In reality, the most important metric for app developers to think about is lifetime value of a customer. For app developers, lifetime value of a customer is basically the amount of money that a user will generate over the entire time that he/she uses your app.

Lifetime value of a customer is often much higher than you might initially expect. And it’s this number – the lifetime value – not the value of a single sale – that should determine how much you should spend on app marketing to acquire a new user. Gaining a better understanding of the lifetime value of an app user can also help you decide how to segment your users so you can find out which customers are most valuable to you and decide where you should focus your mobile app marketing.

Here are a few ideas for how mobile app developers can increase their revenue by focusing on the lifetime value of a customer:

• Increase monetization of your apps through a blended app marketing approach: Keep in mind that not every customer is going to respond to the same marketing approaches, but that’s OK because there are many ways you can keep putting special offers in front of your users and making money from your growing audience – whether it’s by selling mobile ads, in-app purchases (IAP), selling virtual goods, cross-selling your other apps, marketing to your users via social media, or selling real-world merchandise related to your apps. As an app developer, the most important thing you can do to boost revenue is to create an all-encompassing brand experience that goes beyond a single game or a single download. You want to build a broader relationship with your users so that they will want to keep hearing from you over time. And every point of contact with your audience is another opportunity to make money and build on your long-term relationship with your customers.
• Focus on customer retention: The longer someone uses your app the more money you will make from them – but too many apps get deleted because users lose interest. Once you’re guiding your mobile app marketing by the principle of lifetime customer value, you’ll put a new focus on holding on to the customers that you already have. Part of increasing mobile app customer retention is a matter of timing your releases of new content and making smart usage of notifications to keep people coming back – but a big part of improving your customer retention is building a more compelling app from the beginning, by using game dynamics to keep building a stronger relationship with your users over time – by testing them, challenging them, rewarding them, and making them feel like they are “growing” and getting smarter and more fulfilled each time they use your app.
• Don’t find more customers – find more of the “right” customers: One of the appealing things about mobile app marketing is the idea that any app can get really popular and can get downloaded by thousands or millions of users. But not all users are equally profitable for your mobile app business. Take a segmented approach to find the “right” customers for your app. Don’t just try to add as many users as possible. Instead, try to track the sources of your customers and determine which ones make the most money. If you notice that customers from a particular ad network tend to be particularly loyal, spend more money with that ad network. If customers who find your app through social media are more likely to make in-app purchases, look for ways to more aggressively promote your in-app purchases via social media. Always keep analyzing and re-aligning your app marketing tactics to put more emphasis on reaching the best customers.

What’s your take on this? What is the best way for app developers to calculate (or estimate) the lifetime value of a customer? Is lifetime customer value easy to overrate, or underrate? 

About Ryan Morel:  Follow @ryanmorel

Ryan is the CEO of PlacePlay, a mobile advertising network that helps iOS and Android developers to increase their app revenue and installs.  Ryan lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and dog.

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Here are a few of the ways that mobile advertising is going beyond the traditional conception:

Local mobile advertising:  In the early days of mobile advertising, most mobile ads were just slimmed down versions of online display ads that would appear on a desktop screen. But as the mobile marketing field has evolved, there are now many sophisticated and precise methods to target users based on their geographic location. Being able to target people on a very local level while you know that they are using their phone to search (i.e. likely to be out and about) is very powerful. As this technology improves, local businesses will have increasing control over getting their offer in front of consumers just at the right time to engage in an offline interaction or purchase (e.g. someone searching for pizza from their phone in a particular city). This brings a new level of relevance to the mobile advertising offers – you can offer consumers what they need, when they need it, where they need it.

