How to Run a Content Marketing Strategy For Apps

You already know that Content Marketing works. But many people ask me how to use Content Marketing for apps?

This question makes a lot of sense; after all, this is not a strategy widely adopted by app developers. Today I’m going to share a little of what I’ve learned about content in a mobile app strategy context.

If you own an app and are investing in Digital Marketing, you probably already have a website for your app with links to the app stores, profiles on the most important social media channels, a measurement tool to monitor downloads, revenue, and other metrics from your app, and a paid media campaign;

In some cases, this is enough. But there are situations where you need to do more than this to achieve the growth you want. 

Keep reading to learn!

How to Develop Content Marketing for Apps?

You hear about Content Marketing. You realize that it works. You want to try it for your own app. But will it work for you?

Before I recommend anything to you, I’m going to ask you to mentally answer the following questions:

• Do you have the resources (time and money) to start investing in Content Marketing? Do you know how much it costs?
• Is your app already launched?
• Will investing in Content Marketing distract you from developing the app?
• Will investing in Content Marketing distract you from retaining your users?

These are crucial factors to evaluate, after all, Content Marketing is a long-term commitment that costs time and money. Therefore, I recommend that you follow a few tips. You will learn more about them next.

What Are The Best Tactics to Perform Content Marketing for Apps?

1. Be committed

Don’t invest in Content Marketing if you cannot build a long-term commitment to the strategy.

Unlike traditional ad networks, in which you pay per install, Content Marketing can take months to bring in the first downloads.

Rewards always take some time to appear, so be sure of how seriously you are willing to take the strategy and how soon you need results.

2. Don’t neglect the launch

Don’t invest in Content Marketing if your app has not yet been released. 

It is important not to get distracted from the app launch and understand that, yes, Content Marketing can boost the volume of installs, but simply blogging and releasing videos without having something to show is a waste of resources.

3. Have a plan

Don’t invest in Content Marketing without a clear plan. Yes, like any content strategy, you need personas, a clear plan, and KPIs to track.

4. Think long-term

If your app is just a temporary product or sells it to another company, forget about content. Content is a long-term effort, and you need your app to be one as well. Don’t expect results in the early days.

5. Integrate web and mobile

If your company has both web and mobile businesses, content can serve as an excellent bridge between the two channels.

Take Rock Content, for example. Our business is primarily web-based, and our blog has about 25% of readers consuming our content via mobile devices.

If we launch a mobile app, we will already have an audience to promote our app in its native environment: smartphones and tablets.

6. Go beyond the website

Unlike traditional strategies, content can —  and should —  go beyond your website. In most Content Marketing strategies, the important thing is to attract visitors to the company’s website.

When it comes to mobile apps, the biggest acquisition channels, following paid media, are social media mentions. If you can project yourself into content channels where your buyer personas are, don’t hesitate to invest in it.

It will definitely bring you a high volume of installs. For example, if you own a marketing app, blogging on channels like World of Marketing, HubSpot, and our blog, can be a great idea to introduce your product to new audiences.

7. Take advantage of retention

Content Marketing has the potential to engage and retain your users.

If your app has retention issues and users don’t come back to it, increasing content production  can result in more push notifications.

With more push notifications, the engagement rate goes up, and the number of uninstalls goes down. 

How to Start a Content Marketing Strategy For Apps?

Start with the basics. Choose a primary channel. I would recommend two: blogs and YouTube.

Regardless of your choice, the rules are almost always the same as for conventional strategies.

Constant content. Editorial calendar and buyer personas. Promotion of content on social media. Engaging with influencers. Monitoring visits and installs coming from the content.

As you grow, you can become more sophisticated. Study what has worked for other mobile apps. Observe strategies from other apps that are distributed mostly through content.

Most of the time, you won’t need ebooks or complex email marketing. Inviting your visitors to install the app will already bring you good results.

How to Make The Most of This Strategy?

If you were looking for meatier content, you could just have asked for it, my friend. Over the past few months, I’ve been studying a lot about improving an app that I will be launching soon.

Here are the most advanced techniques I’ve found in my research of mobile distribution through content.

Guest Posting/PR

One of the secrets to climbing the App stores rankings is to be mentioned on major portals and significant blogs in your niche. Invest in this strategy and watch your rankings go up.

Deep Linking

If your app has relevant internal content, I suggest you visit this content on how Google and other search engines index apps.

Through deep linking, people searching through Google and other search engines can find hidden content inside your app. Cool, isn’t it?

Turn mobile visitors into app installs

Do you have a blog? Place a pop-up/notification for mobile visitors encouraging them to install your app now.

This is probably the simplest and most effective tip on the list. Learn more about why to use pop-ups here!

You should integrate App Store Optimization (ASO) with SEO

Do you want to improve your app’s SEO? Find the words leading to it in the app stores and use them to generate content for your blog.

Is your blog getting traffic from good keywords? Think about how to incorporate these keywords into your app description and see if your rankings improve.

Segment your email base between Android & iPhone users

This helps ensure that you send far more customized images, links, news, and content to your users.

Retargeting blog visitors

If people are visiting your website, run retargeting campaigns and try to convince those visitors to install your app.

The cost is much lower than a traditional campaign and the results tend to be much better.

You can boost your app’s downloads by using an effective and solid Content Marketing strategy.

Do you want to learn more about Content Marketing for apps and start building a strategy to achieve great results? Talk to one of our consultants!