Everyone makes a huge deal about apps that made millions in profit, but we rarely hear about the tech companies that are barely surviving. Ken Delaney of Gartner said, “…of paid applications, about 90 percent are downloaded less than 500 times per day and make less than $1,250 a day. This is only going to get worse in the future when there will be even greater competition, especially in successful markets.”

What does this mean for you as an app entrepreneur? It means that to become a dominating app today, you basically need to be a unicorn; and to succeed at all, you must have a strong startup growth strategy that allows you to rise way above the competition.

What Is A Growth Strategy?

Let’s start from the basics. The definition of a growth strategy is a game plan for capturing a wider share of the market. For a more established business, this means diversifying product offerings, expanding into new regions and etc. A new startup however, must take a different approach to growth, first ensuring that they have built the right product and then identifying how to get even the first few users to their app. Another difference is, startups must rely mostly on internal growth strategies while established businesses that have enough resources can tap into external growth strategies for even quicker growth.

What is an internal growth strategy?

An internal growth strategy refers to techniques that grow your business by relying on resources from within the business. These methods involve activities such as improving staff, optimizing marketing, and further developing the product offering.

What is an external growth strategy?

An external growth strategy relies on external measures of growth such as acquiring another business or building a strategic alliance with another brand.

External growth strategies can allow businesses to grow rapidly, but in the beginning, startups typically don’t have the resources needed to successfully implement these techniques. Acquiring technology takes money that startups don’t typically have, and strategic alliances often require a strong brand awareness and a highly-defined product – other attributes that startups don’t typically possess. Instead, startups must implement the right growth strategies at the right time to first acquire early adopters; then to establish the business within the market; and finally to scale wide and expand rapidly.

Startup Growth Strategies for Establishment

While you may envision having a million users on your application, the truth is, securing just the first 1,000 users is quite challenging. In your eyes, the app you’re building may seem like the only solution for the customer problem, but it probably isn’t. Today, there are more app solutions on the market than there has ever been, meaning your consumer has options. According to data by Sensor Tower, by 2020, there will be over 5 million apps active in the App Stores.

When implementing a startup growth strategy, start by attracting enough early adopters to test your solution and ensure that you are building the right product for the market.

Identify Your Market

No matter how you choose to market or advertise your application, you will only succeed if you truly identify what market you are serving and who your consumer really is. One customer group may respond to your marketing efforts much differently than another, and the better you understand the customer – the more effectively you will be able to reach and serve them.

Here are a few ways to identify your target market:

• Consider Your App’s Features: Think about the features that you are developing, and the benefits that relate to each of those features. Then, match them to the type of consumer that needs those benefits most. A productivity app startup for instance, may find that while they can serve a wide range of different businesses, web development teams would be most helped by the specific benefits that their features provide. With this insight, they can optimize their marketing campaign to attract this specific market.
• Analyze Your Competitors: A thorough competitor analysis can provide great insight into which customer groups you should focus your attention on. On one hand, analyzing other apps with similar features will allow you determine what types of customers they are targeting and attracting. On the other hand, you may be able to find customer types that they aren’t focusing on – which may uncover market gaps that your team can take advantage of.
• Develop Your Ideal Customer: Draw up a model of your customer. Give them a name. Write everything you know about them – where do they work, what do they read, how many children do they have, what is their annual income, who do they follow on social media, what type of apps do they download, what types of problems they face, and etc. Learn how they think and how they make decisions. Identify what they don’t like about current products. Again – the more you know about your consumer, the better you will be able to reach and serve them.  
• Justify Your Decision: After you have decided on a customer demographic and/or consumer group to target, perform market research to calculate how big the market really is. You will never penetrate the market by 100% and realistically, a successful app will likely only penetrate a small fraction of the total addressable market. If you were only able to secure 1% of your addressable market, would that be enough to sustain your business? Analyze your market thoroughly and determine whether there is enough value in your target market for you to continue to grow without limiting your ability to scale.

Find Early Adopters with an MVP

Launching your minimal viable product will allow you to test your software with early adopters for proof of concept. What is a minimal viable product? According to Techopedia, a MVP is “a development technique in which a new product or
website is developed with sufficient features to satisfy early adopters.” In terms of your app, it means a stripped down software that only includes the features needed to prove that the concept is viable.

Instead of building a full-scale application with a large number of features, launch only the number of features that will allow you to validate your initial assumptions. Then, seek to bring in a handful of users and track how they behave. User behavior will give you the most valuable insight into whether your app solution is meeting the customer need in the way you expected.

How do you find early users? Here are a few tips to help attract early adopters to your solution:

• Join Communities: The great thing about the internet is that like-consumers seem to find each other and organize themselves into awesome little communities. These communities are spread across different forums and even social media sites like Facebook and Reddit. The caveat is that these groups typically hate marketing spam cluttering up their discussions. Don’t approach these communities as a marketer, but become an engaged member of the group by asking and answering questions, and naturally interacting with other members. Once you become known as a valuable member of the community, it will be much easier to tell individuals about your application without seeming like an unscrupulous salesman.
• Launch A Video: A great video has the potential to connect with the emotions of consumers and build wide scale anticipation for your app launch. Create an awesome video that showcases the features and benefits of your application and get it in front of potential viewers. In some cases, a video can be used to measure user interest before a single feature is even developed.
• Social Media Ads: Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow you to get your marketing message directly in front of a targeted audience. Since you’ve already listed the demographics of your consumer, choosing the right audience to showcase your ads to should be simple. Continue to optimize your ads for better performance, and it will be much easier to get the ball rolling when you scale later on.

Track Metrics

Now that early adopters are downloading and accomplishing tasks with your application, it is important to track a variety of app metrics to best assess their behavior. Tracking metrics will give you the immediate data you need to determine whether your solution is a good product-market fit or whether it is necessary to pivot your solution. There are many metrics that will come into play at different stages of your business, but here are a few that you should be tracking from day one:

• Number of Users: Is anyone downloading your app? Knowing how many users are downloading your app is the first measure of how well users are responding to your marketing message. If your marketing message is strong and you are showcasing features that truly serve your market’s need, you should be able to convert a good number of those who view your ads into downloaders. An app that is receiving little downloads (compared to marketing efforts) is typically either offering features that consumers aren’t interested in, or aren’t properly presenting valuable features in their marketing campaigns.
• User Retention: It’s important that users are downloading your app, but it’s more important that you’re able to keep them around after you’ve acquired them. If you are successfully acquiring new users but they are only using the app once or twice before they delete it; this is a clear sign that an issue exists. This could mean that users aren’t satisfied once they download the app; or that they find it too confusing to navigate; or even that the app is too buggy for them to use effectively. The longer you are able to retain customers, the more value you will be able to pull out of them in the long run.
• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): Acquiring new users doesn’t mean much if you are paying more to acquire them than they are worth. For instance, is it worth spending $50 to acquire a customer for a $2.99 app? Probably not. Tracking your cost per acquisition will keep you informed on what it costs to get a single customer to download your application. Once you have dialed in your marketing strategy and have created a great product-market fit, you should be able to improve marketing conversion; reduce your cost per acquisition; and increase your overall profit margin.

Develop Your Product

App development is never complete; and as you continue to learn more about your consumer, your app will morph to better serve the market. An app that never progresses in functionality will eventually reach a market plateau. Think about this – how many times does your smartphone notify you to update apps on your phone? Some of the most popular apps out there like Facebook and Instagram update regularly with new features and abilities.

