Stage Two's blog

By now we have all heard the horror stories of developers waiting for the iPhone App store to give approval for their apps.  Apple’s basic philosophy in approving apps seems to be “we’ll get to it when we get to it.” The same applies to app updates, leaving many a developer and their users stranded like a cat on a raft for weeks.

So, then, how do you promote an iPhone app release when you can’t know when an app will go live in the store? There are a few strategies:

1.) Make a firm embargo. You will get an email from Apple when your app is ready, and you have the option to take it down, out of the app store.  As soon as your app is approved, yank it down, and then start your outreach with a firm embargo specified for the press.  This makes for a level playing field, since everyone knows when the story is a go.  However, Apple still doesn’t give you a specific time when your app will reappear.  This means that even though you specify “Tuesday at 9AM PST” for the embargo, the app might not reappear precisely at 9AM Tuesday.  This will result in fewer people being able to download the app spontaneously, right after reading about the cool new thing.

And there’s a worse possibility too. The app could appear at 7AM instead of 9AM. This means that any press watching the app store have no reason to hold the embargo any longer, since it’s now in the public domain.  And once someone breaks embargo, it’s anyone’s guess who will still cover. Strategies on how best to communicate and manage a broken embargo are best left for another post.

Option #1 will probably secure more press coverage, but you risk most of the readers not having the opportunity to download the app. You get buzz, but a lower buzz to download ratio.

2.) Give a “floating” embargo. Pitch your story while awaiting approval, but ask the bloggers not to go live with a story until they get the signal from you that the app is up. This strategy avoids missing downloads from eager readers, but selling the concept might be difficult. Even if you get an agreement, there is the risk of a blogger breaking the embargo causing other blogs to forego the story. Also, some writers require editor approval; editors who may frown on a floating embargo. Not to mention a blogger could forget about your story in the swell of other stories between your pitch and the app going live. They are busy people, after all.

The floating embargo is tricky, especially if you’re pitching writers with whom you don’t have a trust relationship.  So far, we have gotten a positive response from a few bloggers to a floating embargo, but these are writers we know well and who rely on us to dish them good news and maintain fair embargoes (in so far as we can control them).

If buzz is your biggest goal, a firm embargo is your best shot, as you are likely to get more publications on board. If you are going for more downloads, you need to make sure your app is ready to go, in which case a floating embargo might be worth the chance. Your strategy will be determined by the type of app you are promoting, how much buzz you’ve already gotten and who your contacts are.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 11:50 am and is filed under Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.