• by Herbert Bay , Op-Ed Contributor, June 29, 2016

Apps have become an integral part of our daily lives. Whether it’s checking email, sharing social posts, photos, videos, watching movies, listening to music, apps have had a profound effect on how we live and work.

According to Flurry, the number of mobile users are increasing, with 40% of the 58% total growth in mobile app sessions came from existing users in 2015.

Both the Android and iOS App Stores are crowded. In order to be successful, you need to do more than just develop an app and wait for the money to start rolling in. But with so many mobile apps out there, how does one truly standout?

Build an Amazing App

Citing management consultant Peter Drucker: “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” The product comes first and is the most important driver of success. Find a problem and build a great product that solves it.

User Referrals

Having a great product automatically results in referrals, which can even become the biggest driver of users for successful apps. This means that up to 70% of all users come via referrals.

App Store Appearance

“Your app icon, app name and star rating is likely the only information that 90% of users will see to make a decision to download or explore your app. If your icon and name doesn’t give people enough of a reason to try your app, you are losing 90% of your audience,” says Alex Pachikov, former VP partnerships at Evernote.

Hire a good designer for the icon and ensure that the title is catchy. If you do a great job product-wise, you won’t have to worry about the rating.

Invest time and effort in the app description, present your app with the best possible screenshots, and use the right tags. You might want to use tools, such as app codes, for app store SEO.

Featured on App Stores

Great apps will be featured on app stores. In most cases, this comes automatically if you have all of the above. Being featured on the app store is great and will help you to get to the next level.

The really successful apps, however, get more downloads through user referrals. So again, focus on making your users as happy as they can be.

Content Sharing on Social Networks

Apps such as Pinterest have content that can be shared on Facebook and Twitter. This generates visibility and is a powerful organic growth engine.

Make sure to enable mobile deep linking within your app, so that the shared content opens in the app or directs potential users to the correct location in the app store.

In conclusion, each of the options noted here can help build a thorough marketing strategy for your mobile app. They do not require large financial outlays. As with all marketing strategies, each tactic requires a continuous time investment and active monitoring for maximum benefits.