Don’t make assumptions – use the data that you’ve collected in the previous steps to decide whether you are on the right path, or whether you should pivot your idea to serve your customer better. 

Take Groupon for instance. When they first launched, the model was quite different than what it is today. Initially, it was called “The Point”, and was a platform where people could get together to solve problems. After launching a simple WordPress blog and tracking user behavior, the founders realized that what people were really interested in – was grouping together to receive deep discounts on their favorite products and services.

A pivot in strategy based on customer behavior data allowed Groupon to grow into the multi-billion dollar mega platform that it is today.

Product development is necessary across every growth stage. As you further develop your product, you will be able to attract more users, retain them longer, and acquire them at a lower cost.

Startup Growth Strategies

After a product has successfully passed through an initial stage of user testing and all immediate assumptions have been validated, startups can begin widening their startup growth strategy to increase user acquisition, consumer spend and internal capability. The following techniques can be used during this stage to bring an app startup to the next level.

Test Monetization Strategies

The only way to become a financial success as an app is to monetize users. Even ‘free’ apps must have some type of revenue model (like advertisements) to sustain and grow. There are several types of monetization strategies, and finding the right app business model is critical to your growth as a business. Here are a few models you can test to generate the most value from each user:

• Freemium: A basic version of the application is offered for free, but users can access additional features by paying a monthly subscription fee.
• In-app Purchases: The app can be downloaded for free, but some type of virtual goods can be purchased within the app. Mobile games often use this model, allowing users to purchase additional credits, coins or virtual items.
• Advertising: Users can access the application for free, but advertisers are charged to display ads to these users.
• Paid Apps: Users are charged an initial fee to download the application.

Optimize To Convert Better

It’s important to acquire customers, but what’s more important is being able to convert them into paying customers. Unfortunately, startups often don’t pay enough attention to or put enough effort into converting users into customers. According to HubSpot, for every $92 spent acquiring customers, only $1 is spent in converting them. If you can’t convert users into customers, it will be impossible to earn enough revenue to maintain growth. As is the case, it is vital to optimize conversions before scaling your marketing campaign; ensuring that you are growing your revenue potential as you grow your number of users.

While the technique you use will be specific to your individual business, here are several common ways that app entrepreneurs have effectively improved their conversion rates:

• Free Subscription Trials: In some cases, freemium users may not upgrade to paid subscriptions because they don’t understand the value of doing so. Maybe they are able to fully satisfy their need just from the free version, or maybe they are just confused as to whether the upgrade is worth their money. Offering a free month of subscription will allow them to try the upgraded package with no risk, and access additional features without any payment. Apps that offer free trials acquire significantly more sign ups to their paid packages and typically have a much higher conversion rate than apps that do not offer a trial period.
• Discounted In-App Purchases: For apps that sell in-app goods (like mobile games), offering limited time discounts is an extremely effective way of increasing conversions. Games that allow you to buy coins or credits for instance, are known to frequently push notifications to consumers during usage; offering a high number of credits for a discounted price – but only if you capture the deal now. Just like in a convenience store, consumers who engage heavily with mobile games are more likely to buy on impulse when a discount is involved. Furthermore, by offering a discount, you may be able to convert users who would not have purchased otherwise.
• Pricing Optimization: In some cases, users may not purchase larger subscription packages simply because they don’t like the price. Optimizing your pricing is critical – charge too much and users won’t purchase, but charge too little and you may kill your profit margin. Run A/B tests on your packages,
  trialling different pricing structures against each other to find the ideal balance between customer value and price.
• Feature Optimization: If users don’t find enough value in the additional features offered in upgraded packages, they’ll simply continue to use the free version. Consider the features that you are asking them to pay for, and the ones that you are offering for free. Confirm that there is a considerable value added each time the user upgrades to a higher package; and furthermore, verify that each upgrade helps them solve their problem more effectively than the less-costly or free packages.

Generate Referrals

One of the best ways to grow at any stage is to tap into the networks of your existing users through referrals. According to reports by Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from family and friends above all other forms of marketing. No matter what your marketing message is, it is exponentially more effective when your consumer hears it from someone that they trust, as opposed to when they hear it from you as a marketer.

In today’s online world, users love to share- that is, if something is worthy of them sharing with their peers. Take advantage of this by offering user incentives for recommending your app to their friends, family and associates. Referral marketing isn’t just one of the most powerful methods of marketing, it is also the most fruitful. This means that by compelling your users to refer your app, you can acquire several new users for the price of one.

Build Your Team

Don’t underestimate the value of an awesome team. Great strategies bring in valuable users, but it’s the team that forms and implements the strategy. Take an objective and subjective look at your current team – and the skills that they possess. Compare existing skills to those that are really needed to push your startup forward. When you find gaps, fill them in with the right people. As a result, you will strengthen your team, build your internal capacity, and leverage the abilities of other specialists to get to the next level of growth.

Startup Expansion Strategies

At this point, you should have a large number of users, a proven product, a winning marketing strategy, an app business model that converts well and a strong founding team. Now, you should be able to access external resources to expand the application or launch it into new markets. Here are a few techniques that can be added to your startup growth strategy in the expansion stage.  

Secure Funding

If you’ve penetrated enough of your initial market with a proven solution – you’ll likely be in a strong position to secure seed funding from an angel investor. Write your app business plan, create an awesome pitch deck and network like crazy.

Pitch your idea everywhere you can and to everybody that will listen. You never know who knows who, and ‘six degrees of separation’ is more real than you could ever imagine.  

Joining an app incubator is also an effective avenue to raise funds for your software business. In addition to funding, these entities also typically provide advice, office space and even connections with potential investors and customers within their network.

For more information, check out our article: The Best Ways To Raise Seed Funding For Your App Startup.

Build A Great Marketing Funnel

Unfortunately, not every consumer who needs your app will realize they need it the first time they see your marketing message. At the time they see an ad for your app, they may not yet need the solution; or may not realize that they need the solution; or may not realize that they need your solution. Building a great marketing funnel allows you to capture consumers across all purchasing stages and funnel the most qualified leads into customers.

Fully examine each stage of the marketing funnel and determine whether your funnel best serves the customer at every step. Focus on on strengthening any weaknesses. For example, you may find that you are losing customers in the consideration stage, because when they search your app online they don’t find anyone talking about it. This may mean you need more press or that you need to showcase your app on more online outlets.

As another example, you may find that users downloaded the app but often leave at the sign-up stage because the process is too lengthy or difficult. A strong app marketing funnel ensures that you are able to best serve a customer from the time they discover your app until the day they become a customer – and beyond.

Scale Your Business

Finally, you are in the position to really scale your business. With financial backing and a strong marketing funnel in place, your startup can leverage this foundation to grow even further — and even faster.

There are several ways to expand an app business once it has been proven and validated, such as:

• Seek New Audiences: Once you’ve successfully penetrated your initial target audience, start looking other market sectors that may benefit from your technology. Preferably, look for niche markets that your competitors are not serving – which will give you a major competitive and first mover advantage.
• Penetrate New Locations: Many app startups have realized the extreme advantage in initially targeting one specific location. After you have figured out how to effectively penetrate one particular region, it is highly likely that you can duplicate the same strategy to quickly penetrate new locations. Seek locations that are similar to your launch region – locations where you can reach the same consumer demographic and attract them the same way you did previously.
• Add New Features: Finally, as you are building your user base, you should also continue to seek opportunities to further monetize your existing users. By adding new features and functions to your technology, you can create new revenue streams and add more product value; enticing users to stay on your app longer, return more often, and spend more over their customer lifetime.

