How to Market an App or Product on Social Media?

"I have a new product or app" doesn't provide enough details for the world to know what we're talking about!

A perfect marketing plan execution will be of no use if the underlying product or app is uninspiring and on the other hand a compelling product or app unsupported by marketing, would be like any other garbage in the market.

SO an integrated approach will increase your probability of a sustained advantage in the marketplace.

Product or App market has changed so much in recent months and continues to change at a sprinters pace! Apps are products just like any other products on the market.Each product or app requires an effective marketing approach.

Some of the approach using Social Media:
>Explain and provide the facts
Explain what our product's top features are and why the world should be as excited as we are!
Tell what the product is called, which platforms it runs on, how much it will retail for and what are special offers.

>Make it easy to understand
It helps to give a screenshot!Carefully crafted product or app description, keywords and screenshots.

>Give Your Product or App a Descriptive Name
Most of the top product or apps in the market have relatively straight forward names.

>Study the Successes of similar product or apps

>Get to know your users through fan blogs ,sites etc

>Focus on Particular Demographic Target.

>Have killer logo/icon

>Create Mini sites for product or app

>Good old email option - 'Share this'

>Video
.Quick and short 5 minute video works great for product and app promotion.
.Video clips on your customized YouTube channel.
.Developing the app versions in flash will help sell the product because it is playable instead of a video .

>Promotion on Social Networks
.Adding Twitter / Facebook / Email sharing within apps.
.Developing free versions of apps that can be played within Facebook.
.Integrate with Facebook connects and Twitter API.
.Facebook advertisement can give much needed traffic and sales!(Pay for Impressions (CPM) and Pay for Clicks (CPC) and both are effective).
.Google AdWords also is a good option but the approval of advertisement is painfully slow in AdWords even for a plain text Ad.
.Facebook ads works well compared to AdMob ads.
.Smart Twitter promotion campaign.
.Find out who your fans are by setting up your Facebook Fan Page, Twitter profile and other forums.

>Blogs
.Feed or spread the product or apps message on different sites/blogs or article distribution.
.Press release to key bloggers.
.Try to extract quality reviews for the product or apps from famous review sites.
.Write about the product or apps development process on your blog.

>Localize product or app info
Localize your product or app onto other languages and submit to country specific product sites or app stores in localized languages.

>Mobile advertising
Market specifically to current mobile consumers. SMS, MMS etc...

>PR
If your product or app has a news angle to it, that should be exploited.
News media outlets, especially local TV, are always looking for interesting stories.

>Search Engine Optimization or Search Engine Marketing
The idea is fairly simple: use keywords and phrases to help search engines find your webpage/ company site/ online store/ product

>Word of Mouth

>Release the product or app info on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday as on these days people are most active on internet.

There are tons of ways but I guess in the end there is not one weapon of choice instead a mix of PR, mobile advertising, social media, search engine marketing and SMS AND of course how well can these weapons be used!

HTC "YOU" campaign!

As a part of their brand positioning ,

HTC came up with a simple "YoU" campaign.

Having previously produced handsets for different operator's brands such as T-Mobile etc , HTC's hired UK-based branding agency Figtree in order to postion it as "Consumer Brand".This new campaign focuses on "Consumer" and not on "technical capability".

It was the third-largest player in Q2 2008 after Nokia and BlackBerry maker RIM, but a year later has been eclipsed by Apple's rapid growth to a 13.3% share, according to statistics from analysts Gartner.

This new campaign seems to have two main objective:

1.To focus on emotional connections made possible through HTC smartphones.

2.To create an impression on consumer that HTC phones already are the premier technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lUkF1vVudA&feature=player_embedded

'Quietly brilliant' and the ad campaign's emphasis on how HTC puts the consumer first. The product-specific TV ads, one of which is shot from a 'phone's eye' view, focus on how different people interact with their handsets depending on their emotions and their activities.

The ad finishes: "You don't need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you ... and you ... and you. And we are HTC.

SAP's Open Source Marketing!

In 2003,SAP was releasing its new NetWeaver platform
(A software on top of its existing enterprise applications which helps them to talk to each other and to other non-SAP applications based On "Service Oriented Architectures)

But they had a big challenge of marketing this new product because the product's potential wouldn't be visible to customer until they start using it and customer were not ready to adopt it until they could feel its potential!

Early Netweaver customers were also struggling with basics and SAP neither had the reach nor the resource to train its entire customer base.

Then SAP Executive Board Member Shai Agassi came up with an "Open Source Marketing" idea:
SAP Developer Network (SDN), a creation space of forums, wikis, videos, and blogs targeting not just SAP customers but the 3rd parties where all of SAP's customers, systems integrators,developers, consultants, users and independent service vendors (ISVs) teach each other about NetWeaver(Few of them were not even on the SAP payroll)

This community grew quickly and as a result SAP was able to establish NetWeaver with its customers at minimal cost to SAP.

