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Mobile App Marketing Trends to Take Over in 2021

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The year 2019 recorded a total of 204 billion app downloads across all platforms. If you’re a business planning to launch an app, this means two things. 

First, the demand for mobile apps is continuously increasing, which is the right time to enter the market. Second, the competition is fierce, and if you want to stand out, you’ll need to streamline your marketing efforts. 

These app marketing trends for 2021 can help you out. 

1. Attract Ratings and Reviews

Let’s say you offer a premium photo editing app for Android and iOS. A user wants to install a photo editing app on her smartphone, so she opens the app store and searches for “photo editor.” Your app appears, along with a bunch of other apps. 

The user opens the app store page of each app and checks the rating. Your app is the best of the lot, but it doesn’t have many ratings and reviews. Another app, which lacks many essential features, has more positive reviews. What would the user do? 

No matter how good your app is, people won’t install it if it doesn’t have good ratings and reviews. The app store algorithm also works on these parameters. An app that has more downloads and better ratings rank higher than apps with fewer installs. 

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Ratings and reviews are like app store SEO. If you want greater visibility, you’ll need more ratings. 

Now, how can you encourage your app users to rate your app? There are several strategies to achieve that. The most common technique is to request your users to share their feedback. Almost all apps do that. Try installing an app, and within a day or two, you’ll see a pop-up requesting you to rate it on the app store. 

The second, more effective way is to incentivize your users to rate you. In exchange for a five-star review, you can offer them a small reward depending on the type of your app. For example, if you’re a food delivery app like Uber Eats, you can provide a discount coupon to customers who give you a 5-star rating on the app store. 

2. Use QR Codes to Simplify the Download Process

Quick-response (QR) codes do a fantastic job in increasing app downloads. Take Starbucks, for example. The coffeehouse company has used QR code API to put up QR codes in its stores. Customers can scan the code and download the app without manually opening the app store and searching for the app. 

Moreover, you can put up QR codes anywhere. Store windows, walls, POS terminals are a few examples. Several CPG brands put up QR codes on product packages and link them to the app download. You can also use a bulk QR code generator and print QR codes on banner ads, flyers, and brochures to encourage your customers to download your app. 

When trying to drive app downloads, include a small incentive. Not all customers would want to keep your app on their smartphones. You’ll need to provide them a reason to do so. So, offer them rewards and bonuses for installing your app.  

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3. Leverage Social Media to Promote App Downloads

Social media has been under scrutiny when it comes to marketing. One of the major reasons is that social media marketing takes time to show effect. Its ROI is questionable and easily trackable. But problems aside, social media can adorn your app marketing efforts. 

Why?

App downloads are free of cost. When people come on social media, buying something isn’t nearly in their minds. Since apps are free to download (unless you offer paid apps), people don’t mind downloading them. 

The ease of download is another reason why social media is beneficial for app companies. You can share the app download link on social media, and users can click the link to download the app. It shortens the process, making it more user-friendly. 

Lastly, social platforms offer cost-effective paid advertising options. Since driving app, downloads don’t directly translate to revenue, running Google advertisements can be a hefty investment. Social media channels, particularly Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, offer affordable advertising options. Therefore, you can drive targeted app downloads at a lower cost. 

4. In-App Advertising Is Here to Stay

The mobile app industry is growing more competitive with every passing day. Only a handful of options exist that allow you to reach your target audience in a natural, compelling, and effective way. In-app advertisements are one of them. 

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In-app advertising means running ads on other mobile apps. Several free apps, especially games, to that. 

If you display ads on apps, you won’t achieve the desired results. A lot of apps are already doing this, and if you do it too, you’ll be another cookie in the jar. Instead, look for sponsorship opportunities. 

Find apps in your niche that might have the user base you desire. Inquire them if they’re open to advertising on the app. Be sure to contact app owners who don’t normally run ads on their app. 

These companies care about the user experience a lot. If they agree to partner with you, you can get a substantial return on investment. However, the advertising cost on these apps will be significantly higher than regular display ads. 

5. Don’t Overlook the App Store

The competition in the app stores is increasing. A Statista report showed 2.87 million apps on Google Play Store and 1.96 million apps on Apple App Store. That’s fierce competition, and it might take a while for a new app to rank higher, be found, and eventually attract downloads. 

To overcome this hurdle, many app companies think of ditching the app stores. They offer the app from their website only. While this might give you the benefit of exclusivity, you won’t get enough eyeballs. 

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Only 15% of local businesses receive more than 2,500 website visitors per month, showed a survey by BrightLocal. Let’s double the number, for instance, making it 5,000. Even if your website gets 5,000 new visitors per day, it’s nowhere compared to 1.28 billion visits on Google Play Store. 

So, while it’s fine to offer your app on your website, don’t overlook app stores. Hang in there, try to accumulate ratings and reviews, and rank your app higher. Once it ranks higher, it’ll generate automatic downloads, eliminating the need for advertising. 

6. Invest in App Design and Branding

Users will continue using your app only if it provides a good experience. However, good UX and UI go beyond speed and responsiveness. The feeling people get by using your app is also important. When they use your app, can they hear your brand talking to them? 

All elements in your app should reflect your brand message and values, from colors to fonts and icons. Are you bold, cheerful, and energetic? Then use Serif fonts with bright colors like orange and yellow. Are you calm and creative? Handwriting fonts with light and subtle colors can get the job done in that case. 

Many companies overlook the branding element when creating and promoting a mobile app. But remember that branding, if done right, can function as a powerful app marketing tool. 

8. Video Marketing Can Do Wonders

Lastly, use video marketing. Video has become the favorite content for app marketers, and rightly so. When you create an app, you try to solve a problem and engage your customers emotionally. Videos are arguably the best content type when it comes to telling stories and triggering emotions. 

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Video marketing is a wide realm, and you can utilize it for all types of apps. Let’s say you provide a cloud-based team management app that allows managers and employers to manage their teams. 

This app’s video marketing campaign fan includes a weary manager who would work till late to ensure his team got the work done. Now, with your app, he can manage the team remotely from wherever he wants and now enjoys a lot of free time. 

Of course, your video marketing campaign should be realistic. Unrealistic advertising can turn off your target audience. 

Conclusion

Apps run the world, and rightly so. There’s an app for everything from working out to consulting with a doctor to turning off your fans and lights. In such a competitive landscape, making your app successful can seem challenging. But by implementing the right marketing strategies, you can get the job done.

Author:
Apoorva Hegde works as a Content Marketer at Beaconstac. She is a tech-aficionado, curious about all things related to marketing, and when not obsessing over QR Codes, she is also an ardent junkie of The Office.

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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

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So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

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Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

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At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

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“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

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But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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