A strong startup growth strategy is integral to your success, and if the optimal strategy is followed, you will be able to set yourself apart from the dozens of competitors that you will likely compete against over your journey.

At ThinkLions, we have worked with hundreds of businesses around the world, helping them develop and implement startup growth strategies that win. If you have an awesome app idea or a soon-to-launch app, we’d love to help you develop a step-by-step startup growth strategy and business plan. Contact us today to set up a free consultation with one of our app startup experts.

The post The Best App Startup Growth Strategy For Each Business Stage appeared first on Startup Squared.

What is Mobile App Advertising?

In-app advertising is the method of delivering marketing messages to consumers through apps on their smartphone devices. For marketers, mobile advertising is an effective way to display advertisements to consumers. 

In exchange for that advertising, marketers pay a fee that is collected by the app’s creators – providing an effective and profitable monetization method for many apps. 

The History of Mobile Advertising

Although smartphones existed even before the iPhone, it was the launch of the iPhone that gave way to mobile ads. When the App Store launched, the concept of “mobile apps” was introduced – software that was built specifically for the device; unlike traditional mobile websites that were built for display on desktops.  

Many of these early apps were free to users. However, apps are expensive to build, market, and maintain. App developers needed a way to earn back their expenses – and hopefully, create a profit. 

Enter mobile app advertising.

As smartphones quickly penetrated the entire globe, mobile apps became more integral in marketing and advertising. For the first time ever, advertisers could connect with consumers right at their fingertips.

The Value of In-App Advertising to Marketers

In-app advertising grew to over $70 billion in 2018, a 20% increase from a year before. According to eMarketer, this represented over 75% of the total digital spend. 

But what makes mobile app advertising so attractive to marketers? There are several major benefits to advertising through mobile apps. 

User Engagement

At one point in time, television commercials were all the rage. The only problem? Viewers weren’t that engaged. Even if they were engaged with the show they were watching, they’d walk away from the television or flip to a new channel when commercials came on. 

Mobile apps completely changed how users engage with advertisements. Today’s average smartphone owner spends around 3.1 hours each day consuming digital media on their device. This equates to 69% of their total media time. 

Not only do users now spend an unusually lengthy amount of time on their mobile phones, but they are also increasingly using mobile to make purchases. In 2017, mobile e-commerce sales already accounted for 34.5% of total e-commerce sales. By 2021, it is expected that this number will rise to 54%. 

Accurate Targeting

It’s incredible how much information one’s phone is able to collect about their interests and purchasing habits. Unlike a desktop computer or even a tablet, mobile phones are often unique to the device’s owner. 

Users download apps that are meaningful to them. They use apps that are impactful in their personal lives. They watch YouTube videos on their smartphones that entertain them and make purchases of products/services that solve their own unique challenges. In some ways, the way you use your smartphone almost tells everything about you. 

This data allows marketers to target consumers more accurately than was previously possible. Whether by demographics, spending habits, location, or etc.; marketers can now promote their products and services directly to their ideal customer. As a result, they are able to convert higher and spend less on customer acquisition. 

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

With better user engagement and more accurate targeting, mobile advertising often leads to significantly higher click-thru rates. 

According to studies, while web ads only receive a CTR of around 0.23%, mobile app ads reach as high as 0.58% on average. 

For companies, higher CTRs mean more customers and less money. It’s not hard to see why advertisers increasingly prefer mobile app advertising over other marketing avenues. 

Should You Offer Ads In Your Mobile App? 

Now that you know what mobile app advertising is, it’s time to answer the most important question. Should you use in-app advertising as a monetization strategy for your app? The answer to this question is — well, it depends. 

There are a number of benefits and weaknesses associated with offering mobile ads. When deciding whether you should monetize this way, consider the following pros and cons. 

Pros of Mobile App Advertising

There are several reasons that an app creator would decide to add in-app advertising. Mostly, these benefits revolve around the ability to monetize. 
In-app ads shift the costs away from the business and its users and put them on advertisers instead. Over the last decade, app developers have realized that free apps are downloaded much more often than paid applications. Instead of making the consumer pay to download the application, they could offer it for free, but charge advertisers to market their products/services to users. Offering a free app means more downloads, and for many apps, this is a big enough reason to implement in-app advertising.

In-app advertising is also often used as a secondary method of revenue generation. Although paid apps don’t attract as many users, pay per download is still quite common. Instead of supplementing income with ads, mobile apps that generate tens of thousands of paying customers may choose to use ads to further maximize their potential revenue from each user. 

Cons of Mobile App Advertising

While the monetary draw of mobile ads can be tempting, they don’t always provide a positive experience. In fact, monetizing with ads can have the opposite effect and cause you to lose users and earn less money. 

Used incorrectly, mobile ads may severely diminish a user’s experience. Some ads are extremely intrusive and can heavily annoy users. Consumers are forced to see ads all day long, from billboards as they drive to video ads on their favorite TV streaming platforms. Sometimes, consumers just want the ability to do something (anything!) without being advertised to. 

Some of this intrusiveness can be managed by ad format, placement and timing. Spammy ads popping up in the middle of a user’s intended action can totally ruin their experience and cause them to abandon the app. Users already paying for an app are even more likely to get annoyed by advertisements. 

Just be careful and know – when using ads, you run the risk of making your app seem spammy and may cause users to lose trust in your brand. 

Best In-App Advertising Platforms

For app developers that choose this route of monetization, there are several platforms that make it easy to implement and track ads.

Here are a few of our favorites:

• AdMob: Google AdMob is an ad platform that maximizes the value of every impression by combining global advertiser demand, innovative ad formats, and advanced app monetization technology. AdMob works with millions of advertisers across a variety of industries, providing a variety of ad formats including rewarded, native, banner and interstitial.
• AppLovin: This platform is a multi-faceted solution that allows mobile game developers to earn revenue and engage users in a single place. AppLovin helps increase app revenue for developers by working with advertisers around the world. 
• Vungle: This solution allows app developers to reimagine the way their app makes money by showing innovative content from global advertisers. Vungle works to improve the ad experience by bringing pixel-perfect, tech-tailored formats that blend in without slowdowns or interruptions. 

Making A Decision

Now that you know what it takes to earn revenue through mobile app advertising, it’s time to decide whether you will use ads in your app. 

The best way for an app entrepreneur to decide on which monetization strategy is best is to test them. Set up a monetization strategy and send traffic to it for a few weeks to see how it performs. If it performs negatively, pivot to something else. However, if it performs positively, then continue to persevere – you’re on the right track to earning revenue! 

Do you use in-app advertising to monetize your smartphone app? Tell us about it in the comments below! 

The post How To Improve Revenue With Mobile App Advertising appeared first on Startup Squared.

It’s easy to envision the end result – millions of users downloading the app and telling their friends about it; but how to do you get there? How do you advertise an app? Even knowing where to start is a challenge, especially when your marketing budget is low or non-existent.

In this post, we want to explore exactly what it takes to advertise apps the right way; getting your idea in front of the consumers who will most benefit from it and persuading them to download it. To get the best advice possible, we turned to several experienced app entrepreneurs, app marketers and marketing experts and asked them – what is the key to marketing and advertising apps?

