How Technology in Mobile App Marketing Is Driving Indian App-Based Startups

The Indian startup scene has been booming for the last couple of years, becoming a magnetic field for entrepreneurs who promise innovation as well as for risk-prone investors backing those ideas. A lot of startups have entered the industry, either as an answer to the gaps in the existing markets, or as disruptive ideas that promise to change the way things have been done in the past.

Daily, hundreds of thousands of new apps make their way onto Apple’s and Google Play’s App Store, all in the hopes of being the next big thing. With over 1.4 million apps in each of these app stores, it is harder than ever for app-based startups to vie for consumers’ attention and stay ahead in the game.

An important question for entrepreneurs, advertisers and app advertisers alike is “how do we get more users for our app.” For many, the golden measurement of an app success is often limited to measuring the number of downloads. But does the success of an app, and in effect a startup’s business, lie solely on app installs? User acquisition is, of course, a critical aspect for the success of an app-based startup, however, merely having acquired a certain number of users doesn’t make the app a hit.

In order to have a successful monetization strategy, a holistic approach is required to understand the user lifecycle, whereby user acquisition is only the beginning. Retain, Engage, and Convert are also equally important phases of the lifecycle.

A successful mobile marketing strategy can enable app-based startup businesses to drive the power of mobile deeply and make more meaningful connections with their users, both new and existing. With advancements in technology, the mobile marketing ecosystem has changed, providing more access to businesses to understand their consumer base, their users’ behaviour and whether they are, in fact, hitting the right audience at all. How can app-based startups leverage technology in mobile app marketing to drive their businesses? The answers lie here:

THE POWER OF PROGRAMMATIC

Those in the business of mobile app-based startups know that advertising on mobile works differently from websites. Bulk advertising campaigns, which could earlier work on desktop, more often than not lead to audience waste and inefficiencies in mobile. For startups that offer a specialized product or service, it can be difficult to alter their campaigns to reach the right target audience. By utilizing programmatic advertising, businesses can expand their profitability by concentrating on the audiences that matter the most to their outreach campaigns. Programmatic technology indeed enables advertisers match the ad that fits best with the mobile user, leading to higher click-through rates and conversions.

BRING VALUE TO MARKETING EFFORTS BY LEVERAGING DATA

The modern consumer has complex sets of preferences, and, most importantly, low attention spans! If one app isn’t gratifying the consumer needs, it is likely that the app will be uninstalled and they will quickly move to the next idea that catches their fancy. For app-based startups, accurate data insights into who their target audience is and what their preferences are is the heart of real-time marketing efforts. Blanket advertising can hardly target the right audience - it doesn’t differentiate between a 60-year old grandpa and a 16-year old games fanatic! Data is the precious oil on which success of a business’s campaigns runs. By using first-party data to identify the best users, second-party data to identify where to find them, and third-party data to determine the best ways to shape messages across the market, startups are more likely to run and execute mobile advertising campaigns that deliver greater performance.

OPTIMIsATION OF CAMPAIGNS FOR INCREASED ENGAGEMENT

Startups, particularly those in the early stages, can better manage campaigns by keeping the costs low, but maximizing their reach at the same time by making use of intelligent technology. For instance, programmatic media buying lets advertisers track the campaign performance in real-time, and also allows them to tweak the campaigns for best results. Whether it is choosing the inventory type by creating white and black lists, managing the campaigns by dayparting or s, or capping the frequency of their campaigns to prevent audience fatigue, advertisers can maximize the benefits of technological tools in mobile app marketing to improve campaign performance.

IDENTIFY THE USERS WHO BRING THE MOST VALUE

By making the use of technology and data analytics, app-based startups can also identify how engaged those acquired users are over the time. Measuring the Lifetime Value (LTV) of users can be an important metric in determining how these users can be targeted for long-term gains. By evaluating the revenue generated from these users, it can also give a more transparent idea of which side of ROI spectrum does one lie on.

Rohan Patil, Managing Director of AppLift India