Features of application promotion in the CIS, in Western markets and in Asia
The previous article about 15 non-standard mobile application promotion tools unexpectedly went well on Habré. This suggests that the theme for the community is relevant.
In this article you will find a large text (TLD: DR!) On the promotion of the application in the CIS, in Western markets and in Asia, with a detailed analysis of each of the markets and a large number of useful links.
Stock up on tea and welcome under cat.
')
Egor Karpov, AppBrain mobile application promotion consultant , assisted in the preparation of the article.
The purpose of this article is to give you an understanding of how to build a marketing plan for your application in each of the regions . How to distribute the budget, what tools to use.
I’ll start with Russia and the CIS, as this is the most familiar market for my readers, most of whom only focus on it. All that I will write below about Russia intersects with my video on this topic, but the article will be a little more detailed.
Analyzing the CIS market, I will tell you:
When preparing this article, I wanted to somehow stand out against the background of other “watery” articles about mobile marketing and talk about special promotion tools in Russia and the CIS countries: porn traffic, pop-under and other little-known channels. But then common sense came back to me.
How to determine which channels to use for promotion? First of all, think about where our audience sits, where it spends most of the time. Look at the first screen of your smartphone. No, seriously, take a smartphone right now and look at the first screen. It is in these applications you spend 95% of the time when using a smartphone. It is in these applications that you can find and sell you a new application.
1. Sitting on social networks (VKontakte, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, Twitter). Most of the time using a smartphone, we spend it in social networks. The mobile audience of social networks wins the web in the ratio of 70% to 30%. Here are the statistics for September 2015 - now the numbers are even more interesting.
2. Watch videos on YouTube. The percentage of mobile audience can be seen in the diagram.
3. Reads sites . For the most part it is the media.
4. Scrolls through Instagram.
5. Plays games.
No need to invent anything - you need to look for a mobile audience at these sites.
Everyone who follows my materials knows that I am not indifferent to the media. They can give a huge coverage at the lowest cost of the budget - of course, provided that you do everything correctly. I have a video on how to work with the media, in the near future I will write an article separately about this tool. I will tell you very much about working with this channel:
1. Make a list of publications in which you plan to move. Think about what your audience is reading. Do not repeat the mistake of most startups and do not concentrate solely on digital editions - see more widely. Do you have a female audience? The choice is obvious - women's magazines.
I would very much like to show you an example of a tablet with promotion in the media, but I cannot for ethical reasons: I communicate very well with most editors and do not want to show their contact details. So, the structure:
2. Write directly to the editor. No “Dear Editors” - make the letter as individual as possible. Take into account the interests of the specific editor to whom you are writing, and the interests of its audience.
3. Complete the table after the announcements. Record how the editor responded, how long he responded, what effect the publication gave, and so on. It will be very useful for you in the future.
List of online publications that can write about your application.
Also very sympathetic to this tool. Why? It's simple. First, it is low eCPI (effective installation cost).
In the CIS, this is still an undervalued tool for promoting applications, unlike in the West, where developers already spend much more time and effort on promoting YouTube blogs than in the media. Therefore, the cost of the review from a Russian blogger can be quite low, and a review of your application for any 10 thousand rubles will be seen by 100 thousand people. It's very cheap. If we talk specifically and in numbers: with the right approach, eCPI from YouTube can come out 3-5 times cheaper than from the advertising network.
Secondly, it is a high LTV. Obviously, your application will be downloaded by people who have already superficially read it, know what to expect and how to use it. In this regard, the audience loyalty will be several times higher than when using any other tool. Accordingly, LTV will be several times higher.
1. Create and maintain a table - just like with the media. Think of your audience: what is it looking for?
2. It is important to allow the blogger to make the review as sincere as possible. If he does not like something in the application, let him say about it. In any case, he will not go beyond. Advertising in the CIS is particularly disliked, so the more honest the review, the better.
Remember Flappy Bird? The game received such a sharp increase just due to reviews on YouTube, and, believe me, its advantages were not described there. There, every second word was abusive, and the smartphone at the end of the video flew into the wall.
3. Contacts and prices of bloggers can be found by writing an email to them. They usually leave the address in the About tab on YouTube.
For example - the top 100 bloggers of the CIS , who can tell about your application. You can safely start from the 30th line and further down.
I will not dwell on this tool in detail: I have a separate video on how to work with paid traffic sources. One has only to say that this is a math game. A simple formula for success with paid tools - LTV> eCPI. Almost all top world developers are involved in the “game”, but this does not mean that everyone needs this tool, rather the opposite.
I advise you to use this tool only when you need very precise targeting settings and you have grown to a level where there are not enough other promotion tools. You need a constant feed traffic, and all the internal mechanics of the application in detail debugged. But if you are ready, then let's go to the numbers:
1. Advertising networks in the CIS:
2. In the CIS, you can receive up to 10 thousand installations per day using advertising networks.
3. eCPI varies from $ 0.5 to $ 3 depending on the application and on how well the advertising campaign is configured.
CTR in the CIS in advertising networks can reach up to 10%. Anyone who has already launched advertising campaigns may doubt this, to put it mildly, because on average the CTR is up to 3%. But 10%, and even 20% are quite real numbers. Mobile arbitrators are best at this - I advise their blogs to read to those who want to minimize installation costs through advertising networks.
First of all, it is worth recalling the fact of “advertising blindness”. Our compatriots already subconsciously know where advertising will be, and let it through - in the CIS it is much more developed than in any other countries of the world. All the methods listed below will be aimed precisely at ensuring that “advertising blindness” does not work with your banners.
1. Parasitize on well-known brands.
The combination of a well-known brand and its target audience is especially effective. How it works: you find several groups dedicated to Star Wars on VKontakte, with a total audience of 3 million users. Add characters from Star Wars to your ad banner and, with targeting, unscrew the banner only for this audience. This will greatly increase your CTR and, accordingly, greatly reduce the installation price.
2. The picture involves in viewing - the text on the banner or above it moves to action. This is the basic principle of a mobile banner.
3. Use custom contrast. Just turn up the brightness of your advertising banner in the graphic editor - this will allow you to be selected from the user's news feed.
4. Use non-standard combinations. Blue strawberries, red bananas - all that "breaks" the human brain and stands out from the general advertising noise. This will allow you to hold on to the user's view.
