[getPhone]
Before you sit down to try to create the perfect app for your smartphone or tablet, you may want to take a moment to see exactly how much it will cost to bring that app to the market. In the early days all you had to do was release your app to the waiting world and in a short while you would see the downloads begin to roll in. Times have changed, however, and now it is difficult to get your app noticed in the huge sea of apps being released each and every day. Because of the increased competition and popularity of the app market, companies and individuals are now spending more than ever to market their latest apps to the increasing population of app hungry consumers.
How Much Has It Risen?
There has been a continual trend over the years of increasing marketing costs per loyal user of an app. These costs have risen by 34% each year and the numbers are still climbing. In September alone, app creators saw a huge increase of 21% to $2.25 per loyal user which was up from $1.86 in August. These figures don’t even include the holiday season for this year, and considering that is traditionally the time associated with the biggest marketing costs for apps, we can expect to see that 21% figure rise considerably as we end the year.
Is The Iphone 6 To Blame?
According to a report released by Fiksu, a marketing technology provider, the adoption of the iPhone 6 was 116% higher than that of the iPhone 5, bringing in an entirely new group of users who were seeking apps for their new devices. Due to this influx of new users, more and more apps were being researched and downloaded by consumers, leading many app makers for smartphones and tablets to increase their marketing budgets in order to remain competitive and get their app in front of this new group of users. In September, App Store downloads saw a big increase with the top 200 free iPhone apps receiving a total of 5.5 million downloads, up 4% from the previous month. With all these app downloads, more and more app creators are trying desperately to get their app noticed so they can gain just a piece of that 5.5 million figure.
Other Factors Affecting Marketing Budgets
In addition to the iPhone 6, there are other factors that are taking their toll on the marketing budgets of many app development companies. For example, the release of the latest Android operating system and the new devices to go with it, Android has slowly been gaining ground on Apple, forcing app developers to make their apps available on both platforms. This increases the audience for the app which, in turn, increases the required reach of their marketing strategy, thus increasing the cost. In addition, there is a huge trend of users all but abandoning their laptops and desktops in favor of their mobile devices and with that comes a huge influx of new users all clamoring for the best apps.
The mobile market has been growing by leaps and bounds each and every year and thus far has not shown many signs of slowing down in the near future. App makers simply must keep pace with this ever growing and changing market if they want to keep their apps in the top spots on all the different mobile platforms that are currently available. As this trend towards even more widespread adoption of tablets and smartphones continues, you can expect to watch the marketing budgets of all app makers keep rising as they strive to remain a favorite of consumers and stay at the top of the most downloaded apps lists.