How To Advertise An App – The Must Do’s

It’s always nice to try out cool marketing tactics like contests, giveaways and other out-of-the-box ideas – but none of these methods are effective if a few app marketing basics have not been established. More specifically, every app startup needs to: build an associated website, optimize for App Store rankings (ASO), and optimize for Search Engine rankings (SEO).

Andrew Glantz, founder of GiftAMeal, suggested the following – “There are several ‘must-dos’ when marketing apps. You need to ensure that your app is easily discoverable with valuable keywords, have preview app screens that accurately capture the value of your app to potential users, and provide a compelling app description.”

The way your app performs in the App Store is extremely important. Apps that are featured receive considerably more downloads than those that are not; and those that show up first for related keywords receive considerably more downloads than those that are ranked in lower positions. Not only does your app description need to be written with a persuasive and consumer-forward tone – it also needs to cover ASO basics to ensure that it is visible to potential users.

Stav Tishler, Head of Marketing Communications at Lightricks gave the following advice, “SEO – that’s how people find your apps online. If you’re buried all the way on page 13 of a Google search result, will anyone ever find you? Does anyone even click to the second page of the SERP? I don’t know if I ever have.”

SEO is competitive, and ranking highly for valuable keywords includes many factors, such as: on-page optimizations, links from high authority websites and the website’s relevancy to the keyword. Furthermore, SEO is a long-term strategy – but establishing the app’s website early on gives startups an advantage; allowing them to generate organic and free online traffic. Paid ads on the other hand, can allow a startup to receive traffic to their website immediately. Since advertisers must pay for each click however, the benefits of paid ads end once the advertising budget has run out. When it comes to the must-dos of advertising apps, ASO and SEO give startups the ability to level the playing field with more established competitors.

Figuring out how to advertise your app on search engines with the right keywords can be challenging. Adrien Caiazzo, Marketing Director of Narraly (parent company of Flixup.io) says, “We use solutions like www.thetool.io and www.appannie.com to find the best keywords for our app, and also compare those with our competitors’ keywords. Before we could afford other paid avenues, finding strategic keywords was the best way we could get people to find our app.”

Caiazzo also added the following advice for app advertising must-dos, “Make sure the app is functional, as early adopters are incredibly valuable. And use your networks. Friends, old co-workers and family are more likely to download and rate your app than new users. If your app is very innovative; post it to different websites such as www.launchingnext.com or www.producthunt.com. These offer great visibility, and many of the users are passionate about tech, so they give helpful (albeit direct) advice.”

Mobile App Advertising – Establishing Authority

Publishing high quality content has become a leading way of advertising apps and marketing online businesses. Consumers are aware that competition exists in every industry and often, it is the credibility factor that makes them choose one solution over another. Furthermore, each piece of new content a startup publishes becomes another marketing asset; giving the business an additional avenue to connect with consumers. Content however, is extremely competitive as well. The quality of information you are putting out there is much more important than the quantity.

If you want to know how to advertise an app the right way with content, look at Mint.com for inspiration. Before Mint.com was even launched, the founding team already had a target customer in mind – young professionals. To reach them, they focused on their finance blog, MintLife. By publishing strong content, they were able to build themselves to the largest financial blog online. When Mint.com was launched, they already had a direct link to young professionals – their blog already had the market’s attention.

Eric Chiang, Marketing Lead at GooseChase Adventures says, “The most effective way we’ve been able to market our app in the recent months has been to create content showcasing how users are engaging with our app; instead of focusing on content that simply just shows how the app works. In general, potential investors might be interested in hearing about the technology and innovation behind your product – but your target demographic, the people who you’re actually trying to sell to? They only care about how your app will improve their life.”

Brit Armour, Director of Marketing at Kibii says, “Maintaining a blog will help you establish brand awareness and visibility. Most importantly, it allows you to gain trust and credibility by connecting with your audience on a deeper level. You need to appeal to your audience’s emotions. To be considered a thought leader, you must provide extreme value and provide consumers with the expert information that they seek. Content marketing is something I invest a large amount of time into. You can promote your app and its features as much as you want, but if your audience doesn’t resonate with your brand, they won’t give you a second thought.”

How To Advertise An App Through Communities

Like marketing other types of businesses, mobile application advertising requires a strong engagement with your target market – and there’s no better way to engage than social media.

Lyft for instance, which has always competed against the larger rideshare company Uber, uses social media to really engage with their drivers and build user loyalty. Lyft’s CMO, Kira Wampler says, “While rival Uber is an efficient delivery service, Lyft is seeking to differentiate itself by offering a combination of ‘humanity and technology.” Social media offers the perfect opportunity for them to bring in the humanity aspect of interaction with their users. As a result, their social media page is filled with awesome customer photos, comments from drivers and passengers, driving stories and other content that engages fans and followers.

Regarding social media, Tishler answered, “Specifically for our apps, which are all about being creative, we use community-oriented social tools: Facebook and Instagram Live, Facebook groups, subreddits, and any new tool available to create a community. This allows us to provide a place for users or potential users to ask questions, get inspired and engage in a community of like-minded individuals.”

Creating Media Relationships through PR

The way your startup is introduced by the media will play heavily on how consumers perceive your brand and app. When advertising apps, it’s important that the media is not only talking about you, but that they are mentioning your business in a positive light. Media relations requires finding journalists and media sources that cover products and software in your industry, and reaching out to them with a newsworthy story. Here’s the thing – if a media source is worth it’s weight, they probably receive dozens of pitches from startups each and every day. For your pitch to be effective, you must be offering them a quality story – not just another ‘app feature’ opportunity. Nobody wants to talk about another new app – but a startup that just received a high level of app funding? Well, that’s a story worth writing about.

To take advantage of media relationships early on, you may want to consider hiring a PR agency. Tishler points out, “Find a PR company. It’s expensive, but they tend to work. And if they don’t, you’ll know early on and you can find a new one.”

It can also be extremely beneficial to focus on building relationships with social influencers. These are individuals that are within your industry that influence the market through social media – whether it be through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or another platform. A single mention from the right influencer can instantly lead to thousands of downloads of your application and can have positive lingering effects when advertising apps.

Establishing Great Feedback – Reviews

Even if you know exactly how to advertise an app and implement every trick and hack; if users come across your app in the app store and your reviews are bad, they won’t download it – especially if it’s a paid app. User trust is built with 20% of what you say about your business, and 80% of what other consumers say about your app.

Whatever strategy you use for advertising your app, make sure to start establishing your reviews early on. Invite people from your personal network to use your app and ask them to leave a review. Incentivize users to leave reviews, offering them free credits or other rewards. Remind them to rate your app with the occasional popup notification.

Nate Masterson, Marketing Manager at Maple Holistics says, “With a surplus of good reviews, the sky’s the limit. The app with the most five-star ratings is going to hit the top of the search page quicker than those that are lesser reviewed. Having a good rating is all about having a functional app, that does what it says it’s going to do and brings excitement to the user. Asking for a review in a witty way could be just what you need. Being persistent is good, but being clever is better.”

Advertising Apps By Thinking Outside The Box

As mentioned, marketing apps can be difficult due to the sheer amount of competition that you will likely face. Sometimes, startups need to think outside of the box to make sure their solution is visible to their audience. Tinder for example, went straight to the “party” schools to market their application. They pitched the app to sororities and signed up sorors on the spot. They leveraged the participation of these sorority women to persuade the campus’ men to sign up.