5. Use slang of your target audience in advertising materials. For example, your audience is teenagers 12–17 years old. Learn their slang and add it to your banner. Again, this will allow them to stop their gaze on the banner and also break the “advertising wall”: you speak the same language with them.
6. Use trends. Relatively recently, there was a huge informational hyip around the movie “Deadpool”. All those who used it in their materials at that time won very much in conversion.
An excellent, moderately undervalued tool that can give a very low installation cost with almost unlimited volumes. Also, there are extensive opportunities for targeting, and as narrow as possible. Right now I am working on promoting a client application in St. Petersburg, and one of our main tools is VKontakte groups: here is maximum coverage and low eCPI.
To search for sites I used the Sociate service. Their search allows you to target groups according to the audience that you need. For this task it is absolutely free. The service also allows you to buy advertising in these groups and receive analytics from each publication, for which it takes a commission of about 30%. But in our case, we place it directly through editors; we conduct analytics on our side.
I tell about analytical services. Here are the segmentation settings:
You can segment the resulting groups by price per 1000 views, audience involvement, number of subscribers, and so on. I advise you to look at CPM.
Instagram
About two years ago I told seminars that YouTube is a smart tool for promoting an application. At that time, due to low advertising demand, it was possible to buy a review for a penny and get a huge number of installations. Now the market has changed, and the power of YouTube has been recognized by many advertisers.
Now I’m saying that the most underrated app promotion tool is Instagram. And I do not mean their advertising platform, which is still raw and makes installation too expensive, but advertising records directly in the accounts. Instagram now can provide volumes and targeting opportunities comparable to groups on VKontakte, and the installation cost may be several times lower.
You make a list of known Instagram accounts that your target audience can subscribe to. Do not select television stars: they either have too high prices for publication, or they do not sell advertising in their account. Moreover, it is very difficult to reach them. Make a list of accounts of famous bloggers and groups (an example will be below). It is easier to contact them, and the cost of recording will be much lower.
Live case: I am currently promoting one of the geolocation apps for St. Petersburg, and Instagram is the most powerful tool for us. How does the process of search and placement:
1. In Sociate I select Instagram and set up segmentation.
2. I get a list of sites and upload them to CSV, then to Excel. As a result, I have a list of about 50 sites, with indicators of engagement and cost of recording. Location - St. Petersburg.
3. May the guys from Sociate forgive me - I love to save and go to write everyone in personal messages on Instagram. I agree on the publication and monitor the results.
Another cool case that can demonstrate the power of Instagram to promote is the MSQRD app.
The application, in which my good friend Nikolay Davydov invested, gained just under 10 million units in two months. The essence is simple: it allows you to impose on the image of your face different masks and record it on video or take pictures.
According to Nikolay Davydov, not a single cent was spent on promoting the application - all marketing was based solely on word of mouth. Instagram provided exactly the virality: famous people with millions of subscribers laid out in their account videos or photos with MSQRD masks. Their subscribers liked the idea of the application, and they downloaded it to themselves: the word MSQRD is located in the lower right corner of each published photo or video.
A great tool for promotion, simple and free. It is strange that very few people use it. You may have paid attention to the fact that links to “@Mail.ru Answers” are very high in many search queries. We can use it to our advantage, and absolutely free.
Briefly, the process of working with “Answers@Mail.ru” is structured as follows. We create two accounts. From the first account we create a pool of questions related to your application, which we compose in advance, based on Yandex Wordstat analytics.
For example, you have an application for the delivery of food in Moscow. You publish a question pool:
From the second account, you yourself answer these questions: “Best of all through Appendix X, I advise.” From the first account choose this answer the best, which automatically makes it the first. Example:
So you can make from 30 or more requests, and a small part of them may well get to the top and collect free traffic.
1. Do you have your own groups in social networks?
My opinion does not coincide with the opinion of the majority of "specialists". Of course, it is much easier to say: bring money into the care of your groups, and someday it will pay off, but I do not believe in it.
In my experience, investing in the management of their groups does not pay off. The cost of a live subscriber can start from five rubles, moreover, you simply have nothing to hook him on. He receives entertaining content in other groups, and he is not interested in reading news about your application - unless he is your fan. It is better to spend this money on promotion in groups with already collected target audience. This will give a much greater effect.
I believe that the application group is needed for technical support in the social network and for news and releases - to whom it is interesting, he signs himself.
2. Should motivated traffic be used in the CIS?
Only if your application is interesting to every other person, that is, it has a wide coverage. Also, you will need to work on your page in the app store: users already understand that the apps in the top are not necessarily good. They will read reviews and descriptions.
In general, for the CIS it is a very risky tool, since it is very difficult to beat off the costs of organic matter due to the overheated market. I could only recommend motivated traffic for the West - it works well there.
3. Go to publishers?
A similar question - “Is there a search for an investor?”. Depends on your application and business goals. Here is a list of mobile publishers in the CIS .
The marketing plan is made individually for each application, but I am often asked to set an example. Let me tell you how I would distribute the advertising budget for promotion in the CIS countries:
An example of a general marketing plan for one of my clients. And one more illustrative plan:
There are practically no articles in the media on the promotion of mobile applications in the West, especially practical materials. It is believed that today only large publishers can afford an advertising campaign abroad: they say it is expensive. I think that promotion in Europe and the USA is not so expensive, the main thing is to do it right. Ready to back words with your own experience.
Speaking of progress in Europe and the USA, we will do the following:
Three gifts are also waiting for you:
I wanted to divide this part into two parts: promotion in Europe and promotion in the USA, but when I made detailed plans for these markets, I realized that they are very similar.
Less competition
Qualified marketers with excellent knowledge of the CIS market and talented programmers who create high-quality products are now competing on the Russian market. All this strongly warms the market.
In Europe, competition, oddly enough, is an order of magnitude lower, especially personnel. Accordingly, the market is less heated, and it is much easier to move.
Higher paying audience
This is an obvious fact - it is worth comparing wages in the CIS and Europe. In the West, they are several times higher, especially considering the current exchange rate of the ruble. In addition, the European audience, unlike the CIS, is used to paying for content.
People more socialized
Take for example dating services. If you say in Russia that you met a girl for a permanent relationship in a dating service, it will sound strange. And in the West it will be strange if you met not on a dating service (I, of course, exaggerate). If your project involves the communication of the base within the application, then for you, as well as for the market, European socialization is a big plus.