Mobile advertising formats expanding:  Mobile advertising formats are becoming more dynamic and complex to match the expanding capabilities of smartphones. Instead of static banner ads, more mobile advertising now includes video and interstitial screens.  As we discussed in this article, some mobile advertising campaigns have even used the vibrating capabilities of a smartphone to help convey a message – the Discovery Channel promoted their “Storm Chasers” show with mobile ads that took over the speakers and made the phone vibrate to simulate the sounds and effects of a storm.  In addition to new technology making ads more engaging with video and audio, many big brands are using mobile advertising to create more interactive experiences. For example, McDonald’s ran a mobile advertising campaign offering people some free “smart advice” from a wise old man. After tapping the banner ad, users can ask whatever questions they want, and they hear an answer via audio from their smartphone. For an even more ambitious interactive ad campaign, Coke and Google teamed up to create a massive mobile ad campaign to “Buy the World a Coke” (inspired by the classic Coke ad from 1971). In the Coca-Cola mobile ad campaign, people are asked (via mobile ad) if they would like to send a free Coke to someone else around the world. Then the free coke is given away at a specially outfitted Coca-Cola vending machine in cities in South America, Africa and elsewhere, and the recipient can record a video greeting thanking the sender for the free coke. The whole campaign is optimized for social media – so people can “give away” a free Coke, and then share the friendly message from a stranger on the other side of the world. These examples are part of a broader trend spotlighted in a recent study by the Mojiva mobile ad network, which predicts that rich media mobile advertising will grow 365% between 2012 and 2016.

Mobile commerce and shopping becoming a reality: One of the early skeptical attitudes toward mobile advertising was that “people don’t want to buy things from their phones.” But in the past few years, consumers have become more comfortable using their smartphones and mobile devices to shop and complete purchases.  According to the Mojiva study, mobile shopping and m-commerce are the fastest-growing categories of mobile ads, growing from 4% to 11% of that network’s total ad impressions.

Mobile ads have gone from being just a smaller version of online display ads to being a unique medium of communication that can help influence and drive the buying process. Beyond just creating brand awareness, mobile ads are now creating unique location-based and social media-friendly interactive experiences that can deepen  a customer’s relationship with a brand, or even close a sale.  As technology continues to improve, as people become more comfortable shopping and buying from their mobile devices, and as companies become more sophisticated about reaching consumers where and when they want to receive offers, we expect that mobile advertising’s role will continue to expand in exciting new directions.

What’s your take on this? What are some examples of highly effective mobile advertising campaigns that you’ve seen? 

About Ryan Morel:  Follow @ryanmorel

Ryan is the CEO of PlacePlay, a mobile advertising network that helps iOS and Android developers to increase their app revenue and installs.  Ryan lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and dog.

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The fundamentals of mobile advertising banner copywriting include:

• Keep it short. Space is at a premium on a mobile advertising banner, so you have to be concise. Try to capture the essence of what your message is all about in only 5 words or less. The simple fact of the small size of a mobile device screen makes it necessary to strive for clarity.
• Keep it simple. The good news is that because the space is so small, you don’t need to convey a complicated sales pitch. Just try to engage the reader’s attention, catch their interest, and make them want to click the banner to learn more. Your landing environment (landing page) can do a more detailed job of explaining your offer and showing the person why they should buy your product or download your app. The mobile advertising banner just needs to be an inviting front door to open the conversation.
• Appeal to the emotions. Think about how you can write a mobile ad banner that “fascinates” your reader by appealing directly to their most powerful emotions. What problem does your app solve? How can your app help your users feel better about themselves, feel more in control and powerful, feel more organized, or feel that they are achieving mastery over some part of their lives? These strong emotional components need to be the focus of your ad copy. Try to put people in the right frame of mind just by reading a few words on their mobile device screens, with quick powerful phrases like, “Energize your workout” (for a fitness app), “Simplify your kitchen” (for a kitchen-related reciple-organizing app),  “Kiss the sun,” (for a discount travel app) or “Kill more dragons,” (for a fantasy game).
• Focus on your campaign goals. What are you trying to accomplish with this mobile ad campaign? Do you need more downloads, more signups, more members of your social media community, overall brand awareness? Whatever your most important goals might be, make sure that your mobile ad banner copywriting reflects those goals with clear call-to-actions. Such as, “reserve a room,” “explore your options,” “request a guide,” “play for free,” or “take a tour.”
• Test, test, test.  One of the most frequently encountered mobile advertising mistakes is failing to test your ads. This is puzzling, because it’s cheaper than ever before to try multiple versions of a mobile ad, and then track the results so you see what works and what doesn’t. Try multiple combinations of different ad copy plus different offers.

