How to Market Mobile Apps with Google AdWords
Market Mobile Apps with AdWords
What’s the toughest part of making an app? Is it the design? The development? For many, the hardest part of making a successful mobile application is the marketing. Especially because traditional marketing tactics will be less effective than online marketing ones. And because the app market is so saturated with products, it can also be difficult to reach potential users, and what is an app if it has no users? While you shouldn’t ignore the PR and guerilla tactics for getting the word out about your app, you can also use Google AdWords to help drive downloads of your app. We’ve compiled a few of the easiest ways to use SEM tactics to market mobile apps.
Setting Up App Conversion Tracking
As we stated, the measure of any app’s marketing success is in the downloads. To measure this, understanding your funnel and conversion metrics is essential. This will allow you to monitor the performance of your ads and your cost per install.
The process for setting up conversion tracking differs for Android apps and iOS apps, so be sure to follow the instructions for the mobile operating system your app uses. It can get a little complex, particularly for iOS apps, so consider asking one of your developers for assistance.
Choosing a New Mobile App Install campaign
Next, you have several choices for how you market mobile apps with Google AdWords. You can create a universal app campaign, search network app campaign, YouTube (TrueView) network app campaign, or display network app campaign. Read more about each campaign and decide which is best for your app, create your campaign, and monitor the results.
Universal mobile app install campaigns
This is by far the simplest kind of app install campaign. You provide Google with ad copy, a starting bid, your budget, and targeting information. Google then creates ads for you, which can appear across Google’s properties, including Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, the Google Display Network, AdMob, and more. If you only want to create one campaign to advertise your app across multiple networks, then this is the campaign for you. Get step-by-step instructions for creating this type of campaign here.
Search network mobile app install campaigns
Search network app install campaigns are the most 
similar to traditional search campaigns. These app install campaigns target keywords. With this type of campaign, you can only use text ads, and your ads will be displayed on the mobile Google Search Network, within Google Search, in the Google Play Store, and with other Search Partners. By using an app extension, you can also link to your mobile app from your text ad, which makes it easy for potential users to install your app after reading your ad.
Having your ads show in mobile search results will allow you to concentrate on people who are actively searching for a mobile app like yours. If you want greater control over your campaign or you want to focus on potential users who are looking for your kind of app, then try creating a search network app install campaign.
YouTube (TrueView) network mobile app install campaigns
If you want to create video ads on YouTube and reach people who view content relevant to your app, then this is the right campaign for you. More and more video is being consumed on mobile devices, which makes this kind of campaign a great option to market mobile apps. In fact, YouTube reports that mobile video consumption increases by 100% each year. If you decide to make an ad on YouTube, you can also choose the device settings, placements for your ads, and other targeting settings to help your ads reach potential users for your app.
In one of these campaigns, your ad will be linked to the app store where your app appears, which allows potential users to download your app as soon as they watch your ad on YouTube. While your ads will be available on YouTube mobile and tablet apps, they will not appear on desktop, the YouTube mobile website, or partner video sites in the Display Network. To learn more about how to make a YouTube network app install campaign, click here.
Display network mobile app install campaigns
With a display network app install campaign, you can display text or image app install ads on the mobile Display Network as well as within other apps. The advantage to this kind of campaign is you can advertise your mobile app to people who are currently using other apps like yours. These people are not actively searching for your app, which allows you to find new potential users who might not have been aware of your app. Even those who do not download your app will at least be exposed to it, which will help raise awareness about your app.
As with YouTube network app install campaigns, there are a variety of targeting settings available to you in these campaigns, including targeting by age, gender, and mobile app placements. If you’re interested in creating a display network app install campaign, read more here.
If your business needs help marketing its mobile app, please call us at 504-324-0073 or fill out a contact form and we’ll be in touch shortly! We would be happy to help market your app so it can reach its full potential!
