iOS development news and information for the community, by the community

Blitz Marketing – Stacking the Cards in Your Favor in the App Store

Marketing your application can be a full time job, if not the full time job of multiple people! There are media outlets to contact, social networks to maintain, promotions to run, ads to buy and monitor… the list goes on and on.

One of the things we see with many small developers, is that often their marketing approach is a “try it and see”. They submit for a few reviews, wait till they come out, look for a lift in sales, and then move on to trying ad buys. They spend some money on ads, look to see what happens, then move to Facebook and Twitter to try out social media. Eventually, many of them make their way to my door at Appency with a head full of doubt, convinced that “none of these marketing channels work”.

I have one thing to say to that. It’s not the channels…. It’s your strategy (and often lack thereof). It is a general rule of marketing that it takes multiple impressions on a consumer to drive awareness in a product and intent to purchase. By taking this “one at a time” approach, you lose a major impact point in your marketing – reinforcement. Imagine you are playing one of your favorite games, and a banner goes across the bottom of the page for the new “Zombies of Madison Avenue” game. At the same time, you are in the middle of battling the evil under lord Spike and don’t have time to click on an ad to a game you know nothing about.

Now imagine that was the only impression you got of the game. Are you going to purchase? Probably not. As an app gamer however, there’s a good chance that our player will also happen to check out one of the app review sites from time to time like 148Apps. As he’s browsing around, he sees a review talking about how cool the “Zombies of Madison Avenue” is along with some screen shots of the game. At the same time, he goes into the forum and sees that there is a thread of people chatting about this new game and its features.

Game…. Set… Match… SALE.

Your potential consumer has now had multiple touch points regarding the app, and while they may have ignored it on the first impression (though subconsciously the first hit is still there), the combination of media, expert review and peer review has turned the potential consumer, into a purchaser.

This multi-part strategy is what we call “Blitz Marketing”. Not only does it reinforce the consumer, but by stacking your marketing efforts on top of each other, you are significantly more likely to find yourself ranked in your category due to the sales boost – something that will increase your overall visibility tenfold and create a dramatic increase in sales. The issue with blitz marketing is that it takes a lot of time and coordination. Before you launch your app, sit down and create a marketing and PR plan, or hire someone to help you with this if it’s not your forte. You only have one chance to make a first impression as they say – and most bloggers will only review your app once unless you make significant changes to it, so contacting them too soon can eliminate this potential publicity stream.

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Aaron Watkins
Aaron is a long term mobile industry executive, and the Co-Founder of Appency, a full service PR & Marketing agency dedicated to mobile application (and specifically iPhone) developers.
Connect with Aaron Watkins // email // www // twitter // facebook // linkedin


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  • http://dottribes.com Guillermo | Social Media apps

    Good post Aaron. Thanks!
    I think that the problem with most independent developers and marketing is the lack of time and resources. So many people falls in the “try it and see” that you describe.
    In my case I find myself most of the time coding and with little time to promote my own apps.

  • http://dottribes.com Guillermo | Social apps

    It is really a full time job. From my experience it is not possible to develop AND do marketing at the same time. You must have a team of two people at least.

  • Yiming2100

    The textile  firm, Dawson International, is selling off its Nike  Air Max 24-7 Women White/Black/Blue cashmere division, Todd &  Duncan to a Chinese company.
      Todd & Duncan is 140 years old and employs 200 workers  at its base in Kinross where it spins cashmere yarn for top fashion houses.
      It is being sold to the Ningxia Zhongyin Cashmere Dunk  SB High Shoes Men Black/White/Red/Spot color Company for £6.5m.
      Dawson International said the Chinese Air  Shox OZ Women White/Silver/Pink company would rename the company Todd  & Duncan Ltd and would take on the existing workforce.
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      Mr. Bartness will act as a part-time consultant for the new Nike  Air Shox R3 Men Fashion White/Black company for a period of 18 months.
      As part of the sale, Dawson International said it would buy  yarn from Todd & Duncan Ltd for four years.
      Todd & Duncan supplies yarn to some to some of the  world’s largest Dunk  SB Mid Men Black/Yellow fashion houses including Gucci, Prada and  Chanel.
      It sources most of its yarn from China and exports around 60% of its  product to the European market.
      However, last year Nike  Air Max 2011 Men Black/Red it made an operating loss of £500,000 as it  faced intense competition from Europe and  rising costs.
      The Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife, Liz  Smith, said she hoped the deal would provide an opportunity to take the Dunk  SB High Shoes Men Purple/Blue/Yellow/Orange company forward.
    She said: "The  highly skilled workforce based at Kinross Mill, as well as the strategic site,  provide a great opportunity for the new Nike  Air Max 24-7 Women Black/White/Pink company to develop the business and  I hope that they will go from strength to strength."

  • Yiming2100

    The textile  firm, Dawson International, is selling off its Nike  Air Max 24-7 Women White/Black/Blue cashmere division, Todd &  Duncan to a Chinese company.
      Todd & Duncan is 140 years old and employs 200 workers  at its base in Kinross where it spins cashmere yarn for top fashion houses.
      It is being sold to the Ningxia Zhongyin Cashmere Dunk  SB High Shoes Men Black/White/Red/Spot color Company for £6.5m.
      Dawson International said the Chinese Air  Shox OZ Women White/Silver/Pink company would rename the company Todd  & Duncan Ltd and would take on the existing workforce.
      The Dunk  SB Heels Low Women Red/Blue/Whitecompany’s chief executive, Andy Bareness,  said: "Zhongyin are committed to manufacturing cashmere yarn from a  Scottish base and maintaining a Scottish workforce."
      Mr. Bartness will act as a part-time consultant for the new Nike  Air Shox R3 Men Fashion White/Black company for a period of 18 months.
      As part of the sale, Dawson International said it would buy  yarn from Todd & Duncan Ltd for four years.
      Todd & Duncan supplies yarn to some to some of the  world’s largest Dunk  SB Mid Men Black/Yellow fashion houses including Gucci, Prada and  Chanel.
      It sources most of its yarn from China and exports around 60% of its  product to the European market.
      However, last year Nike  Air Max 2011 Men Black/Red it made an operating loss of £500,000 as it  faced intense competition from Europe and  rising costs.
      The Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife, Liz  Smith, said she hoped the deal would provide an opportunity to take the Dunk  SB High Shoes Men Purple/Blue/Yellow/Orange company forward.
    She said: "The  highly skilled workforce based at Kinross Mill, as well as the strategic site,  provide a great opportunity for the new Nike  Air Max 24-7 Women Black/White/Pink company to develop the business and  I hope that they will go from strength to strength."