GiftAMeal also does on-site advertising. Glantz remarked, “We also physically advertise our app at our partner restaurants. We put out table-tents and window decals at participating restaurants to encourage customers to download and user our app.”

How important is it to think outside the box when marketing apps? Caiazzo of Narraly says, “I try to spend a third of my day on out-of-the-box strategy planning. I think the real questions should be: how do entrepreneurs brighten their creative process to find out-of-the-box ideas? For me, that includes meeting and talking to people, reading articles, brainstorming with colleagues or other companies, and studying other businesses that use creative marketing techniques.”

Advertise Your App Like A Marketing Master

The key to knowing how to advertise an app like a master is to test your marketing techniques on a small scale before betting it all on one horse. Focus on the ‘must-dos’ first: creating a strong website with on-site optimization and ensuring that your app description is optimized for ranking highly in the app store. Then move to establish yourself on social media, build media relationships and generate positive customer reviews. If the competition is thick, use out-of-the-box methods to reach your consumers directly or to stand out against competing brands.

Marketing apps can be challenging, but fortunately, we know exactly what it takes to create a winning marketing strategy. Contact us today to setup a free consultation with one of our expert startup consultants!

Do you have an out-of-the-box method for advertising apps? Tell us about it in the comments below!

The post How To Advertise An App For Maximum Exposure appeared first on Startup Squared.

From the outside, app virality seems like a stroke of luck – a cool app gets released at the right time and people love it so much that they want to tell all of their friends about it. It seems that the only difference between the overnight success of an app like Pokemon, and your new mobile app or game, is mere chance. However, this just simply isn’t the case. Apps go viral for the same reason that anything goes viral – and it’s more a matter of psychology and positioning than anything.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make an app go viral, you’re in luck; in this guide, we’re going to give you what you need to know to generate and maintain viral success for your mobile application.

How To Make An App Go Viral – The Psychology

Have you ever considered why some things go viral and why some things don’t? Consider this – a brand can spend thousands of dollars promoting a contest with the offer of a great reward and get no traction at all; while an individual can spend zero dollars pouring ice-cold water on themselves – spurring the #IceBucketChallenge and generating engagement from hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of days.

Social media especially has given brands the opportunity to interact and attract consumers instantly; but with so many brands vying for their attention – consumers are in complete control of what they choose to read, view, download, and share. Brands spend millions and millions of dollars creating content that consumers like, but ‘liking’ something doesn’t compel them to share it. What makes users share something? According to a study by The New York Times Customer Insight Group, there are five main reasons why people share things online :

1. To bring valuable and entertaining content to others.
2. To define ourselves to others.
3. To grow and nourish our relationships.
4. Self-fulfillment
5. To get the word out about causes or brands.

In other words, sharing is both about providing value to one’s self and to others. In some cases, people share things that define who they are as a person or their stance on an issue; while in other cases they share things because they truly believe it will benefit someone else. Some people share things because they get some sort of fulfillment out of it – whether it’s some physical reward or some type of recognition. Sharing isn’t about liking something, it’s about believing that something has the power to achieve one of the five listed objectives.

Consider these stats from the same NYTimes Customer Insight Group study :

• 94% carefully consider how the information they share will be useful to the recipient.
• 85% stated that reading other people’s responses helps them understand and process information and events.
• 84% stated that they share because it allows them to support causes or issues that they care about.
• 78% responded that they share information online because it lets them stay connected to people they may not otherwise stay in touch with.
• 73% share information because it helps them connect with others who share their interests.

When you are able to truly understand why your customers share things, it is much easier to create campaigns that will meet their specific objectives. Viral app campaigns are built around the psychology of their target markets; users don’t just respond to and share campaigns simply because they exist.

3 Techniques To Make Your App Go Viral

There is no one size fits all strategy to making an app go viral, but by combining the right product with the right strategy to achieve a consumer’s “sharing objective”; you can create a successful app campaign that will significantly boost the visibility of your mobile app. In the following sections, we will examine five proven techniques for generating viral traction.

Gain Exposure from the Right Influencers

The simplest way to make your app go viral is to get the right people talking about it. In the days of social media, influencers are king. Influencers exist in every industry, and persuading a single influencer could make your app visible to thousands and thousands of potential users within your influencer’s network. A single tweet by the right person; a video of the right person saying how cool your app is; a post from the right person about how your app solved their challenge – influencer mentions give your app instant social proof and credibility and immediately position your app as “industry-accepted”.

Make sure you understand who your clients listen to on social media – who influences the market? If you were launching a Bitcoin strategy app, for instance, you would want to find leading cryptocurrency strategists that consumers turn to for trading advice. By having them mention your application as a part of their buying/selling process; their followers will immediately equate your app as a viable and credible solution. Some apps have more “mass” appeal than others and may have more potential for mass adoption, but even influencers in niche markets can drive considerable traffic to an industry-specific app.

Obviously, your app doesn’t go viral just by figuring out who the influencers are – you’ll need to contact them and convince them that your app is worthy of being mentioned. Real influencers get flooded with requests daily, so make sure your pitch stands out and that you offer them something of value. In our Bitcoin app example, the founder may invite the influencer as a limited beta user and offer them a lifetime upgrade to a paid subscription package. By doing so, they are provided value, shown that their opinion matters, and further encouraged to use the app. If your app actually provides a worthy solution, the influencer will most likely share the new app they “discovered” with their social following. Keep in mind – influencers want to influence, and their reputation is on the line; they’ll only share apps that are truly beneficial for their readers or viewers (remember: sharing objectives).  

Create The Fear Factor

It is scientifically proven that people hate losing much more than they love winning. By nature, we are wired to want to be on the “inside” of everything that is great; and not looking in from the outside. Many viral apps and campaigns have used this psychological weakness to quickly boost downloads by building high anticipation through limited access or by creating fear of missing out (FOMO).

Here’s a personal story: I can remember the launch of Facebook like it was yesterday. I was a college student at the time. While visiting home, a friend of mine who attended another college showed me his “Facebook page”. After being a MySpace addict for the previous 18 months, I was eager to set up my Facebook page immediately – but, I couldn’t! Facebook rolled out access to the platform school by school and since they hadn’t released to my school yet, I couldn’t register an account with my college email address. When I returned to school that Monday, Facebook was the only thing people were talking about. Everywhere I turned someone would tell me, “Hey man, did you hear? We’re getting Facebook this week!” Everyone was so pumped! The anticipation was at a peak. What happened? The day Facebook opened its platform to our school, it seemed the entire school population registered immediately.

Facebook rolled out this strategy school by school across the country, building anticipation all along the way. Consumers want to be part of the club – and when they can’t… they want it even more! This is how anticipation works – if you make people aware of something that they can’t yet have, they begin to build it up in their mind as something that they MUST have.

There’s one thing that makes you want something more than having to wait – missing out. Take a travel booking website for example. When we look up a deal, we are presented with how many people have already bought the package and how many are left. For example, a search for a hotel booking in San Diego may state, “27 people have booked this room. There are 2 rooms available.” To the user this means – this deal is moving fast and if you wait, you’ll miss it. Beta stage is a perfect time to run a FOMO campaign. Let consumers know that your app will be available on a certain date, but only available to a certain number of users; if they don’t beat the clock, they’ll miss out!

