The Four P’s of iPhone App Marketing
If you have ever attended a marketing class then you are surely familiar with the four P’s of the Marketing mix: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. The four P’s are used to appeal to your target market and ultimately get them to purchase your product or service. But how can the four P’s be used to market an iPhone App?
Product
Every marketing project starts with a product. It has to be something of value and something unique to offer a competitive advantage. With iPhone apps, your product is no exception to this rule. Your app needs to either be completely new or offer unique features that other apps are lacking. Otherwise, why would anyone download it? When developing your iPhone app practice due diligence and see what other apps are out there. Can they do what your app does? Do they have better graphics? Do they offer the same or better user experience? Don’t reinvent the wheel. Ask these questions in the development phase so you can make modifications and improvements to your app and give it the best chance for success in the App Store.
Price
iPhone apps are unique when it comes to pricing. If you are not going the free app route and want to charge, your first thought might be to go with the lowest app price possible of $.99. However, as a developer you could be missing out on higher profits. There is actually some negative association with charging $.99 for your apps. It can cheapen the value. There is a limit, but purchasers will pay more if an app is a quality made one. Additionally, developers can justify a more pricey app by creating a lite (simplified) version for people to try before upgrading to a paid and more interactive version.
iPhone app pricing can also be manipulated within the App Store with amazing results. Many apps have lowered their price for a weekend or finite time period to generate buzz, garnish more downloads and even improve their rankings within the App Store.
Promotion
Promoting iPhone apps can be tricky. Why? Because traditional mass promotion isn’t effective. Only a small percentage of any market has an iPhone to purchase apps for. Even using banner ads or PPC methods may not work well since you cannot target these individuals properly using just keywords. One exception could be Facebook ads where apps can be promoted and targeted to members based upon their interests in anything related to iPhones. Long story short, paid advertisements on or offline may not be the best bang for your promotional buck.
So what are other options to promote your app? Most iPhone app marketing promotions are going to have to be inbound, meaning your potential customers seek and find you. Inbound could be used by offering referral incentives to your existing users within your app or using social mediums (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) to help connect with potential users. Lastly, generating buzz through app reviews either within the App Store or through 3rd party reviewers is a great way to promote your app at (sometimes) little to no cost.
Update - Other options to market your app (if you have an advertising budget) would be to incorporate an AdMob campaign in with your app promotions. AdMob is an advertising solution for companies or developers who are looking to advertise their app over various mobile avenues. Coming July 1, iAds should be another promotion option for iPhone and iPad app developers, but that is another blog post.
Place
How can App developers compete in more than one place when an app can only exist on your phone? One idea would be to have a second place for it online. Think about Foursquare - You check in to places using your phone, but there is still a whole website that is available to continue the community experience. Foursquare users on the website can get updates of new mayorships in their area and post tips of new places to visit, just to name a few.
If you have the time and developer experience, why not include a website as a second point of interaction for your users? Heck, take it a step further and create a place of interaction where non-iPhone users can break bread with their iPhone carrying cronies. On version two of the EraseUrX iPhone app (coming soon), app users will not only be able to send break up messages to their respective ex-partners, they will also have the option to post their messages on a public blog to share with the world. Non-iPhone users can still get a kick out of the break-up creativity of their peers in a place outside of the iPhone.
How else have you seen iPhone apps be marketed using one of the four P’s of the marketing mix? Share in the comments below.
Great write up. The iPhone is truly revolutionary and I don’t like being without it. This time last year I had jumped in a pool with my iPhone and it was dead. I had to wait 9 days before I was able to purchasea new one. The phone I had was a cheap go phone. I really love all the games that can be downloaded to the iPhone. The best part about the iPhone to me is the ability to check emails on the fly. Thanks for the information.