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APP MARKETING FOR WEB MARKETERS

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App Marketing for Web Marketers

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Page 1: App Marketing for Web Marketers

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APP MARKETING FOR WEB MARKETERS

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Table of Contents

The Familiar Face of Web Marketing

The New Frontier of App Marketing

This = That: Your Web to App Equivalents Chart

Your Tools for Measuring Engagement

SEO & ASO: Two Peas in the Same Pod

Identifying Your Prospects and Their Behaviors

Building a Relationship by Optimizing Your Funnel

Push and In-App Messaging: The Mobile Version of Email Marketing

The Role of Great Content

How to Make Your App Social

The Biggest Difference Between Web Marketing vs. App Marketing

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The Familiar Face of Web Marketing

On March 12th, 2015, many generations of marketers will celebrate the web’s 26th birthday. Many of us grew up with the web. We watched it transform from a humble collection of static websites into a bustling online ecosystem of content, ecommerce, and consumer-to-company interactions. And most recently, we saw the rise of the inbound movement that focused on being helpful to naturally draw people to websites. The online world is a wonderfully familiar place. The web marketing playbook has been written and successfully used for years by marketers like you and me. Blogs? You could write them in your sleep. Emails? Easy as pie. SEO? You know every white hat tactic out there. Social media? You’re a relationship-building wizard on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. As consumers flocked to the Internet and wove it into their daily lives, brands figured out how to get noticed online. Marketers have indeed conquered the web.

But that isn’t enough anymore.

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The New Frontier of App Marketing

There’s been a change in the digital dynasty. The predominance of websites as the anchor of modern marketing is being challenged by the growing popularity of apps. Less than 10 years old, apps are built, fundamentally, to help users easily and efficiently complete a task. Consumer appetite is shifting away from the web to more intuitive, versatile, and personalized experiences that apps can uniquely deliver. Think about these fresh statistics:

• 1 in 5 people in the world own a smartphone • The amount of time people spend using apps has increased by 21% in the last

year alone • 85% of people prefer native apps to websites • In the US, time spent on mobile apps now exceeds the time we spend accessing

the web from a desktop computer This migration of people away from websites to apps demands a change in the way marketers connect with their consumers. It’s time to adopt a new mindset: mobile-first. It’s time to embrace a new frontier: app marketing.

This guide will help you apply your web marketing skills to the app-driven future.

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This = That: Your Web to AppEquivalents Chart

The best way to learn something new is to relate it to something you already know. This eBook is not going to reinvent the wheel; we’re going to show you how your web marketing prowess can be transferred to an app-dominated era. Specifically, we’ll review the mobile metrics that matter and detail how marketing (with a strong focus on inbound principles) has evolved for the smartphone-savvy generation. To set the stage for what’s to come, here is a handy-dandy table of cross-channel “equivalents.” These are the online tactics you know and love mapped to their mobile counterparts. In the rest of this guide, we’ll dive into each pairing in more detail.

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Analytics

Marketing

O N T H E W E B

Visitors

Pageviews

Pages

Time on Site

Conversions

Target Audience

SEO

Web Funnels

Email Marketing

Unsubscribes

ContentMarketing

App Funnels

Opt Outs

ContextMarketing

Push & In-App Messaging

Users

Sessions

Screens

Session length

Events

User Segment

ASO

Number of people interactively using your app

Counted from app open to close

What your user navigate between in your app

Period of time between app open and close

Actions taken by users in app

Group of users based on shared characteristics or actions

Tactics to increase the visibility of your app in app store searches

A series of connected events that lead to an “ultimate” in-app action

Messages delivered to app users designed to re-engage and nurture them

Highly personalized, hyper-targeted app marketing campaigns delivered to the right person at the right time

Number of people who disable push

O N T H E W E B

I N A P P S

I N A P P S

D E F I N I T I O N

D E F I N I T I O N

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Your Tools for Measuring Engagement

You want the same thing from your app analytics as you do your web analytics: clear insight into what’s working, what’s not, and how your customers are interacting with you on that channel.

Coming from a web-centric mindset, it’s easy to assume the same metrics apply, but there are fundamental differences between how people behave on the web versus in apps. People usually turn to the Internet when they are searching for content, and launch apps when they are looking to complete a task.

Furthermore, web tracking is based on cookies, which can provide inconsistent data when people leave many tabs open or simply disable these in their browsers.

Conversely, app analytics are based on device tracking or social authentication, which provide more concentrated metrics. Here’s the new app-specific terminology you’ll need to adopt to accurately assess your app:

Visitors = UsersApp “visitors” are referred to as users, as they are interactively using your app instead of just visiting it. Some people gloss over this metric, but tracking your users is fundamental to creating deeper engagement, like segmenting audiences, tracking specific behavior and launching successful app marketing campaigns.

