3 ways to market your brand on a mobile app

Advertising your brand in the context of a mobile app takes tact. What are the best ways to advertise on a popular mobile app and overcome the difficulty of getting people to download your app?A case in point is Cheil OpenTide’s mobile app for Mainland Chinese travellers who need to navigate Seoul’s subway system, K-ing Korea Subway (韩国地铁).The app offers a map of the subway system as well as practical tips and information on landmarks such as museums, restaurants and stores near each subway station.The agency marketed the app through Weibo campaigns, cross promotion with duty-free stores and search engine marketing targeting keyword searches related to South Korea.  Cheil OpenTide is currently developing English and Japanese versions of the app.1. Develop an app that meets an existing market need before you even promote itOne of the biggest challenges of mobile marketing is getting people to download your mobile app and to continue using it.Sunny Kim, project manager at Cheil OpenTide Korea, who managed the K-ing Korea Subway app project, said: “Through market research, we discovered that a Korean subway app in Chinese had an enormous market demand.“This helped ensure good download numbers before we even began promoting the app.”The app has been downloaded more than 50,000 times in the past four months.2. Offer e-coupons instead of just a display ad“When you put an ad into the app, most users would feel repulsed by them. But if you provide a coupon, the tourists will usually download it and store it in their phones. When they are travelling in Seoul, they will naturally go to that store and shop around,” Kim said.The app’s 34 e-coupons have seen more than 20,000 downloads in total.3. But pop-ups are not always badKim argues there is value in placing pop-up ads, often thought to be the most annoying form of advertising, whether they are viewed on PC or mobile.“Among all the ad spaces we have on offer in the app, we found the pop-up ad gives the greatest exposure,” she said.So far, the pop-up ads have a click-through rate of 20%.