The 5 words (or less) on your mobile ad banner might turn out to be the most important words you write. Choose wisely. Try to engage your reader’s emotions in a way that is relevant to the purpose of your app. Make sure your call to action is connected to your biggest mobile ad campaign goals. And keep testing and refining your mobile ad copy along the way – see what works and do more of it.

What’s your take on this? What are the catchiest mobile ad banner headlines that you’ve ever seen? 

About Ryan Morel:  Follow @ryanmorel

Ryan is the CEO of PlacePlay, a mobile advertising network that helps iOS and Android developers to increase their app revenue and installs.  Ryan lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and dog.

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Here are a few ideas for how you can improve your mobile video advertising:  

Don’t interrupt – invite: The classic model of the 30-second TV ad is based on interrupting people – TV commercial breaks are keeping people from watching the content that they want to see. Many mobile video ads used to be based on this “interruptive” model – forcing the user to watch a video before they could get to the content that they wanted to see. Instead of interrupting and annoying people, look for ways to more subtly engage them and invite them to watch your ad. For example, it’s possible to run silent videos that appear in the banner ad space, but without “forcing” or requiring the user to watch the ad or tap the ad. Instead of taking over the user’s entire device screen, look for ways to extend an invitation for further interaction.

Keep it focused: One of the unique aspects of mobile video advertising is that mobile videos are fully immersive. People tend to stay intently focus on what is happening on their smart phones and mobile devices – it’s a very personal kind of interaction, more intimate than TV or a desktop monitor. This is another reason why mobile video ads cannot just be a scaled down version of the same video that would run on a TV screen. Look for ways to create small-scale, highly focused videos. You don’t have space or time for a lot of visual clutter and “bells and whistles.” Even a simply designed animation can be more effective on a mobile device than a big, splashy cinematic-style video. You’re not designing for the big screen; you’re designing for small screens.

Run different types of mobile video ads to reach different types of customers (and test their effectiveness): There are three main options for types of mobile video ads: Interactive in-stream video (a video ad played before video content, similar to a TV commercial); Interactive pre-roll (a video ad played within other content such as in between levels of a game or at the launch of an application); and Tap to interactive video, a video ad served after the consumer taps a banner. According to this article from Mobile Marketer, in-stream video is best for reaching broad audiences (with 22% higher CTR when run across an entire network, than with more narrowly targeted in-stream video), and pre-roll is better for brand-building between levels of a game (between-level pre-roll videos have a higher completion rate than pre-roll videos played at the launch of an application).

Use “tap to interactive videos” to further engage your best prospects: Mobile video doesn’t have to be limited to the 15-second video ad. You can get better results by doing a two-part strategy, where users see a short ad, and then get the option to tap through to a longer interactive video ad. For example, you can do a two-part video with a short, 15-second (or less) video ad, and then your users can tap through to a longer 5-minute video with more details. This way you can give more information and more interaction to customers who want to learn more and who are willing to opt in for further communication from you.

Mobile video advertising offers a lot of opportunity but you have to be somewhat familiar with the complexities of this medium as well. Make sure your video design maximizes the small space of the mobile device screen. Keep your videos focused on delivering a good experience for the consumer, without annoying or interrupting them – and be prepared to experiment with a few different formats to make sure you’re reaching the right customers.

What’s your take on this? Which format of mobile video advertising has gotten the best results for you? 

About Ryan Morel:  Follow @ryanmorel

Ryan is the CEO of PlacePlay, a mobile advertising network that helps iOS and Android developers to increase their app revenue and installs.  Ryan lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and dog.

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But even though mobile advertising gives unprecedented options for tracking and testing to find out what works best, unfortunately, the truth is that many advertisers don’t take advantage of these opportunities and instead “go with their gut.” They launch one creative option to their entire audience, often without any geo-targeting and without trying different messages for different groups of customers.