Pageviews = SessionsPageviews are triggered when a page is requested by a browser, and signify the total number of pages viewed, including repeat views of a single page. Here’s where pageviews fall short today: they don’t actually measure how engaged your users are. Engagement is a moving target, and there are countless ways to define and track it, but the simple truth is pageviews don’t cut it. There are too many variables at play, and taking a pageview at face value is misleading; did your users visit a lot of pages because they were interested, or because they couldn’t find what they were looking for?

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When it comes to mobile marketing, deeper engagement analytics are needed to determine and drive value. Tracking session metrics allows you to tailor your app to the user, improving the experience, bolstering retention and increasing ROI.

A session is counted from app open to app close, or when someone backgrounds the app for 15 seconds or more. It’s a foundation metric, and is measured in:

• Number of sessions• Session length• Session interval (the time between the user’s first session and his or her next one)

By using sessions as a baseline metric you as a marketer gain insight into recurring behavior, follow up behavior, and in-app behavior for given time periods and across audiences and verticals.

Time on Site = Session LengthSession length is measured as the period of time between app open and close, or when the app times out after 15 seconds. It indicates how much time your users are spending in your app per individual session. This is similar to the web version, Time on Site, but reacts to lulls or when a user simply forgot to close the app, so gives a more accurate measurement of actual engagement. Time on Site can be more difficult to pin down, given the nature of web usage and the number of tabs visitors typically have open at a given time.

Pages = ScreensIn your app, a user navigates between screens instead of pages (this one’s simple and easy to remember!).

Conversions = EventsEvents are actions that a user can take in your app. Events are custom to your app and supplied by you. When tagging events, most often you’ll tag important conversion actions in your app as events to watch. Just as with web conversions your visitor can convert on multiple offers, there are a number of actual app conversion events that your user can complete over time, such as “Product Viewed,” “Checkout Completed,” “Video Played,” or “Article Comment.” Often, these events work together in a funnel to get the user to an “ultimate” conversion event (more on funnels, later!).

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SEO & ASO: Two Peas in the Same Pod

When the dot-com era erupted, the Internet became saturated with millions (and now over a billion!) websites. Some were great, many were good, and others were terrible. Luckily, search engines started to categorize and organize the web, which helped people find the right information quickly. As the world moved online, web marketers embraced the pro-cess of search engine optimization (SEO) so their brands could be found using Google. In just a few years, app stores have already become home to more than a million new apps. To succeed, you have to be visible on Google Play or Apple’s App Store listing charts because approximately 58% and 63% (respectively) of people find apps through natural search and browsing. That’s why app store optimization (ASO) is the new SEO. The overarching goal of ASO (similar to SEO) is to boost your app’s ranking for specific keywords and rise above competitors. ASO helps your app get found organically and it directly drives downloads. White Hat (The Good) vs. Black Hat (The Bad)App store optimization is an imperative part of ensuring your app doesn’t go unnoticed. But it does take time, and your app’s ranking may not improve overnight. The key is to implement the right ASO strategies and be patient as app store spiders and algorithms re-crawl and re-evaluate your app’s placement. Don’t be fooled by black hat tactics that promise short-term gain for long-term fail. When SEO was introduced, people found a way to cheat the system and notoriously adopted backhanded practices (like buying links) to rise up on SERPs (search engine result pages). However, when Google learned of this trickery, the offenders got banned, de-listed, and dethroned from the top. In the same vein, avoid black hat ASO tactics like inflating downloads and ratings using bots that promise quick reward, but will ultimately harm your app’s reputation. Also, be careful not to use third-party services to secure a high placement in app stores.

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So now that we’ve gotten the bad stuff out of the way, what should you do to earn a sweet spot in app stores? In the next section, we will highlight the good components of SEO and their ASO equivalent -with tips to get you started.

One thing to note: ASO isn’t as sophisticated as SEO (yet), but we can expect ASO algo-rithms to evolve faster than SEO algorithms did because we understand the fundamental ingredients of a “good” search results page better than ever before. It’s only a matter of time before these are baked into app store listing pages as well.

ASO, like SEO, involves both “on-page” and “off-page” components. On-page elements are things you can completely control (like what goes on your app’s product page) and off-page elements are things you can only somewhat control (like reviews and ratings).

