Are you ready to increase your brand exposure, improve your engagement and get new customers? Then you need to look at your ads. Love ‘em or hate ‘em they are the key to marketing.

So, where do you start? The world of mobile marketing can be confusing and daunting. Don’t worry – at Favoured we have years of combined experience to help navigate you through app user acquisition strategy. No biggy but we’re essentially the Jedis of ads. Here’s how we create the ultimate ad campaign…

Plan, plan and plan

Trust us… it’ll be worth it! Research, planning and knowing your target audience is key to a successful ad campaign. 76% of marketers fail to use behavioural data for online ad targeting. Don’t be part of the 76%!

Think about it… where are you wanting to focus your attention? Different people use different platforms, will this be important to you and your product? These are the questions you need to answer to help not only your campaign but the types of creatives and messaging you will use. It all links together for optimum conversion.

Where to start

Don’t worry, we’re not going to leave you hanging! Here’s how we plan…

Before you start any ads make sure your app is integrated with an attribution platform so you can start tracking app installs and the behaviours of those users within your app.  Our favourites are Appsflyer and Branch. Also with an attribution platform, you can track the performance of your campaigns against in-app events/conversions all the way back to specific creatives or audiences you have tested in your ad campaigns.

This will then help you to optimise your budget to focus on the best performing audiences, creatives or both.

It’s all in the testing

Do you want results quickly? You need to test! This is a vital stage in launching your ad campaign effectively. Rushing past this stage will lead to a lack of results.

Launch up to 3 different types of ad routes and A/B test to find the best performing.

Ad route 1

Ad route 2

Ad route 3

Source: Favoured

*TOP TIP* When A/B testing ensure you are making fairly small incremental tweaks with ad copy and creatives to ensure informed results – basically you can spot the trends of what works and what doesn’t.

Here are some variables we suggest you test when running your ad campaigns…

  • Platforms
  • Placements
  • Creatives
  • Messaging
  • Demographics
  • Interests

Let’s get testing! 

Understand the lingo

You no comprende? Us either. Why does everything have to be f****** abbreviated? No idea, but we’ve got you. To help you get started with understanding the lingo here is a list of important terms to look out for…

CPI – Cost per install. The most frequently used metric is the cost each time a user installs the app from your ad.

CTI – Click to install rate. This is the number of installs divided by the number of clicks driven to the app store or play store page.  It gives you a good idea of how well your App Store / Play Store is optimised.

CPM – Cost per mille (thousand). The cost per 1,000 impressions. Watch out as an expensive CPM will reflect through all other top-of-funnel metrics.

CPC – Cost per click. A higher CPC may suggest your audience isn’t loving your copy or creatives, or the audience you are targeting is entirely wrong.

CTR – Click-through rate. This is all-important! If your audience is intrigued by your ad, they’ll click on it. If this number is below the industry average, look at creating improved content.

CPA – Cost per acquisition. For apps, you may measure this as the cost to get a signed up user, user into a free trial, subscription or paying for your app.

Get social

According to 25.6% of marketers in the UK, social media was considered the most successful channel for marketing. Every man and their dog is an active user on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok (no seriously, most pets have their own Instagram account).

The majority of companies will put their focus on these three platforms, with such huge audiences it certainly makes sense.

However, this isn’t necessarily the rule, you need to do what’s best for YOUR app’s demographic. There are lots of platforms out there such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and Google. You’ll see where best to run your ads during your research stage… see we weren’t lying when we said it was important to plan.

We can’t go without saying another great platform to advertise your app is Apple Search. As a more direct approach to finding your target audience, a tremendous amount of people know and use Apple making this platform ideal to advertise on. The stats from Apple Search certainly reflect this…

  • 70% of App Store visitors use search to find their next app
  • 65% of all downloads happen after a search
  • >50% average conversion rate for search results ads

What not to do

All too often we see companies directly copying other competitors’ ads. Don’t be these guys. Sure, competitor research will certainly help but you want to create an ad that’ll kick their ad to the curb.

Be creative and think outside the box. You need to find what will stop the scroll and grab the attention of your audience.

The student becomes the master

You’re on your way to becoming an ad campaign pro. All that’s left, is to turn on those ads! So go forth young grasshopper and create those killer campaigns.

Need a hand? Favoured is here to help. We have campaign experts that put Obi-Wan to shame.

From copy and creatives to analysis and optimisation we can help transform your ads and get you some amazing results.

Sounds good? Get in touch today.