Basics

Found: The secrets to mastering paid app discovery

Becky Doles

paid app discovery

If you want to master the mobile marketing funnel to get more app users for faster, cheaper, and longer, you have to start where it all begins: discovery.

Discovery is the first phase of the mobile marketing funnel, and it’s all about getting your app in front of the right users, whether in the app store through organic discovery, or via targeted advertising through paid discovery.

Learn about all stages of the funnel and how to master both organic and paid discovery, check out the e-book, “Deconstructing the Mobile Marketing Funnel.” For now, let’s dive into one half of the equation: paid discovery.

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Paid app discovery: an essential part of your mobile strategy

Because there are more than 5 million apps vying for consumer attention in the app store, you can’t rely solely on users stumbling across your app through organic methods. Instead, you should allocate some budget toward getting your app in front of the right people through paid advertising. Ultimately, paid discovery boils down to two things:

  • Choosing the right partners
  • Choosing the right channels

Here’s what you need to know, and what you need to nail it, for each.

Choosing the right partners for paid app discovery

What to know: Partners are the companies who publish your ads. So if social media is your channel of choice, Facebook would be a publishing partner, since it’s the company that displays ads within your chosen channel. Other publishers include Pandora, CNN, Twitter, or any other platform that displays your ads.

How to nail it: When selecting partners, consider their audience, cost, targeting abilities, and attribution structure. You’ll also want to diversify your partners to maximize your reach, as we’ve found that marketers who drive the most installs work with an average of 11 to 15 advertising partners per campaign. At TUNE, we created the TUNE Certified Partner Program to connect marketers with reputable publishing partners who uphold industry best practices like transparent reporting, seamless technical integration, and data privacy compliance. Check them out for yourself to see which partners are best to work with.

Choosing the right channels

What to know: Channels are the mediums in which you promote your app. Before the internet came along, traditional media channels were the sole advertising options and primarily included television, radio, publications, direct mail, and public relations. Traditional media channels are still valuable because of their ability to reach massive audiences, but keep in mind that you risk not being able to target your audience or measure results as precisely as you can with digital media channels. If you’re looking for a more targeted, measureable advertising experience, you may want to consider digital media channels, which encompass avenues like paid search engine marketing, paid social media, and SMS.

How to nail it: To ensure you’re making the most of traditional media channels, take advantage of all the demographic data available to display ads to your ideal audience. Then limit your calls-to-action, so that television and radio ads aren’t cluttered with multiple steps that confuse (and lose) potential customers. With digital marketing, take advantage of your ability to be highly targeted. Choose specific demographics, keywords, headlines, locations, and times of day. Then A/B test to see which copy, images, and call-to-actions are most effective in converting viewers. By choosing a mix of the right channels and publishing partners, you can ensure you are reaching the most targeted consumers possible, and diversifying your mix enough so that you aren’t spending all of your budget on the same repeat audience.

More ways to crush app discovery

In “Deconstructing the Mobile Marketing Funnel,” we dive into strategies for specific digital media channels, like SMS marketing, paid social, and paid search. We then show you how to complete the discovery equation with a solid organic strategy, then how to convert those eyeballs into engaged, long-term, valuable users. You’ll even learn things to watch for in the mobile marketing funnel that you won’t see in the traditional marketing funnel.

Download your copy of “Deconstructing the Mobile Marketing Funnel.”

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Author
Becky Doles

Becky is the Senior Content Marketing Manager at TUNE. Before TUNE, she led a variety of marketing and communications projects at San Francisco startups. Becky received her bachelor's degree in English from Wake Forest University. After living nearly a decade in San Francisco and Seattle, she has returned to her home of Charleston, SC, where you can find her enjoying the sun and salt water with her family.

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