Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
50 Ways to Promote Your iPhone App
Mobile Marketing: 50 Ways to Promote Your iPhone App
June 18, 2009 · 18 Comments
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A nearly perfect mobile marketing plan and follow-up execution will fall short if the underlying app is uninspiring, bug-ridden or unremarkable. In addition, a well-designed, compelling app thrown in the mix of 50,000+ apps and unsupported by marketing, would likely disappoint. An integrated approach is most effective, with all components complementing and leveraging one another. A commitment to an integrated marketing plan and continued improvements to the app itself, will increase your probability of a sustained advantage in the marketplace.
A nearly perfect mobile marketing plan and follow-up execution will fall short if the underlying app is uninspiring, bug-ridden or unremarkable. In addition, a well-designed, compelling app thrown in the mix of 50,000+ apps and unsupported by marketing, would likely disappoint. An integrated approach is most effective, with all components complementing and leveraging one another. A commitment to an integrated marketing plan and continued improvements to the app itself, will increase your probability of a sustained advantage in the marketplace.- Get noticed in the App Store.
Prospective customers often browse within the top apps listed in the app store via iTunes on their computer or via the iPhone App Store app. Your app’s ranking is affected by unit downloads and getting into the top 100 can dramatically impact the success of your app. Choose a unique, catchy name for your app so that yours can be found within the app store easily and within Google searches. Include your brand name, where appropriate. Be sure to do your homework and
Establish yourself as a subject matter expert and develop mutually rewarding relationships with the media. Odds of a feature story, pick-up or mention increases exponentially as your goals are aligned to that of the columnist, radio host or TV producer. Developing rapport is easier than you might think. In fact, you can respond to a daily feed of reporter requests for expert sources using HARO. Regarding pitches and press releases, don’t be ordinary. You need to stand out from the crowd to be remembered. Peter Shankman, one of the most respected names in PR drives this point home in his book, “Can We Do That?” Distribute only to media contacts known to cover your topics. Online PR distribution gives you access to newspapers, radio, TV, industry trade publications, consumer magazines and influential blogs. Reach out to editors, journalists, news directors, producers and industry analysts. Web syndication drives immediate exposure of press releases to web-channel publishers internationally. Today’s technology can monitor media mentions/pickups and provide insightful analytics about traffic sources. Be sure to bunch up your publicity when you go live to maximize your chance of top ranking by app category.
Customize your business postage stamps using your new app’s icon design.
Photo Postage Stamps
Promote your app in interactive ads contained within other iPhone apps. iPhone ads offer very high levels of engagement including click to call, click to video and click to app store. A growing number of ad networks provide in-app advertising options with audience targeting that includes age, gender, geography, category, carrier, device and handset. Pricing models include bid per click and per engagement. Conversion tracking and reporting are standard offerings. Check out these folks: Medialets, Quattro Wireless, AdMob and VideoEgg.
Where ever you promote your app online, increase your traffic and page rank using an AddThis button. It’s easy to install on your blog or website pages and it makes it easy for your visitors to share your content with their friends and colleagues who use Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Delicious, LinkedIn, TypePad, Blogger, WordPress, etc.
Choose your advertising targets wisely. As yourself these questions: Who are my best customers? What are their demographic and lifestyle characteristics? Where do they gather? How do they consume media? What do they read, listen to and watch? Should my advertising be placed where captive mobile audiences can be found (train stations, bus stops, airports, amusement parks, checkout lanes, hotels, college campuses, cafes, within other apps, on podcasts, etc.)? And, what analytical tools will measure the success of each? View MacWorld’s iPhone App Marketing Program slideshow as an example of paid sponsorship and advertising. Some of the app review websites listed in #2 above offer advertising on their sites. Your online ads can link directly to your app within the app store. Wizzard Media provides access to sponsorship/advertising opportunities within audio/video podcast content categories relevant to your target audience. Think differently: Large ad display stickers are gracing the ceilings on commuter CTA trains in Chicago and oversized floor stickers are becoming commonplace at trade shows and retail establishments. Larger budgets can consider outdoor options that include wallscapes, train/bus wraps, transit stations, etc. Titan Worldwide offers outdoor advertising in many of the world’s top markets.
Promote your new app on your store receipts, packaging, shipping flyer insertions, apparel tags, shopping bags, invoices, monthly statements, envelopes, packing slips, POP displays,posters, restaurant menus & place mats, shipping containers and custom imprinted packing tape. Create attention-getting stickers for use on each, where appropriate.
Participate in targeted app topic-specific Q&A discussions at Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn Answers and WikiAnswers and provide links to learn more about you and your app. Become a trusted participant by providing answers to others.
