Boost your mobile app with marketing

So your business has created its own mobile app. Now what?

With more than 300,000 applications out there, businesses need to work even harder to market and publicize their app if they're going to compete effectively in the mobile marketing arena, say experts.

"Promotion is critical," notes Cindy Krum, author of "Mobile Marketing: Finding Your Customers No Matter Where They Are" (Que Publishing; $24.99) and chief executive of MobileMoxie Llc, a Denver mobile marketing and search engine optimization firm. "You have to not only plan on making the app, but plan on marketing it, too."

This is where many businesses fall short, she explains. They think just because they have introduced an app, people are going to automatically search for it. "You have to put the idea in their head," Krum says.

Here are 10 tips for boosting an app's visibility:

1. Use good keywords. Carefully consider the keywords you use in your app's name and description within the app store, says Krum. People are more likely to find you in searches if you use relevant keywords, she notes.

2. Solicit reviews. Encourage those who download the app and like it to write a review, says Krum. You can even include a link on your website saying 'Click here to review app,' she notes. You could also submit it to an app review site.

3. Talk it up. When talking to customers, don't be shy about promoting your app, says Tony Valado, vice president of EGC Digital, the digital arm of the EGC Group, a marketing company in Melville. That's exactly what EGC does with its own company iPhone app, which it introduced last year. "We have around 1,000 downloads to the app," says Valado.

4. Use social media. Tweet about your app or promote it on your Facebook fan page, recommends Valado. Try to create conversations and buzz as much as you can, he notes.

5. Promote at every opportunity. Use every chance to publicize your app on your website, blog, newsletter, etc., says Iyna Bort Caruso of Sweet Lime Ink, a Rockville Centre-based editorial agency and creator of the Essential Long Island iPhone travel app. The app, which costs $2.99 to download, offers a guide to more than 125 of the region's destinations and attractions. "The promotion is ongoing," says Caruso, who publicizes her app via a Facebook fan page (facebook.com/Essential LongIsland) and e-mail signature files.

6. Publicize via niche marketing. You can send out an initial general announcement or news release about the app and then "slice and dice" its content to targeted groups, says Caruso, who does just that. For example, she might play up the family attractions to parenting publications.

7. Do fun giveaways. You could use Twitter or Facebook to do free giveaways, like a promo code to download an app for the first person to correctly answer a trivia question, said Caruso. "It's a bit more engaging," she notes.

8. Do video demonstrations. Go to a video sharing site like YouTube and upload a video demonstration of the app, highlighting some benefits, says Tim Cascio, author of the Mobile Marketing, Monetization and Methods blog and senior digital strategist at Bader Rutter & Associates, an integrated marketing services agency in Brookfield, Wis.  Click here to find timcascio.wordpress.com.

9. Add improvements. Periodically add new features and upgrades, recommends Cascio. "Feature upgrades create new publicity opportunities and an update ranking by Apple within the app store," he explains.

10. Create promotional items. Create branded promotional items (T-shirts, pens, mugs) for customers and prospects promoting your app, adds Cascio: "Have a promotion strategy that gets you noticed."