Three Ways To Promote Your Smartphone App

You've developed an innovative, useful smartphone app. Now, you just have to convince people to use it! Marketing and promoting your app can actually be harder than designing the app in the first place, but the good news is, there are tried and true promotional steps you can take to create buzz about your app and secure more downloads. Here are three such steps to get you started:

Banner Ads

Consider using advertising tools to create mobile banner ads for your app. In most cases, you will be able to design the banner ad yourself, and then pay the ad service to display it on various websites. You'll need to tell the ad company what niche your app is in and what type of websites you want it displayed on. For example, if you designed a fitness app, you may want it displayed when people visit gym websites and healthy eating websites. Make sure your banner ad is colorful, so it does not go unnoticed. Include your app's logo. Seeing this logo over and over again will help build brand recognition among potential customers until one day, they finally give in and click through to download your app. 

Free Downloads

Contact companies that offer a service that is compatible with your app. For example, if your app is focused on fitness, you may want to talk to gyms. See if any businesses would be interested in offering a free download of your app to customers who buy one of their services. For instance, a gym may offer one free download of your app to all of their members who purchase childcare services. While giving the app away for free may seem like a loss, consider that this will get your name out there and inspire others to download -- even if for a small fee. You can also charge a monthly subscription service so even those who download for free end up paying after a month of free use.

Local Seminars

See if there are any seminars or collaborative events for those in the tech industries. Attend a few of these seminars, and give talks on your app. The seminars may advertise their attendees online or even in newspapers, which will get you some exposure. You'll also gain exposure to anyone who attends, and you might even get some additional promotional tips from other business owners who have sold apps similar to your own.