Did you ever wonder whether the creators of all the different apps out there ever did so with clear intention and a well thought-out business plan?

I am currently in the process of writing a business plan for a mobile app for the course New Enterprise Development, and all my research has led me to believe there are 2 success factors of a mobile app:

1.Quality/utility – Bluntly put, the app needs to be a good app. It needs to offer some level of utility to users and it needs to function well.

2.Marketing – Understanding what the conversion funnel looks like and the consumer’s decision making journey can pay dividends if you tailor your strategy this way.

Now, let’s focus on point number 2, assuming that 1 is a non-issue. 

How many app developers employ the conversion funnel when thinking marketing strategy? By employing the funnel approach and using this as the crux of the marketing strategy, developers can maximise the number of downloads their app gets upon launch.

With a well though-out emarketing plan consisting of predominantly social elements (Twitter, blog, Facebook, Instagram, etc.), it should theoretically be possible for marketers to get potential users of the app pretty far down the funnel (in this case, all the way down to intent) before launch (maybe during development) so that once they do launch their app, conversion rates have been driven up and a pool of users are eargerly awaiting downloading the app.

Of course, this may not work for all apps (e.g. games), but consider a database app that provides some sort of information or service. In this case, marketers can benefit from building up a sense of following through social channels and establishing their image as a thought leader or expert in the field of question. The main point? Marketing should begin months before launch with the aim of ticking off at least “awareness” off the list, if not “consideration” and “intent” as well.