Make sure your next mobile ad campaign maximizes the opportunities to track, analyze, adapt and improve your marketing efforts.

Here are four areas for testing on your next mobile advertising campaign:

• Targeting: There are many categories of targeting that you can explore with your mobile ad testing. For example, one of the biggest advantages of mobile advertising is that it enables advertisers to target people based on their location. When you know about the customer’s geographic location, this opens up a new level of insight into the customer’s buying behavior and preferences. You can use geographic targeting to test multiple mobile ads based on the customer’s location to find offers that are most relevant. Advertisers should also consider demographic targeting. Do some types of customers perform better than others based on age, income and other demographic identifiers? Why or why not? And how can you craft better mobile ads to boost your performance among the various demographic groups?
• Content: One limitation of the mobile ad format is that the screens are small and the ad sizes are even smaller – but a benefit of mobile ads is that you can try lots of different combinations of mobile ad designs. Test different banner ad variations, new calls to action, different colors, different photos and images. Sometimes it’s surprising how just a slight difference in design can be much more effective at catching people’s eye on a mobile device screen.
• The offer: What is the incentive for someone to click on your mobile ad? Whether you’re offering a free download, a coupon, a free trial, or virtual goods (such as badges or “points” for an existing mobile app game), your customers will be more likely to click on your ad if you can answer the age-old question, “What’s in it for me?” You might see different response levels from different types of customers to different offers – for example, customers who are older might be more likely to respond to a coupon offer, while younger customers might click on the offer that promises them a free level up or a free set of badges for an online game. You never know unless you try – and adjusting your offers can be an ideal way to optimize your mobile ads.
• The landing environment: Once your customer clicks on your mobile ad, they are delivered to the “landing environment” – most often, a mobile optimized page on your website – where they can complete the process of buying, downloading, signing up, or doing whatever else they need to do to fulfill the offer from the mobile ad. There are numerous elements of your landing environment that can be tweaked and tested, such as the page format, location of elements on page, and call to action. Make sure your landing environment isn’t losing people – once a customer has clicked on your mobile ad, it’s important to give them a clear, easy-to-follow landing environment so they can go through with the rest of the process, whether that’s signing up to buy something, entering an e-mail address, or registering to follow your company on social media.

Mobile advertising campaigns are never really “done” because you can always adjust various elements to see which designs, messages, offers and layouts bring you the best results. With a smart targeting strategy and careful analytics of the test results, your mobile ad campaign will be far ahead of the competition.

What’s your take on this? What are the most surprising test results you’ve seen from a mobile ad campaign? How do you decide which aspects of a mobile ad campaign to test? 

About Ryan Morel:  Follow @ryanmorel

Ryan is the CEO of PlacePlay, a mobile advertising network that helps iOS and Android developers to increase their app revenue and installs.  Ryan lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and dog.