Each country should be considered separately.
Do not consider Europe as a separate entity - all the tools need to be considered on a specific European country: choose the media and journalists, run advertising campaigns.
I thought to give you some narrow and unknown tools that can only be used in Germany or only in Italy. But then I analyzed what our western audience in a smartphone spends time on, what platforms it uses.
These sources cover most of the mobile traffic in the West. The set of sites is the same as in the CIS - only the format for working with them is different.
Mobile traffic distribution using North America
Let's start with a tool that can provide a very wide coverage with minimal marketing costs - if everything is done correctly. We have already considered the algorithm for working with the media in an article about promotion in the CIS. The only difference is that journalists in Europe and the United States are a little more spoiled, and they need a more personalized approach.
Gift - Media List Complete
The last two years of working in the mobile industry, I often promoted various applications in the west, particularly in the media, and managed to make friends with the editors. All these two years I have made my list of editors, their features, interests, contacts - everything that is needed to promote the application in the media. Now in this list more than 300 media. It can be said exclusive.
For those who promote mobile games, there is a list of contacts 200 Western media that can write about them.
The algorithm for working with YouTube is described in the article about promotion in the CIS. Western developers have already understood the power of video bloggers and are setting up their own advertising campaigns for them, often giving priority to them, and not to the media. I like this tool for two reasons:
Gift - a list of YouTube-channels .
I have already begun to fill out a list of video bloggers and have shown in what format it is desirable to do. According to this template, you can select those people whose videos are watched by your target audience.
Also found a list of 1000 video bloggers for you. You can safely begin with the 300th row - add them to our plate and fill in according to the set pattern. Believe me, these efforts will pay off very well for the low cost of installation, wide coverage and loyal target audience.
Above on the example of the Russian market, I have already considered this tool. Mobile advertising networks in the USA and Europe are much more developed than in the CIS. If in Russia there are three monopolists, then in the West there are many ad networks that accumulate a lot of traffic: Facebook, Admob, InMobi, Chartboost, Vungle, Flurry.
If you have a good experience in working with advertising networks and LTV you have more eCPI - you can safely move with the help of this tool. You can even confine them if you are fine with him.
When we promoted LoveTime dating service in the West, we concentrated on purchasing traffic in advertising networks, and did not even think about advertising in the media, blogs, and so on, which, by the way, was more likely our mistake. However, this tool was enough for us to gain 6 million units.
In my opinion, the best tool of all advertising networks. The principle of operation is simple: you know the list of people who paid in your application. Get their ID, phone or email and upload to Facebook. He will find you people whose interests are similar to those of your paying audience. The installation price can be 30–50% lower.
This is not such a complex tool as it seems. It will take a maximum of a couple of days to study, taking into account the practice, but it can greatly reduce the installation cost and give you access to almost unlimited traffic.
If you still decide to take up "Advertising Mathematics", then learn from the "arbitrageurs" of mobile traffic. They concentrate precisely on optimizing advertising campaigns in such a way as to minimize eCPI.
Instagram
The algorithm of working with western Instagram accounts does not differ from that described in the article about the CIS.
The power of Instagram to promote the application has been perfectly demonstrated by MSQRD. Undoubtedly, the guys took off because of a great product, but the growth lever was Instagram, or rather, people who shared their videos and photos with MSQRD masks.
Quora is something like an analogue of the “Answers@Mail.ru” service, only much more functional. How it works: create an account, find thematic questions for your application, for example, “How to increase productivity”, answer in detail and insert a link to your application at the end.
Also Quora is perfect for finding partners, investors and publishers for your application. How to effectively use Quora, you can read here . We promoted through this service Appintop, and this tool gave traffic comparable to articles in the top Western media.
A great tool to help novice developers get tips on improving your application and several hundred free installations. You can analyze how the western audience behaves in your application.
Find groups or forums that focus on mobile app reviews and ask them to review your app.
Gift - a list of groups and forums where you can review your application for free.
For the West, this is something like Livejournal in the CIS, where people share their opinions. More youth and "hipster" option. Not very heated tool that can and should be used to promote your application, if its topics allow it. The work takes place on the same principle as with the media.
If in the CIS I do not advise using it, then in the West it can and should be done if there is a budget for this. Organics in Europe and the USA will be much higher. With greater probability, you will repay the money invested. Of course, only if your application is suitable for at least every second or third person.
There are more and more articles that you can use Snapchat to promote applications. Plus, they recently rolled out some advertising platform.
I myself am just starting to learn this tool. The best article on the topic of Snapchat . If you have experience with him in the West - be sure to write in the comments, it will be interesting to listen to you.
Something like YouTube for Letsplerov, plus the functionality of donations, design of channels and stuff. There are almost no differences from YouTube with him. This tool is perfect if you promote the game.
55−60% of the European audience speaks English, but nevertheless the application must be localized. Think for yourself - most of you probably know English well, because of the specifics of our sphere. But agree that using the application in your native language is much more convenient than in a foreign language.
If we are talking about the European market, then you need to localize the application into five languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish. Five of these languages will cover more than 90% of the European market.
How to localize:
Before starting promotion in such countries as England, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, make a soft-launch in some smaller European country.
For example, in Portugal before promotion in Spain, or in Ireland before promoting the application in England. And then calmly, with customized internal mechanics and monetization, to enter larger markets.
The plan is highly dependent on the specifics of your mobile application. From your skills in mobile marketing. From your budget and objectives. But I am often asked to show the “average hospital” plan.
How I would spread the budget of the application for promotion in the West:
Here is an example plan for one of my clients. It is common, at the next stage, of course, we painted each instrument in detail.
The purpose of this part is to give a general understanding of what features the leading Asian mobile markets have: China, Japan and South Korea. They account for most of the Asian market - about 94%.
Asian regions are very different from each other. The difference between, for example, the mobile markets of China and Japan is much larger than between the markets of Germany and Russia. So, as a single subject, Asia cannot be viewed.
A good illustration of the big difference between the markets is at least the fact that revenue per user in Japan is 8 times more than in China, but the Chinese market takes in its volume - in the country, according to various estimates, from 360 million to 785 million mobile players.
Since the differences between the markets are significant, and the level of penetration of the English language is not as high as in Europe, it is imperative to localize the schedule for each of the regions, and often the gameplay, starting from both the realities of the market and the local cultural background.
