Free iPhone App Marketing

by Brook Lenox on May 24, 2009

free app marketingSome people are into bargains.  They call themselves bargain hunters. But FREE?!? Isn’t everyone a “free hunter”?

In my last article, I wrote about the 7 things to consider when marketing an iPhone app.  Now I want to dig deeper into iPhone app marketing that you can do for FREE.

Here are 3 places to market your apps for free:

  1. App Review Websites
  2. iPhone/iPod Touch Bloggers
  3. YouTube App Reviewers

These folks have LOTS of people approaching them, so you’ve got to be smart about how to contact them. Send them a personal email (or call them if possible) with good reasons why they should review your app.

Make sure to:

  • Read their submission instructions carefully
  • Include everything they request in your submission
  • Explain what is unique/special about your app
  • Share why your app is better/different from others like it
  • Give them promo codes or something they can give away
  • Send a fact sheet if you have one
  • Link to a short (30 sec to 1 minute) YouTube demo of your app
  • Give them a plate of warm cookies and/or a wad of cash :)

App Review Websites

Here are 20 App Review Websites to have on your list.  I’ve placed them in order by their monthly traffic according to Compete.

WebsiteMonthly Visitors
www.appshopper.com 149,421
www.toucharcade.com 115,083
www.appsafari.com 75,798
www.iphonehacks.com 73,201
www.148apps.com 57,217
www.appscout.com 49,422
www.appcraver.com 47,143
www.iphonealley.com/reviews/apps 41,119
www.apptism.com 38,054
www.iphoneapplicationlist.com 32,526
www.appleiphoneschool.com 28,324
www.appvee.com 20,301
www.appstoreapps.com 19,374
www.whatsoniphone.com 18,667
www.freshapps.com 15,478
www.iphoneappreviews.net 14,032
www.iphonefootprint.com 13,200
wwww.smokingapples.com 13,092
www.theiphoneappreview.com 8,977
www.apprater.com 5,945

iPhone/iPod Touch Bloggers

Here are 5 iPhone/iPod Touch Bloggers to have on your list.

iPhone BlogsMonthly Visitors
TUAW 685,705
Apple iPhone School 74,139
Just Another iPhone Blog 63,610
The iPhone Blog 10,582
Apple iPhone Apps 4,904

YouTube App Reviewers

Here are 5 YouTubers that review apps and have large followings.

YouTube App ReviewersSubscribers
iJustine 629,292
TysiPhoneHelp 98,399
AppStoreReviewer 39,454
bbsipodtouchhelp 38,525
iPhoneHelper786 13,470
Based on your apps category, these may or may not be a fit. Look for your own. There are plenty more.

Summary

Good luck in marketing your iPhone app, getting to that top 100 ranking, and making some money for all your hard work!

Questions? Comments?

Need more help? - You’ll find it in my How to Market iPhone Apps eBook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Updates

1/15/09 - thought you might find this post on Emanuele Vulcano’s success in marketing his iPhone app with no marketing budget.
2/19/09 – I stand corrected on App Scout. They are really more of a blog, than a review site. Thanks john888!
7/6/10 – Updated the lists of app review sites based on current traffic and used the WP-Table Reloaded plug in to make the tables!

 Photo credit: laffy4k

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{ 76 comments… read them below or add one }

Traci Westbrook October 19, 2010 at 10:27 pm

Hello. Thank you for taking a look at our first free app called Music Strobe. At this time, Music Strobe is the only app that is music sensitive to an internal and external music source. It has an easy-to-use LED Flashlight which is a great bonus to the app!

Brook Lenox October 21, 2010 at 10:51 am

@Traci – congrats on your first free app.

Chris Chynoweth December 7, 2010 at 2:55 pm

Thanks for this great resource. My marketing budget is slim & this article really helps. My free app is gig guide sf if you want to check it out.

Brook Lenox December 10, 2010 at 8:09 pm

@Chris – nice app!

iphone spy software March 10, 2011 at 1:52 am

Thanks brook! Really helpful hints.

