Joshua Dreller
Sr. Director, Content Marketing @ Skai
In our Skai 5 series, we discuss digital advertising tips, tricks & trends to keep you one step ahead of the consumers, the market trends and your competition. For this edition of the series, we dive into the best app marketing strategies for 2022 and beyond.
In 2021, Apple introduced big changes to its privacy protections for app users. The company’s iOS 14 updates included App Tracking Transparency. Before App Tracking Transparency, app marketers were automatically able to both track user data within an app and then compare that data to activity around the web in order to personalize and measure ads. Now, App Tracking Transparency means that users must opt into data tracking.
And initial studies around App Tracking Transparency show that users are increasingly declining to share their data. A study conducted six months after the changes showed that 96% of app users do not opt-in for data tracking.
However, the good news is that consumers are more interested in making purchases via apps than ever before. In fact, worldwide consumer spending on mobile apps grew by a staggering $23 billion from 2020 to 2021. So while changes to data privacy might seem to limit in terms of how app marketers can personalize user experiences, consumers are more willing to invest in apps they trust than ever before. Reaching new audiences in the age of data privacy requires new solutions for app marketers, but the payoff for investing in new strategies is almost certainly worth the effort.
Think beyond the App Store
On the hunt for new users, it can be tempting to focus on just the app store, but remember to focus on promoting your app across platforms. Pushing your app across social media, focusing on positive user reviews, and connecting with influencers is an important way to prove value to new users. Especially since 84% of consumers trust reviews as much as they do friends.
Consider Custom Product Pages
One of the changes introduced by iOS 15, Custom Product Pages, is designed to help app marketers design and test ads targeted at a wide range of potential users. Custom Product Pages allow marketers to build up to 35 different versions of a product page for App Store products featuring different copies, icons, clips, screenshots, and previews, all highlighting different app features.
These variations allow app marketers to better target segmented audiences, and Custom Product Pages also provide valuable data, such as installs, revenues, and lifetime value.
Focus on your landing page
Landing pages have long been one of the best app marketing strategies for earning the attention of new audiences, but as users become more concerned with privacy, they’re more important than ever before. Make sure your landing page offers clear visuals of your app along with specific descriptions of your app’s function. Don’t forget to add a strong call to action with links to your app in the App Store and the Google Play store differentiated from the rest of your landing page copy, either by color, font size, or, even better, both.
App Store optimization always matters
Just like search engine optimization, the App Store relies on keywords to match users with the products they’re looking for. Your app description should feature all the words new audiences will likely use to find your app, but in the App Store, including screenshots and videos of your app in use are also critical for boosting search rankings.
Make Apple Search Ads a priority
While it’s important to make sure you’re promoting your app on social, websites, and via a keyword-rich product description, Apple Search Ads have quickly become the best app marketing strategy for boosting apps to the top of search results.
Apple Search Ads work similarly to other PPC ad solutions from Google and Amazon, relying on keyword bidding and automation to choose which apps “win” the coveted top spots for paid ads at the top of search results. Since 70% of app users rely on the App Store in the hunt for new apps and 65% of downloads happen after an App Store search, developing an Apple Search Ad strategy is more critical than ever before in light of new challenges for app marketing.
Skai for Apple Search Ads can help set up all of your campaigns, ad groups, and keyword structures in one flow while providing tools to seamlessly manage keywords and bids and measure campaign success at a glance.