A few years ago, Bitcoin instantly became all the rage. Every media source was covering and mentioning the explosive growth of Cryptocurrency and people began seeing Bitcoin as a pathway to undeniable success. Those who didn’t have any Bitcoin instantly began buying in because they didn’t want to be left out when all of their friends got rich. Within a matter of a few days, the price of Bitcoin had doubled as hundreds of thousands of new investors began trading their cash for Bitcoin. The rapid growth of Bitcoin during this time was driven by two main factors – the anticipation of getting rich and the fear of missing out on the chance to be rich.

Bait, Hook and Download

According to Nir Eyal’s guide, “How To Build Habit-Forming Products”, any app can go viral if it meets specific requirements and has the ability to “hook” users. This technique focuses on the psychology of what people want, and what helps them progress through the purchase stage. The hook model is based upon four steps – Trigger, Action, Reward, and Investment:

• Trigger– Users need a trigger to enter the buying cycle. Internal triggers are what people hope to get out of your app – whether it be socialization (social media), a solution for boredom (mobile games) or to solve a challenge or issue (business apps). External triggers refer to information or stimuli that comes from outside sources such as ads, ratings/reviews, blog mentions, etc. Internal and external triggers work together to persuade consumers to download and use apps. Someone who has been single for years will immediately peak in curiousity when they read an article about a new dating app. The article (external trigger) responds to their desire to date (internal trigger).
• Action – A consumer who is triggered properly will be compelled to take your intended action (such as downloading your app). To take an action, people must be motivated and have the ability to do so. Someone who is compelled to download your app but can’t find it in the App Store will be unable to complete your intended action. Make it simple for users to follow through on your trigger, otherwise they may give up during the act of trying.
• Reward – Once a user has completed the action, they should be rewarded with the result that they expected. Signing into a great mobile game immediately curbs your boredom, while registering to Facebook allows you to immediately begin finding your friends and socializing.
• Investment – When the user finds that they are rewarded by signing into your app and that they are able to achieve whatever objective they were hoping to achieve – they make an investment by making purchases, revisiting the app again, sharing it on their social media pages and telling their peers about it.

By successfully hooking consumers and providing them with a viable solution to their challenge, they will be compelled to tell others about your app – giving you the viral push that you desire.

Does Going Viral Mean Instant Success?

It seems that “going viral” is the equivalent of success – if only a million people could see your product, you’d be set forever… right? Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. For many apps, going viral can be a nightmare. Becoming a “fad” in the app world means that you only remain relevant until the next “fad” comes around. The weight of going viral will crack the seams of any app startup that hasn’t established a strong foundation.

Take Peach for instance. Essentially, this app was a combination of Twitter and Slack and allowed users to post status, gifs, and “magic words” – keywords that allow you to post what you’re doing and instantly compile gifs related to those words. Peach quickly went viral as word about the app rocketed through the market; but just as quickly as it hit the Top 10 in the App Store, it faded away, never to be heard from again. The initial fun of “magic words” was enough to draw uses in, but not enough to retain them. Without a strong core, users didn’t find this single feature valuable enough to want to use the app over and over again.

Before Instagram introduced videos, there was Vine. This short video/social media platform quickly rose to meteoric heights early on. For a short period, Vine was considered the quickest growing video-sharing application in the world. One of Vine’s largest marketing advantages was the adoption by social influencers, whose fans followed them over to the app. While Vine had a clear unique selling proposition with their short videos, it was one that was easily duplicable by other platforms.

Soon after larger platforms began offering short video capabilities, influencers began leaving Vine for other platforms that now offered short-video capabilities in addition to the several other popular features that users desired.  Going viral is only valuable if you’re able to capture the traffic and maintain the growth after the initial craze has worn off. Most viral traffic subsides after 48 hours and if there isn’t a plan in place, you’ll look up a week later and it will be like going viral never even happened. Consider the following suggestions for maintaining growth after going viral:

• Push Notifications can be a great way to reignite your audience’s attention once the hype dies down. Some people may simply forget about your app after using it once or twice – push notifications can remind them of your app and encourage them to give it another try. The potential for these notifications are intensified when you add in a great offer such as, “Play now and receive 500 free credits!”
• App Store Optimization (ASO) helps to ensure that your app has high visibility in the App Store. If your product is difficult to find, users may give up trying before they actually locate it. Optimizing for different platforms (iOS vs Android) can be difficult. It is recommended that you consult with a professional ASO expert to help you better your positioning within the App Store.
• User Reviews are one of the most advantageous benefits of going viral – if people actually liked your app. Reviews play a huge part in user psyche as they decide which apps are worth their time, and which apps aren’t. An app that is able to gain thousands of positive reviews quickly will be able to leverage those reviews in the future when potential users come across their app in the App Store.

Winning The Viral Game

The quicker you ascend the viral ladder, the more dangerous the fall will become. For app startups, success is about developing a strong foundation with brick-by-brick growth. However, if you can combine human psychology insights, technology, and a long-term strategy – real tangible app success could be in your short-term future.

Ultimately, app success is about building awesome technology and implementing great business models. We’ve helped dozens of businesses bring their app ideas to life – not just through development, but by following a true app startup process. If you’d like to learn more about how to best position your app startup for viral success, contact us today for a free consultation!

The post How to Make Your App Go Insanely Viral appeared first on Startup Squared.

In many studies, research has shown that customers don’t use logic to buy products and services. Rather, emotions are the primary influence on a customer’s purchasing decision.

If there’s anything you can learn from the film industry – nothing evokes powerful emotions inside of a person more effectively than a great story. This is also supported by science. When we are captivated by a story, our brains release chemicals called cortisol and oxytocin – the former which helps our brain focus more on the story and the latter which produces ‘feel-good’ emotions inside us. That’s great and all, but how does this help your business or company? According to Harvard Business Review, here’s how:

‘With both oxytocin and cortisol in play, those who had the higher amounts of oxytocin were much more likely to give money to someone they’d never met.’

Great marketers are aware of this, and as a result, they use great stories in their advertising to promote their brands, attract more customers, and make more sales. However, just having a brand story isn’t enough. You need a great one. In this post, we’ll give you the tips you need to bring your brand story to life.

The 3 Elements of a Great Brand Story

Creating an awesome brand story for your company isn’t rocket science, but there is a formula to it. Let’s take a look at the three most important factors of an effective brand story.

The First Element of A Great Brand Story: The Plot

In every story, there is a plot; or, a structured format of each major event that takes place in the story. Just like a novel or a movie, the structure of your plot is more important than anything else. Even great scenes lose their impact if they are delivered in the wrong part of the plot without the necessary context.

At its core, the job of a brand story is to tell consumers why your company exists, and clarify the value it brings to the consumer, the industry, or hey, even the world (you have to think big sometimes).

Unfortunately, most companies don’t do this. Rather, they squander the opportunity to connect and instead, simply state who they are and what they do. Their story becomes a one-sided “me, me, me” story, without considering the needs and demands of the consumer. Since these types of brand stories are so common, they fail to resonate with the intended audience – and thus, they never motivate even a single person to make a purchase.

Professor Paul J. Zak, an American Neuroeconomist that helps companies and organizations understand consumer behavior, explains why this is the case:

“… people are substantially more motivated by their organization’s transcendent purpose (how it improves lives) than by its transactional purpose (how it sells goods and services). Transcendent purpose is effectively communicated through stories – for example, by describing the pitiable situations of actual, named customers and how their problems were solved by your efforts.”