The order of promotion in the Asian market, I recommend the following: South Korea, Japan, China. From relatively simple to complex.
The first step to localization in each of them, in my opinion, should be familiarity with the local top box office ten games. See how they are made, how everything is drawn, presented, and try to repeat within the framework of your project already.
The “simplest” market listed in the article. He is the most Asian from the European and American. Accordingly, it is easier for self-promotion.
Features of the Korean market
Social networks in Korea
"Mental" game features:
1. People of all ages love to play mobile games. It’s absolutely normal to see a 70-year-old Korean grandfather playing Clash of Clans.
2. The graphics should be as bright as possible, rich colors should prevail in it. This is true for all Asian countries, but for Korea in particular.
3. Koreans love animals to give human qualities.
Favorite Korean genres according to AppLift:
Where does the Japanese audience spend time with a smartphone:
1. In Japan, modern pop culture revolves around manga and anime. This must be taken into account when adapting a project or at least its advertising materials.
2. The Japanese are very reckless. This is partly due to the success of the mechanics of gacha-mechanics. Read more about it here .
3. The main billing audience in Japan is men and women 35+.
Top 5 most popular game genres in Japan:
The most difficult market from the article.
A well-known feature of China - 400 app stores. To get the effect of the promotion, you will need to immediately advance at least in the 20 largest Chinese sites, each of which aggregates a large amount of traffic.
Some of the largest ones:
There are automatic AppTutti and Kii China application publishing services on the market. But when I worked with them, they gave very little effect.
They can be used in two cases:
1. Difficult localization (more than 60 dialects) - as the main one, you should use the North Chinese language - “Mandarin Chinese).
2. The more content on one screen - the better. This is the specifics of the Chinese mentality. If such a presentation of information "explodes the brain" to a European audience, then in China they love it.
3. Major global social networks are prohibited. The social networks Tencent, QZone, Weibo, WeChat prevail. 8 most popular social networks in China:
4. Be sure to need offline marketing, as there are few opportunities for online marketing. The top positions in the stores are often occupied by the applications that came out under the publisher of the application store in which you see them.
5. Difficulties with billing. You will definitely have to contact mobile operators to allow users to pay for internal purchases in your mobile application via a SIM card. This is a big time cost, plus, depending on the operator, the commission from the payment can be up to 30%. Main operators: China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.
6. In China, piracy is very developed. For example: you have placed your application in one of 400 Chinese Android stores. Another 399 stoor per day will steal your APK'shku and will host, but without the in-app'ov. How to deal with this? Avoid this will not work. The only thing and the most correct thing to do is to apply personally to the TOP 20 sites, promise to publish your application from them and ask not to copy it from other sites. In this case, they are more likely to go to meet you, but this is not guaranteed.
While in China, I looked at over a hundred applications and highlighted several features:
1. Chinese audience likes muted colors that would not seem attractive to a European audience.
2. The Chinese audience should be given as many opportunities as possible to customize the application, game or hero in it. They love it. This is partly due to the success in this market browser UCWeb. It has a huge number of settings compared to any other Western browser.
Top 5 most popular game genres in China according to AppLift :
An interesting analyst on basic internal mechanics in Asia:
In the screenshot below you will see an example of localization of gameplay from Pop Cap with their ZvP.
The first part went “with a bang,” unlike the second, which was merged in China due to “hard” monetization.
The main difference of the Chinese version was the changed appearance of the characters, adapted to the local flavor.
1. Search for partners. Without them, it will be very difficult to advance, almost impossible. A list of mobile publishers working in the Chinese market with descriptions can be found here .
2. Contact European agencies with experience in the Asian market.
Each market has its own characteristics, but nonetheless the foundation is the same everywhere. With the right approach, which will certainly include a trial and error method, you can conquer any market.
I hope this longrid was useful for you. The best thanks for the work done will be “like” and repost this article.
In this article you will find a large text (TLD: DR!) On the promotion of the application in the CIS, in Western markets and in Asia, with a detailed analysis of each of the markets and a large number of useful links.
Stock up on tea and welcome under cat.
')
Egor Karpov, AppBrain mobile application promotion consultant , assisted in the preparation of the article.
The purpose of this article is to give you an understanding of how to build a marketing plan for your application in each of the regions . How to distribute the budget, what tools to use.
I’ll start with Russia and the CIS, as this is the most familiar market for my readers, most of whom only focus on it. All that I will write below about Russia intersects with my video on this topic, but the article will be a little more detailed.
Analyzing the CIS market, I will tell you:
- How to work with the Russian media;
- How to work with RU ad networks;
- How to increase the CTR in Russia and the CIS;
- Features of promotion in these markets;
- How to make a plan to promote and distribute the budget.
When preparing this article, I wanted to somehow stand out against the background of other “watery” articles about mobile marketing and talk about special promotion tools in Russia and the CIS countries: porn traffic, pop-under and other little-known channels. But then common sense came back to me.
How to determine which channels to use for promotion? First of all, think about where our audience sits, where it spends most of the time. Look at the first screen of your smartphone. No, seriously, take a smartphone right now and look at the first screen. It is in these applications you spend 95% of the time when using a smartphone. It is in these applications that you can find and sell you a new application.
On what platforms is the mobile audience of Russia and the CIS
1. Sitting on social networks (VKontakte, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, Twitter). Most of the time using a smartphone, we spend it in social networks. The mobile audience of social networks wins the web in the ratio of 70% to 30%. Here are the statistics for September 2015 - now the numbers are even more interesting.
2. Watch videos on YouTube. The percentage of mobile audience can be seen in the diagram.
3. Reads sites . For the most part it is the media.
4. Scrolls through Instagram.
5. Plays games.
No need to invent anything - you need to look for a mobile audience at these sites.
mass media
Everyone who follows my materials knows that I am not indifferent to the media. They can give a huge coverage at the lowest cost of the budget - of course, provided that you do everything correctly. I have a video on how to work with the media, in the near future I will write an article separately about this tool. I will tell you very much about working with this channel:
1. Make a list of publications in which you plan to move. Think about what your audience is reading. Do not repeat the mistake of most startups and do not concentrate solely on digital editions - see more widely. Do you have a female audience? The choice is obvious - women's magazines.
I would very much like to show you an example of a tablet with promotion in the media, but I cannot for ethical reasons: I communicate very well with most editors and do not want to show their contact details. So, the structure:
- link to the media;
- the name of the editor;
- his contacts (the more the better);
- preferences and interests of the editor;
- what the message should be for the article to please the editor.