FREE FORD CAR for Blogging and Tweeting

Ford has recruited around 100 "agents," who are rewarded with free use of a car in exchange for spreading the Ford Fiesta gospel throughout social media:

Ford doesn't pay agents to praise Fiesta instead he/she gets to drive the car for six months for free. Gas included. All they need to do is blog, Tweet and post about their vehicles as much as possible.

This program has evoked the interest of about 50,000 potential buyers, 97% of which don't drive a Ford at present, official Fiesta Movement content has drawn 4.3 million YouTube views, 540,000 flickr views and 3 million Twitter impressions.

"Creative way of marketing using SOCIAL MEDIA"

B-to-B environment!Tyco International has 50 brands!

Tyco International is a renowned global company offering one of the most comprehensive product ranges in the world.
Many B-to-B companies try to be all things to all people, and therefore ends up nothing to anyone.Branding is a powerfull tool if utilized and supported by proper strategy and resources.It's not about making people to make irrational buying decisions instead it's about communicating the benefits and value a product provides to consumer.

Tyco for example is one of the best example of powerfull B-to B brands but rarely customer knows about the name Tyco!

Tyco uses 50 different names as a customer-facing brand.It knows that corporate brand is not same as product brands and branding of all the products under one name will send a conflicting message to consumer and also it will have no value proposition.So Tyco has been able to market it as a profitable company by making a clear separation between product and corporate brands.

Moral of the story:

Brand strategy must be unique yet corporate brand need not be everything to world.Products should be branded based on one simple question" What value proposition is most valuable to our consumers"

'It's Time for A Clear New World' a SAP campaign

SAP Launched Global Brand Campaign to emphasize transparency with a global campaign themed :

'It's Time for A Clear New World' (sounds like as if someone is trying to help the world!!)

Previous ads for SAP use to feature customer testimonials. But now in an uncertain economy SAP explores a new approach to promote the idea that SAP's software helps foster clarity.
Here clarity means "Transparency, visibility, accountability". As rightly explained by Marty Homlish, Chief Marketing Officer SAP that "In today's business environment, companies must see clearly, think clearly, and act clearly within their own organization as well as across their business network. Only those with the visibility to act effectively and decisively will survive and emerge stronger than the competition"

The campaign comes after SAP's net income dropped as result of a late-year crash in the global economy and in the midst of rumor and market talk that Microsoft is looking to purchase SAP.SAP has taken measures to reduce cost by some €200 million in largely made up of the widely publicized hiring freeze and elimination of non-customer facing travel.

Print and digital ads began rolling out in the U.S. and Germany in May, and will expand to other European and Asian markets . The company has also revamped its Web site and optimized it for mobile connectivity as well.The campaign will also include out-of-home billboards.

One of the point to note is that the tagline, "The best-run businesses run SAP," remains.Reason as explained by Leo Apotheker,who is the new CEO of SAP "Before, to be a best-run business, a lot of it had to do with being profitable and being efficient. Now we're saying there's another level to that, which is transparency and accountability,"

How much can SAP benefit from this re-branding approach?

'Kambakkht Ishq’ latest bollywood movie launched a Mobile Marketing campaign

Let us analyze a creative Mobile Marketing campaign done by Hungama Digital Media based on my 10 factors for mobile marketing::::
The makers of ‘Kambakkht Ishq’ and Hungama Digital Media launched a unique mobile campaign so that fans across the country can connect with the film from anywhere.

1.Strategy: To create buzz and excitement about the film. Each film needs to create a buzz among prospective audiences before its release in order to ensure that they watch the film.

2.Relevant to the consumer: Kambakkht Ishq is an action-packed, romantic comedy that will appeal to everyone. This movie's theme is ‘war between the sexes’ that the youth will especially connect with.

3.Awareness: Through varied avenues like the Kambakkht Ishq mobile game, a mobile Voice VAS service by Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor and a blog written by the film’s director Sabbir Khan on www.BollywoodHungama.com.

4.Content:
>The Mobile Game is a fun-filled racing game which allows users to play the role of Akshay Kumar and highlights the gender wars between the two protagonists of the movie. The user has to complete various stunts and collect objects in the exciting and fast paced racing game to complete the game.
>In the Mobile voice VAS service, Akshay Kumar reveals a few of his stunt tips for all the young aspiring stunt men; and Kareena Kapoor advices women on beauty tips.

5.Target Customer: They needed to promote the film through platforms where youngsters are present and today every young boy or girl are connected through a mobile phone . Also give fans in international markets an insight of the film before its release.

6.Cost: No info yet.......

7.Customer Control: All people have to do is pick the phone, dial a number and listen to the stars of Kambakkht Ishq speaking to them.

8.Post-Campaign customer satisfaction survey: Yet to be Known....depends on first day collection.....

9.Privacy:

10.Medium: Mobile Game, Mobile voice VAS services and Blog.

This movie is supposed to be ground braking "Bollywood meets Hollywood" project.Sylvester Stallone makes a delightful cameo