Let’s face it. We live in a world where we can have almost everything we want or need to be delivered directly to our doorsteps.
The smartphone and mobile app evolution has brought a sea of transformation and has dominated nearly every industry through some sort of mobile app solution.
Today, people use mobile apps to aid a variety of daily tasks such as connecting with friends, booking a hotel, and even executing important business operations all from their fingertips.
In a nutshell, the mobile app industry is booming the market, from entrepreneurs to small business owners and big brands are investing millions of dollars for mobile app development.
Though entering the mobile app industry is not much of a big deal, what matters is whether you survive in it or not.
According to Statista, there are over 2.46 million apps available in the Google Play Store, while Apple’s App Store has around 1.96 million apps.
Suffice it to say that having a good mobile app idea is no longer enough to immediately go viral and start generating millions of dollars in revenues.
But, if you really want to dominate the mobile app market in your industry, then you’ve come to the right place.
In this article, I’ve shared the best 5 ways you can combat the competition and reach the top in the App Stores.
That being said, let’s dive right in!
5 Ways to Combat Competition In Today’s Hyper-Competitive Mobile App Industry
1 – Optimize ASO for Greater Discoverability
Today, if you search for an app, even a simple one like a reminder app, you’ll get dozens if not hundreds of results.
This is where ASO (App Store Optimization) comes into the picture.
ASO, in simplest words, is to mobile applications what SEO is to websites.
Just like SEO and app marketing, ASO is the best way to boost visibility and drive free organic traffic for app downloads.
Now, since the competition in the mobile app industry too high, experts suggest avoiding building apps for over-saturated categories like ‘chat’ and ‘photo’ and instead, build a mobile app for categories that have moderate competition and better chances of dominating.
2 – Don’t Pick a Fight You Can’t Win!
Entrepreneurs, especially bootstrapped ones, cannot and should not try to compete with venture-backed mobile app startups like Mailbox or Candy Crush Saga.
Thing is, and you already most probably know, these startups usually have an enormous amount for paid advertisements and development to push out the highest quality mobile apps.
And when you try to compete with them, not only your mobile app will get overshadowed by the venture-backed apps, but you will never be able to reach a point where you can even survive.
You see, you need at least a couple hundred thousand users to be able to make thousands of dollars. And there is no way you can win that much attention if you’re competing with million-dollars funded mobile apps.
So, be very specific to the niche you’re planning to enter and learn from others in order to avoid common mistakes, which brings us to the higher level.
3 – Learn From The Competition
You can see the competition in two different perspectives. You can either see competition as a threat and drop the whole thing or you can see it as a thriving market filled with untapped opportunities.
The point is, competition is not always a bad thing. Although, you should not compete with industry giants if you don’t have venture-backed funding.
The essential message is that you can always learn from the mistakes of your competitors.
In simple words, learn what not to do from bad or failed apps in your industry and learn what to do from apps with a strong foothold in the App Stores.
Take Revel-Social app for example.
Revel-Social is a photo-based social app that lets you connect with professionals and influencers.
It was built by Simon Czaplinski, a model turned into startup founder. Together with his development team and co-founder, Simon studied successful apps like ‘Tinder’, ‘Grindr’, and ‘Blendr’ to learn about their winning social dynamics and for the gamification, they studied ‘Draw Something’ and ‘Word with Friends’.
The key takeaway is, study why and how viral and popular apps are performing so well and emulate their positive aspects.
4 – Promote Before Launch & Promote Rigorously
One big mistake bootstrapped entrepreneurs make is they wait until their app gets ready to hit the App Stores and not promoting it before the launch.
You see, there is already too much noise on the internet. So, in order to be heard by your audience, you need to keep pushing promotions as often and as early as possible.
Moreover, it will at least take a dozen to hundred campaigns to reach the masses, which is the main reason why pre-launch promotion is so critically important.
So, start promoting as early as possible and using various approaches. For example, you can create a couple of teaser videos to start generating buzz for your mobile app.
5 – Problem-Solving & User Experience
It’s every mobile startup founder’s dream to create a viral mobile app that hits millions of downloads. But, due to hyperactive-competition, only a handful of apps make it to that stage.
Now, when you look at the common attributes of this handful of successful apps, they have two things in common. – Problem-Solving and Intuitive User Experience.
You see, most viral apps become viral because of the app focuses on and solves either a common pain-point of users or it satisfies an immediate need of users in a way that no other mobile app on the App Store does.
In addition, these apps don’t just stop at solving the problem, but they also give equal attention to the user experience factor of their mobile app.
For example, viral or successful apps make sure that their app is easy to download and users are able to quickly learn how to use the app with enhanced user experience.
Conclusion
Mobile app development is not an easy feat, but it’s surely a rewarding one. And as long as you keep in mind these 5 tips, there is no reason for you to feel threatened by the competition in the market.
