How to Invest Your App Marketing Budget Wisely
The mobile app industry is now witnessing an unprecedentedly rapid growth. Every day there are new games being released by game publishing titans who seem to have all the resources they need to make each new app a huge success: massive marketing budgets, their own traffic, world-famous name and reputation, and a great number of loyal customers. It is no wonder, then, that the competition for each new user at the market is really cutthroat. In this situation, independent developers have considerably fewer chances to hit it off immediately in stores. The average CPI now amounts to $1,8 – 2 and it keeps growing steadily, however, not every game or app can get an LTV of $1,5 per user.
Let us be honest here, a marketing budget of $1,000 is as good as no budget at all. Large-scale game publishers can afford to have marketing budgets that reach tens of millions of dollars. We interpret marketing that has no serious budget more as a set of tips and recommendations on how to effectively utilize “next-to-free” tools to promote your product.
To begin with, it is important to realize that marketing budget is not a one-time investment being made at the product release stage only. Marketing is an integral component of the life cycle of an app or game at its every stage. Therefore, how your marketing budget is spent depends on what particular stage you are at.
We single out 3 main marketing investment blocks in our work:
- App/Game launch budget (launch block)
- Community / user care enhancement budget (community building block)
- User acquisition budget (user acquisition block)
Let us discuss each of the above-mentioned blocks in detail.
“App launch” block
At this stage, your main marketing efforts should be focused on trying to make your app or game known to as many people as possible. The wider coverage there is, the more installs your product will have.
Essential tools:
1) PR and Story Telling: free reviews provided by bloggers, media.
How it works:
When you are limited in funds, this kind of activity is a real lifesaver. You can do it yourself if you have time or you can delegate it to your employees. Abandon the idea of posting your reviews on large and popular Internet resources since their fees range from $2,000 and higher. Free reviews remain the only option. Though, you still have chances of getting it big from the start: if your product has an interesting or even resonating history of creation (like Flappy Bird, for example) or the idea underlying your product is innovative enough, big-time magazines and reputed journalists can be more than willing to feature it!
Complex PR-support is another luxury we cannot afford. At the same time, hiring a professional writer to create a quality and streamlined press-release (even if it is a press-release written in a foreign language) is something you should seriously consider.
Share within the total budget: 10-20%. Total cost: $100-200 for PR or marketing agency services.
“User Acquisition” block
How it works:
There can be various traffic channels (app discovery platforms, ad networks, mobile ads in social networks etc.)
It is imperative to recognize that at this market you are competing against games with high LTV that allows them to buy users for $2-3. A specific price for a user of your particular product will depend on a variety of factors: region, app category, your creativity, CTR, install conversions, level of competition at the market at a specific time.
You will be able to determine a more precise price immediately after you run the first test.
Big and well-established companies allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly to attract unmotivated users. Nevertheless, you will be able to get a certain traffic volume in ad networks, social networks and mobile marketing agencies.
Share within the total budget: 70–85%. Total cost: $700-850 for attracting users.
“Community Building” block
How it works:
As with the previous activity, you can totally do this yourself! Telling about your game or app in social networks and theme forums while the product is still being developed, can be a good headstart that will give you a small advantage in terms of installs when the game is finally released. Besides, this is a powerful tool, which can help you attract your first loyal audience. However, note that this tool might not be so effective when it comes to creating a product from scratch, since it is tremendously difficult to build a loyal audience in social networks without investing anything.
Share within the total budget: 5–10%. Total cost: $50-100 for test paid publications in social networks.
The mobile app market entry threshold is growing, and still, every month we hear new encouraging stories about those who made it. Stay creative, think big and pave your way to the top of the charts!
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