An app is worthless if the target audience has never heard of it. And an app that never reaches its market doesn’t get the success too. Even though there are so many possibilities, the funds of the developers are usually quite limited. How do you make sure that you get the most for your money? Here is a look at affiliate marketing, for all app developers who are thinking of using it to promote their apps and make more money.
What does the market presently offer?
The current mobile advertising market is typically dominated by CPM (cost per thousand) and CPC (cost per click) packages. These are generally not too expensive and reach a great base of potential customers. Our focus, affiliate marketing on the other hand falls in the CPA (cost per action) category and is on the rise.
What’s the difference?
CPM and CPC differ only minimally: you buy CPM in packages that are multiples of one thousand clicks, while CPC is more flexible with numbers. So you buy all the clicks made on your ads CPA is rather different: you pay a percentage of the price when a purchase is made. This also means that you only spend money when you also made some. Of course, you will pay more for one purchase than you would for a single click, but you can be certain that you didn’t actually lose on the deal.
Why didn’t CPA advertising take over the others then?
Well, for one, CPA can be more costly and the advertisers prefer the revenues that get them a continuous stream of revenue. If you have some money on your hand, you can at first buy lots and lots of CPM or CPC ads from those advertisers who make a living out of these methods. Thus you make sure lots and lots of people continuously see your ad and your brand, even if they don’t care. Whether they will buy or not is another topic, but you at least made yourself visible. You built your brand a bit.
The other cause is a technical one: for the CPA system to work well, you need a good tracking system. It’s not enough to know that a purchase was made; you also have to know which advertiser directed the client to you and how much was spent individually. This issue is less and less of a problem. With a Software Development Kit (SDK) you can build into the app ways to resubmit data. You’ll need this especially if you use big app stores with your affiliate program.
Should you rely solely on affiliate marketing?
There is no reason why you couldn’t. But unless you’re a big firm with a well-known, strong brand and loyal customers who can provide a formidable marketing for you, CPA may not be the ultimate answer. This is especially true if your apps make very little on every individual purchase. If you pay ridiculously little and your app is not bought by masses, your affiliate marketers may not be motivated enough to advertise your app.
So the best strategy would be to combine the available methods. In the beginning, use more of the CPC type of advertising, until you reach a base that is strong enough to build on. Then you can introduce some CPA to expand your customer base. In the end you may even reach a stage when you don’t need CPC anymore.