2. Write directly to the editor. No “Dear Editors” - make the letter as individual as possible. Take into account the interests of the specific editor to whom you are writing, and the interests of its audience.
3. Complete the table after the announcements. Record how the editor responded, how long he responded, what effect the publication gave, and so on. It will be very useful for you in the future.
List of online publications that can write about your application.
YouTube
Also very sympathetic to this tool. Why? It's simple. First, it is low eCPI (effective installation cost).
In the CIS, this is still an undervalued tool for promoting applications, unlike in the West, where developers already spend much more time and effort on promoting YouTube blogs than in the media. Therefore, the cost of the review from a Russian blogger can be quite low, and a review of your application for any 10 thousand rubles will be seen by 100 thousand people. It's very cheap. If we talk specifically and in numbers: with the right approach, eCPI from YouTube can come out 3-5 times cheaper than from the advertising network.
Secondly, it is a high LTV. Obviously, your application will be downloaded by people who have already superficially read it, know what to expect and how to use it. In this regard, the audience loyalty will be several times higher than when using any other tool. Accordingly, LTV will be several times higher.
How to work with bloggers
1. Create and maintain a table - just like with the media. Think of your audience: what is it looking for?
2. It is important to allow the blogger to make the review as sincere as possible. If he does not like something in the application, let him say about it. In any case, he will not go beyond. Advertising in the CIS is particularly disliked, so the more honest the review, the better.
Remember Flappy Bird? The game received such a sharp increase just due to reviews on YouTube, and, believe me, its advantages were not described there. There, every second word was abusive, and the smartphone at the end of the video flew into the wall.
3. Contacts and prices of bloggers can be found by writing an email to them. They usually leave the address in the About tab on YouTube.
For example - the top 100 bloggers of the CIS , who can tell about your application. You can safely start from the 30th line and further down.
Ad networks
I will not dwell on this tool in detail: I have a separate video on how to work with paid traffic sources. One has only to say that this is a math game. A simple formula for success with paid tools - LTV> eCPI. Almost all top world developers are involved in the “game”, but this does not mean that everyone needs this tool, rather the opposite.
I advise you to use this tool only when you need very precise targeting settings and you have grown to a level where there are not enough other promotion tools. You need a constant feed traffic, and all the internal mechanics of the application in detail debugged. But if you are ready, then let's go to the numbers:
1. Advertising networks in the CIS:
- myTarget - 80%;
- Google AdMob - 10%.
- Facebook - 10%.
2. In the CIS, you can receive up to 10 thousand installations per day using advertising networks.
3. eCPI varies from $ 0.5 to $ 3 depending on the application and on how well the advertising campaign is configured.
CTR in the CIS in advertising networks can reach up to 10%. Anyone who has already launched advertising campaigns may doubt this, to put it mildly, because on average the CTR is up to 3%. But 10%, and even 20% are quite real numbers. Mobile arbitrators are best at this - I advise their blogs to read to those who want to minimize installation costs through advertising networks.
How to increase mobile banner CTR
First of all, it is worth recalling the fact of “advertising blindness”. Our compatriots already subconsciously know where advertising will be, and let it through - in the CIS it is much more developed than in any other countries of the world. All the methods listed below will be aimed precisely at ensuring that “advertising blindness” does not work with your banners.
1. Parasitize on well-known brands.
The combination of a well-known brand and its target audience is especially effective. How it works: you find several groups dedicated to Star Wars on VKontakte, with a total audience of 3 million users. Add characters from Star Wars to your ad banner and, with targeting, unscrew the banner only for this audience. This will greatly increase your CTR and, accordingly, greatly reduce the installation price.
2. The picture involves in viewing - the text on the banner or above it moves to action. This is the basic principle of a mobile banner.
3. Use custom contrast. Just turn up the brightness of your advertising banner in the graphic editor - this will allow you to be selected from the user's news feed.
4. Use non-standard combinations. Blue strawberries, red bananas - all that "breaks" the human brain and stands out from the general advertising noise. This will allow you to hold on to the user's view.
5. Use slang of your target audience in advertising materials. For example, your audience is teenagers 12–17 years old. Learn their slang and add it to your banner. Again, this will allow them to stop their gaze on the banner and also break the “advertising wall”: you speak the same language with them.
6. Use trends. Relatively recently, there was a huge informational hyip around the movie “Deadpool”. All those who used it in their materials at that time won very much in conversion.
VKontakte groups
An excellent, moderately undervalued tool that can give a very low installation cost with almost unlimited volumes. Also, there are extensive opportunities for targeting, and as narrow as possible. Right now I am working on promoting a client application in St. Petersburg, and one of our main tools is VKontakte groups: here is maximum coverage and low eCPI.
To search for sites I used the Sociate service. Their search allows you to target groups according to the audience that you need. For this task it is absolutely free. The service also allows you to buy advertising in these groups and receive analytics from each publication, for which it takes a commission of about 30%. But in our case, we place it directly through editors; we conduct analytics on our side.
I tell about analytical services. Here are the segmentation settings:
You can segment the resulting groups by price per 1000 views, audience involvement, number of subscribers, and so on. I advise you to look at CPM.
About two years ago I told seminars that YouTube is a smart tool for promoting an application. At that time, due to low advertising demand, it was possible to buy a review for a penny and get a huge number of installations. Now the market has changed, and the power of YouTube has been recognized by many advertisers.
Now I’m saying that the most underrated app promotion tool is Instagram. And I do not mean their advertising platform, which is still raw and makes installation too expensive, but advertising records directly in the accounts. Instagram now can provide volumes and targeting opportunities comparable to groups on VKontakte, and the installation cost may be several times lower.
You make a list of known Instagram accounts that your target audience can subscribe to. Do not select television stars: they either have too high prices for publication, or they do not sell advertising in their account. Moreover, it is very difficult to reach them. Make a list of accounts of famous bloggers and groups (an example will be below). It is easier to contact them, and the cost of recording will be much lower.
Live case: I am currently promoting one of the geolocation apps for St. Petersburg, and Instagram is the most powerful tool for us. How does the process of search and placement:
1. In Sociate I select Instagram and set up segmentation.
2. I get a list of sites and upload them to CSV, then to Excel. As a result, I have a list of about 50 sites, with indicators of engagement and cost of recording. Location - St. Petersburg.
