Marketing and Monetizing Mobile Applications.
Katie Lips.
Appostles.
★ iPhone and Android Specialists.
★ Agency with growing team of experts. Hiring!
★ Strategy. Concept. Design. Build. Marketing.
★ Partners with agencies. Works for brands.
★ Liverpool. London. Amsterdam.
Why are we here?
Oldskool Mobile.
“While the mobile data industry holds considerable promise in future, the existing ecosystem is challenging for the grassroots entrepreneur.”- Ajit Jaokar, Open Gardens.
1.0 Landscape.★ Complex Development & Testing
★ Poor End User Experiences
★ Bureaucratic Walled Garden Mentality
★ Low Financial Incentive
★ A Stagnated Industry
★ Little Incentive to Innovate or Take Risks
Mobile 2.0?
★ It’s all about Platforms
★ iPhone
★ Android
★ Blackberry
★ ... and others
Customers
iPhone &iPod Touch
Developers & App Store
Ecosystem
iPhone Focus.
Q3 07 Q4 07 Q1 08 Q2 08 Q3 08 Q4 08 Q1-09
Units sold in Quarter
270,000 1,119,000 2,315,000 1,703,000 717,000 6,892,000 4,363,000
iPhone Sales by Quarter
0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
Q3 07Q4 07
Q1 08Q2 08
Q3 08Q4 08
Q1 09
Cumulative iPhone Sales
Operating System Share
Symbian 44%
iPhone (and iPod Touch) 32%
RIM (Blackberry) 9%
Windows Mobile 8%
Palm 4%
Other 3%
Handset OSMarket Share
Source: AdMob - using Admob Analysed Apps
Snapshot Feb ‘09
★ 17 Million iPhones in 80 countries
★ 32% Worldwide Smartphone market share
★ Apple #3 Mobile Phone manufacturer
★ 20,000 Apps / 2.2 million downloads each day
★ 500 million apps downloaded (half a billion!)
App Store
The Opportunity?★ Investors - speculate (KPCB’s iFund)
★ Enterprise - mobile workforce
★ Brands - your brand in 17m pockets
★ Web Services - extend reach via mobile
★ Mobile Services - The App business
★ Disposable Apps - apps as accessories
★ Games Developers - a new platform
Example Apps★ Investors - Loopt
★ Enterprise - Salesforce.com
★ Brands - Carling’s iPint, Audi,
★ Web Services - Facebook, Remember the Milk
★ Mobile Services - Urban Spoon, Flirtomatic
★ Disposables - iFart, Sonic Lighter, Ocarina
★ Games - Rolando from ng:moco
Marketing your App
Coffee Buzzwww.coffeebuzzapp.com
What we learnt...
App Store Catch 22
★ Ratings are based on volume and revenue.
★ You need to sell a lot to get in the featured / top 25 list.
★ You need to be in the featured / top 25 list of you’re to sell lots of copies!
Hard Facts!
★ You need to market / advertise / promote your app however you can.
★ Apps with great reviews from happy customers can still be at the bottom of the list.
★ There’s a lot of bad apps in the App Store. Being at the bottom of the list is bad!
Tactics!★ Use launch momentum (you’ll be ‘new’).
★ Do what you can to build that momentum.
★ Get early good reviews.
★ Maximize off App Store PR (web, social networks, ads).
★ Pay to grow volume (via AdMob ads or similar in other apps for example).
Insider Advice: Ads
★ Once you’ve sustained being in the top 25 for a while, it becomes organic.
★ If you spent $5000 getting there, you should be able to make it back by including ads in your app!
★ (...Says an Ad Network Rep!)
Insider Advice: Price
★ Start high. You can always drop the price.
★ Time limited price drops rebuild volume and listings position.
★ If you were selling at £2.39, selling at 59p (a quarter) wil increase sales by more than four fold.
Cheaper = More Volume = Higher Ranking = More
Sales = More Profit
However this theory has lead to
downward pricing pressure.
Which we don’t like!
Free Ad supported Free App
Paid App plus a ‘Lite’
version
Low price e.g. Tier 1
59p
Mid price e.g. Tier 4
£2.39
Volume ++ ++ + - --
Reward if your app
stays in top 25-- +++ ++ +++ ++
Reward if your app gets
lost-- -- -- -- --
Models
Strategies for Marketing your
Apps
PR★ App Store is not a marketing magic wand
★ Reviews, your App Store page, and even icon are important
★ Blogs, App Listings, and review sites are very useful
★ Get Social Media Savvy (tell your friends, and their friends)
★ Resort to ‘traditional’ PR!
Easy Advertising
★ On Blogs, App Listings, and review sites
★ Via Google AdWords Ads & Facebook Ads
★ Within other related social networks, and yes, iPhone owners seem to like Twitter!
★ In trade press (e.g. Coffee related magazines)
★ Plus........
Pro Advertising
★ AdMob - Ads and Analytics
★ MobClix - Ads and Analytics
★ Pinch Media - Ads and Analytics
★ PurpleTalk - (Ad Sharing)
★ Chillingo - Print Ads Partnerships
If you’re serious about your App as a Business you need a
robust strategy!
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