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• Yield optimization will be a major mobile advertising trend in 2013: Mobile advertising networks and advertisers are learning more and more about our users and the best way to reach them, but the challenge is, what do we do with all of that data once we’ve got it? The next phase in mobile advertising is yield optimization – using the glut of data available with every ad request in order to serve the right ad to the right people. Location and time of day are going to become increasingly critical factors in mobile ad yield optimization. If you can put an ad in front of users at the right time of day when they are thinking about making a purchase or a download, and do it in a way that is relevant to their geographic location, you have unlocked a new universe of possibilities. My company, PlacePlay, has based our mobile advertising strategy on these same principles. It’s not good enough to take a scattershot approach with mobile advertising, where you just “throw a bunch of spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks.” Instead you need to take a more focused and intentional approach, where you base your mobile advertising strategies on the unique characteristics and needs of the users you’re trying to reach. We believe that geo-location and chronological targeting will result in higher yields and more effective mobile advertising, more often, than mobile ad campaigns that are not based on those factors.
• Richer, more interactive experiences with mobile ad campaigns: Most mobile advertisers are still barely scratching the surface of what is possible to create with mobile advertising as a medium of communication. A few companies are doing really beautiful and impressive mobile advertising campaigns, but there is opportunity for so much more – especially on tablets, which offer larger screens and more elaborate capabilities for displaying mobile ads. Beyond simple mobile ad banners or slimmed-down versions of a 30-second TV ad, we will start to see much more interesting mobile advertising campaigns designed specifically for mobile devices.
• Mobile ad campaigns will become the entry to the sales funnel: In the early days of mobile ads, most advertisers used mobile ads solely to generate immediate action or a purchase decision – “download this game” or “sign up for this.” But mobile ads don’t have to be used solely to get the user to do something related to the mobile device. In 2013, more mobile advertisers will start using mobile ads as an entry point to a longer-term sales relationship. Mobile ads will be used to drive more people to the advertisers’ desired channels – either social media, websites, e-mail lists, or others. Mobile marketers will get smarter about using mobile advertising as the entrance to their overall sales funnel. There are many ways to entice customers and deepen relationships with prospects via mobile ads. Beyond simply clicking on a banner ad, mobile ads can be the point of entry for a longer relationship that leads to sales.
• Commoditization of big mobile ad networks: SDK installations are a big driver of company value. Companies like MoPub and Burst.ly are securing more and more of those relationships with developers making big ad networks commodity players who, essentially, become sales organizations. It’s good for developers and it’s good for the mediators, but it’s potentially bad for the networks because they become totally reliant on being able to sell advertising while the mediators own the developer relationship and take a cut.
• Faster move from CPC to CPA: Instead of Cost Per Impression (CPM) or cost-per-click (CPC), more mobile advertisers will shift to a model of what I’ll call, “CPA & More.” Cost-per-click mobile advertising has become less desirable in recent years because, especially with mobile banner ads, accidental clicks are a big problem that drives down CPC value and makes marketers unclear on the ROI they are getting from their mobile advertising campaigns. So if clicks are becoming less valuable as an indicator of user interest, what’s next? Cost Per Action (CPA) – and there is more flexibility in what exactly that “action” needs to be. We will start to see a bigger move towards monetizing secondary actions after the user clicks the ad. For example, maybe the click is free – but if someone engages with a company beyond that initial click, the advertiser pays more on a sliding scale. CPA is the most commonly used method of pricing for pay-per-install services – but I think it can be extended to all types of advertisers. Now more than ever, it’s possible to track and analyze “what happens” with users after they click a mobile ad. So it only makes sense that advertisers would be willing to pay more for better engagement with prospects. CPA mobile ads are good for marketers because they are getting what they pay for, and they’re good for mobile ad networks because they provide marketers with a clearer view of value and they have the opportunity to monetize at much higher rates than a $0.01 – $0.10 CPC. This is part of the overall shift in mobile advertising from “high quantities of low-value clicks” to more focused, higher quality interactions that lead to measurable outcomes and add more value.

What’s your take on this? What are you looking forward to in the 2013 mobile advertising industry? 

About Ryan Morel:  Follow @ryanmorel

Ryan is the CEO of PlacePlay, a mobile advertising network that helps iOS and Android developers to increase their app revenue and installs.  Ryan lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and dog.

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But not all mobile app product videos are equally effective. Too many mobile app videos are overly technical, too long, and not engaging enough. To grab your audience’s attention, you need to create a video that will spark interest and pique the curiosity of people so they are ready to learn more and try your mobile app for themselves.

Here are a few tips on how to create a great mobile app promotional video: 