“Page Title” is now “App Title”

“Above the fold content” is now your app’s “description”

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Page Title vs. App TitleSimilar to a website’s title, your app’s name is one of the most important on-page factors that determine how you rank. It should contain both branding and keywords to help app stores figure out what your app does and where to list it. To identify which keywords to use, think about what terms your app users are searching for and use tools like Sensor Tower to pinpoint some good phrases. Keep in mind that if people are browsing the app store on their mobile devices, they’ll probably only see the first 30 characters so don’t keyword stuff or make your app’s name abnormally long.

Above the Fold Content vs. App DescriptionGoogle’s algorithm grades websites based on what content appears at the top of the page (before you have to scroll down). If a website’s header is full of ads or irrelevant informa-tion, it’ll get negative SEO points. Instead, you should fill this space with interesting content that will make people want to explore the rest of your site. The ASO version of “above the fold” is your app’s description. This is where you outline your app’s purpose. Use this real estate to deliver a strong value proposition and explain exactly what your app can offer. Be explicit, clear, and highlight user benefits. Essentially, convince people to try your app with clever and crisp copy.

“Meta description” is now your app’s “icon”

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Meta Description vs. App IconWhile not directly imperative for SEO, meta descriptions play an extremely vital role in get-ting click-throughs from SERPs. A meta description is the short paragraph (usually one-two sentences) that you see underneath a link. It helps searchers understand what the web-page is about. Unsurprisingly, a concise and compelling description leads to more clicks and traffic. In the land of apps, your icon takes the place of a meta description because it appears in app store search results. Your app’s icon should be striking, well branded, and convey use-fulness to entice people to click on it. The number of visits to your app’s product page also affects your rank, so make your icon unique, make it stand out, and make sure it visually explains your app’s purpose.

Homepage Hero vs. Promotional ScreenshotsThe homepage hero usually appears as part of a website’s “above the fold” content. It is the first image people see when they visit your website. Consequently, it has a vital re-sponsibility to capture the essence of your brand in a beautiful and well-designed way. App listing pages don’t have a homepage hero so you need to use promotional screen-shots in its place to make a great first impression. Take high-quality screen grabs of your app in action and overlay it with text or graphics to tell a story. Show off your app’s best features and if you can, create a video overview of your app. People love being teased with previews and trailers.

Languages

Promotional Screenshots

Ratings

Reviews

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Localization vs. LanguagesAt some point, every business will want to enter new international markets. To prepare for this growth, web marketers localize their site to be more appealing to another audience. SEO localization can involve changing your website’s content, structure, domains, content, keywords, and keyphrases to match the culture and communication patterns of a new economy.

Localization is also a component of ASO. For example, the number of languages your app is available in influences how you appear in search results. But localization goes beyond just translation. When expanding your app’s user base, research how your app’s icon, title, screenshots, description, keywords, etc. can be adapted to better suit local consumers. Sometimes, this may even entail building a sister app.

Bounce Rate vs. Ratings & ReviewsWe’re living in an age where the thoughts and opinions of our peers matter more than the endorsements of celebrities. Web search engines have baked this philosophy into their ranking algorithms as well. While there is no concrete method to “review” a website, Google uses the “bounce rate” metric to assess quality. Bounce rate is a measure of the percentage of people that visit your homepage and then leave without taking any further action. These are people who are essentially unconvinced or unmoved by your website’s

Localized app title

Localized screenshots

Localized description

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offering so in a way, Google treats them like “detractors.”When it comes to apps, they have a more formal and obvious customer feedback system. Users can rate an app and they can leave detailed comments on their experience. The better rated your app, the more visible it will be. The more positively reviewed your app, the more likely it will appear in top charts.

Although ratings and reviews are somewhat out of app marketers’ control (that’s why we classify these as off-page components of ASO), you can still influence their trajectory. Start by brainstorming ways to motivate your happy users to publicly rate your app and obses-sively resolve negative complaints.

Try using in-app messaging to present surveys to users, which will help you separate the satisfied from the not-so satisfied bunch. After, you can present them with follow-up mes-sages that contain calls to action to also rate your app externally.

Link Building for Websites vs. Link Building for AppsLink building for apps is actually not that different from getting inbound links for your site. On the web, online marketers publish blogs with calls-to-action to a landing page, which collects leads. Each link to a webpage is like a vote of confidence in its content. The more legitimate inbound links a web page has, the more visible it is in SERPs.

Asking happy users to add a positive review to the app

store boosts ratings

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On smartphones, there is no room to maintain a blog within an app. Instead, mobile mar-keters should build a microsite. This microsite doesn’t need to contain all the bells and whistles of a full-blown website, but it should showcase what your app can do and funnel people to your app’s listing page via a micro-blog. Your app’s product page in app stores is now your most important landing page because it works to collects users.

