Solved: How to grow my app via marketing?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

It sounds like you're in a great position – a solid app that people genuinely like is the hardest part of the equation, so you're already miles ahead of many. You're also spot on that marketing is the key to unlocking real growth. It’s a common hurdle, and your instinct to look for specialist help is definately the right one.

You mentioned being "terrible with social media," and I want to start there because it's a really important distinction. What you need isn't a social media manager who posts updates a few times a week. You need a paid growth strategy designed to get your app in front of thousands of potential new users and persuade them to download it. That's a completely different skill set.

I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and a bit of a roadmap based on my experience running campaigns for other software and app companies. The whole thing can seem a bit of a minefield, but it really boils down to getting a few core things right: understanding your customer, choosing the right place to find them, and giving them a compelling reason to act. Let's break it down.

We'll need to look at the first big mistake: 'Brand Awareness'

One of the most common ways founders burn through their first marketing budget is by chasing the wrong goal. They see big companies running glossy "brand awareness" campaigns and think they need to do the same. This is a trap.

When you set up a campaign on a platform like Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and choose "Reach" or "Brand Awareness" as your objective, you're sending a very specific instruction to the algorithm. You're telling it: "Find me the cheapest eyeballs possible."

And the algorithm is incredibly good at its job. It will go out and find all the people within your target demographic who are least likely to click, least likely to engage, and absolutely, positively, never going to download or buy anything. Why? Because their attention is not in demand, which makes them cheap to show ads to. You are literally paying the world's most powerful advertising machine to find you the worst possible audience for your app. For a growing business, this is financial suicide.

The best kind of brand awareness you can have is a new user telling their friends how brilliant your app is. That only happens after they've downloaded and used it. Awareness is a *byproduct* of successful user acquisition, not a prerequisite for it. From day one, every penny you spend should be aimed at a conversion objective – an app install, a free trial signup, or whatever action means someone has become a user. This forces the algorithm to find people who actually *do* things, not just people who scroll past.

I'd say you need to define your customer by their nightmare, not their demographics

Before you even think about which ad platform to use, we have to get this part right. Most marketing advice will tell you to create an "Ideal Customer Profile" (ICP) that looks something like this: "Males, aged 25-40, interested in technology, living in London."

Frankly, that's useless. It tells you nothing of value and leads to generic ads that speak to no one. It's the reason so much advertising feels bland and ignorable.

To stop burning cash, you have to define your customer by their pain. By their specific, urgent, and expensive nightmare. Your ICP isn't a person; it's a *problem state*. You need to become an obsessive expert in that problem.

Let's imagine your app is a project management tool for small creative teams.

• -> The demographic profile is "small business owners, project managers."
• -> The nightmare is "The sinking feeling at 10 PM on a Sunday when you realise a client deliverable was completely missed, knowing it will lead to an angry call on Monday, damage your reputation, and potentially cost you the contract."

See the difference? The first is data. The second is an emotion. You can't target an emotion directly, but you can build your entire marketing strategy around solving it. Your ad copy, your landing page, your app's onboarding—everything should speak directly to alleviating that specific nightmare.

Once you've identified the nightmare, you can work backwards to find these people. Where do they hang out online?

• -> What niche podcasts about running a creative agency do they listen to on their commute?
• -> What industry newsletters (that aren't the generic big ones) do they actually open and read?
• -> What other software tools do they already pay for? (e.g., Slack, Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud). These can often be targeted as interests on platforms like Meta.
• -> Are they in specific Facebook Groups or Subreddits for agency owners?

This intelligence work is the foundation. Without it, you're just guessing, and guessing is expensive. Doing this work first means you're not just throwing money at a platform; you're placing strategic bets based on a deep understanding of who you're trying to help.

You'll need to choose the right battleground: Which ad platform?

This directly answers your question, "Is there any platform that I should go to?". The answer isn't one-size-fits-all; it depends entirely on how a potential user discovers the *need* for your app. Broadly, there are two paths: Search and Discovery.

1. The Path of Search (High Intent)

This is for when people are *problem-aware*. They know they have an issue, and they are actively looking for a solution. They are typing things into a search bar. For an app, your main weapons here are Google Ads and Apple Search Ads.

• -> Apple Search Ads: This is often a brilliant starting point for apps. You're catching people at the exact moment they are looking for an app to download in the App Store. You can bid on keywords related to your app's function ("project management app"), your competitors' names, or the problem you solve ("how to track team tasks"). The intent couldn't be higher. We worked on one app growth campaign that generated over 45,000 signups, and Apple Search Ads was a key channel for us precisely because it's so direct.
• -> Google Ads: People don't just search in the App Store. They search on Google for "best app for X" or "how to solve Y." With Google Ads, you can run App Campaigns that promote your app across Google Search, YouTube, Google Play, and the Display Network. It’s powerful but can be more complex to manage than Apple Search Ads.

