Launching an app in the market is only the beginning of the marketing process. So, you’ve developed a shiny new mobile app. Now what? You have to adopt some ASO tricks, word-of-mouth marketing tools and built-in marketing strategy that might help move your app up the ever-growing search list of apps, whether the list is for games, wallpapers or tools. That’s why mobile application marketing is essential in order to get your app visible in the app store and in front of your target audience.
Every marketer is facing a big challenge in letting his app discovered in the big mobile jungle. The best app marketers will pursue a comprehensive, well-rounded app marketing strategy that includes pre-launch work and post-launch work (Organic and Paid). The best post-launch marketing strategies include organic marketing and paid app marketing channels. We have discussed in our previous articles about Pre-launch marketing strategy and Post-launch Marketing strategy (organic) and now in this article we will discuss about Post launch Marketing Strategy- Part2, which includes possible Paid Promotion options.

Here are some key takeaways for paid promotion:
• Get featured on app review sites
• Install Mobile App Tracking Tool
• Calculate the number of downloads you’ll need to get into the top
• Include more internet medium as part of your mobile application marketing strategy
• Do Press Releases of your app
• Ad Networks
• Social Networking Sites like Facebook, twiter Ads

Get featured on app review sites: 

Submit your app to some popular app review sites. Although, submitting the app to app review sites can drive good traffic but it is not always necessary that you’ll get good results because some of the review sites give genuine reviews and which can be negative review even. So, if you have a confidence that your developed app is bug free and has some fresh concept, then only submit your app to review sites. Otherwise, it can leave a negative impact on your audience. Every review site has different selection criteria, some of them charge for submitting your app while some of them submit if the app is up to their selection criteria.
Got list of some good review sites (All review sites charge around 100$ – 150$):
http://www.bestfreeandroidapps.com/submit-android-app/
http://www.mobileappsgallery.com/submit-android-app/
http://latestandroidapps.net/submit-android-app/
http://www.androidappsreview.com/submit-…droid-app/
http://www.openhandsetdevelopers.com/sub…ation.html

Source: http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/andr…sites.html

Install Mobile App Tracking Tool: 

Mobile app tracking tools help app marketers understand exactly how many downloads come from each paid ad source. It is the most accurate way of tracking the number of downloads from every ad services. With the help of this tool, you can easily know which ad services are best suitable for your app marketing. There are plenty of tools available in market for app tracking like Mobile App Tracking tool (http://www.mobileapptracking.com/)

Calculate the number of downloads you’ll need to get into the Top Trending: 

One of the most challenging task in mobile app marketing is to drive your app in Top Trending or featured apps. Lot of homework is required for that which includes daily analysis of your competitive apps, which are currently in top trending or featured apps. Keep an eye on how many Ratings, Reviews or downloads the apps in your category have and how they change on daily basis.
Include more internet medium as part of your mobile application marketing strategy:

More internet medium includes adopting more advance marketing tactics. As, we all know that today users want everything fast…To understand the app they never prefer description as it consumes a lot of time, which they don’t have actually. To simplify this problem images (screenshots, we have discussed importance of screenshots in our earlier post: ) and videos play a vital role. Good video can earn thousands of downloads. There are various paid and free video service available like Youtube, Revver, Viddler etc.

Press Releases

Writing and distributing your app press release is a step you should not miss, if you have sufficient funds to promote your app. Although, writing and submitting is a step of pre-launch marketing strategy but it’s a part of paid marketing, that’s why I have discussed in this article. Some of the known Press Release sites are: PRMac, Prweb, StandardNewswire etc. (they charge around $80/pr)

Ad Networks:

Ad Networks in ASO is paying to some companies or organizations, which can promote our apps. There are certain companies and website, which help us in promoting our app. So, if you are planning for Paid promotion then Ad Networks can be of great help. Ad Networks is a managed mobile platform that can maximize your revenue. However, the only problem, which arises with this, is choosing the correct Ad Network. Marketing world is full of Ad Networks and it really becomes very confusing and sometimes frustrating too to choose correct Ad Network. You need to find the correct place through which you can get the real and detailed information of ad networks, which run their mobile campaign to monetize the mobile web site or app.