Another tactic to invest in is deep linking. It is the practice of embedding links to pages deep within your website around the internet – in email signatures, article syndications, social publishing sites, forums, etc. Here’s an example: if you’re posting a comment to a fo-rum and want the thread’s followers to visit your site, deep link to a piece of content that’s relevant to the current conversation.

When it comes to mobile, deep linking isn’t about SEO juice or discovery possibilities, but rather, is about ensuring that links viewed on a mobile device directs your user to right place – a screen within your app, not just launching your app. You can deep link into indi-vidual screens from mobile ads or in your push messages, to direct the user to the correct place, and improve engagement with the right content.

App marketing tactics to use:

• Channel your SEO skills into your ASO strategies because these two algorithms share similar methodologies

• Refine your app’s listing page to increase visibility and ranking in app store searches

• Use linking strategies properly to drive usage and screen views

TL;DR Web-to-App Insight: SEO helps websites get found organically on the web and ASO helps apps to get spotted in crowded app stores. SEO increases website visits while

“Landing pages” are now “app store listing pages”

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ASO drives downloads.

Identifying Your Prospects and Their Behaviors

Your prospects are people, not just numbers on a graph. As marketers, we know there’s a need to make our campaigns human. When it comes to mobile, in particular, it becomes dangerous to assume your users will all behave the same way (and that they all have the same expectations when it comes to their app experience).

Target Audiences vs. User SegmentsInbound marketing introduced the (rather brilliant) idea that your marketing should be targeted to specific audiences instead of broadcast to as many people as possible. Mar-keters are encouraged to create buyer personas and determine where your audience is in order to make your work relevant, and to discover the people who actually have a need. This could mean discovering the social media platforms that show the highest engage-ment, creating vertical-specific content aimed at target industries, structuring email market-ing campaigns based on where leads are in the funnel, or a number of other tactics.

Your marketing, across all channels, should speak to the audience you want to reach. Within your app, the way to identify and evaluate groups of users is by using segmenta-tion. A segment is defined by users who did or did not do certain events, or pair of events in sequence.

A segment is created by determining three things:

1. Time Period: What time range you want to draw users from Example: Users from the last seven days...

2. Event: The first event a user needs to complete to qualify for the segment Example: Who shared an article...

3. Possible Second Event: an additional action taken (only necessary to create highly-targeted segments) Example: And then emailed the article to a friend.

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The goal of segments is to create target groups of users by assessing how they use your app - for example, you can define segments of:

• Loyal users based on in-app purchases and number of app opens• Social sharers by their history of in-app tweeting• Serial browsers who view a lot of travel destinations but never book a trip• Detractors, or users who have left multiple bad reviews or item ratings

Segmentation allows you to answer questions about your user base and better under-stand the in-app behavior of various audiences. With this information in hand, you can determine how to effectively market to each group.

App marketing tactics to use:

• Use similar criteria to identify target audiences and user segments• Market to each segment according to their characteristics and behaviors• Use segments to inform buyer personas (and vice versa)

TL;DR Web-to-App Insight: Your user segments are the app version of target audiences, indicating how and when to market to different groups, and can be representations of your buyer personas.

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Building aRelationship by Optimizing Your Funnel

Cold-calling someone who fills out an online form is a known no-no in web marketing. Just because they’ve shown interest in your content, service, or products, doesn’t mean they’re ready to pull the trigger on a purchase. Even in B2C, consumers tend to research, read on-line reviews and do their due diligence before buying. What came out of this new buying process? The ever-important funnel.

Web Funnels vs. App FunnelsIn web marketing, this funnel is, at its core, defined by the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel. Content marketing, in particular, plays a big part in generating and nurturing leads throughout the funnel, and using various mediums or formats. The main goal? To educate your prospect on everything they need or want to know, getting them through a qualifica-tion process, and finding a solution that works for everyone.

App marketing, too, relies heavily on funnels to move a user through a desired in-app path. Like web funnels, the goal is to get a new or potentially un-engaged user closer to an “ultimate” conversion event. But, instead of using email marketing, social media, and case studies to create movement, your app funnel relies on the user completing various actions, or steps, within the app.

• Web funnels: Reliant on content marketing & work to move the lead through a qualification process.

• App funnels: Based on completion of app events & you can have multiple funnels for different app conversion actions.