• Create an emotional “hook” at the beginning: Give your audience a clear, compelling reason to keep watching the video – and to eventually download your mobile app. For example, a good way to present an emotional hook for an app is to clearly state the problem that your customers are facing. What problem does your app help people solve? Show upfront that you empathize with your customers and can help them solve their problem. For a game, the emotional hook can be something that elicits an emotion – fear, curiosity, laughter, or poignant moments. For example, the start of this promo video for Angry Birds Star Wars shows a cute, humorous interaction between the Angry Bird doppelgangers of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia – Luke twirls his light saber around in a display of skill, but Leia is obviously not impressed. In this teaser trailer video for Tiny Wings, the emotional appeal is more subtle, but still effective – it shows the character of the game flying along on a colorful background, accompanied by a simple tune from a wind up music box. If you can engage your audience’s emotions from the first few seconds of your mobile app teaser video, you’ll be more likely to get them to download your app.
• Use a storyboard and script: Every Hollywood movie starts with storyboards and a script to show the order of action and organize the movie from start to finish. Just because you’re doing a short simple video doesn’t mean it should be haphazardly done – in fact, with a shorter timeframe, it’s even more important to make every second count. Before you start recording, take the time to plan out your video from beginning to end. You don’t need to use fancy software for this – simple sticky notes will do just fine. Just make sure you have a clear understanding of what is going to happen in each 5 to 10 second “scene” or increment of the video. And don’t be afraid to cut – shorter is better, as long as you can get your message across. Time is of the essence and your audience’s attention span is short!
• Make it personal:  Downloading an app is a personal, active choice – when someone downloads your app, they are choosing to make your creation a part of their life. So when you are designing mobile app teaser videos, remember to make it personal. You want to talk to the viewer as if they were the only person watching your video. Frame the problem in terms that they can understand personally and use words like “you” rather than abstract statistics. If you’re going to use statistics, that’s OK, but use them as social proof to show that “other people are doing it” – and always lead with a personal message.
• Create a customer journey: Every little mobile app teaser video is a chance to take your customer on a short but compelling “journey” that leaves them ready to download your app. For an app, the journey includes the stages of defining the problem, identifying the solution, adding proof points, and then closing with a call to action. For a game, create an emotional connection, tell the story, and have a strong call to action.
• Keep it short: Online videos need to be short and sweet. If you don’t grab people’s attention in the first few seconds, they won’t keep watching. If a video is too long, people won’t click “Play” in the first place. After you have a good cut of your video, think hard about every section and whether something can be removed. If you’re not sure if something should be left in, it shouldn’t  Avoid repetition and needless detail. Keep the message crisp, clear and focused. For most non-game apps, you can get your message across in less than 3 minutes. For a game, you can probably accomplish what you need to in a minute to a minute and a half.

Creating a good mobile app teaser trailer will energize your users to go out and download your app – and will help potentially build buzz to introduce your app to new audiences. Just remember to plan ahead, create a unique journey for your viewers, keep it short, and connect to your viewer’s emotional needs (instead of just reciting the stats and specs about your app).

What’s your take on this? What are some of the most effective mobile app product videos that you have seen? 

About Nathan Manning:  Follow @nathanmanning

Nathan Manning is a marketing consultant and entrepreneur. In addition to holding senior roles at Microsoft and Electronic Arts, Nathan has helped to found several companies, including Playmous, a successful mobile app publisher. Currently, he serves as an adviser to several start-ups and mobile app developers. Nathan lives in Switzerland with his wife and has a passion for psychology, travel and kiteboarding.
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Here are a few of our favorite sources for the latest and greatest in mobile advertising news:

• Mobile Marketer:This site is a leading source of news on mobile marketing, media and commerce.  They provide news, commentary and analysis on a wide range of topics related to mobile advertising, including the latest campaigns from advertising agencies, and how mobile marketing is used in banking, sports, government, healthcare, electronics and other sectors.  Mobile Marketer is also a rich source of information and resources such as white papers, webinars, videos and case studies on where the mobile advertising industry is headed
  • Example Article: Here is an example of a recent Mobile Marketer article that analyzes the new mobile marketing campaign from McDonald’s to promote its new CBO sandwich.
• TechCrunch Mobile: TechCrunch is already one of the most widely read and influential sites covering the technology space, but they haveaspecial focus on mobile marketing news that is worth checking out if you haven’t already. TechCrunch tends to focus more on the “big picture” mobile advertising industry news, such as mergers and acquisitions, funding, new technology releases, and which brands and products are “up” or “down” in the ever shifting winds of public opinion.
  • Example Articles: All TechCrunch mobile advertising articles can be found here: http://techcrunch.com/tag/mobile-advertising/
• MobiADNews:One thing that makes this site unique is that they don’t just offer overall news and stats on the mobile advertising industry – they also zoom in on real-life examples of mobile marketing campaigns that are best practices in mobile advertising – and they explain how the campaigns work and why the campaigns are successful.
  • Example Article: Here is an analysis from MobiADNews on the new award winning mobile campaign from Coke and Google on “I’d like to buy the world a Coke.”
• eMarketer:This site is a great source of news and information if you want to learn more about how mobile advertising fits within the context of the larger digital marketing space. There is a lot more to mobile marketing than just mobile banner ads – many mobile marketing campaigns can integrate with e-mail marketing, SEO, search engine advertising and social media.
  • Example Article: eMarketer: Twitter Tops Facebook in US Mobile Advertising Revenue: Twitter will earn $129.7 million in mobile advertising revenue during 2012, while Facebook will earn just over half that amount. Both Twitter and Facebook are going to increase their focus on mobile marketing.
• Mobile Marketing Watch:This site tends to stay focused on overall mobile marketing industry news, not on specific best practices or how to’s. However, there are still a lot of good insights to be gained from this site if you want to see a big picture view of industry trends and statistics.
  • Example Article: Black Friday Makes Shoppers Put Down Their Mobiles: There is still a place for in-person retail shopping, as Black Friday’s big sales numbers attest.
• Fierce Mobile Content:This site focuses more on the “technology” side of the mobile advertising industry, with many stories about new product features, new platform developments, glitches and fixes.
  • Example Article: All of Fierce Mobile Content’s articles about mobile marketing and advertising can be found here: http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/topics/mobile-marketing-and-advertising

What’s your take on this? What are your favorite sites for mobile advertising news and information – other than Mobile Advertising Hub, of course!

About Ryan Morel:  Follow @ryanmorel

Ryan is the CEO of PlacePlay, a mobile advertising network that helps iOS and Android developers to increase their app revenue and installs.  Ryan lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and dog.

So, what can smaller app developers do to even the playing field and maximize their chances of success in promoting apps, but without breaking the bank?

Here are some ideas for how to market your app on a tight budget:

• Nail the basics: The best way to use your limited marketing time and resources is to create great assets to promote your app, such as your app’s name, your app description to appear on the app marketplaces, your visual screenshots, and your app icon. Before you spend a penny on advertising, make sure that you read our articles on how to create amazing assets that get your app noticed in a crowded market. Also
  focus on getting your app’s name right – read our article on how to choose a name for your app. Just the simple choice of a name for your app – whether it’s a clever, visually compelling name for a game, or a clear, descriptive name for a solution-based app – can make a big difference in helping your app stand out from the competition.
• Build your own network: Most app developers won’t have the money to push their apps into the top ranks through CPI advertising alone. But, there is nothing to stop you from creating your own network of promotional opportunities with other developers. You can either use one of the cross promotional network like Chartboost or do your own direct deals with other developers. Instead of paying for attention, share your own audience with other developers in exchange for help in broadening your pool of potential users.
• Use social media effectively: Social media is one of the cheapest and (in the long-term) most effective ways to promote your app. As we discussed in this article on how to use social media to market your app, you need to include social media in your overall app design, starting from Day 1. Make it easy for users to share your app and share their achievements from your app on social media. Use virtual currency or in-app badges to reward users for connecting with you on social media. Make a long-term commitment to your community of users on social media, and look for opportunities to “co-create” content with them – such as asking for suggestions for new levels or features, and taking surveys to see how people enjoyed the latest update to your app.
• Leverage PR, contact app reviewers early and often: Instead of buying attention through advertising, you can “earn” attention by getting your app in front of key app reviewers and bloggers. As we discussed in this article on how to get app reviewers to pay attention to your mobile app, you can start with your immediate network of users, friends and fans. Build relationships with bloggers and journalists who write about apps (or who write about the industry/activity/theme that relates to your app). Reaching out to nontraditional app reviewers might be more effective – since app reviewers are deluged with requests to review apps, you might break through if you can get a mention on Twitter from an influential expert in the field that your app is designed for, or if you can build up a network of testimonials from bloggers and influential people, even if they are not traditional tech journalists or app reviewers.
• Cut your price (temporarily): Of course, this technique is much more effective when you can actually pay to make it work (i.e. with Free App a Day or Appgratis). But even if you can’t afford to place your app on one of these promotional sites, you can still get a significant boost in downloads by dropping the price of your app once in a while for a short period of time, or making it free for a day. Many developers use this technique to great effect. Just make sure that you don’t do it too often (a good rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t drop your prices more than once every 3-6 months – that way, prospective users won’t get used to seeing it available for a cheaper price, and your existing users won’t resent having paid full price).