3. May the guys from Sociate forgive me - I love to save and go to write everyone in personal messages on Instagram. I agree on the publication and monitor the results.
Case MSQRD
Another cool case that can demonstrate the power of Instagram to promote is the MSQRD app.
The application, in which my good friend Nikolay Davydov invested, gained just under 10 million units in two months. The essence is simple: it allows you to impose on the image of your face different masks and record it on video or take pictures.
According to Nikolay Davydov, not a single cent was spent on promoting the application - all marketing was based solely on word of mouth. Instagram provided exactly the virality: famous people with millions of subscribers laid out in their account videos or photos with MSQRD masks. Their subscribers liked the idea of the application, and they downloaded it to themselves: the word MSQRD is located in the lower right corner of each published photo or video.
«Answers@Mail.ru»
A great tool for promotion, simple and free. It is strange that very few people use it. You may have paid attention to the fact that links to “@Mail.ru Answers” are very high in many search queries. We can use it to our advantage, and absolutely free.
Briefly, the process of working with “Answers@Mail.ru” is structured as follows. We create two accounts. From the first account we create a pool of questions related to your application, which we compose in advance, based on Yandex Wordstat analytics.
For example, you have an application for the delivery of food in Moscow. You publish a question pool:
- Where to order pizza in Moscow?
- Where to order sushi in Moscow?
- Home delivery, Moscow.
From the second account, you yourself answer these questions: “Best of all through Appendix X, I advise.” From the first account choose this answer the best, which automatically makes it the first. Example:
So you can make from 30 or more requests, and a small part of them may well get to the top and collect free traffic.
Additional questions
1. Do you have your own groups in social networks?
My opinion does not coincide with the opinion of the majority of "specialists". Of course, it is much easier to say: bring money into the care of your groups, and someday it will pay off, but I do not believe in it.
In my experience, investing in the management of their groups does not pay off. The cost of a live subscriber can start from five rubles, moreover, you simply have nothing to hook him on. He receives entertaining content in other groups, and he is not interested in reading news about your application - unless he is your fan. It is better to spend this money on promotion in groups with already collected target audience. This will give a much greater effect.
I believe that the application group is needed for technical support in the social network and for news and releases - to whom it is interesting, he signs himself.
2. Should motivated traffic be used in the CIS?
Only if your application is interesting to every other person, that is, it has a wide coverage. Also, you will need to work on your page in the app store: users already understand that the apps in the top are not necessarily good. They will read reviews and descriptions.
In general, for the CIS it is a very risky tool, since it is very difficult to beat off the costs of organic matter due to the overheated market. I could only recommend motivated traffic for the West - it works well there.
3. Go to publishers?
A similar question - “Is there a search for an investor?”. Depends on your application and business goals. Here is a list of mobile publishers in the CIS .
An example of a marketing plan in the CIS countries
The marketing plan is made individually for each application, but I am often asked to set an example. Let me tell you how I would distribute the advertising budget for promotion in the CIS countries:
- YouTube - 20%;
- VKontakte groups - 20%;
- Instagram - 20%;
- Media - 15%;
- Advertising networks - from 15%;
- The rest (motivated traffic, ASO, spam and so on) - 10%;
An example of a general marketing plan for one of my clients. And one more illustrative plan:
USA and Europe
There are practically no articles in the media on the promotion of mobile applications in the West, especially practical materials. It is believed that today only large publishers can afford an advertising campaign abroad: they say it is expensive. I think that promotion in Europe and the USA is not so expensive, the main thing is to do it right. Ready to back words with your own experience.
Speaking of progress in Europe and the USA, we will do the following:
- We will draw up a promotion plan based on your budget and objectives;
- We will understand how to work with the media. From me is a gift with detailed media contacts;
- We will analyze how to work with advertising networks;
- We denote the features of promotion in Europe and the USA. Understand where and how to localize the application.
Three gifts are also waiting for you:
- A list of more than 300 western editors with all contacts;
- A list of Western video bloggers who review mobile apps;
- A list of Western forums where you can review the application for free.
I wanted to divide this part into two parts: promotion in Europe and promotion in the USA, but when I made detailed plans for these markets, I realized that they are very similar.
Features of promotion in Europe
Less competition
Qualified marketers with excellent knowledge of the CIS market and talented programmers who create high-quality products are now competing on the Russian market. All this strongly warms the market.
In Europe, competition, oddly enough, is an order of magnitude lower, especially personnel. Accordingly, the market is less heated, and it is much easier to move.
Higher paying audience
This is an obvious fact - it is worth comparing wages in the CIS and Europe. In the West, they are several times higher, especially considering the current exchange rate of the ruble. In addition, the European audience, unlike the CIS, is used to paying for content.
People more socialized
Take for example dating services. If you say in Russia that you met a girl for a permanent relationship in a dating service, it will sound strange. And in the West it will be strange if you met not on a dating service (I, of course, exaggerate). If your project involves the communication of the base within the application, then for you, as well as for the market, European socialization is a big plus.
Each country should be considered separately.
Do not consider Europe as a separate entity - all the tools need to be considered on a specific European country: choose the media and journalists, run advertising campaigns.
Where is our audience
I thought to give you some narrow and unknown tools that can only be used in Germany or only in Italy. But then I analyzed what our western audience in a smartphone spends time on, what platforms it uses.
- Social networks (Facebook, Twitter);
- YouTube;
- Mobile Web - mainly for reading media;
- Instagram;
- Mobile games.
These sources cover most of the mobile traffic in the West. The set of sites is the same as in the CIS - only the format for working with them is different.
Mobile traffic distribution using North America
mass media
Let's start with a tool that can provide a very wide coverage with minimal marketing costs - if everything is done correctly. We have already considered the algorithm for working with the media in an article about promotion in the CIS. The only difference is that journalists in Europe and the United States are a little more spoiled, and they need a more personalized approach.
Gift - Media List Complete
The last two years of working in the mobile industry, I often promoted various applications in the west, particularly in the media, and managed to make friends with the editors. All these two years I have made my list of editors, their features, interests, contacts - everything that is needed to promote the application in the media. Now in this list more than 300 media. It can be said exclusive.
For those who promote mobile games, there is a list of contacts 200 Western media that can write about them.
