In today's digital age, mobile apps have become a powerful tool for businesses to engage with customers and generate revenue. In fact, mobile apps have generated over $249.9 billion between 2016 and 2024. However, monetizing a mobile app requires careful planning and strategic implementation. In this blog post, we'll explore six effective strategies to boost your mobile app's visibility and marketability.
Freemium Model
Freemium is a portmanteau of "free" and "Premium". That might sound contradictory and you might wonder how an app can be free and still generate profit, but is actually an incredible strategy to maximising your app visibility. Making your app free increases the chances of it getting downloads, after all, who doesn't love free things? This allows users to get a feel of your app and see if it's something they would enjoy using.
This is when the monetisation comes in, you can lock the more useful functions on your app behind a paywall. If users already enjoy using your app, they would be much more willing to pay a fee to use an improved version of the app. However, this is a balancing act, as if you lock absolutely essential tools behind a paywall, consumers might decide it's not worth the money.
Email Marketing
Everybody has an email address these days, and that makes it an incredibly useful tool in marketing. You can set up a login interface on your mobile app which can be used to collect the email addresses of users. This would allow you to create engaging ads for your products and send it to many people at once.
While this is a good strategy for marketing, it is important not to spam potential customers with low quality, generic content constantly. That is how you get a one-way ticket to the spam folder. Personalization in email marketing is also important, as it increases engagement by tailoring content to meet the individual preferences and needs of each recipient.
In-App Advertisement
In-app adverts are a great way to monetize your mobile app. There are many companies who are always looking for new opportunities for products and services. You can provide an opportunity for these companies by allowing them to run ads through your app. Companies often pay a percentage for any purchases of their product made by clicking on the ad through your mobile app.
A great tip is to contact companies that provide similar services that can improve the experience on your app. This would increase the likelihood of potential consumers clicking on those links. For example, running ads for Bluetooth gamepad controllers on a video game app.
Influencer Partnerships
Forming partnerships with influencers is one of the most effective marketing tools of the
digital age. One of the biggest success stories using this method is a mobile game app called RAID: Shadow Legends. If you are active on YouTube, chances are you've heard that name at least once. As of 2024, RAID: Shadow Legends has generated over 1 billion US dollars in revenue.
The reason for this massive success is the companies' effective use of influencer marketing. That is why this is one of our most important tips on monetizing your mobile app.
When choosing influencers for partnerships, it's essential to ensure their audience aligns with your target market to maximize the impact and relevance of your marketing efforts.
Crowdfunding
Building a mobile app can be a really time-consuming and expensive endeavour, and most app developers often have to pay out of their pockets and develop apps solo. A good method to remedy this is through crowdfunding. You can market the potentiality of your app to people and they can decide to sponsor the development.
The best website to do this is Kickstarter. It gives you a page where you can easily give the rundown of what your app is and the potential benefit it could bring to consumers. sponsoring is as easy as the click of a button. That why is there are so many success stories on Kickstarter. If enough people make donations to your app's development, it can lead to profit as there are many Kickstarter campaigns that get donations exceeding their initial donation milestone.
Creating a compelling crowdfunding campaign is vital, as it attracts backers by clearly communicating the value and potential of your app to potential supporters.
Subscription Model
A subscription model involves creating a service that requires a recurring payment over time. This is another great way to monetize your mobile app as it constantly generates profit in intervals. However, for a subscription model to be successful, it is heavily dependent on the type of mobile app that you are developing.
The most successful subscription models offer a service that makes life easier and is a genuinely useful tool. That's why the most popular subscription models offer an important service such as Netflix for a large variety of entertainment, VPNs for online privacy and security... etc. It is important to study successful subscription models and understand what precisely keeps people paying every month.
To maintain a successful subscription model, it's important to provide ongoing value to subscribers, keeping them engaged and invested in your service over time.
Conclusion
Successfully monetizing your mobile app involves having a deep understanding of the market and what kind of service people are looking for. In this article, we've highlighted what we think are some of the best ways to turn your mobile apps into a profitable enterprise. To learn more about mobile app development, you can book an appointment with us today!