There are so many apps out there but that doesn’t mean that yours cannot be successful. It’s about a certain level of dedication and commitment to making sure it succeeds. After all, you spend time and money getting it built so make sure your app launch is done correctly so it has a chance. You will see a lot of information about the steps to take to submit your app and how to make it successful. However, before you launch an app you must also know what not to do to ensure you are truly doing everything correctly. People Pleasing It’s natural to want everyone to like your app. You spend a lot of time analyzing your target audience and trying to build the app around what they want. Many times app owners spend too much time and go too deep into trying to please everyone. What tends to happen is too much money and functions get put into version 1 of the app. You want to keep it simple and go with your original plan. There can be some tweaks here and there but don’t spend all your time trying to cover every base because it will be a waste. You will only know what to change once people start using it and provide feedback. It’s almost impossible to get it right the first time. That’s what versions 2, 3, 4, etc are for. Even the most popular apps have made changes based on user likes and dislikes. Proper Testing This is one of the most important steps. Once app development is completed it is time to properly test it before you launch. This cannot be stressed enough. Your mobile app development team will test it of course but you should also have a group of friends or beta tester group ready. When app development is complete you can send everyone the app to play around with and let you know what bugs and issues they find as well. User experience is everything and not taking the proper care to ensure your app is working perfectly will ensure failure. Don’t skimp out on this. Many times what happens is you get so excited that the app is almost done and you just want to get it out there. If you do your app launch without doing your due diligence you will regret it. Once you have completed your testing and fixed the issues successfully then you can correctly launch your mobile app. Diluting There are many app stores out there besides just Apple and Google Play. Eventually, you’ll want your app to be available on all stores, not just 1. When you are launching your app, however, you need to focus. If you are only submitting to the Apple store then focus all your marketing efforts on driving traffic to Apple. Often times if you spread your marketing to all the other areas it actually dilutes the ranking of your app. By focusing on 1 store you can rank higher and get higher ratings which actually leads to higher visibility. Later on, you can spread it across to the others. That being said when it comes to Apple and Google Play make sure your app can be compatible for both. Even if your app launch is on 1 store try to think about what the other store requires so you can easily convert it later when you do decide to submit it to the other one. This goes for the content as well. Make sure your name will be accepted on both platforms as well as other details. Be Social One of the biggest mistakes people make when launching an app is not staying on top of their social presence. Many times people do a lot in the first week and fall off if they don’t see any results. Marketing isn’t magic. You don’t send outposts and then have 100,000 downloads the next day. It takes months of hard work to start building awareness. Make sure you are consistently posting good content on various social media channels every day. Then look back and respond to anyone who has reached out. Take advantage of cross-promotion and don’t let anything fall off. Even if someone makes a negative comment, respond with understanding, and positivity. Again, this requires time and effort which means you have to take it seriously and don’t drop off otherwise your app will do the same. Paid Advertising Whether you have a big budget or a small one, marketing is complex, and dumping a bunch of money in paid advertising right at launch isn’t always the best idea. If no one knows who you are it can be a complete waste of money. You may see a little spike in potential users looking at the website and even going to the app store, but downloads will most likely be too low for the cost of marketing to be worth it. Take some time to build your brand through free and/or very low-cost marketing tactics. If you stay on top of your marketing you can be become hot, at which time paid advertising and promotional campaigns are worth it. It can keep your app on the hot list longer making it more likely to be seen by journalists, influencers, and more. Again, this works best if your app has a spike in popularity and ranks high in the store. Being Prepared There is nothing worse than not having all your materials ready when you do your app launch. There is a list of content and materials you want to prepare because if you don’t, marketing your app is going to be a struggle. You have time while your app is being built to create all your materials. It’s a big mistake to wait until your app is almost ready for launch to start gathering all this information. At the very least you want to have the following gathered and prepared before you launch an app on the store: Create a Press Kit ♦ Create a Video of your app ♦ Blogs ♦ Press Releases ♦ Newsletters ♦ Social media posts ♦ List of publications and the writers ♦ List of influencers ♦ List of app reviewers/bloggers ♦ App description and details Tip-Toeing All too often people tend to force their content into 1 bubble using only certain words or details. They focus on marketing to only 1 type of user. In some sense that is ok but for the most part, you shouldn’t restrict yourself. This is especially true if you are brand new to the marketplace. For example, if you have an app that is specifically for dog owners you may think ok I’m just going to market to people within dog groups and only mention dogs in my content. Although being specific is good you would be forgetting animal lovers in general. Someone with a dog may look at things about animals in general. Since you are not talking about animals that potential user will never find you. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to just use 1 main keyword in all your content for marketing because you will end up restricting yourself and the number of people who can find you. It’s not the time to be picky. You want to gain as many users as possible. It’s not just about doing all these tasks but doing them correctly as well. It takes time to design and develop your app. That is the perfect time to gather all your materials and take your time doing it. Know who your audience is and spend time thinking about what message will work best for creating interest to get people downloading your app. That moment of the launch can be exhilarating and scary but if you have the right team behind you and have everything prepared, your app launch can go a lot smoother than you think. If you need help with app development and marketing tools contact the team at SDI to help or call Sakshi at 408.621.8481