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Content Assets vs. EventsA typical inbound funnel might touch a user across different channels, with different con-tent types, over a period of time, to move from:

• Visit• Lead• Marketing qualified lead• Sales qualified lead• Opportunity• Customer

Good marketers know when and where to use different assets to complete the sale, as well as where and how prospects might interact with you throughout the funnel. It might look like this:

1. Lead does a search for “Best 2014 vacation destinations”2. Finds an article on your blog3. Clicks through to your site and visits three different destination pages4. Downloads a guide on planning the perfect trip5. Receives an email from you with positive customer reviews6. Books a flight & accommodations through your service

An app funnel, however, is event-based. Remember: app actions, also called events, are the various steps a user can complete while in the app, such as “article read,” “item added to cart,” or “product favorited.” Events are defined by you in alliance with the different goals you have for your app: is it to drive more social shares? To increase in-app purchases?

Or to (similar to above) have users view book a trip in-app? Each of these can have it’s own funnel, which is comprised of a series of events that you’ve identified:

• App open• Navigates screens• Completes event #1• Completes event #2• Completes event #3 (or “ultimate” conversion)

In your app funnel, events play a much heavier role, and funnels are typically shorter, and numerous throughout potential app usage. The inbound funnel, by contrast, is more high-level and crosses channels.

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Let’s look at what the web funnel example might look like in your app:

1. User opens your app2. Navigates to the “Carribbean Vacation Destinations” section3. Views 2+ destination screens4. Clicks through to the “Book your trip” screen5. Books a flight & accommodations through your service

In your app, you can have multiple funnels all leading to different conversion outcomes. For instance, that same app could have a separate funnel for social sharing or leaving a review (both with the goal of building credibility and gaining new users.)

Because these steps are in-app actions, there are a number of opportunities here where the user can drop out of the funnel.

To optimize an app funnel, you’ll need to:

• Ensure the UI is simple, straightforward and easy to navigate• Rid your app of any performance issues (error, buys, etc.)• Identify where users are dropping off most frequently • Target those drop-off events with relevant push and in-app messaging

Email Marketing Automation vs. App Marketing AutomationAutomation is a tool we’ve come to rely on to nurture leads efficiently, negating the need to reach out and touch each of them individually and multiple times. It plays an equally im-portant role in improving app funnels, by allowing you to trigger in-app or push messages based on events.

Much like you automate email messages to your leads in moving them through the web funnel, you can also automate app messages to encourage a user to take action:

• Web automated nurturing: send a series of emails with new and relevant content to educate your lead on best practices, services and other information.

• App automated nurturing: trigger push or in-app messages based on the user’s last completed event or incomplete funnel.

Do you have a significant number of users who are adding an item to their cart and not completing their checkout? Automate a push message for when they drop out of the funnel with a reminder of their full cart and a discount for free shipping, or a similar mo-bile-specific offer.

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Or maybe you want to use your news app to drive a greater social media presence. You could trigger an in-app message to appear to users who have read 3+ articles concurrently in-app to follow you on Twitter and Facebook. Whatever your goal is for your app, there is a funnel and an opportunity for targeted messaging to convert users on that goal.

App marketing tactics to use:

• Think of your desired paths - ask yourself: are these easy and natural for the user to navigate?

• Consider what events (instead of mediums) will be of the highest value to the user • When using push and in-app messaging to convert users, actionable content is

important• Use marketing automation for app funnels in the same way you would for web

funnels

TL;DR Web-to-App Insight: Web funnels are based on nurturing using content; app funnels are based on nurturing through in-app actions (but also rely heavily on messaging content to convert users).

It’s clear what the next conversion

step is

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Push and In-App Messaging: The Mobile Version of Email Marketing

During the rise of the social economy, many prominent publications predicted the end of email. People boldly proclaimed that as consumers flocked to Facebook, Twitter, and other social channels, email would become the forgotten method of communication. Fast-forward to today, email is still alive and kicking.

Push and in-app messaging share the same purpose as email marketing – they are text-based and highly visual messages designed to move people through conversion funnels. Bestselling author and online marketing pioneer, Bryan Eisenberg, notably said, “Never forget social media is for reach, but email is for revenue.” In other words, social amplification can increase the number of eyeballs on your product, but a structured email-nurturing strategy is what ultimately drives sales. To retain and convert users, app marketers need to apply the best practices, and success metrics that are characteristic of email marketing and channel them into their push and in-app strategies. Earning Subscribers Online vs. In AppsFirst thing’s first: push messaging (like email marketing) requires people to opt-in. Nobody likes to receive unsolicited advertising or be spammed. This is the inbound age where you earn interest, not buy it or rent it through third-party email lists. Websites earn email subscribers by building a dedicated landing page that speaks to the benefits of “saying yes” to their email notifications. In apps, you should create a specific screen that persuades users to opt-in to push messages. This app screen should contain persuasive and people-centered copy and be well presented. To sway people, your push messages shouldn’t be shrouded in mystery. Instead, start to cultivate trust by highlighting exactly what types of push notifications your app will send, what users will gain from turning these on, and what scenarios will trigger the alerts. Plus, never underestimate the strong impact that visual design can have on your app’s ability to persuade users. It’s not just about what you say, it’s also about how you present it. Almost every app sends push notifications, but the innovative ones earn the most subscribers.