The great thing about these platforms is that the user has already done half the work for you. They've qualified themselves by searching. Your job is just to convince them your app is the best answer.

2. The Path of Discovery (Building Demand)

This is for when people are *not* actively looking for a solution. They might not even realise the problem you solve can be fixed, or they're just passively scrolling through their feeds. Here, your job is to interrupt them with a message so compelling that it creates the demand on the spot. Your main platforms here are social media channels.

• -> Meta (Facebook & Instagram): Still the king for most B2C and even many B2B apps. Its targeting capabilities, while not what they once were, are still incredibly powerful. This is where your "ICP Nightmare" research pays off. You can target users based on interests (like the software they use, the influencers they follow), behaviours, and by creating "Lookalike Audiences" of your existing best users. For one B2B SaaS client, we generated 1535 trials using almost exclusively Meta ads because we could target people with the right job titles and interests. For another B2B software company, we brought in 4,622 registrations at just $2.38 each. It really works when you get the targeting and message right.
• -> TikTok Ads: If your app has a strong visual component or appeals to a younger demographic, TikTok can be explosive. It’s a very different creative environment – you need to make ads that feel like native TikToks, not polished corporate videos. But the potential for viral reach and relatively low costs is massive.
• -> LinkedIn Ads: If your app is strictly for a B2B audience (e.g., an accounting tool for law firms), then LinkedIn is often the place to be. It's expensive – I recall a campaign for a B2B software client where we saw a $22 cost per lead, which is high but was worth it for the quality of the leads. The targeting is unparalleled for job titles, company size, and industry. But for most consumer-facing apps, it's not the right place to start.

So, which path do you choose? I've put together a simple flowchart to help you think through it.

You'll need to understand the numbers *before* you spend a penny

This is probably the single most important piece of advice I can give you. You cannot advertise effectively if you don't know your numbers. The real question isn't "How low can my Cost Per Install go?" but "How high a Cost Per Install can I *afford* to acquire a great user?"

The answer lies in a metric called Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). This tells you how much profit, on average, a single user will generate for you over their entire time using your app. Once you know this, everything else becomes clearer.

Let's break down how to calculate a simplified version of it.

• Average Revenue Per User (ARPU): How much money do you make from one user, per month? This could be from a subscription, in-app purchases, etc.
• Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue? After app store fees, server costs, etc. 80% is a reasonable starting guess for software.
• Monthly Churn Rate %: What percentage of your users do you lose each month? (i.e., they cancel their subscription or become inactive). This is the most critical number.

The formula is: LTV = (ARPU * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate %

Let's run an example. Say your app is a £9.99/month subscription.

• ARPU = £9.99
• Gross Margin = 70% (after Apple/Google's cut)
• Monthly Churn = 5% (meaning the average user sticks around for 20 months)

LTV = (£9.99 * 0.70) / 0.05 = £6.99 / 0.05 = £139.80

So, in this example, each user you acquire is worth about £140 in gross profit to your business. Now we have a benchmark!

A healthy business model often aims for a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means you want your LTV to be at least three times what you pay to get the customer. In our example, you could afford to spend up to £140 / 3 = ~£46 to acquire a new subscriber.

Suddenly, seeing a £15 Cost Per Signup on Facebook doesn't look so scary, does it? It looks like a profitable investment. This math frees you from the tyranny of chasing cheap, low-quality downloads and allows you to invest confidently in growth. Use the calculator below to play with your own numbers.

You probably should fix your offer before you run ads

This is the most common failure point I see. People spend weeks agonising over ad creative and audience targeting, but they send that hard-won traffic to a weak, unconvincing offer on a poor landing page. It's like spending a fortune on a beautiful invitation to a party held in a derelict warehouse.

For a SaaS or app business, your offer is your unfair advantage. The single most powerful offer you can make is a completely free trial or a freemium plan, with no credit card required. Let people use the actual product. Let them experience the "aha!" moment where they see how it solves their nightmare. When the product itself proves its value, the sale becomes a formality. You're no longer chasing leads; you're creating Product Qualified Leads (PQLs) who are already sold on the value.

