5 easy steps to creating a marketing plan for your new business app 

Being faced with the prospect of developing a marketing app can be incredibly daunting if it’s not something you’ve ever had to do before. It’s a necessary endeavour however if you’re having a new app built for your business as the marketing plan is your roadmap to getting the exposure and downloads your new app deserves.Don’t be put off from creating a marketing plan because it sounds too complicated or specialist. This is an essential document, it will help you achieve downloads and get your app in front of the right people plus, it’s not that hard to do if you break it down into simple bite-sized steps.

Define your offering A marketing plan tells you how you’re going to reach your audience so it makes sense that section one sees you defining what you have to offer them. This section is sometimes referred to as a situation analysis. Simply put, this is an overview of where your app sits in the market, what it offers and its points of difference or benefits over competitors. This part will often include a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Step 2: Define your target market So, you know what the selling points of your app are. You know how it differs from competitors, you know what opportunities exist and you have laid out some pitfalls or threats to avoid. You’re in a good place. Now, you need to define your target market – who is naturally going to need to use your app? What type of person does your marketing need to appeal to in order to generate downloads? Step 3: Define your goals Every marketing activity should be traced back to goals – otherwise you have no accountability. Define short and long term goals, be optimistic but realistic. The timeframe you use is up to you and will depend on the nature of your app, audience and budget. You may choose to break this up into number of downloads 24hours after launch, one week, or one month after launch or set revenue goals if your design includes in-app purchases or subscriptions. Step 4: Define your marketing mix Now comes the creative bit! In this section of your plan you get to the marketing nitty-gritty. What marketing activity will you perform? If you plan to advertise, what kind of advert format will you use and where will the ad be placed? Will you use email marketing for example? Set up a paid search campaign? Have a stand at an industry exhibition? Step 5: Define your budget If you haven’t yet decided how much money you have available to finance your marketing, now is the time to do so. After that, you’ll split that total amount across the activities you shortlisted in step four.All that’s left to do now is get started!