We're in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it influenced every single area of our live, including mobile, of course. To get a bird-eye view on the mobile app ecosystem, we invited the industry standard mobile data and analyics company to talk about 2020 and 2021 in mobile.

So today we have a returning guest - Amir Ghodrati, Director - Market Insights at App Annie. Amir talks about the State of Mobile 2021 report and shares insights for five main data points that strengthen mobile’s role for engaging customers and growing your top line.

✔️ New App Downloads: 218 billion downloads; 7% increase

✔️ App Stores Spend: $143 billion in consumer spend; 20% increase 

✔️ Daily Time Spent Per User: 4.2 hours per person per day; 20% increase

✔️ Mobile App Spend: $240 billion in mobile ad spending; 26% increase

✔️ Venture Capital to Mobile Tech: $73 billion invested; 27% increase

✔️ App Discovery: Searching for something specific, such as branded terms

✔️ Keywords: Where your app ranks and which words are popular to move up

✔️ Mobile: Businesses should focus on this area to grow or stay relevant

✔️ Channels, Strategies, Markets: Where and how people are spending their time 

✔️ Monetization: How much money app developers and app stores make

✔️ Generational Gap: More people over 45 years old experimenting with apps

✔️ OS 13 vs. 14: Upgrade and update to quickly gain access to new tech

• Amir Ghodrati on LinkedIn

“Not only are more people using mobile in general, but the time per person is also going up, which is how you get such big growth.”

“This is kind of the perfect time for user acquisition. People are on the hunt for new apps.”

“From the publisher’s side, even having your app on a device is a very big win because you can start doing push notifications and other types of re-engagement campaigns.”

“For the vast majority of businesses, mobile should be your main area of focus, if you’re looking for ways to grow or stay relevant.”

• App industry marketplace

Growing the app's user base is what on an app marketer's mind from Monday till Friday and possibly on weekends as well. Going international is one of the ways to expand an app's user base.

Today’s guest is Victoria Chen, International Growth Lead at Flowkey, a piano learning app for beginners, returners, and advanced players. Victoria is sharing her experience of the app's localization and helping you to avoid possible mistakes you may make, having zero experience with it.

✔️ Global Landscape and Growth Marketing: Internationalization tackles local issues

✔️ Flowkey: Professional pianists create and produce in-house arrangements for all abilities

✔️ Popular Songs: Learn to play the songs you know and love (i.e., Piano Man, Swan Lake)

✔️ Benefits: App brands should go to other markets to get more users and revenue

✔️ Is it worth it? Depends on total effort, research, cost, and if the app is translatable

✔️ Market Criteria: Potential profit, market size, and purchasing power

✔️ Mental Health Market: Keep yourself mentally healthy, even if you have to pay for it

✔️ Localize App: Make product usable/available, launch it, develop authentic improvements

✔️ Regional Manager: Translate apps using someone familiar with culture, native language

✔️ Key Takeaways: As you build a localization strategy, start with a plan and local insights

✔️ Android or iOS? iOS

✔️ Favorite mobile app(s)? Wolt

✔️ What technology would Victoria find useful in daily life? Augmented reality

• Flowkey

“Going to another market directly means getting more users and having more revenue.”

“In terms of purchasing power, I will usually suggest people to go a bit deeper—not only how much people are spending, but what they are spending it on?”

“If you are a business, you have to also look at what type of category people are willing to pay for it or invest in it.”

“People know that they should pay for education for learning languages, learning instruments, but it’s still quite a new concept that people should invest in their own mental health.”

• App industry marketplace

How do people discover mobile apps these days? Via a built-in search on the App Store and Google Play, about 65% of app downloads are powered by search. The other route - online ads in your Instagram feed, on YouTube, on TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, Readit and on and on.

How do app marketers take advantage of search as an app marketing channel? Right - they do the App Store Optimization (aka ASO). But do you wonder if you're doing everything what is possible to do with ASO?

Today’s guest is Binh Dang, Senior Organic App Growth Manager at Idealo will answer that question for you. Binh talks about his ASO custom campaigns concept. Find out what you’re missing!

