Get Executing!

“Start by executing and learn along the way.” I saw this sentence on a post by one of those productivity gurus on LinkedIn who says make $10k per month by signing up for their class. However he hit the nail on the head, his free advice works. I was waiting to get the site set up, a 90-day content plan and all the interesting resources ready on the site before launching the newsletter but I realize mobile marketing will always be a learning experience so why not write about the things that I find interesting once per week and see where it leads?

Some background. The iPhone launched in 2007 and the App Store followed shortly in July 2008. Android Marketplace launched in October 2008 (renamed to Google Play in 2012). I was lucky to pick up a referral to work on a consulting project for EA Mobile in 2008 to launch their first generation of iPhone apps. I felt like this was going to be something big and I’ve been in mobile advertising ever since.

Wakeup Call. I was browsing LinkedIn this past weekend and saw this job post for a FAANG mobile marketing job. Asking for 5 years of experience.. ✔️ …A deep understanding of app store algorithms.. this made me stop. WTF? ASO doesn’t have the type of following SEO has… there’s no resource like Search Engine Land or SEJ where they post about all the latest Google updates and join the social media dialogue.

Cue the imposter syndrome. I started searching. A bunch of posts of “everything you need to know about ASO” from the likes of Smashing Magazine and Wix 🙄. MMPs. Repurposed articles that were probably written 5 years ago. No actual posting on when algorithm changes took place let along naming them like Google does. The only resource I could find was AppTweak’s free tool. Which.. funnily enough was listed as a tool on the 5th bullet so is this what this really means? You’ve used AppTweak? I’ve used it with larger clients who didn’t mind the expense. Previously the only way I would have noted something changing was if competitors’ rankings changed suddenly.

Ultimately you can chase the algorithm but the ranking factors for the App Store and Google Play aren’t going to change your strategy if you are neglecting basic optimization, which many of my clients do not have in place when I take on a project. Besides keywords/app store presence the in-app experience needs to be optimized to maximize retention. I will cover these items in detail in future newsletters.

The first newsletter is complete. See you next week.