So in the sales world, there’s a proscribed method to working with the law of averages and getting a solid conversion rate established, it’s aptly called the 5 Steps to a Sale.
The steps are:
- Introduction
- Pitch
- Quality
- Close
- Rehash
I’m going to talk about the first step, and how it applies to App Marketing. In a nutshell, it’s your initial impression, how you present yourself (or your product in the online translation) to your prospect, before you actually qualify the prospect and either move on or move forward depending on their reaction to your intro.
It works the same way online, we’ve seen it multiple million times with a wide variety of clients, and it’s critical. So critical that if you only had a limited marketing budget, I would suggest spending upwards of 85% of the budget on the Intro.
Great, you’re saying, now spill the beans, tell me what to do…
Describe your app – in 3 words. No verbs, no contractions, and certainly no conjunctions. Three simple words.
Now ask everyone you know who has seen the app in action to give you three words describing it. This is the first and most effective way to figure out whether your marketing approach is on the right track or if you’re out in space without a lifeline.
Write a single sentence to describe your app. Be brief, to the point, and as concise as possible. No extraneous adjectives. Actually, try to avoid adjectives altogether. Adverbs, on the other hand, are your friend. Action words are good. For instance,
TypeSmart 2.0 makes one finger typists type 60% faster on Android keyboards
That’s a good action sentence. It tells the reader exactly what to expect from TypeSmart 2.0 if they are a one finger typist (and really, who isn’t on a mobile phone?) If they don’t happen to be a one finger typist, they’re still likely to check out the next sentence, if for no more reason than to find out why TypeSmart works so well for Android keyboards. We’ve also introduced the fact that TypeSmart is a product designed for Android keyboards, so we’re pre-qualifying the target – if they’re an iOS user, they don’t get a keyboard option, but you never know, they might look anyway, and pass it on to any Android users they know.
Ask your ‘focus group’ of friends or beta testers to give you a sentence too. Try to get as many people to demo the app as you can, in all its’ stages, so that they can give you input and help guide your marketing materials. Start simply and don’t be afraid of their answers, especially if they don’t match up with yours — it’s much better to know how people are using and thinking about your app than to be surprised when your marketing efforts (especially if you are on a shoestring and doing this all yourself) come to naught and you can’t get distribution for your app.
Step 2 is a later post, so practice step 1 until you have the three words and the sentence nailed down.