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Plain Text Emails vs. Push MessagesNot all emails are HTML heavy. Some emails follow a simple and standard format. The goal of plain text emails such as these is to quickly deliver a short, important message and keep a brand top of mind. Push messages are the app world’s version of plain text emails. Push messages are notifications delivered to a user’s home screen when he or she is not actively using your app. They have the power to re-engage latent users, but are limited in their design capabilities. Push notifications need to be carefully timed, contain enticing content, and follow a formulaic frequency. You should use language that conveys urgency and delivers value. Remember, you’re trying to attract people back to your app without spamming them with irrelevant messages. Good use cases for push messaging include when you want to identify users of a limited time special offer (like a flash sale) or draw attention to important updates (like a new app feature).

Highlight benefits of opting in

Specify when push messages will be

triggered

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Rich Text Emails vs. In-App MessagesRich text emails are a lot more visual and design heavy. They typically contain images, a complex layout, colors, links, and have more room for text. For example, a company’s official monthly newsletter is usually sent as an HTML email because it contains branded elements. In-app messages are the new rich text emails. In-app messages are notifications that are displayed while the user is active within your app, and should have the look and feel of native app content. These messages appear as “pop-ups” within apps and they are triggered by a person’s in-app behavior. For example, a brand could launch an in-app message that displays a discount code whenever somebody adds an item to his or her mobile shopping cart. A key differentiating feature between push and in-app messages is that in-app messages usually contain a clickable, call-to-action button and their design reinforces the brand’s unique identity. In this regard, in-app messages have a larger arsenal of customizable components that can be used to engage, nurture, and convert leads.

Concise test and creative use of icons

Actionable language

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Important Email Metrics vs. Push/In-App MetricsOur discussion of how email marketing in apps translates into push and in-app messaging would be incomplete without reviewing the metrics that matter. Luckily for web marketers, these terms and numbers will be familiar. ImpressionsThis metric is, for all intents and purposes, the same as the number of times an email is opened. Impressions of push and in-app messages tell us how many times this alert was seen by app users. Click-Throughs (and Click-Through Rate)Moving beyond just getting noticed, click-throughs indicate how many times a particular push or in-app creative resulted in an action. In other words, was the push/in-app message effective enough to entice users to learn more about an offer?

ConversionsDid the message get a user to convert, as planned? Did they employ a discount code, share an article, or leave a review? Track this as the ultimate success metric for your messaging campaigns.

“Rich text emails” are now “in-app

messages”

Brand colors, typeface, and identity maintained

Large, easy-to-click CTA

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UnsubscribesThis is the number of people who have opted out of your push messages. Unsubscribers help app marketers gauge whether or not users are finding their push notifications valuable, or seeing them as intrusive. You should monitor any spikes in this metric in relation to the push messages you are sending (so you know what alerts incurred the opt-out wrath of your users and thus, which push messages you should re-think). Email A/B Testing vs. Push/In-App Multivariate TestingGood web marketers know that A/B testing is an integral part of data-driven marketing. Sure, we may think an email looks good, but will it convert? Do people find a red or green CTA more appealing? How do different subject lines affect the number of recipients that open an email? The answer to these (and many more) questions can be uncovered by A/B testing your emails. In a nutshell, A/B testing allows you to send two slightly different variations of the same email to a subset of a people to see which one performs better. Then, the “winning” variation is sent to the remaining recipients. Multivariate testing is the more powerful brother of A/B testing, and it is available for apps. The main difference is that multivariate testing allows app marketers to test more than one thing at a time. For instance, you can conduct an A/B/C/D/E test and glean a lot more insight, faster. Don’t forget, experimentation and the data that it provides is the lifeblood of closed-loop mobile marketing.

Compare conversions on campaigns with

different text options.

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Wondering what things you can test? Here are a few variables you can play with and the secrets you can uncover for push messaging:

• Text - What sentence structures get more attention? What short should these be? • Does adding time-sensitive language increase the click-through rate?• Timing - Do morning or afternoon push alerts drive more app opens?• Icons - Does adding this visual element make a push alert more appealing?• Action words - Which verbs lead to more action? For example, is “Buy Now” more

effective than “View Now”?