Send out a highly targeted email campaign to prospects. You’ll want your campaign to be CAN-SPAM compliant to avoid fines and/or criminal penalties. B2B and B2C email lists are available from infoUSA.com. Filter from 2 million business email contacts by industry, SIC, size, job titles, spending, credit rating, location and more. Filter from 15 million consumer email contacts by geography, age, home value, wealth indicators, hobbies & interests, ethnicity, religion, household occupant info and more. Many publications have databases of subscriber email addresses and will send email campaigns on your behalf. They, too, allow filtered targeting of their email lists. Choose publications whose audience matches your targeted customers. A warning about buying or renting email lists, follow the rules and stay current on new developments. Email marketing platforms such as the popular Constant Contact have a no tolerance spam policy which you can read here.
Learn from the success of Peggle. On June 11, 2009, they dropped their price from $4.99 to $0.99 for a three day promotion. The results are in…on June 16, 2009, Peggle achieved ranking atop the app store due to the popularity of the app during the promotion and it is selling at the original $4.99 price. Such a strategy requires effective publicity around the promotion. AppVee, an App review site, setup a separate AppVee Twitter“Apps Now Free” account for tweets to their followers about price drops.
Create and upload a SlideShare.net presentation that includes a slide show walk-through with screenshots of your app and a description of features and benefits. Supported upload formats include PowerPoint, OpenOffice, Apple Keynote, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, iWork Pages and PDFs. Share publicly and optimize text content (title, description, etc.) within your posting to optimize search engine placement.
Secure a launch sponsor and co-promote. Examples include People Magazine’s app and its launch sponsor Unilever. Within your pre-launch marketing materials, promote and provide clear instructions for those who might be interested in being a launch sponsor. Explain the benefits they’ll receive in terms of publicity exposure, placement within the app and other perks. Get creative with the extra perks. For example, let’s say you’re a celebrity speakers bureau…you can offer an opportunity for your sponsors to enjoy an evening meeting a few celebrities.
Tell-a-friend in-app feature.
Within your app, include a conspicuous ”Tell a friend” feature and leverage the users’ personal iPhone’s contacts directory for text messaging or email. Pre-populate the message with friendly promotional copy that speaks highly of your app and provides a link where they can learn more.
Within your app, include a conspicuous ”Tell a friend” feature and leverage the users’ personal iPhone’s contacts directory for text messaging or email. Pre-populate the message with friendly promotional copy that speaks highly of your app and provides a link where they can learn more.
Within your app, create a Twitter update feature so that users can easily tweet about the awesomeness of your app. Suggest a few pre-canned complimentary messages and append with a TinyURL that links to your app in the app store.
Include and promote exclusive content within your app that is unavailable elsewhere.
Use 2D mobile barcoding in your advertisements, product packaging and other customer touchpoints. 2D barcodes can be scanned with camera phones. To get a sense for the power of this technology, try the following: 1) Create a QR Code here or here. 2) Download the Optiscan iPhone app($4.99) or another QR barcode reader app. 3) Scan the code. Are you amazed? Here’s where it gets good…the scanned barcode information can provide a link directly to your app in the iPhone App store! The user is provided with a web link, phone number or message that’s saved directly onto the phone. This is an emerging advertising technology in the USA but has been in use in Japan for some time. Its permission-based format is attractive to consumers. Below notice a QR barcode that contains my contact info. Once scanned to the iPhone, two clicks adds a new contact record that includes my full name, phone number and email address. Note: If you use QR barcodes, better to display larger vs. smaller. Some mobile cameras cannot focus properly to get a good read if the barcode is too small.
Add new features to your app over time. Feature upgrades create new publicity opportunities and updated ranking by Apple within the app store. Along with improvements, monitor your app’s review feedback and act upon insightful new feature requests to keep customers coming back and lure new ones into the fold. When your app is developed, include mobile analytics so that your can learn about how your app is used, referring sources and app performance characteristics. Within your app, you can include a few simple features. A “Send Feedback” button can send emails to you privately. Another button labeled “Leave a Review on iTunes” would provide easy access to app review submission.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Mercedes Benz G Class Unfolded // 3-D Animation Advertisement
This is an excellent video animation advertisement for Mercedes Benz G Class. It's a cool 3-D animation of paper unfolding into a landscape as the G-Klasse conquers it.
Click the link to watch the video.
"MERCEDES-BENZ UNFOLD by SENSUCHT"
via behance.net
Client: Daimler AG Mercedes Benz
Production Company: SEHSUCHT GmbH
Director: Ole Peters, Hannes Geiger
Design: Alexander Heyer
http://www.behance.net/sehsuchtB
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Women spend a year deciding what to wear
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Published: July 09
Women spend a year deciding what to wear
London: A new poll's findings suggest that women spend almost one year of their lives deciding what to wear.
