8 Ideas for an App's Pre-Launch Marketing Campaign

Our 8 ideas for your app’s pre-launch marketing campaign

Quality marketing is half of a product’s success and high-end app marketing starts pre-launch. What can be done even before the introduction of your application to the market? Here are our eight ideas:

1. Announce your application in social media

The first strategy in your pre-launch app marketing campaign should be announcing your product on social media. Present your application, explain how it can change the lives (or habits) of its users, and tell your clients when they should expect it.

Don’t just announce it once – keep your followers on track by presenting new features regularly. You might also want to post whenever a milestone is reached. Build the hype progressively – this will attract lots of users on launch day.

2. Build an SEO background

Using social media is excellent for attracting users already interested in your products or services. You must, however, consider acquiring completely new clients as well. Combining your web design with SEO is a great measure to achieve that.

Create a landing page for your application. Start writing a blog on related topics. Optimize them accordingly and you will attract organic traffic – internet users who might not have heard about your company before. This won’t just increase your app awareness but will also boost your brand recognition.

3. Engage your current app users in discussions

Engaging your users in discussions about your app will have three major benefits:

1. You will build the app’s hype.
2. You will learn about user expectations.
3. You will know more about your potential users.

Learning from user-driven discussions will give you the opportunity to adjust your product design and your marketing strategy better. It is also a widely-oriented method: you keep your current to-be users hyped, and you attract new potential clients, since the discussion will be displayed in feeds and shared.

4. Prepare app store optimization

Why should you prepare app store optimization before even listing your product in there? The answer is simple: because of the resources.

You should do as much as possible in terms of awareness in your app’s pre-launch digital marketing campaign. Then you should focus more on acquisition and retention. If you prepare your app store optimization during the product development process, you will be able to invest more time and energy on other aspects, such as advertising, after the launch.

5. Distribute your MVP among industry influencers and ask them for reviews

The most well-known and recognized gurus of your industry are extremely influential – they have numerous followers just waiting to hear their opinions and tips. Collaborating with them could be a great pre-launch marketing strategy for your new app. Send them your MVP, ask them to review it on their channel, and enjoy the additional buzz.

What if the review contains some negative comments? That’s great - you can forge thatt into success as well. Having proper user research will help you to map all the flaws and give you a chance to improve the app before an actual launch and avoid a poor user experience.

6. Write an FAQ section and prepare video guides

The more information you provide on your app, the more engaged your audience will be. Recording video guides and writing FAQ sections is an effective option. This will give your potential users a grasp of what the application will look like and how to navigate through it.

Don’t focus only on technicalities. Make sure to include functions and use cases. Try answering questions such as: ‘Can I use the app to do X’ – it will give your potential users a clear overview of how they can benefit from using your product.

7. Constantly study the data to learn more about your marketing personas

Defining who your audience is, is vital. During your app’s pre-launch marketing campaign, you can constantly analyze and learn more about your target users. The more detailed target personas you create, the better you can adjust your app’s functions. This will pay off after the launch during the acquisition and retention stages.

8. Find your USP

Last but not least: your unique selling proposition (USP) is the main argument why your product is better than your competition’s. During the pre-launch marketing campaign, you should focus on analyzing your direct rivals and filling the niche that they leave free. This will help you determine your product market fit.

Why market your app pre-launch?

Marketing your app pre-launch will give you an edge. It is important because:

• You save your resources for after-launch marketing.
• Organic strategies require time – starting them earlier will mean you’re already benefiting by the time app’s launch.
• You can collect valuable data to use during initial development and while planning updates.
• You establish a high level of app awareness before launching.

As you can see, starting your app marketing campaign pre-launch can give you quite a head start. Thus, we believe that it is a must.

Final thoughts

There are numerous strategies to deploy during the pre-launch stage of your app’s marketing. Making social media announcements, building an SEO background, preparing materials for the future, studying the data and collecting reviews – all of these can enhance your pre-release marketing campaign. Which ones are best? This depends purely on your target market. We thus advise applying as many of them as possible – after all, you want your application’s kick-off to be a hit, don’t you?

If you like this article, we suggest reading: How to build products with a business mindset.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjMHk89BvgE

https://viral-loops.com/blog/dropbox-grew-3900-simple-referral-program

https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/mobile-app-marketing-insights.pdf