How to Promote Your App for free

So you created an app. Great! But What’s the next step?

Unless you are one of those lucky people who have enough money to create a budget for paid advertising, you will have to figure out a way to market your app on a low budget. As of March 2020, there are close to 2,900,000 apps only on the Google Play Store. Even if your app is unique, has a great design, and is extremely useful, it will get lost among those almost three million apps out there. That being said, you should be creating high-quality apps because that will most certainly help with marketing and eventually selling your product. The following are a few tips on how to grow your downloads when you are on a low or close to no budget.

1. Work with an influencer

Yes, influencers make money by getting paid for advertising different products. But this is not always the case. Sometimes they only get free products and services in exchange for advertising. If you have created an app that is an online beauty shop, then look for influencers that create beauty-related content and reach out. You can give them early access to your app, and ask for feedback, look for ways to convince them that using your app, or even better advertising your app, will benefit both of you. You can even offer them a percentage of the initial sales if you think that might be worth it.

2. Join forums and groups

Join developer forums and groups on social media like Reddit and Facebook. Spread the word that you have an app you have developed. If your app is paid, give promo codes, and ask for feedback, discuss the app’s features, fix any bugs that are popping out.

3. Market research

This is something you should do before you even start developing an app. If you have a great idea, but there are already thousands of similar apps out there, it might not be worth it to even begin developing it. Look for trends. What are people searching for? What are people looking for in an app? If there are already similar apps on the market, is there a feature that is missing in them, is there something that you can add or improve in those apps?

4. Get social

Probably the cheapest way to market is through social media. It doesn’t cost anything to create an account and start posting about your upcoming app. Be careful not to flood your followers with posts because you might get the opposite result and drive away your followers. Create Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook accounts. Answer questions, respond to comments, and just try to engage with your followers.

5. Get your friends involved

This might be annoying to some, but if they are true friends, they are wishing you well and will promote whatever app you have created. That being said, don’t be spammy and leave this marketing channel as a last resort. After all, if your app’s success depends on your friends downloading and liking it, you might have to reconsider the existence of your app.

6. Reach out to websites that review apps

There are tons of people whose only job is to download apps and review them. If you only Google: “free app review websites“, you will find a myriad of such pages. It is a good idea to create a good looking HTML email template. This will show that you are a professional, and you are serious about your app.

7. Apply for rewards

Even if your app has just been released on the market and has close to none downloads or reviews, you can still apply to online app contests. As with the website reviews, you will have to browse through a lot of options before you find a contest that will fit your needs. There are different contests, like Best Mobile App Design, Best Mobile Game, Best New Mobile App, etc.

8. Create high-quality video

If your app is a paid one, it is always a good idea to create a video showcasing your app. In that way, people will know what to expect from your app and it is more likely that they will consider spending money on it. If your app is a free one even better having an eye-catching video is always a good idea when marketing it, especially if this video is published on famous platforms like Youtube.

9. Encourage reviews

Try to encourage people who download and use your app to leave a review. Hopefully, your app is high-quality and useful to its users, so the reviews you will be getting will all be 4 and 5 stars. User feedback and ratings can do miracles for your ASO (app store optimization).

10. Ads

Last but not least you have to take into consideration the possibility of running ads. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on advertising, but even $50 will give you exposure and can help with starting your marketing campaign.