Following are the a few terms that are important to be understood before we drilldown further into Ad Network:

Rewarded & Non Rewarded

Rewarded campaigns reward the end user to engage in the product you’re advertising. The end user is rewarded in the app they see your advertisement in. For example, if you’re running a rewarded install campaign, the end user will be only be rewarded in the app they found your ad when they download and launch your app. You’ll be only charged when the user launches your app.

Non-Rewarded campaigns do not reward the end user when they engage in the product you’re advertising.

Available ad types

• PPI / CPI (Pay-per-Install or Cost Per Install) is a product focused on driving distribution of any mobile application on iOS, Android, and/or Windows Mobile Instead of running a CPC or CPM campaign, an advertiser can run a PPI campaign that is focused on getting users to actually download AND run the application. Advertisers are not charged until the application is actually run. Advertisers can run PPI campaigns through our rewarded and/or non-rewarded network.

• PPA / PPE / CPE (Pay-per-Action or Pay-Per-Engagement or Cost Per Engagement) is product geared towards driving deeper engagement within mobile applications. Commonly, advertisers will pay per install, but after the install, users may sometimes drop off or existing users may just tire of the game and discontinue play. The idea behind Pay-Per-Action is to help advertisers re-invigorate engagement within an app for existing users, and drive deeper engagement for users who dropped off after install. Advertisers can run PPA campaigns only through our rewarded network.

• CPA (generic offer) is a product that allows you to run ad campaigns outside mobile apps. For example, CPA campaigns can promote “likes” to your Facebook fan page or even send users to your website. CPA campaigns are typically rewarded.

• PPV / CPV (Pay-per-View or Cost Per View) are ad campaigns that promote your brand using 15 – 30 second video reels. Advertisers can also provide us w/ additional URLs (up to 3) to include after the view. Advertisers can run PPV campaigns through our rewarded network.

Source: (https://knowledge.tapjoy.com/fr/advertis…campaigns)
AppBrain (contact@appbrain.com)
– Suitable for:
o Free apps
o App must have atleast 4 ratings in Android Market.
o App must have an average rating of 3.25 or higher in the Android Market.

– Min bid is $20; we can set the limit how much we are willing to spend per day on our campaign, with a $25 min. We can set the maximum CPI. The minimum initial budget is $100.
– It does not charge for per clicks and impressions.
– Apart from setting campaigns, No SDK’s required.
– According to them, they refund the remaining money, if we are NOT satisfied with their services

There are numerous other website or companies which can help in paid promotion like:
– Advertise on AdMob ($50)
– Advertise on AppBrain: Free apps only, Min bid:0.20$, minimal daily budget: 25$, minimal campaign budget: 100$
– Advertise on AppRedeem: Free & paid apps. Minimum bid: 0.50$(paid apps), o.15$(free apps).
– Advertise on Everbadge: Free & paid apps. Minimum bids: 0.15$. SDK integeration required.
– Flurry: Free & Paid apps. Minimum bid: 0.75$
– Tapjoy: Pay-per-install plus optional pay-per-action (which probably cost much more). Min bid: 0.10$ for rewarded install. SDK integration required
According to me AppBrain is one the most successful service providers for this option.

For more Mobile Ad Networks you can visit : http://mobithinking.com/mobile-ad-network-guide

Social Networking Sites Ads: 

Now nearly 60 percent of Social Media users are mobile users. With the Social Media Networks adapting to this transition, the famous Social Media Networks like facebook and twitter has introduced new ways to buy ads that show up on mobile and reach their target audience.

Above we have discussed almost all the possible options for Paid Promotion. We can add few more to this list like e-mail marketing, slide share, frequent update in the app, word of mouth promotion and few more. But, the most important point is to build the finest app. Because, the truly amazing app can succeed on its own merit. As mobile users are seeing thousands of new apps daily, so you need something really special and fresh to impress them. It happens most often with games.
Please don’t build another tracking app, restaurant finder, or to-do list. Try to find the most sophisticated Android apps on the market that can run on phones as well as on tablets and think what can be the best possible option. Then develop your unique idea properly.