The poll involving 2,491 women suggests that choosing outfits for work, nights out, dinner parties, holidays, gym, and other activities means the average woman will spend 287 days rifling through their wardrobe.
The researchers behind the study say that the biggest chunk of that time is used up picking a killer ensemble for Friday or Saturday nights out, or selecting the right clothes for a holiday. According to them, women, on average, spend 16 minutes every weekday morning deciding what to wear, and around 14 minutes on a Saturday or Sunday morning.
"What you wear has a direct impact on how you feel about yourself and it is important a woman feels exceptional in her outfit. Whatever the occasion your clothes portray an image and we understand this is fundamentally important to women," the Telegraph quoted a spokesman for clothes giant Matalan, which compiled the results, as saying.
The study was based on an adult lifetime from the age of 16 to 60. It showed that most women would spend around 20 minutes deciding what to wear before hitting the town on a weekend night. The researchers say that week nights out can take up to 20 minutes a time too. They further say that deciding on what clothes to take on holiday takes about 52 minutes each time.
On holidays, women generally take 10 minutes in the morning trying to find an acceptable outfit, with another 10 minutes spent picking evening clothes. Besides, dinner parties, Christmas parties, and black tie events- at around 36 minutes a time six times a year- adds up to three and a half days. The study also found, on average, women will try on two outfits each morning before coming to a final decision, and that one in two women spend 15 minutes the night before work working out what to wear.
Buzz from TechCrunch - The Bloom Box
Link to this post:
http://www.google.com/buzz/102216607668541950594/HUs8nFtRanP/The-Future-Of-Energy-Bloom-Energy-Boxes-Already Feb 22 TechCrunch -: The Future Of Energy? Bloom Energy Boxes Already Power Google, eBay, Others
Monday, February 22, 2010
new product dev meets fashion // innovative use of 3d printer
The Melonia Shoe: Wearable 3D Printed Footwear
Innovative design students in Stockholm have produced a fully functioning shoe which was 3D printed in polyamid. This is a very interesting concept, not just because it is new, but because of the dramatically reducing costs in 3D printing. Picture this, 3D printers are affordable consumer products, and most people have them in their home, just like we have paper printers today. Instead of going to the shoe store to buy new shoes, I go online, download a design, and print it at home.
...The only question is, what do we do with all of the shopping malls? My solution is to renovate them into collective housing.
21 hand drawn style fonts // free
I found these fonts on a blog. They are good for hand drawn style web design. This blog also contains links to other cool free fonts.
Spring Color Forecast // MAC
We Are Plus, NYC based creative agency produced this video color forcast branded for MAC cosmetics Spring 2010 collection.
Sad News
Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community.
The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.
Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.
Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flakey at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.
Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.
The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.
If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and take time to pass it on and share that smile with someone else who may be having a crumby day and kneads a lift.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Facebook take PayPal
I forecasted on this subject on my blog in 2009. Popular social media networks need to focus on integrating peer to peer currency. This is a step in that direction. 
Check out TechCrunch's buzz post for more info.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Wholesale Application Community is WAC (pun intended)
Some mobile operators are teaming up to create a rival platform to the Apple Apps Store. This will make it easier for app developers, such as myself to reach more devices. However, I am skeptical on this is will play out, especially with an acronym like WAC (pronounced "wack"?).
- PC World
Can a motley group of 24 global carriers play well together and create a gigantic, open marketplace for mobile applications--one that works as seamlessly for consumers as Apple's App Store? Certainly, skepticism is running high that Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), a just-announced alliance between, well, Everyone But Apple in the mobile phone space, can make its ambitious plan work.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Facebook Zero // 0 cost solution for carriers
What is Facebook Zero?
A text based Facebook that mobile service providers will be able to offer their customers at no additional cost.
For more Check out Tech Crunch..
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Personal Branding / Career Management Solution
I would recommend this product to professionals looking to enhance the personal branding, find a free online solution to managing their career, and find a job. Its also a great place for recruiters searching for talent.
cool new homepage
http://fav4.org/
I like this site. Clean and simple. It automatically displays your top 4 most frequently visited websites. I am not going to use it on Safari, but I think it is a good alternative to google.com/ig, and my other home pages on firefox, chrome, etc.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Designing for Sustainability in Mobile Computing
This paper contains a design methodology from The Green Switch, addressing sustainability in mobile computing.
http://www.thegreenswitch.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/TGS_MoMo_18_Jan_v0_23.pdf
http://www.thegreenswitch.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/TGS_MoMo_18_Jan_v0_23.pdf
Friday, February 05, 2010
RFID in Retail Case Study by Motorola
Interesting case study I found while researching the total sales of the retail apparel industry.
Basically, retailers need to adopt RFID now.
Motorola RFID Case Study Tuesday, February 02, 2010
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