YouTube
The algorithm for working with YouTube is described in the article about promotion in the CIS. Western developers have already understood the power of video bloggers and are setting up their own advertising campaigns for them, often giving priority to them, and not to the media. I like this tool for two reasons:
- Low eCPI. With the right approach, eCPI from YouTube can work out 3-5 times cheaper than with any advertising network.
- High LTV. The obvious fact: your application will be downloaded by people who have familiarized themselves with it superficially and know what to expect from it and how to use it. Loyalty is higher - higher LTV.
Gift - a list of YouTube-channels .
I have already begun to fill out a list of video bloggers and have shown in what format it is desirable to do. According to this template, you can select those people whose videos are watched by your target audience.
- Several hundred YouTube channels.
- Channels where you can move for free.
- Channels where they love to browse mobile apps.
Also found a list of 1000 video bloggers for you. You can safely begin with the 300th row - add them to our plate and fill in according to the set pattern. Believe me, these efforts will pay off very well for the low cost of installation, wide coverage and loyal target audience.
Ad networks
Above on the example of the Russian market, I have already considered this tool. Mobile advertising networks in the USA and Europe are much more developed than in the CIS. If in Russia there are three monopolists, then in the West there are many ad networks that accumulate a lot of traffic: Facebook, Admob, InMobi, Chartboost, Vungle, Flurry.
If you have a good experience in working with advertising networks and LTV you have more eCPI - you can safely move with the help of this tool. You can even confine them if you are fine with him.
When we promoted LoveTime dating service in the West, we concentrated on purchasing traffic in advertising networks, and did not even think about advertising in the media, blogs, and so on, which, by the way, was more likely our mistake. However, this tool was enough for us to gain 6 million units.
Facebook Lookalike
In my opinion, the best tool of all advertising networks. The principle of operation is simple: you know the list of people who paid in your application. Get their ID, phone or email and upload to Facebook. He will find you people whose interests are similar to those of your paying audience. The installation price can be 30–50% lower.
This is not such a complex tool as it seems. It will take a maximum of a couple of days to study, taking into account the practice, but it can greatly reduce the installation cost and give you access to almost unlimited traffic.
If you still decide to take up "Advertising Mathematics", then learn from the "arbitrageurs" of mobile traffic. They concentrate precisely on optimizing advertising campaigns in such a way as to minimize eCPI.
The algorithm of working with western Instagram accounts does not differ from that described in the article about the CIS.
The power of Instagram to promote the application has been perfectly demonstrated by MSQRD. Undoubtedly, the guys took off because of a great product, but the growth lever was Instagram, or rather, people who shared their videos and photos with MSQRD masks.
Quora
Quora is something like an analogue of the “Answers@Mail.ru” service, only much more functional. How it works: create an account, find thematic questions for your application, for example, “How to increase productivity”, answer in detail and insert a link to your application at the end.
Also Quora is perfect for finding partners, investors and publishers for your application. How to effectively use Quora, you can read here . We promoted through this service Appintop, and this tool gave traffic comparable to articles in the top Western media.
Reviews of your application
A great tool to help novice developers get tips on improving your application and several hundred free installations. You can analyze how the western audience behaves in your application.
Find groups or forums that focus on mobile app reviews and ask them to review your app.
Gift - a list of groups and forums where you can review your application for free.
Tumblr
For the West, this is something like Livejournal in the CIS, where people share their opinions. More youth and "hipster" option. Not very heated tool that can and should be used to promote your application, if its topics allow it. The work takes place on the same principle as with the media.
Incent traffic in Europe
If in the CIS I do not advise using it, then in the West it can and should be done if there is a budget for this. Organics in Europe and the USA will be much higher. With greater probability, you will repay the money invested. Of course, only if your application is suitable for at least every second or third person.
Snapchat
There are more and more articles that you can use Snapchat to promote applications. Plus, they recently rolled out some advertising platform.
I myself am just starting to learn this tool. The best article on the topic of Snapchat . If you have experience with him in the West - be sure to write in the comments, it will be interesting to listen to you.
Twitch
Something like YouTube for Letsplerov, plus the functionality of donations, design of channels and stuff. There are almost no differences from YouTube with him. This tool is perfect if you promote the game.
Localization
55−60% of the European audience speaks English, but nevertheless the application must be localized. Think for yourself - most of you probably know English well, because of the specifics of our sphere. But agree that using the application in your native language is much more convenient than in a foreign language.
If we are talking about the European market, then you need to localize the application into five languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish. Five of these languages will cover more than 90% of the European market.
How to localize:
- Turn to agencies;
- Donate to freelance, but then there must be focus groups and prospective lenders (local residents who will be able to see and verify the localization);
- Be sure to make a description and screenshots of the application for each country. This is not such a time-consuming work, but which can greatly increase the conversion to the installation of the application.
Soft launch
Before starting promotion in such countries as England, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, make a soft-launch in some smaller European country.
For example, in Portugal before promotion in Spain, or in Ireland before promoting the application in England. And then calmly, with customized internal mechanics and monetization, to enter larger markets.
Sample Plan in USA and Europe
The plan is highly dependent on the specifics of your mobile application. From your skills in mobile marketing. From your budget and objectives. But I am often asked to show the “average hospital” plan.
How I would spread the budget of the application for promotion in the West:
- 25% - YouTube;
- 25% - Instagram;
- 15% - the media;
- 15% - advertising networks;
- 10% - Tumblr and Twitch;
- 10% - ASO, Incent, Quora.
Here is an example plan for one of my clients. It is common, at the next stage, of course, we painted each instrument in detail.
Promotion in Asia
The purpose of this part is to give a general understanding of what features the leading Asian mobile markets have: China, Japan and South Korea. They account for most of the Asian market - about 94%.
Asian regions are very different from each other. The difference between, for example, the mobile markets of China and Japan is much larger than between the markets of Germany and Russia. So, as a single subject, Asia cannot be viewed.
A good illustration of the big difference between the markets is at least the fact that revenue per user in Japan is 8 times more than in China, but the Chinese market takes in its volume - in the country, according to various estimates, from 360 million to 785 million mobile players.
Since the differences between the markets are significant, and the level of penetration of the English language is not as high as in Europe, it is imperative to localize the schedule for each of the regions, and often the gameplay, starting from both the realities of the market and the local cultural background.
The order of promotion in the Asian market, I recommend the following: South Korea, Japan, China. From relatively simple to complex.