I've seen so many B2B software companies cripple their growth by hiding their product behind a "Request a Demo" button. It's an arrogant call to action. It assumes your prospect has nothing better to do than book a meeting to be sold to. It's high-friction, low-value, and instantly signals that you're just another vendor. One client we worked with was struggling with a £100 CPA for their medical job matching platform. A big part of our strategy to get that down to just £7 was optimising the offer and funnel to make it as frictionless as possible for a user to sign up and see the value.

Your offer and the landing page it lives on have one job: deliver a moment of undeniable value.

• -> Clarity Above All: Can a visitor understand what your app does and for whom within 5 seconds? If not, they're gone.
• -> Focus on the "After": Don't just list features. Describe the transformed state the user will be in after using your app. Use the Before-After-Bridge framework I'll touch on next.
• -> One Goal, One Button: The landing page should have a single, clear call-to-action (e.g., "Start Your Free Trial" or "Download for Free"). Remove all other distractions, like navigation links to your blog or about page.
• -> Build Trust: Show social proof. Include testimonials from happy users, ratings from the app store, logos of any press you've been featured in. People need to feel comfortable before they download something new.

Don't even think about scaling your ad spend until your landing page is converting a decent percentage of visitors. It's far cheaper to improve your conversion rate from 2% to 4% than it is to double your ad budget.

You'll need a message they can't ignore

Now that we know *who* we're talking to (the person with the nightmare) and *what* we're offering them (a frictionless way to try the solution), we can finally talk about the ads themselves.

Good ad copy isn't about being clever or witty. It's about clarity and empathy. It needs to grab someone by the shoulders, show them you understand their specific problem, and present your app as the clear, obvious solution. Two frameworks work wonders for this:

1. Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS)

• Problem: State the nightmare directly. "Another weekend wasted trying to coordinate your team's schedule in a messy spreadsheet?"
• Agitate: Pour salt on the wound. Make them feel the pain. "Key shifts are being missed, everyone's frustrated, and you're the one stuck fielding complaints."
• Solve: Introduce your app as the hero. "Our app puts everyone's availability in one place, automates scheduling, and sends reminders automatically. Get your weekends back. Download for free."

2. Before-After-Bridge (BAB)

• Before: Paint a picture of their current world, with all its frustrations. "Imagine your photo library: 10,000 unsorted photos, impossible to find anything, and a constant 'storage full' notification."
• After: Show them the promised land. "Now, imagine every photo automatically tagged, sorted into albums, and searchable by person, place, or even the objects in the picture. The perfect memory, found in seconds."
• Bridge: Position your app as the thing that gets them from Before to After. "Our app is the bridge. It uses AI to organise your entire library for you. Try it free today."

Notice that neither of these talks about "synergistic cloud architecture" or "proprietary machine learning algorithms." They talk about the user's life and how it will be better. That's what sells. Features are just the mechanics of how you deliver that better life.

So what's the plan? Here is my main advice for you

Bringing all this together, here’s a structured approach to getting started. This isn't about doing everything at once, but about taking methodical steps and testing your way to what works. I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

And finally, how to find the right person to help you

You started by saying you should probably hire someone, and that's often the fastest path to results. This entire process can be overwhelming, and an experienced hand can help you avoid costly mistakes. But how do you pick the right person or agency?

Forget slick sales pitches and grand promises. The only thing that matters is a track record of real-world results, ideally with apps or software similar to yours.

• -> Demand to see case studies. Not just fluffy testimonials, but actual data. What was the Cost Per Signup? What was the Return on Ad Spend? For example, we've run successful campaigns for app clients where we've achieved results like over 45,000 signups at under £2 per user. That's a tangible result.
• -> Look for strategic thinking. Get on a call with them. Do they ask smart questions about your business, your LTV, and your customers? Or do they just talk about "running Facebook ads"? A good partner is a strategic thinker, not just a button-pusher. This is why we always offer a free initial consultation – it's as much for us to see if it's a good fit as it is for the client. It lets you get a taste of the expertise you'd be paying for.
• -> Be wary of guarantees. Tbh, in paid advertising, anyone who promises you a specific result is lying. There are too many variables. A true expert will talk about a methodical process of testing and optimisation, not about guaranteed outcomes.

Ultimately, you're looking for a partner who can navigate this complexity for you, freeing you up to do what you do best: building a great app. The right expert won't just run your ads; they will help you build a predictable, scalable growth engine for your business.

This is obviously a lot to take in, but hopefully it provides a clearer framework for how to think about marketing your app. It's less about being a "social media person" and more about being a systematic marketer.

If you’d like to chat through your specific situation in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session where we can look at your app and give you some tailored advice. It can often be a really helpful way to get some clarity on the best next steps.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh