Many businesses have become wiser about the importance of building their own bespoke smartphone apps. More people than ever shop online, and giving them an app that leads to your store is a great way to present your products and services separately from the competition.
But an app is no good if your prospective customers don’t know its existence or download it. The good news is that you fix this dilemma through organic marketing and paid promotions.
It’s time to build an app install campaign that gets you views and downloads. Read on to find out all the information you need for running a successful campaign.
What Is an App Install Campaign?
As the name suggests, it is a paid ads campaign focused on user acquisition (UA) for your application.
It involves following strategies that help you in getting your app a large volume of downloads. Your app needs to gain recognition in a short period of time. For that, you will have to use all means possible. There are paid methods to get your app more installs, and then there are organic downloads methods. You need to use a combination of both to ensure a successful app install campaign.
66% of shoppers find online shopping more preferable than shopping offline. So the market is already there. All you have to do is convince that market to use your app.
With a well-planned and executed app install campaign, the count of your app downloads will increase, eventually soaring your app ranking in the app stores. Once this happens, your app will automatically get greater visibility. This will further lead to a desirable organic uplift that will show you an increase in organic traffic and downloads after the paid app download campaigns.
What is a Google Ads App Install Campaign?
When it comes to automation, Google Ads is one of the most effective tools. Using it, you can automate the whole app install campaign and reach out to your target audience more effectively. Furthermore, you can run your Google Ads campaign on all of Google’s networks, including Discover on Google Search, Google Play, Search, YouTube, and the Google Display Network.
Online purchase recommendations influence the buying decisions of 59% of people. So when Google shows them your ad and they find it authentic, they instantly decide to download and try out your application.
You can target high-traffic websites and services so that more people can view your ad. You can then analyze the campaign results with Google analytics to make changes and adapt to ideas that can benefit your campaign more. This will help your direct more conversions on your app.
How Do Google Ads App Campaigns Work?
Once you are done with your research and have a sorted app install campaign that meets your aim, you need to come towards the execution. Additionally, you don’t need to design the individual ads to run a Google Ads app campaign.
Instead, Google Ads allows you to use your app assets like ad copy and graphics on the app store. All you need to do is set your campaign goals along with your target audience and let Google do the rest of the job. It will resize and optimize your ad to place it on the relevant networks. It will design various ads across several formats and networks.
To make the best out of your Google Ads campaign, you should provide Google with at least one of each of the following:
- Portrait video
- Landscape image
- HTML5 Assets
- Landscape video
Besides this, Google will ask for the language and location of your advertisement. This info helps the platform focus more on your areas of interest and advertise your mobile app download campaigns to appropriate audiences.
Moreover, you also need to provide the starting bid and budget to process the ad effectively. While setting up the ad, you can specify your priorities, such as downloads, in-app conversions, or target return on ad spend (tROAS). Then, Google Ads will automate targeting and bidding.
All of this information will send off the advanced algorithm to work. It will create a variety of ad combinations and begin collecting data through Google Analytics to determine what is working better. For example, if one headline performs better than the other one Google Ads will note this information in Google Analytics. In this way, you can make improvements in your ad by creating a more informed decision.
Where Can App Install Campaign Ads Be Showing?
Setting up a paid campaign on Google Ads means that it is eligible to run across all Google’s platforms. This allows your ad to be shown to a much wider audience. Google platforms include Google Play, Google Search, Discover on Google Search, the Google Display Network, AdMob, YouTube, and other app publishers who host in-app ads.
Tips and Tricks to optimize Google Ads App Campaigns
Your job doesn’t end with setting up your ad once. If you want to drive maximum attention to your app, you need to keep improving the ad, and there are several ways to do that. For starters, analyze the campaign results and determine what you can do to optimize your campaign further. It will help you get more in-app actions, installs, or in-app action value.
Shift Your Focus To Installs
If you have divided the focus of your ad on various aspects, shift the entire focus on installs. It will drive more users to install your application. Then you only have to determine the amount you would like to spend on every install and set the bid.
Now, leave the rest to Google as it will optimize the ad on its own end, allowing it to reach maximum users.
Drive In-App Actions
If you want to show your ad to targeted users instead of random people, it’s time to work on optimizing your campaign for in-app actions.
Your Google ad can help you approach users who provide a higher value to your app in the long term. But to achieve that, you need to determine which series of actions are associated with users of higher value. These in-app actions will drive profitable users to your app.
Track Changes in Performance
You can go to the “All campaigns” page, where you can see the history of all the changes you’ve made in the campaign. From there, you can determine the changes that created positive changes in your app download campaign. Then you can work on the ones that didn’t to enhance the results.
Include Video Content
Adding video content in your ads can increase your conversions by 25%. Of course, you might have to spend more time creating videos, but the results will be worth all the effort.
Run Ads In Locations With Language Relevancy
Your ad will not be translated automatically for different countries or cities. So, you need to select a location that has the same language as your ad. Otherwise, your ad won’t be relevant to your audience. If you market your app in areas with different languages, ensure that your app is also fully localized to the audience.
Effective Segmentation
All individuals have their own unique interests. Based on their interests, you need to segment your audience effectively in a way that they will be interested in what you have to offer them. They will only engage with your content if they like what they see – otherwise, they will scroll past it.
With effective segmentation, you can target a suitable user base for your application to meet your conversion goals. You can use various criteria to segment your audience like geo-location, language, interests, etc.
Test Your Content
The images, videos, audio, or other content used in your campaign and your app must be optimized to get results. For example, the wrong length, language, or format can kill the campaign performance. You might think you have created amazing content, but it’s of no use if it can’t convince your audience to install your app or take in-app actions. So, before you run your grand campaign, do a mini-trial with several variations of different campaign features to see which one’s performing better.
Whether your app is a professional app, a game, or anything else, your content should be relevant and engage the audience.
Conclusion
Marketing your business online to get conversions can always be challenging. Whether it is an app or a material product, unless you are able to get the right audience for it, you can’t achieve your goal. However, with the right tools and strategy, you can run a successful app download campaign.
Google Ads lets you automate your campaign while also making improvements in it through analytics. So please take advantage of this powerful platform and get your app the attention it deserves.
If you need help with your paid ads campaigns, feel free to reach out and book a 30 minute free consultation with us. We can help you to build the best paid strategy.