9 ways to promote your mobile app that you might not have considered

Promoting your mobile app can be tricky. There are plenty of paid channels out there, but you might not have the budget for a major advertising push. Even if you do decide to spend on paid channels like in-app ads, social media ads and search ads, you should look for as many channels for free publicity as you can find. Here are some you might have overlooked.

Does your mobile app have a landing page? It needs one. A dedicated web page helps you take advantage of organic search results. It also gives you a place to show off awards, reviews and testimonials that may not be as easy to highlight on app store listings.

Your landing page can also include helpful info for your users. You can provide a page of FAQs, share info about your brand and give users a simple way to find support. Just don't forget to include download links for your app.

This is one of the most effective ways to give your app global reach. It's important to provide context about the app and its functions, and it helps you pre-hype the product launch, for people to reach out to you, and understand the purpose of the mobile application. A blog with regular updates on the topic, and a focus on your services, will build excitement about downloading your app. 

Your blog doesn't even have to focus on your specific app. You can make a name for yourself and your brand by focusing on broader industry trends, sharing your opinion on the state of the mobile app marketplace and even calling attention to other excellent (non-competing) mobile apps.

Testimonials from actual users are one of the most powerful forms of marketing. Allow beta users to test your app and give their authentic feedback about it.

It's worth noting that beta users can't leave reviews on an app marketplace like the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. But, you can gather their testimonials and use them on a landing page for your app.

If you don't have a mission statement for your app, you need one. Your mission statement is essentially what your app plans to achieve. What is its reason for existing? And you shouldn't keep your mission statement to yourself. Broadcast it in your marketing materials and on your landing page.

Revealing a mission statement will help you find niches that align with your statement, gathering a larger target audience and better defining customers who might genuinely be interested in your app. 

Make sure to post relevant, quality content on your video channels. Video intros to your app can be great content. Video intros allow you to show your potential customers how your app works, make them aware of what the product looks like, and the things they should consider before downloading it.

Keep in mind, this is only applicable if you have a large target audience. And, there's a high potential risk of making an absolute idiot of yourself and your brand if it's not executed well. But a real-life publicity stunt can raise the profile of your app, get people involved at a grassroots level and create buzz well before your app release.

This will help in the future! If you're confident you've produced a killer app, submit it for some awards. A couple high profile awards programs are the Appster Awards and the oh-so-creatively named Best Mobile App Awards. If you manage to even make a shortlist, this can give your app some serious credibility. It can call attention to your brand, and serve as a great testimonial for your marketing. 

The reason why this is important is that it takes a lot of convincing that your work and your application is worth being nominated, or featured on their website. They reach out for basic but important elements, such as the graphic layout of the application, unique and versatile content, and most importantly abstains from glitches, and overwhelming crashes, and long amount of times being taken to load. 

Find stores that are willing to display printed ad material for your app, and link to the download with QR codes. Yes, we know. QR codes kill kittens. But it's the easiest way to direct in-store consumers to your app. 

There's no single channel that's a silver bullet for promoting your app. If you want to stand out in an incredibly crowded market, you need to try a number of approaches. But, first and foremost, you need to build a quality mobile app that's worthy of the buzz you're trying to generate.