Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Anyone Figure Out How To Market Ipad Apps?

Posted by david.ball on 11/26/2010 at 12:38 PM ET 500 Points
We will be launching several iPad apps over the next several months. I have a huge off-line database that does not include any information about iPad ownership. Given the relatively small size of the eTablet market, it is difficult to make traditional ad campaigns cost effective.

Anyone have any success in driving app sales?
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  • Posted on 11/26/2010 at 4:06 PM Moderator
    I'm not in that business specifically, but it sure would seem that with a narrow target audience like that, you would probably want to consider a pay-per-click approach ... like search engine advertising. Then you only pay for the people who click, and only people who are really interested would click if you write the ad properly.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/27/2010 at 8:26 AM Accepted
    The Apple App store lists about 250,000 available apps. Unless your app is unique from all of these, simply placing it in the store won't be productive.

    Reading a report from Nielsen (https://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/connected-devices-does-t...), see how your app fits the profile of content accessed. Next, multiply by the percentage of iPad owners who purchased an app like yours. That'll give you an idea of the true size of your market (and will also inform you about the maximum you should budget for a pay-per-click).

    From this, study the best-in-class apps to understand their marketing - how did people find them? What's their social media strategy? What makes your app better/unique? (SWOT analysis).
  • Posted on 11/28/2010 at 3:55 AM Member
    Why do not you try selling those mobile apps to a brand? Probably a royalty based / volume sale contract with some mobile manufcturer? That will certainly recover cost and a healthy profit.
  • Posted by david.ball on 11/29/2010 at 9:08 AM Author
    Jay: Your approach is exactly what I'm trying to do. I have a pretty good idea of how many units I will sell (or at least consider success). I'm at your "study the best-in-class apps to understand their marketing - how did people find them?" stage and was hoping someone on this board can answer the "how did people find them" question. Thanks for your thoughts, though. I'm saving the Nielsen article for future review.

    Ashim: Interesting thought. I've reached out to iPad accessory makers to see if there is a way to co-market the apps with their products. No takers so far, but I like the idea.

    Brian: I agree I need to target, just not quite sure how. Perhaps pay-per-click is the way, but I'd like to get beyond online advertising, hoping to reach a slightly broader audience. That's why partnering with an accessory company seemed like a good idea.

    Thanks, everyone, for your help.
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