Mobile app marketing doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. If you have a strong app marketing strategy and you’re willing to do some legwork, there are a lot of opportunities to promote your app and put your app in front of a larger audience without having to spend on ads.

What’s your take on this? What are some of your favorite “low budget” app marketing techniques? If you could recommend one “paid” app marketing tactic, what would it be? 

About Ryan Morel:  Follow @ryanmorel

Ryan is the CEO of PlacePlay, a mobile advertising network that helps iOS and Android developers to increase their app revenue and installs.  Ryan lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and dog.

Here are a few additional tips and tricks for how to create an effective mobile app description:  

• Break your text up into sections: Don’t make your readers have to scan through too much text – make it “easy on the eyes” by breaking the text into manageable chunks. For the Apple App Store, a good rule of thumb is no more than about 50 words per section. For example, the mobile app description for this app, “Plants vs. Zombies” has a good breakdown of different sections explaining the key features of the game, and each feature gets a concise block of text so readers can quickly scan through and settle on the information that is most interesting to them.
• Don’t forget to link to social media and other sites: This one sounds simple, but don’t overlook the low-hanging fruit of including links back to your own website, Facebook page, Twitter feed, and any other social media channels where you want to connect with users. In many cases, your mobile app description is copied automatically onto review sites – so don’t miss the opportunity to send traffic back to your other properties (website, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
• Create emotion: Make your mobile app description fascinating with smart, compelling copy-writing that taps into the emotional triggers of your audience. Use vivid, descriptive, colorful words. Try to use phrases that relate to the overall theme and image of your game – for example, the “Plants vs. Zombies” app description describes it as being “spawned from the fertile minds that created Bejeweled®” and “Get ready to soil your plants as a mob of fun-loving zombies is about to invade your home!” Avoid clichés and bland descriptions – it’s not enough to say that your game is “fun.” It’s not clear enough to describe your app as “engaging” or “user-friendly.” Try to write your mobile app description in a way that is true to the overall “brand” of your app – reading your mobile app description should put people in the mood to hear and see more from you.
• Get help if you need it: Your mobile app description is only a few hundred words (or less), but it’s one of the most important parts of your marketing plan. But, let’s face it, not everyone is a naturally gifted writer. So, if you don’t feel comfortable writing your description yourself, you always have the option of hiring a professional freelance writer on Elance or a similar service. It might be worth spending a few hundred dollars (or more) to get a professional copywriter to work with you to develop a well-crafted mobile app description that puts your app and your company in the best possible position to succeed.

A well-written mobile app description will give your mobile app marketing a head start, because people who read it will quickly be able to see the value that your app delivers. Your app description can evolve over time to serve as a one-stop repository of your app’s best customer feedback, online reviews, awards and accolades. Constantly refine and improve your app description to continue presenting the best image of your app to new users.

What’s your take on this? What are the most effective mobile app descriptions you’ve ever seen? 

About Nathan Manning:  Follow @nathanmanning

Nathan Manning is a marketing consultant and serial entrepreneur. In addition to holding senior roles at Microsoft and Electronic Arts, Nathan has helped to found several companies, including Playmous, a successful mobile app publisher. Currently, he serves as an adviser to several start-ups and mobile app developers. Nathan lives in Switzerland with his wife and has a passion for psychology, travel and kiteboarding.
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