In addition, here are variables you can test for in-app messaging:

• Headlines - What catches the most attention? What is the ideal font size for headlines?

• Verbiage - How much copy should you write? Do statements or questions resonate better?

• CTAs - Where should you place these? How does position and color affect the click rate? How do your users react when you add more than one CTA?

• Images - How do your users respond to background images? How do they react to whimsical pictures?

• In-app message size - Do full screen or pop-up in-app messages work better? Inbound-inspired app marketing tactics that can increase your funnel’s engagement and completion rate:

• Ask users to opt in to push notifications upon app install or after the first time they use an app

• Target your push and in-app messaging around different user segments (do not employ a “one size fits all strategy”)

• Use actionable language and CTAs that conveys urgency and clearly state the offer Figure out what frequency suits your audience (this depends on the type of app you have)

• For in-app messages, maintain your brand identity with typeface, colors, pictures, borders, etc., but avoid creating messages that look like ads

• Use multivariate testing to better optimize your push and in-app collateral

TL;DR Web-to-App Insight: Push and in-app messaging are the new email nurturing because they drive app usage and conversions. Push notifications will help you stay top-of-mind while in-app messages will move people through key funnels once they’re back in your app. And to instill the inbound marketing spirit into your app marketing, make sure your push and in-app messages truly solve a problem or provide a benefit.

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The Role of Great Content

Unlike your website, your app is not supposed to be an information hub. There’s no blog inside your app, no eBooks, no whitepapers, no webinars – nada. But the heart of content marketing, to genuinely help people, is there. Apps exist to make people’s mobile lives more entertaining, educational, and easier. Content marketing is about creating useful resources that naturally attract people to your business. Within apps, great content powers push and in-app messages that make people want to keep engaging with your app. Let’s dive further into the role of remarkable content in an app-driven world. Content Marketing vs. Context MarketingContent marketing is incomplete without context. Effective web marketers need to provide the right content, at the right time, to the right people. And apps, more than websites, are in the prime position to help you deliver this for two reasons: First, app marketing and analytics vendors can collect a range of information about users from in-store, online, and in-app. This includes profile (user attributes like age, gender, and location) and behavioral (what action they took) information about who your app users are and what they are doing across that variety of channels. Second, this rich repository of data can be used to produce targeted, relevant, and personalized content for the people behind mobile devices. This is how “inbound-y” app marketing is becoming smarter and more robust than its online counterpart. We’ve moved beyond a system of web silos to an era where apps are the anchor of an integrated marketing movement.

Personalization Online vs. In AppsWhen you write an article as part of your website’s content marketing strategy, it will be visible to everyone. Some people will find it interesting, while others will blaze past it. There’s no clear-cut way to personalize your site for different people. What you see is what your

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neighbor likely sees too.Personalization takes on a whole new meaning when we look at mobile. In apps, you have the ability to pair your users with the right content, at a time they will find it most valuable. Undeniably, app marketers have a lot more control over content customization because they have access to user segments. Gone are the days of seeing your prospects as one homogenous group. No more “one-size fits all” strategies. App marketers can slice and dice the people using their apps into key user segments based on attributes and actions. Then, you can channel your copywriting skills into creating irresistible offers for different groups. For instance, the content of push and in-app messages can vary for somebody who is close to completing a purchase versus someone who is new to your app.

To start creating tempting and personalized offers, do the following:

• Import the data you collect about your customers from all channels into your app analytics platform

• Start capturing some profile data inside your app as well (these are properties such as gender, location, age group, interests, etc.)

• Build user segments that incorporate personal and behavioral data to help paint a more holistic picture of the people using your app

• Update your app marketing offers to more seamlessly fit into your users’ lifestyles

Highly personalized message

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App marketing tactics to use:

• Target and customize your app marketing campaigns for different user segments, which are built upon well crafted app buyer personas

• Tailor your push and in-app messages so they take both profile information and in-app behavior into account

• Don’t spam your customers!

TL;DR Web-to-App Insight: So, what’s the main difference between content marketing for websites versus content marketing for apps? It can now be turbocharged with context and personalization into “human” marketing.

