marketing and monetizing mobile apps 2009
DESCRIPTION
Presentation on Marketing and Monetizing Mobile Apps. Focusses on opportunities offered by the iPhone and Android Platforms and contains detailed sales stats for iPhone platform.Presentation given at "Beyond Mobile 2.0", Manchester, UK, 24th February 2009 - a Northern Startup 2.0 event, UK.By Katie Lips, Mobile Apps Strategist at Appostles.comTRANSCRIPT
Marketing and Monetizing Mobile Applications.
Katie Lips.
Appostles.
★ iPhone and Android Specialists.
★ Agency with growing team of experts. Hiring!
★ Strategy. Concept. Design. Build. Marketing.
★ Partners with agencies. Works for brands.
★ Liverpool. London. Amsterdam.
Why are we here?
Oldskool Mobile.
“While the mobile data industry holds considerable promise in future, the existing ecosystem is challenging for the grassroots entrepreneur.”- Ajit Jaokar, Open Gardens.
1.0 Landscape.★ Complex Development & Testing
★ Poor End User Experiences
★ Bureaucratic Walled Garden Mentality
★ Low Financial Incentive
★ A Stagnated Industry
★ Little Incentive to Innovate or Take Risks
Mobile 2.0?
★ It’s all about Platforms
★ iPhone
★ Android
★ Blackberry
★ ... and others
Customers
iPhone &iPod Touch
Developers & App Store
Ecosystem
iPhone Focus.
Q3 07 Q4 07 Q1 08 Q2 08 Q3 08 Q4 08 Q1-09
Units sold in Quarter
270,000 1,119,000 2,315,000 1,703,000 717,000 6,892,000 4,363,000
iPhone Sales by Quarter
0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
Q3 07Q4 07
Q1 08Q2 08
Q3 08Q4 08
Q1 09
Cumulative iPhone Sales
Operating System Share
Symbian 44%
iPhone (and iPod Touch) 32%
RIM (Blackberry) 9%
Windows Mobile 8%
Palm 4%
Other 3%
Handset OSMarket Share
Source: AdMob - using Admob Analysed Apps
Snapshot Feb ‘09
★ 17 Million iPhones in 80 countries
★ 32% Worldwide Smartphone market share
★ Apple #3 Mobile Phone manufacturer
★ 20,000 Apps / 2.2 million downloads each day
★ 500 million apps downloaded (half a billion!)
App Store
The Opportunity?★ Investors - speculate (KPCB’s iFund)
★ Enterprise - mobile workforce
★ Brands - your brand in 17m pockets
★ Web Services - extend reach via mobile
★ Mobile Services - The App business
★ Disposable Apps - apps as accessories
★ Games Developers - a new platform
Example Apps★ Investors - Loopt
★ Enterprise - Salesforce.com
★ Brands - Carling’s iPint, Audi,
★ Web Services - Facebook, Remember the Milk
★ Mobile Services - Urban Spoon, Flirtomatic
★ Disposables - iFart, Sonic Lighter, Ocarina
★ Games - Rolando from ng:moco
Marketing your App
Coffee Buzzwww.coffeebuzzapp.com
What we learnt...
App Store Catch 22
★ Ratings are based on volume and revenue.
★ You need to sell a lot to get in the featured / top 25 list.
★ You need to be in the featured / top 25 list of you’re to sell lots of copies!
Hard Facts!
★ You need to market / advertise / promote your app however you can.
★ Apps with great reviews from happy customers can still be at the bottom of the list.
★ There’s a lot of bad apps in the App Store. Being at the bottom of the list is bad!
Tactics!★ Use launch momentum (you’ll be ‘new’).
★ Do what you can to build that momentum.
★ Get early good reviews.
★ Maximize off App Store PR (web, social networks, ads).
★ Pay to grow volume (via AdMob ads or similar in other apps for example).
Insider Advice: Ads
★ Once you’ve sustained being in the top 25 for a while, it becomes organic.
★ If you spent $5000 getting there, you should be able to make it back by including ads in your app!
★ (...Says an Ad Network Rep!)
Insider Advice: Price
★ Start high. You can always drop the price.
★ Time limited price drops rebuild volume and listings position.
★ If you were selling at £2.39, selling at 59p (a quarter) wil increase sales by more than four fold.
Cheaper = More Volume = Higher Ranking = More
Sales = More Profit
However this theory has lead to
downward pricing pressure.
Which we don’t like!
Free Ad supported Free App
Paid App plus a ‘Lite’
version
Low price e.g. Tier 1
59p
Mid price e.g. Tier 4
£2.39
Volume ++ ++ + - --
Reward if your app
stays in top 25-- +++ ++ +++ ++
Reward if your app gets
lost-- -- -- -- --
Models
Strategies for Marketing your
Apps
PR★ App Store is not a marketing magic wand
★ Reviews, your App Store page, and even icon are important
★ Blogs, App Listings, and review sites are very useful
★ Get Social Media Savvy (tell your friends, and their friends)
★ Resort to ‘traditional’ PR!
Easy Advertising
★ On Blogs, App Listings, and review sites
★ Via Google AdWords Ads & Facebook Ads
★ Within other related social networks, and yes, iPhone owners seem to like Twitter!
★ In trade press (e.g. Coffee related magazines)
★ Plus........
Pro Advertising
★ AdMob - Ads and Analytics
★ MobClix - Ads and Analytics
★ Pinch Media - Ads and Analytics
★ PurpleTalk - (Ad Sharing)
★ Chillingo - Print Ads Partnerships
If you’re serious about your App as a Business you need a
robust strategy!