The first step to localization in each of them, in my opinion, should be familiarity with the local top box office ten games. See how they are made, how everything is drawn, presented, and try to repeat within the framework of your project already.
South Korea
The “simplest” market listed in the article. He is the most Asian from the European and American. Accordingly, it is easier for self-promotion.
Features of the Korean market
- Transparent conditions for entering the market;
- Three app stores prevail: Kakao, the App Store and Google Play;
- Kakao is installed on 95% of mobile devices;
- 85% of devices work on Android;
- Koreans have a good level of English, but due to cultural peculiarities, language localization is necessary at least;
- In our experience, entering the TOP 10 Overall Korea was 3 times cheaper than on similar positions in the United States. Plus, the output in the Korean TOP was 2 times more effective in terms of organic growth;
- Before entering the TOP and launching a product in Korea, you need to carefully optimize the application page in the store for the cultural characteristics of Koreans, take into account their tetrophobia (fear of numbers) and so on. Proofriders (locals who will be able to test the correctness of localization) are required;
Social networks in Korea
"Mental" game features:
1. People of all ages love to play mobile games. It’s absolutely normal to see a 70-year-old Korean grandfather playing Clash of Clans.
2. The graphics should be as bright as possible, rich colors should prevail in it. This is true for all Asian countries, but for Korea in particular.
3. Koreans love animals to give human qualities.
Favorite Korean genres according to AppLift:
- Puzzles;
- ;
- ;
- Action;
- .
:
- ;
- . , ;
- . .
- ;
- ( EEDAR, , $9,39 , $5,91, );
- ARPPU ~$50 — ;
- . . . , ;
- The Japanese will sit in your game as long as possible, until they buy all that is possible. But they will act this way only if they understand that you are ready to develop your application, if you have good support and you are constantly updating the game;
- The five main stores: Mobage, App Store, Google Play, Line and Mixi;
Where does the Japanese audience spend time with a smartphone:
"Mental" game features:
1. In Japan, modern pop culture revolves around manga and anime. This must be taken into account when adapting a project or at least its advertising materials.
2. The Japanese are very reckless. This is partly due to the success of the mechanics of gacha-mechanics. Read more about it here .
3. The main billing audience in Japan is men and women 35+.
Top 5 most popular game genres in Japan:
- RPG;
- Puzzles;
- Simulators;
- Action;
- Card games.
How to go out in Japan
- You can go out on your own, but still it is desirable to have a local representative in Japan, or even better, a publisher;
- Content cross-promotion is very popular in Japan, when characters from another appear in one of the games. For example, in the games about Sonic the hedgehog, Angry Birds heroes appeared, and in Puzzle & Dragons there was a dungeon with the heroes of Clash of Clans;
- Language localization required.
China
The most difficult market from the article.
A well-known feature of China - 400 app stores. To get the effect of the promotion, you will need to immediately advance at least in the 20 largest Chinese sites, each of which aggregates a large amount of traffic.
Some of the largest ones:
- 360 Mobile Assistant - more than 400 million users - a market share of 21%;
- Myapp (Tencent) - more than 64 million downloads daily - a market share of 21%;
- Baidu Mobile Assistant - the main search engine store in China - 13%;
- MIUI app store - more than 30 million users - a market share of 11%;
- HiMarket - a unique mix of a platform for developers and developers - a market share of 6%;
- Huawei App Store - 5% market share;
- Wandoujia - more than 10 million users - a market share of 4%.
There are automatic AppTutti and Kii China application publishing services on the market. But when I worked with them, they gave very little effect.
They can be used in two cases:
- You are familiar with the Chinese market. Already independently published in 20 largest stores. To “finish off” the rest, use these services;
- You have no experience or understanding about how to move in the Asian market, and you want to throw the application on the Chinese market with the hope of “Suddenly take off.” The chance is very small, but with proper localization, supported by at least minimal marketing, can be lucky.
Features of promotion in China
1. Difficult localization (more than 60 dialects) - as the main one, you should use the North Chinese language - “Mandarin Chinese).
2. The more content on one screen - the better. This is the specifics of the Chinese mentality. If such a presentation of information "explodes the brain" to a European audience, then in China they love it.
3. Major global social networks are prohibited. The social networks Tencent, QZone, Weibo, WeChat prevail. 8 most popular social networks in China:
4. Be sure to need offline marketing, as there are few opportunities for online marketing. The top positions in the stores are often occupied by the applications that came out under the publisher of the application store in which you see them.
5. Difficulties with billing. You will definitely have to contact mobile operators to allow users to pay for internal purchases in your mobile application via a SIM card. This is a big time cost, plus, depending on the operator, the commission from the payment can be up to 30%. Main operators: China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.
6. In China, piracy is very developed. For example: you have placed your application in one of 400 Chinese Android stores. Another 399 stoor per day will steal your APK'shku and will host, but without the in-app'ov. How to deal with this? Avoid this will not work. The only thing and the most correct thing to do is to apply personally to the TOP 20 sites, promise to publish your application from them and ask not to copy it from other sites. In this case, they are more likely to go to meet you, but this is not guaranteed.
Interface Specifications for Chinese Applications
While in China, I looked at over a hundred applications and highlighted several features:
1. Chinese audience likes muted colors that would not seem attractive to a European audience.
2. The Chinese audience should be given as many opportunities as possible to customize the application, game or hero in it. They love it. This is partly due to the success in this market browser UCWeb. It has a huge number of settings compared to any other Western browser.
Top 5 most popular game genres in China according to AppLift :
- Race;
- Strategies;
- RPG;
- Card;
- Brain Training.
An interesting analyst on basic internal mechanics in Asia:
In the screenshot below you will see an example of localization of gameplay from Pop Cap with their ZvP.
The first part went “with a bang,” unlike the second, which was merged in China due to “hard” monetization.
The main difference of the Chinese version was the changed appearance of the characters, adapted to the local flavor.
How to enter the Chinese market:
1. Search for partners. Without them, it will be very difficult to advance, almost impossible. A list of mobile publishers working in the Chinese market with descriptions can be found here .
2. Contact European agencies with experience in the Asian market.
Total
Each market has its own characteristics, but nonetheless the foundation is the same everywhere. With the right approach, which will certainly include a trial and error method, you can conquer any market.
I hope this longrid was useful for you. The best thanks for the work done will be “like” and repost this article.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/306552/
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