Incorporate information from outside your app

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How to Make Your App Social

Social media isn’t a fad. The web’s inbound movement proved that social media could be effectively leveraged by businesses to move the needle on revenue. In fact, 66% of marketers see lead generation benefits when they spend as little as six hours per week on social media marketing. Another 92% of marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their brands. Safe to say, social media is powerful and you should also be using it within your app. Let’s look at how social media marketing is similar (and different) on the web versus on mobile. Increasing Your Social Reach Online vs. In AppsThe most basic purpose of integrating social media into your marketing is to grow your reach. A brand’s social reach is the number of people you are able to touch and talk to through all of your social accounts. These are familiar metrics like Facebook likes, Twitter followers, Pinterest followers, Instagram friends, etc. Social reach is important because it signifies how many people are interested enough in your brand to include it in their digital personal circles. And it also gets brands noticed by the friends of their customers who can be hot prospects (have you seen those “Sarah likes Disney”-esque stories on your newsfeed?). On websites, companies typically have buttons that link to their official social channels (we have these in our footer). In apps, which are often used on smartphones or tablets, screen space is too valuable to permanently dedicate to social media icons. Instead, app marketers should use push and in-app messages to prompt their users to engage with a brand on social media. These methods are more effective than static social banners because they are triggered based on in-app actions that indicate when a user is loyal enough to follow you on social media. If you go the in-app message route, you can build an entire campaign around earning social media love. Make sure you highlight the benefits of subscribing to your social feed and deep link into the appropriate social media app.

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Highlight benefits of social subscriptions

Deep link into Twitter’s app

Elicits social activity Unique and action-oriented CTA

In-app messages are also a great time to think outside the box Want to make a unique proposal to earn social traction? Go for it! For example, try enticing people to engage with you on Facebook/Pinterest using an exclusive contest.

Social Sharing Online vs. Social Sharing In Apps Sharing ContentNot long ago, people would spend most of their days sitting in front of a desktop. Most of our content consumption happened in front of large screens and big machines. Websites were our go-to for the information we needed on a daily basis, which is where brands embedded social sharing buttons too. Now, we’re living in an era where businesses are agile and people are always on the go. Fortunately, our mobile gadgets have adapted and now come in wonderful travel-convenient sizes.

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A consequence of this rapidly moving economy is that a lot of our content consumption happens during commutes. So, what’s an app marketer to do? Well, if it’s not broken why fix it? Sharing buttons worked for websites and they work just fine for apps too. Therefore, make conventional “follow us” or “share this” social buttons a prominent feature (especially in news or magazine apps).

Sharing ActionsOnline, we mainly use social media to grow our brand’s presence (“click here to like our Facebook page”) and get people to amplify our content (“click here to tweet this article”). In apps, social media marketing is able to elicit a deeper level of engagement because you have the additional power to share actions and accomplishments. Specifically, mobile marketers can embed social calls-to-action that encourage users to invite their friends to an app or brag about how close they are to achieving a goal. And you can also build-in a social feed of peer activities so users feel inspired and motivated to keep interacting with your app.

Facilitates easy content sharing from mobile

Large enough to see and click

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Social promotion of your app

Social sharing of in-app use/progress

App marketing tactics to use:

• Encourage your users to connect with you on social media by showcasing your social personality and style (and trigger these messaging campaigns after people have spent some time using your app)

• Consider running contests to motivate people to share how they’re using your app on social media (give them something worth talking about)

• Integrate social media sharing actions in your app

TL;DR Web-to-App Insight: Making your app social is not much different than making your website social media friendly. However, app marketers have more flexibility in how they propose a social relationship and what they allow users to share. We’ve moved beyond sharing only content we read on websites to sharing how we behave in apps.

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The Biggest Difference Between Web Marketing vs. App Marketing

Traditional websites help brands provide information about their organizations and extract data on their visitors. On the other hand, apps give brands a unique opportunity to build connections with people and get insight into how they behave. There has been a shift away from simply exchanging information and content on the web to building deep relationships on mobile devices – the constant companions of modern consumers. People are indeed are embracing apps at break-neck speed (Apple’s App Store reached 60 billion downloads in less than five years!) because they crave the intuitive, efficient, and personalized experiences only apps can deliver. Consumers want their smartphones to reflect who they are, and they expect thaeir apps to know them. As you make the transition from web marketing wizard to astute app marketer, remember: Web marketing is for generating leads while app marketing is for growing your happy user base.

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Hungry for more app marketing resources?

Download our free eBook, “Real-life Examples of Killer App Marketing” and get inspired by what leading brands have done in this space.

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The Next Step?Finding the right tool for app marketing.

Smart app marketing demands powerful analytics. Only Localytics brings app marketing and analytics together in one solution. Used in more than 28,000 apps on more than 1.5 billion devices, Localytics helps companies like ESPN, eBay, Fox, and the New York Times drive

user engagement, loyalty and customer lifetime value.

Our platform helps mobile marketers and developers gather deep, actionable user insights that power rich targeting, automated marketing programs, and personalized push and in-app

messaging.

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