What this means is, in your brand story, customers care less about who you are and what you make, and more about how you can improve their lives or immediate situation.

When deciding how you will structure your story, consider the why, how, and who.

Begin your brand story with the ‘why’

You only get one chance to make a great first impression, and the first words of your brand story will decide how engaged the audience will be with the rest of the story. Start setting up your brand story by identifying your organization’s ‘why’; or, the reason why your company exists.

Why is this important? Think back to Apple when it launched the first iPod. At the time of launch, no one really knew what an MP3 player was. Claiming that you had the greatest MP3 player had no impact; because no one even knew why they needed an MP3 player.

When Steve Jobs announced the launch of the iPod it back in 2001 at the Apple Music Event, he emphasized the why. No one wanted to hear about the technical makeup of an MP3 or the inner workings of the device. The way he presented the product and brand centered on one thing – the ability to have “a thousand songs in your pocket.”

Only after emphasizing on the “why” did he move towards showing how it works and what the device actually was. Did it work? Well, by 2007 (when the iPod Touch debuted), Apple had already sold over 100 million iPods… So yes, I’d say it worked.

Follow up your brand story with the ‘how’

Defining the purpose within the brand story is critical, but it’s not the only important part of the story. In addition to showing why you exist and what value you bring, you must also explain how you will deliver on your brand promises. Nobody likes empty promises. Before you prepare your brand story, consider the actions that your company will take to meet the claims you’ve made.

Look at how Nike follows up their promise with a commitment to action. In their mission statement, they state that their ‘why’ is ‘To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.’

But they know this isn’t enough. A goal without a plan is just a pipe dream. That’s why, just after the why in their brand story, they follow up with the how:

‘We do that by creating groundbreaking sport innovations, by making our products more sustainably, by building a creative and diverse global team and by making a positive impact in communities where we live and work.’

So, how does your company deliver? What kind of services and products do they create to move forward with its mission? How is it’s culture represented? In other words, how does it fulfill its purpose? Before you begin penning your story, make sure you can answer these questions.

End your brand story with the ‘who’

Now that you know why your company needs to exist and the activities required to meet your objectives; you can add the ‘who’ into your brand story structure.

Identify the reasons that your brand is the right company for solving the specific problem that you seek to resolve. Write down your competitive advantage, your unique selling proposition, and the specific reasons why your team is the right team for the challenge.

Detail what your company is all about, what products/services you offer, where you’re located, how long you’ve been in existence – and other important details.

Once you have a structure and have identified exactly why you exist, how you’ll meet your goals, and who you are as a brand – you are ready to start writing your brand story.

The Second Element of A Great Brand Story: The Content

The purpose of a brand story is to make sure your brand is remembered. However, knowing how to create a brand story that is memorable and inspires consumers to act; well, that’s quite a bit more difficult.

Here’s what Professor Paul J. Zak recommends:

“When you want to motivate, persuade, or be remembered, start with a story of human struggle and eventual triumph. It will capture people’s hearts – by first attracting their brains.”

What he means is, people connect with the ‘rags to riches’ story. People relate to the struggle and are inspired by one’s ability for one to overcome it.

Developing your storyline in this fashion is simple, but it requires two main qualities: tension and release.

Build tension by highlighting the problem

In any story, a problem or challenge exists, and your brand story is no different. Lead it with tension by showcasing a problem that a specific customer faced. To effectively create the right amount of tension, focus your brand story on one specific problem – and one that is relatable to each consumer within your target audience.

Once you’ve connected your audience to the issue at hand by building tension, they will be engaged and curious to find out how that issue can be solved (the release).

Release tension by highlighting the solution

Your consumer is engaged. You’ve told them, “Look, this client had a major problem and you’re facing this same problem.” They realize that they have a huge challenge in front of them, and they want a solution. If this has been accomplished, you are in a perfect position.

Describe how the customer’s problem was resolved, how their anxiety about their challenge was eliminated, and how resolving the issue changed their life for the better.

Remember, there is a purpose to having a brand story. You want your story to resonate and connect with consumers, and the tension/release model is the best way of accomplishing this. Doing so allows you to create drama in your brand story, which will make it more influential, captivating and inspiring.

Without such a drama, your audience won’t know why your brand story matters; or really, why you or your business matters. Without something to strive for, to fix, to solve – why does your business exist? If you want to create a great brand story, connect them to the problem and calm their fears with a solution.

Keep the story simple

Knowing how to create a brand story also means knowing how to balance the drama of the story with simplicity.

Complicated stories are difficult to navigate, which means people won’t understand the message you’re trying to convey. They’ll forget who you are and what value you bring to the table. The opportunity to connect with them will have been missed, and your one chance to persuade them will have been ruined. In any type of brand story or message, simplicity is key.

Nielsen and Norman Group stated in their research:

“Good communication has strong business value. Organizations with clear writing styles are perceived to possess greater transparency and credibility than companies that don’t. Plain language removes barriers between you and your readers. It sets your organization apart from the competition, resulting in increased conversions and loyalty.”

Try using as many simple words as possible for universal understanding, and stay away from technical terms that only an expert (like yourself) would understand. As Neilson and Norman stated: “no one has ever complained that a text was too easy to understand.”

The Third Crucial Element of A Brand Story: The BHAG

What’s a BHAG, you might wonder?

A BHAG is an abbreviation for ‘big, hairy, audacious goal’. James Collins and Jerry Porras created, coined and explored this term in their popular business book “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies”.

The purpose of a BHAG is to give a company a direction for their next 30-40 years. It is a goal so big that most people outside the company will regard it as near-impossible to achieve, but in fact, has a small probability of being realized by the company.

In the case of your brand story, the BHAG will define your company’s long-term objective; setting the stage for you to briefly describe your short and mid-term plans.

To give you an idea, here are some examples of popular BHAGs by companies:

• Microsoft: A computer on every desk and in every home.
• SpaceX: To create the first human settlement on Mars.
• Google: To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible.

Your BHAG will serve as the overarching theme for your brand – and will give better context when you tell your brand story.

How To Promote Your Brand Story

Congrats, you’ve successfully constructed your brand story! Now it’s time to share it with the world. The whole point of writing a brand story is to get your story in front of consumers, and that will take a bit of marketing. In this section, we will lay out four effective ways to promote your brand story.

1. On social media channels

Social media platforms are the perfect place to share your brand story. Users want to share things that are meaningful to them, and if you’re able to connect the right way, it could lead to free viral promotion. Produce a variety of content to tell your brand story – pictures, videos, blog content, and etc.; and post it to the most related platforms.

2. Using your own personal network

If you are someone who already shares valuable content (in some way, shape or form) and have amassed a loyal following of either email subscribers or social media followers; share your story with them first. Since they are loyal to you already, they will be most interested in your story and most likely to share. If you don’t have a network already, try to align with someone who does – whether it be a non-competitive partner, an influencer or the media/press.

3. Inspire your customers to share your brand story on your behalf

If your company creates high-quality products, has an inspiring brand story behind it and markets that story aggressively using the strategies outlined above, you’ll find it much easier to generate brand awareness.

Executed properly, your loyal customers will also start promoting your brand story for you. They’ll write content about you, leave reviews and ratings, share/link to your content, and tell their friends about you.

