How 3 app PR launches completely nailed it (while one wildly popular app surprisingly flopped)

HAIDIAN DISTRICT, China - March 13, 2014 - PRLog -- In 2013, when we surveyed 2000 developers about their approach to app marketing, most developers admitted that they didn’t have a clear Android or iOS PR strategy. However, a well executed PR campaign for launching an app can be crucial to driving users and early adopters.

Unique app positioning

Define your app’s unique positioning and your value proposition before reaching out to the press. Make sure your app’s defining qualities are clearly communicated, whether it’s through a beautiful UI, a one-of-a-kind approach to an existing problem, or just something else awesome about your app.

Bug-free and polished

Journalists get a large volume of app pitches landing on their desk (and by desk we mean email) every week and you really might only get one shot to impress. If your app is littered with bugs or isn’t delivering on the value proposition that you’ve promised, you might want to consider a limited release while you polish the app until you’re comfortable with having your app scrutinized. Think of this as a job interview for your app. Make a poor first impression and you might not get another chance.

Identify key journalists

Find out key media for your app that targets your core audience. Research the journalists that have written about competing apps or within your target industry and reach out to them directly. If you’re executing the PR launch by yourself, you might find it tough to grab a journalist’s attention so be prepared to leverage your connections or pay a regional professional PR firm to to help with launch, such as Inner Circle Labs in the U.S. or Dimoso in the U.K.

Pre-launch app builds for press

Have a polished “preview” version of your app ready on a beta test platform like TestFlight at least a few week’s prior to launch that you can share with journalists. Ensure that your app has been approved by your target app store well in advance of the planned media launch and set an embargo date to get the best app store rankings at launch.

Manage controversy and use to your advantage

Not all app launches will go as smoothly as planned. Closely monitor what your users are saying and if any major issues that may spill out over to the press and make sure to observe what the press are saying. But if you’re the target of controversy, identify any opportunities to use this attention to your advantage.

Alternatively... Release first, focus on PR later.

If you prefer, release first (silently) and iterate improvements before putting your beta app in front of the press where it’s vulnerable to scrutiny. Or if you so feel inclined to garner a bit of PR, stick to a small or local region where the chances of your app hitting mainstream press is minimal. Once you find yourself comfortable reaching out to local press, be ready for a larger and more widely distributed press campaign to influential journalists that coincides with a major update, milestone, or any other newsworthy story. But as a rule of thumb, try to keep your first major PR announcement within a window of less than 6 months post-launch so that app still feels fresh and new.

Learn more from the experience of some of the most famous apps. Read more examples on the official blog: "How 3 PR Launches Completely Nailed It (While One Wildly Popular App Surprisingly Flopped)"

http://www.appflood.com/blog/ios-android-app-pr-strategy-...