial ad is a full-screen ad that is usually displayed during a pause in activity or between app pages. 2. “Freemium” Subscriptions Freemium subscriptions, or In-App subscriptions, offer a paid subscription-based model that gives the user access to better quality and service functionality. This model is usually implemented after the free-downloaded app. After the freemium subscription, the user can have the opportunity to buy the premium version of the app to get access to the best functions of the app. Certain subscriptions can also be sold which allows the user to experience the app without any ad interruptions. 3. Sponsorship Another monetization method is sponsorship. With sponsorships, the user engagement level will still be great since the sponsorship content can be valuable. 4. Upgrading to Remove Ads It’s pretty evident that many people don’t like seeing ads while using an app. This can actually be utilized by app developers that can create a free version with ads and an upgraded paid version without ads. 5. Rewarded Video Ads These types of ads can be used as an incentive for the user. An example of this would be found in the Spotify app. In the free version of Spotify, the user can listen to half an hour of music and then listen to a couple of minutes of ads. These ads play at half-hour intervals. This allows the user to enjoy the app for a good deal of time without the ads being too intrusive on the experience. 6. Free-At-Launch App Making your app free at launch will greatly increase the chances of users downloading your app. Your app will become much more visible by making it free. 7. Paid Apps This type of monetization method is pretty self-explanatory. The user pays to download the app. However, with such a huge demand for free apps, you will need to showcase your app’s amazing features and reviews that will differentiate your app from the rest. 8. Combining Great Strategies You can also combine these monetization strategies to get the most profit possible. However, it’s important to know that too many ads and interruptions can drive your customers away. As a small app developer, it may be hard to launch your app and generate revenue in today’s booming mobile app market. It would also be helpful to take a look at popular iPhone and Android apps to see what they did. With the help of SDI, you can successfully launch your app and ensure that you generate revenue using the best marketing and monetization methods possible. For over a decade SDI has developed marketing and monetization strategies for apps used by enterprises, start-ups, entrepreneurs, and small/mid-sized firms. We have worked with our clients from the app development process to the launch and beyond, and will work with you to ensure that your app generates revenue, all while guaranteeing you 100% ownership of your app. Interested in marketing and monetizing your app? Call Rob LaPointe at 408.805.0495 or email at team@sdi.la