9 super affordable ways to market your retail app!

Marketing is key when you want to get your retail app in front of your target market. Using traditional methods such as public relations, pay per click advertising, and celebrity endorsements can get pretty expensive! However, there are many inexpensive and even free ways to market your retail app. If you have found yourself low on funds when it comes time to market your app, these are some great ways to market your retail app and will help you gain users for your technology for little to no price:

1. Exploit the cumulative effect of social media

Social media is a great way for potential users to get in front of your app. There are a number of top social media platforms available today. Asking your friends and family to share a link to your app on their social media page can let you tap into their digital market as well.

Imagine just 1% of your 500 friends on Facebook sharing your post. That makes 5 people talking about you to 2500 people (assuming they have further 500 friends each). Your idea will have such a massive reach and who knows, you might become the next sensation!

This could help to start a domino effect of sharing that would prompt a viral marketing frenzy for your app. As long as you have a very solid retail app, this is something that could easily happen with enough time.

2. Start social selling

Social selling is a great way to connect with social media users by getting them in front of your products. By creating a social selling store on Facebook, you will be able to see which products will be your best performers on your retail app. Spending a few weeks to a few months perfecting your Facebook store will help you create a much more effective retail app.

Conducting this market research on your own will save you thousands of dollars that you would otherwise spend on focus groups and other market research methods.

3. Use medium to share content for free

Medium is a new website that will help you share content with potential customers for free. Writing engaging stories about your retail app and sharing them on Medium will give you the exposure that would otherwise cost hundreds or thousands of dollars in paid advertising. If you are new to Medium, you should be checking this guide to use Medium.
Getting the right content onto Medium could be the launchpad that your app needs to start captivating users.

4. Upload a kick-ass YouTube video

YouTube is one of the most effective forms of digital marketing today. With millions of users signing onto this video sharing site every day, the chances of a video featuring your retail app going viral are greater than ever before. Chances are that one of your friends’ films videos as a hobby.

Cameras are becoming more affordable than ever and this is making high-quality video footage more accessible than ever. If you don’t have a friend with a nice camera, you can always shoot a fun and engaging video on your smartphone. Telling your friends and family about your YouTube video will help it gain exposure and traction as they comment on and share your creation.

5. Be on ground

When you are trying to create a retail app that customers will come back to time and time again, you need to know what they are looking for during their mobile experience. Doing your own market research can be very cost effective and very simple when you break it down.

Ask everyone you know if they use apps for shopping. If they do, you need to find out what problems they are facing during their retail app experience. This is going to help you create a better app that will be superior to your competition.

Surveys are a great way to gather market research as well. The mall, a college campus, a sporting event, or community event are all great places to gather market research with your surveys. Most people will be willing to spend a minute filling out your survey. This is a very inexpensive way to fine tune your app and creates a superior experience for your customers. You should be checking out Typeform for creating easy yet amazing surveys if you want to get started.

6. Put a link to the app stores on your website

Your website is an amazing tool to market your retail app. If you don’t have a website yet, then you should start planning to have one today. Towards that, check out our eCommerce guide that outlines the various aspects that will help you get started with your very own web store.

Additionally, it is important to get the visitors to your site to actually download your app. Including links to the app stores on your website will be a great way to prompt visitors to download the app on their smartphones or other mobile devices.

7. Offer in-store pickups

One of the biggest complaints from online shoppers is the amount of time that items take to ship to their home. If you offer in-store pickup options for your customers, you will find that customer satisfaction will be on the rise. Customer service options in-store will also help your customers feel less sceptical about buying products on your app. The more options you give your customers, the better experience they will have with your retail app.

8. Maintain a blog on your website

Constantly posting good content on your website’s blog will help you to gain a substantial amount of traffic to your site. When customers are searching for answers, your blog is designed to provide them with those answers.

Engaging blog posts can be a great way to attract users to your site and expose them to your retail app. The more quality articles you have on your blog, the more quality users you will have using your app. That is why, a blog is necessary for a new business.

9. Create a strong online presence

In our digital world, it is important to have a strong online presence. Becoming an authority in your chosen market will help you improve customer confidence and build a great word of mouth marketing approach.

Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are great avenues for building your online presence. Instagram is one of the most useful social media outlets for growing businesses today. If you constantly post engaging content and connect with potential customers, you will quickly gain a following on Instagram that you can monetize through the use of your retail app.

What if you have just started and already drained your budget with the design and development of the mobile app? You just can’t skip promoting your idea though you can go about practising these less pricey ways to market the mobile app for your retail business!