Fueling Your App’s Growth: 4 Proven Strategies to Implement Today
As the year goes on, we see growth in various platforms and innovative methods brands use to connect with their audience. And while we’ll all have our favorites when it comes to delivering, the world of mobile marketing is fickle - and constantly changing. We got the team together and discovered where success lies for campaign efforts. Which ones are you including in your strategy?
A location-based mobile marketing strategy can help deliver hyper-personalized, high-value micro-moments to users in-store, near a competitor store, or at home on a laptop. This will power engagement, generate effective conversion, and help foster long-term loyalty. The location-based marketing sphere is projected to grow to over $80 billion by 2025, and almost 80% of businesses are planning to implement location-based campaigns in 2023. If you’re not in on the action yet, it’s time to get your skates on!
Location-based marketing uses several techniques to target app users; the most common are geo-fencing, geo-targeting, and geo-conquesting.
Geofencing consists of drawing a virtual perimeter around a location that a user visits to serve them personalized content (e.g., around a brick-and-mortar store). Geo-targeting is when a business specifies the location(s) they want their campaigns to ship, considering richer, deeper customer insights such as past-purchase behavior. And geo-conquesting? That’s when marketers create segments of users visiting competitive locations to convert them into customers. For example, when a Domino’s Pizza marketer wants to deliver to customers Pizza Hut, they’ll create a geo-conquesting campaign that provides an offer to win over that audience.
Is location-based marketing worth exploring? If you’re a retailer, QSR, travel enterprise – or any business that wants to market to users based on where they are in real-time – then yes! When you’re ready to start dabbling, test the waters with your analytics platform to focus on customization when creating geo-targeted segments. Like all your mobile marketing activities, the key is to test and refine over and over until you know what works and what doesn’t. Before you know it, you’ll be building and shipping efficient, effective geotargeting campaigns that deliver personalization as standard.
Show-off with short-form video content
With more than half of marketers increasing their investment in short-form video content this year and nearly 40% continuing to invest, ignoring short-form video content as part of your mobile marketing plans could leave you falling behind competitors.
Between Insta Reels, Tik Tok, and YouTube clips, short-form video isn’t exactly a new kid on the block (remember Vine?). Taking social media by storm and creating the foundations for ultra-successful marketing campaigns that connect with customers in shareable ways, it also enjoys the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy.
If you’re planning on getting started with short-form video content, here’s what you’ll need to keep in mind:
Make sure your video content is high-quality
High-quality content may seem like a no-brainer, but we’ve seen plenty of businesses serving up subpar video content that inevitably ends up causing more problems than it solves. Bottom line? If you compromise on quality, you’ll be compromising on campaign effectiveness.
Remember that different platforms need a different approach
Consumers expect content specifically tailored to each platform – content that does well on TikTok might not necessarily do well on Facebook; ditto on YouTube and Instagram. The key takeaway? Research what’s doing well on your social platforms and customize your video content accordingly (short and snappy on TikTok, longer and more polished on Facebook, for example).
Keep it real
In 2023, shallow content that relies on unconvincing or over-scripted messaging won’t cut it. For your short-form video content, don’t be afraid to get real and show your less polished side. You’ll significantly increase your chances of forging stronger, longer-lasting connections with your audience and give your brand an edge in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Don’t focus on selling
Short-form video isn’t about selling; it’s about building connections, so focus on creating video content that does that. As you build trust and cultivate loyalty through authentic, engaging shorts, you’ll find that you’ll be front of mind when it comes to purchasing decisions further down the line.
Amplify ASO efforts
Effective ASO in is about more than ensuring you’re using the right keywords. Sure, keywords matter, but with Apple and Google making big moves towards app store product page customization over the last 18 months, your ASO strategy needs to go beyond basics this year. Aim to focus on delivering an optimum app page experience that enables each of your audience segments to connect and interact in ways that increase your chances of boosting these acquisition figures:
Create custom product pages for each of your audience segments and marketing campaigns.
Consider using custom product pages focusing on specific keywords (e.g., your Gen-Z audience’s search keywords may differ from your Millennial audience).
And, of course, highlight different app features for each of your segments and campaigns (e.g., if you’re planning a campaign promoting a new app feature, it’ll make sense to create a custom product page highlighting the element in question).
Once you’re up and running with your app store pages, don’t forget to test, test, test! With app store optimization constantly changing, sustained updates across your messaging, value propositions, and creative are critical to ensure discoverability and drive conversions. We’ll write more about ASO in the new year, so watch this space!
Aim for authenticity with user-generated content
Millennials told us they find User Generated Content (UGC) more memorable than any other. 99% of Gen Z consumers are likelier to purchase products with reviews featuring photos and videos from real users. So, the message is clear: authentic marketing builds connections, drives engagement, and increases sales.
If you’re tempted to make forays into UGC, many great examples exist to whet your appetite. One of our all-time favorites is #ShotOniPhone, launched by Apple when they released their iPhone 6 and invited users to use the #ShotOniPhone hashtag when sharing images to socials. The results far exceeded the Apple marketing team’s wildest dreams; hop over to Instagram, and you’ll see the campaign still in full swing and boasting almost 27 million photographs.
Here are our top tips for getting started on your UGC journey:
Identify your goals. Building trust? Powering up engagement? Boosting conversion rates? Before you embark on your foray into UGC, be clear about where you want to go and how you will get there.
Jump on your social channels, and start asking your audience for content so that you can gauge interest and generate ideas. Video reviews of your products? Customer pics of the most creative use of your products? Product comparison reviews? Be explicit about what you want – and what’s in it for your users.
Establish how you’ll generate interest from your audience and encourage them to contribute; campaign hashtags and competitions are great starting points.
Be clear on how you’ll use your UGC. App store pages? In seasonal campaigns? Or beyond mobile as part of your omnichannel strategy? How and where you use UGC depends on its quality and the content itself. For example, you may strike gold with a review that has viral potential or an image that unexpectedly connects big with one of your audience segments. Ensure you’ve got a dedicated team member managing UGC activities across your digital channels who will act on every golden opportunity!
Measure your progress. As always, data is your friend, and social listening is critical. Whether it’s the analysis of hashtags, engagement, or keywords, measuring ensures that your UGC efforts are continually fine-tuned to meet audience needs and spot new opportunities.
As businesses navigate a rapidly and constantly shifting mobile landscape and attempt to meet ever-evolving consumer needs, planning and responsiveness remain critical in building connections and cultivating loyalty in the months ahead. If you’d like to find out more about optimizing your mobile marketing efforts in the coming months – and how Optimove can help get you there – let’s get the conversation started!
Pauline is a content writer, copywriter, and marketing professional who specializes in writing for start-ups, scale-ups and growing tech brands. She graduated from Central Saint Martin’s in London with an MA in Design at a time when the Internet was just coming into being. Deciding that’s where her real interests lay, she’s pursued a career focused on digital marketing ever since - and never looked back!