In addition to amassing loyal followers, your brand will become more credible, more trustworthy and more popular. All thanks to creating a great brand story.

As Harrison Monarth, the author of the New York Times bestselling book ‘The Confident Speaker’ says:

“A story can go where quantitative analysis is denied admission: our hearts. Data can persuade people, but it doesn’t inspire them to act; to do that, you need to wrap your vision in a story that fires the imagination and stirs the soul.”

Three Examples of Great Brand Stories

Great brand stories aren’t just limited to the big players. Even small companies have the opportunity to access the power of great brand stories and propel their businesses to the next level.

In this section, we’ll show you three companies, varying in size, who have successfully created interesting brand stories and used them to grow their business.

ConvertKit

ConvertKit is an email marketing company founded by Nathan Barry. It has an excellent brand story that shows how even a small one-man company can leverage the power of storytelling to build their brand. Let’s break down ConvertKit’s brand story using the three elements we discussed above.

1. Structure

ConvertKit’s brand story is a great example of the concepts we’ve covered. You can read the whole thing on their own website, but here’s the short version of it:

• The Why: ConvertKit’s reason is crystal clear: they exist to help creators make a living online.
• The How: By teaching creators everything they know – creating something every day, focusing on taking care of existing customers more than winning new ones, working in public, being generous, doing less with higher efficiency and hiring productively.
• The Who: They are a SaaS startup that builds a world-class email marketing service for creators.

2. Story

ConvertKit’s story is the story of its founder, Nathan Barry.

Nathan Barry was – and is a creator just like his company’s customers are. His story is that he publicly challenged himself to build a ‘side project’ that would generate $5,000 in monthly revenue. This side-project, he named ConvertKit.

Since he was a creator himself, he was aware of what other creators would need from an email marketing tool – so he went on to build the ultimate solution.

Building Tension:

He identified that tools like MailChimp are easy to use, but lack powerful features; while tools like Infusionsoft are powerful, but extremely complex and difficult to operate for the average user.

Providing Release:

As a solution, he built ConvertKit, a tool that’s easy to use like MailChimp, and powerful like Infusionsoft. The perfect balance for creators that need maximum effect with minimum effort.

3. BHAG

ConvertKit has actually divided their BHAG into five parts:

1. Help creators make 1 billion dollars online.
2. Get 250,000 creators to use ConvertKit.
3. Make $100 million in annual revenue.
4. Be 100% remote with 50 teams or fewer.
5. Remain 100% independent.

As you can see, their brand story is aligned around their BHAGs – and vice versa.

To date, they have been highly successful. The story of ConvertKit and it’s creator Nathan Barry has received an enormous amount of word-of-mouth and their email marketing tool has grown to become one of the best in the market.

Zappos

Zappos is an online shoe retailer based in Las Vegas. It was one of the early ‘.com’ companies and was started in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn. In 2009, Zappos was acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion. Their brand story has propelled them to become one of the most lovable companies in the U.S.A.

1. Structure

Zappos’ brand story might not be immediately apparent in their marketing, but when you do business with them, you know exactly who they are, what they do and why.

• The Why: It is difficult to find high quality shoes online, and even more difficult to find an online shoe company that offers a high level of customer support.
• The How: They offer a wide variety of shoes in all shapes, sizes, widths and colors. Moreover, their support staff and delivery services are one of the best in the world. One of their biggest competitive advantages is a no-questions asked product return policy.
• The Who: Zappos is one of the world’s most trusted and reliable online destinations for quality shoes and footwear.

2. Story

Zappos’ story resonates with people of all kinds, because it is so familiar.

Building Tension:

It all started in the 90s when Nick Swinmurn, the founder of Zappos, went shopping for shoes at a mall. Unfortunately, none of the stores provided the exact shoes he wanted. He decided to search online, but given that the internet wasn’t then what it is today, no one offered shoes with the level of quality that the mall stores were offering.

Providing Release:

Nick Swinmurn committed to providing a great online shoe shopping experience, and launches with his own website, shoesite.com. He wanted to make sure the quality was the same as the branded stores that customers would visit inside a mall. Zappos was born. For those who want quality shoes, a convenient shopping experience, and unparalleled support; Zappos is the solution.

3. BHAG

Zappo’s BHAG is to become ‘the best place for customer service in the world’. This means, out of the millions of companies in the world, Zappos wants to be the leader in serving customers properly and effectively.

Have they been successful? Looks like it.

According to Inc.com, 70% of Zappos’ business comes from repeat customers – and in their own words: ‘managers from other companies–including many from service and quality leaders like Southwest and Toyota–make regular pilgrimages to Zappos facilities to learn how the company pulls it off.’

Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club is an online subscription platform that delivers razor blades and other cosmetic products specifically to a male audience. It shocked the world when this tiny startup, started by improv comedian Michael Dublin, sold for $1 billion to Unilever.

Was it their blades? No, Gillette had better blades. Was it their customer service? Probably. Was it their brand story? Definitely.

1. Structure

Dollar Shave Club’s brand model is simple. Nothing complicated. They’re just here to sell razors, but they were able to do it with two major advantages: price and convenience. These factors drove their brand story, which fueled their success.

• The Why: For men, purchasing razors is an inconvenient experience. High markup makes razors expensive to purchase, and men must travel to the convenience store to purchase them.
• The How: They provide high-quality razors for $1/month, delivered directly to the customer’s doorstep, on schedule, and with little to no effort.
• The Who: They are a first-of-kind razor subscription company with a new business model and a hilarious founder that produces awesome comedic brand content.

2. Story

The Dollar Shave Club’s story is the story of all men.

Building Tension:

Michael Dublin, the founder of the Dollar Shave Club urges people to stop ‘paying for high tech razors you don’t need’.  The brand story details how razors are extremely overpriced, although they are cheap to produce. While the brand story was presented humorously, it brought many issues to light – such as how men need the assistance of an attendant to open up the razor case at the convenience store – as if they are storing gold and diamonds!

Providing Release:

For a far lower cost – Dollar Shave Club will deliver high-quality razors to your doorstep. There are no extra fees. You can cancel your membership anytime, and they have a no-questions-asked, money back guarantee.

While their story is simple, it is extremely effective. Before you create your strategy, check out Dollar Shave Club’s YouTube videos to see how they were able to combine their brand story with comedy to drive new interest in their business model.

3. The BHAG

The Dollar Shave Club’s big, hairy audacious goal is ‘to make sure you always have everything you need to look, feel, and smell your best.’

By this it means they want every man to have the best sanitary and cosmetic products they need at an affordable price, on their doorstep, each and every month. That’s their BHAG, simple and plain – but is worth billions if even halfway achieved.

And yes, the way DSC promoted their brand story is the prime definition of perfection. In the 48 hours since Michael Dublin released his viral ad for showcasing the Dollar Shave Club’s brand story, they received 12,000 orders. Now several years later, Dollar Shave Club is valued as a multi-billion dollar company. The power of a great brand story is infinite.

Your Brand, Your Story

Now you know exactly how to create a brand story that stands out, but it’s up to you to actually bring life to your story. Be honest, be enthusiastic, and mostly, be relatable to your target audience.

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, we can help. Our business plan consultants know exactly what it takes to develop a brand story and use that story to attract both consumers and investors. Ready to write your business plan and add success to your brand story? Contact us today!

The post How To Create A Brand Story That Consumers Can’t Forget appeared first on Startup Squared.