The growth in mobile application design is quite phenomenal over these years with more and more mobile apps being added to the stock of Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
According to the Statista data, there are more than 5 million apps available at both the play stores of Apple and Google with the numbers growing steadily.
As such, mobile apps to stand out from the crowd should have high-quality performance in addition to building a strong brand.
In simple terms, mobile app branding is about how the users of the app would perceive the app when interacting with it in terms of its visual image, communication, and reputation.
Therefore, it is important to find answers to questions for building up any brand for your mobile app such as
Who is going to use your app and for what purposes?
The USP of the app, a loop of your app such as through symbols, colors, logos what is the tone and voice of your app?
How will users get information about your app and the channels of communication between the app and its user?
The answers to these questions when answered analytically would help you informing the general approach influencing all aspects of work on app design, app development, and its promotion.
Branding will have an impact on user experience logic, its graphics, animation, style, and copy.
Therefore, to make mobile branding effective it is necessary to explore the answers to the above-mentioned questions before the process of design and development starts.
The following mobile app branding strategies based on user research and market exploration would help your mobile app brand to stay ahead of your competitors
Logo and App Icon:
One of the core elements of branding is logo and for the mobile app, it is a visual appeal that stands out more.
These types of logos usually include – Symbols, Logotype (Wordmark), a Letter mark, Combination mark, Emblem, etc. and for mobile apps, it is important to have a correlation of the logo with the app icon.
An App Icon is an interactive brand sign that presents the application on different platforms supporting the original identity. With the limited space available for placing the App Icon – the logos should be designed according to the placing of the App Icon.
Another approach would be to adopt a well-known logo image to the form of an app icon with the inside of the app using its full form such as on a splash screen.
Keywords
The other branding strategy would be to build a set of keywords with several groups such as Descriptor keywords(funny, entertaining, bright, simple, exclusive, etc), Brand keywords – that are set of words, users will find your app, Brand Plus keywords – which are the combination of brand names with qualifying words or phrases. These keywords would also be helpful for both SEO and content creation.
Name, Slogan, and Style
The naming of the app is a big issue and a challenge in the course of branding app strategy as the availability of the name in App Store and Play Market is a big question.
In addition, the presence of app name on the internet, a domain name for a website or landing page you will have for the app is to be taken care of before arriving at the appropriate App Name.
A slogan with a catchy brand tagline is another aspect that needs to be looked into as part of branding strategy when such slogan is required to promote the app for outer channels such as in social networks, landing pages, promo videos, etc.
The copywriting style and UX writing also form an important part of a brand strategy to reach an understanding of how the app will talk to its users.
Graphics
Customized graphics play a vital role in making the app attractive as such aspects such as logo, mascots, custom illustrations, branded interactive elements, photos, etc should be taken into account while designing graphics for the app as part of brand strategy.
Product Video
A catchy and creative video of the mobile app is a quick way of attracting customers’ attention and the proven method of informing about the app to the audience. So it is important to have the product video of the app as part of your brand strategy.
Onboarding and Personalization
Using user onboarding and personalization techniques as a brand strategy for your app would result in positive user experience and support brand loyalty with the users.
Gamification
Gamification in the form of badges, leaderboards, bonuses encourages users to share their success with friends both online and offline and as such emerges as the channel distribution center about your app with positive user experiences.
Landing Pages
Creating multiple landing pages for your app on the basis of various segments of the target audience such as geographic, gender, psychographic, demographic is an effective way of reaching users and giving them a quick presentation of your app.
Social Networks
The role of social networks as part of your app brand strategy should not be neglected as these networks are the first of all the big channels of brand awareness and brand recognition about your app.
Brand ambassadors & Opinion Leaders
As of now, the goodwill of brand ambassadors and opinion leaders can be aptly utilized for your app brand campaign as there is still no better advertising than getting recommendations from people whom people or users trust.
Help and Support
Real branding is not only about attracting attention but also making an incredible first impression and giving the needed support to the app users need at any step of interaction which is the basic requirement in case of complex mobile products.
These are some of the brand strategies that would help in building up a brand for your mobile app for getting a loyal audience.
