Welcome to part 3 of our app launch series, helping you gain exposure for your app and increase downloads.

Let’s face it, getting the name of your app out there has become harder than getting a seat on the Northern Line in rush hour. To put it simply, there are too many people trying to do the same thing.

When the App and Play Stores are dominated by the likes of Tinder, Candy Crush and Instagram, it can be hard to find your feet. But it’s important to remember that even the top downloaded apps started out as mere ideas too. With some clever marketing, nifty tricks and a quick look at the tactics of those who have absolutely smashed it, you will be able to gain exposure for your app before it’s even launched.

Be Different

From collaborating with an unexpected brand to running a marathon dressed in an iPhone outfit (kudos to RunKeeper for this!) there’s a number of ways that you can gain exposure for your app in ways that could excite, confuse or intrigue your potential users.

For an example of this we will look to the horribly addictive Angry Birds. In 2011, Angry Birds set up a real life game in the middle of Barcelona. Locals and tourists used smartphones to control a real life slingshot while a live band played the music featured in the game.

Of course, it’s not possible to do something as huge as this when just starting out, but by doing something a bit different, Angry Birds landed media coverage on hundreds of blogs and videos of the life-size game were widely shared online. Anything that gets potential users talking, sharing or hash-tagging is a win when it comes to marketing your app.

Create A Teaser Video

Teaser videos started as a nice touch but have now become something of an essential.

A bit like a movie trailer, you can be as creative or as wacky as you like. But remember, sometimes simplicity wins (everyone remember Flappy Bird?). Having a video showing either a demo of the game or a sneak peek will make users excited. Humans are predominantly visual and love to be shown something as opposed to simply told about it.

Although you may have to put some money aside for creating and promoting the video, if it manages to spark interest and increase engagement, it’ll be worth it.

Appeal To What People Love

Just a quick glance at Facebook and Twitter trends and you can get a pretty good idea of what people are loving when it comes to social media.

A company who did a great job of appealing to the masses was Uber, who took advantage of National Cat Day. The company’s campaign UberKITTENS was used to promote adopting animals from shelters as opposed to breeders. On National Cat Day, users in a number of US and Canadian cities were able to hail an UberKITTEN to their office, with 15 minutes of cuddle and playtime with a kitten costing $30.

Uber nailed this campaign for so many reasons, many of which we can learn from. They worked alongside something people love, and that is, cat videos. We are all guilty of logging onto Facebook with the intention of replying to a message and being lured into a four-hour cat video binge. Uber knew this, and they played up to it.

National Cat Day is the day that users are posting about cats, tweeting about cats and thinking about cats. What better way to gain exposure for your company than actually giving people real life cats to play with, photos of which they will no doubt share on social media? Hats off to UberKITTENS, they absolutely nailed it.

Two takeaways from this hugely successful campaign? Do your research and make sure your timing is impeccable. UberKITTENS would have worked almost any day of the year because, let’s face it, it’s adorable. But the fact that it was National Cat Day just heightened the campaign’s success. There is no point launching a fitness app two weeks before Christmas! New Year’s Day on the other hand couldn’t be more appropriate – just make sure you follow our app launch series to help you beat the competition!

When it comes to marketing your app there is no better advice than have fun, get creative and be different. The users will come running. Check back in next week for the next part of our app launch series!