Brook Lenox March 11, 2011 at 3:54 pm

@ iphone spy software – you are welcome :)

Scott Allerdice March 29, 2011 at 3:05 am

I m going to launch my app and wanted to know how i can promote it rapidly and thanks for your suggested points.

Brook Lenox April 1, 2011 at 2:57 pm

@ Scott – you are welcome. Best of luck with your launch.

Hal Laren May 3, 2011 at 5:05 am

Thanks for all the helpfull information on this site a real help.
Please check out my new App iDeal Blackjack Pro.

peter May 11, 2011 at 2:07 pm

great advice thanks.

Ihtesham Khan May 16, 2011 at 1:35 am

Thanks sir,

i was searching for such post for a long time, this is really going to help me and others.

Brook Lenox May 22, 2011 at 2:38 pm

@ Ihtesham – glad I could help.

Brook Lenox May 22, 2011 at 2:47 pm

@ Hal – good luck with iDeal Blackjack Pro.

Brook Lenox May 22, 2011 at 3:11 pm

@ Peter – you are welcome.

Tanu Kush June 21, 2011 at 12:01 pm

Anyone has any idea , how to contact youtube channels for review.Do i need to search their contact details and email or they have some request review link?

Corey August 22, 2011 at 10:08 pm

Perfect, simply what I had been looking for. I act as an independent agent for one of the few pure play publicly traded digital content distribution and mobile app creation companies: Metatron Inc. and it’s mobile subsidiary I-Mobilize Inc. (MRNJ) In the past 8 months or so, I have been able to land a few great clients but am only now beginning to understand the marketing side of this ever changing and exponentially growing business. Brook, your research and in depth analysis is very much appreciated. Best of luck to all in this new “App” frontier.

Brook Lenox August 26, 2011 at 2:49 pm

@ Corey – you are welcome.

Brook Lenox August 26, 2011 at 2:57 pm

@ Tanu – mostly it’s just hard work. Find reviews and email them directly. Best of luck!

Chris August 30, 2011 at 3:15 pm

Another iPhone app website is http://www.iphoneapp-reviews.com/

Honest reviews of a wide range of apps.

Tomer September 9, 2011 at 1:51 pm

Thank you for all the important information you’re providing. We are launching a new Check In app for sport events. We are planning to spend money on adds but I belive that the viral exposure is much better and we are going to use it, so thanks agian for the helpful information.

Tomer Zussman

Artyom October 6, 2011 at 2:13 pm

These are good lists Brook but they require a serious adjustment:
- http://www.appshopper.com is a web site to track app prices changes and has nothing to do with app reviewing process
- http://www.toucharcade.com is a great community of iOS games fans and yeah in a theory it’s possible to be reviewed on the site by request but the chances are very slim and it will make much more sense to exposure your iPhone / iPad game app on its forum and engage people to give it a feedback on the App Store (usually promo code giveaways help)
- http://www.148apps.com over the years has become a fortress it doesn’t make any sense to assault anymore, their editors team prefer to rely the iTunes App Store Top Paid / Top Free / What’s Hot charts choice
- http://www.appcraver.com – the same story as with 148apps
- http://www.apptism.com was sold and it redirects to a different domain
- TUAW – with all respect this site can’t be considered as iPhone / iPod Touch Blogger site, it’s The Unofficial Apple Weblog from AOL, it’s just much more than just a blog dedicated to iOS apps reviewing.

If an iOS app developer approaches iJustine he needs to have a pretty nice budget, Justine lives in a parallel Universe;-) I wouldn’t suggest app developer to waste his time on approaching Justine, unless he’s come up with the next Angry Birds.

Brook Lenox October 15, 2011 at 2:15 pm

@ Tomer – you are welcome.

Brook Lenox October 15, 2011 at 2:18 pm

@Chris – thanks for the recommendation.

Brook Lenox October 15, 2011 at 2:41 pm

@Artyom – great points. This article definitely needs some updating. Will do that when I get a chance.

Thiru October 21, 2011 at 11:03 pm

Hi mate

Really worth reading blog, i would like to add Apps400.com in iphone app review portal, which looks great and powerful.

Brook Lenox November 20, 2011 at 9:31 pm

@Thiru – thanks for the idea.

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