✔️ App Growth Marketing: Binh’s two favorite things—games and marketing

✔️ Idealo: Leading price comparison online shopping platform in Germany

✔️ Idealo’s Mission: Save money and buy stuff without causing damage to the environment

✔️ Standard ASO Steps: One-way road or repetitive loop processes for app store assets

✔️ Pros/Cons: Efficient system, a scientific testing method for improvements; diminishes ROI

✔️ Specific Purpose: ASO custom campaigns are short-term, story-driven sprint of activities

✔️ ASO Campaigns: Product marketing, seasonal promotion, brand communications, and extracurricular activities

✔️ Mistakes: Bad timing, confusing communication, and radical application of new method

✔️ Key Takeaways:

• Talk to your peers across channels and departments

✔️ Favorite mobile app(s)? Google Calendar

✔️ What technology would Binh find useful for everyday life? More wearable devices

• Binh Dang on LinkedIn

“We help millions of users, mainly inside of Europe, make smarter shopping decisions. We will continue to reach out to more to advocate a more affordable and also sustainable lifestyle.”

“A customized ASO campaign can be seen as a short-term, story-driven sprint of ASO activities.”

“I have to be flexible enough with my ASO activities to serve multiple different purposes. So, when a new opportunity arises, I can capture it.”

“I have at least four major types of campaigns. They basically serve four different purposes, and they answer four different types of strategic questions that users may ask.”

• App industry marketplace

Fact - people are tired of ads, especially on mobile. Because of such a variety of options they're bombarded in their Instagram / Facebook feeds, inside apps, on websites and of course on YouTube and Google, it is hard to expect a level of engagement app brands need from them to increase their sales. 

There is a way to solve this problem and achieve a high level of engagement - launch a higher purpose campaign to let people do something for their environment, local community, something that will make them feel good and, at the same time, help an app brand to achieve its marketing objectives.

Today’s guest is Luca Stefanutti, Head of Product Marketing at Runtastic. He leads the Running Growth squad with the goal of growing the Adidas Running app. Luca’s job is to connect product and marketing to give users the best value proposition in the health and fitness category.

✔️ Runtastic: Opportunity to feel and see results with support every step of the way

✔️ Two Apps, One World: adidas Running and adidas Training

✔️ Higher Purpose Ad Campaign: App marketing tool to change the world by taking action

✔️ Success Story Strategy: Build a bridge between inspirational goal and any app

✔️ User- vs. Customer-Centric: Understand your audience and what they care about

✔️ App KPIs: Connect with users, leverage mechanics, and measure success metrics

✔️ Android or iOS? Android

✔️ Favorite mobile app(s)? Vivino

✔️ What technology would Luca find useful? eCommerce and privacy campaigns

• Luca Stefanutti on LinkedIn

“We are not so little, it’s simply because we have more than 370-million of downloads across the world, and we have more than 168-million registered users. We are quite famous.”

“It will really give you the possibility to create something more, something beyond the simple usage of a product.”

“It’s not about buying a product or service, it’s really about changing the world by doing an action.”

“The first thing that you always consider is your user.”

• App industry marketplace

Mobile app growth and how to achieve it are in the center of any well-thought app marketing strategy. You may power your app growth with paid marketing or the product itself may lead its growth.

Every app has a diverse audience, some people find the app extremely useful and use it enthusiastically. Others are less engaging, and then there are those who download apps but hardly if ever, use them. Do you have an emotional relationship with specific apps? It’s okay. Most users do to feel connected.

Today’s guest is Tanya Sharma from Babbel, a digital language learning product. Tanya talks about product marketing and user acquisition to grow a database of app core users.

✔️ Connecting the Dots: Tanya’s path as a consultant to app marketing to acquire users

✔️ Product Managing Marketing: Balance different channels to acquire different users

✔️ Growth Marketing Principles: Follow the lean startup method—build, measure, learn

✔️ App User Acquisition: Native or paid ads? Build sustainable scheme to power UI

✔️ Channel vs. User Acquisition Strategy: Awareness, conversion/direct response, retention

✔️ Product Life Growth Guard: Quality of users acquired, not cost to acquire users

✔️ Marketer’s Best Friends: Pay attention to loyal users to increase conversion rates

✔️ Referral Concept: Understand logic and motivation for users to recommend products

✔️ Key Takeaways: Leverage core user base by tracking and rewarding repetitive behaviors

✔️ Android or iOS? iOS

✔️ Favorite mobile app(s) today? KptnCook

✔️ What iPhone/iPad technology would Tanya find useful? Gesture controls, multitasking

• Tanya Sharma on LinkedIn

“What got me really excited to move into product marketing and especially user acquisition was the idea of being in the intersection of being creative, having insights, analytics, and the business knowledge needed to actually bring the kind of users that use your product.”

“Measure is important because no growth marketer can exist without knowing success metrics.”

“What makes these loyal users so special is that they’re advocates of your product. They go out there, talk about your product, and bring you free new users.”

“Leveraging your core audience to expand your user base is the fastest and the cheapest way to grow and scale your product.”

• App industry marketplace