How to Build Your App’s Brand on the App Stores | APS WFH 2020

How to Build Your App’s
Brand on the App Stores
Anton Tatarinovich, Katsiaryna Covaci
App Promotion Summit 2020

About us
Anton Tatarinovich Katsiaryna Covaci
ASO Consultant
Previous - Digital Marketing Specialist at Firebird Tours
katsiaryna.covaci@phiture.com
ASO Consultant
Previous - Head of Marketing at SplitMetrics
anton.tatarinovich@phiture.com

About us
App Store Optimization | Retention | Growth Consulting

Agenda
01. Status quo: Why brand is important for mobile apps
02. What is a brand?
03. How to build a brand for the mobile app: from abstract to measurable
04. ASO-Brand dynamic: How existing brand can be leveraged in ASO
05. ASO-Brand dynamic: How ASO can help in building the brand

App Store optimization deals with generic keywords
Status Quo
A massive part of ASO manager’s work is KWO.
Generic keywords are usually characterized by lower
traﬃc volumes and higher competition since everyone
can use them in their metadata, while using other brands
as keywords in your metadata is almost always forbidden
by the app stores.
Generic keywords Branded keywords
[taxi]
[racing game]
[dating]
[news]
[match 3]
[weather]
[Uber]
[Real Racing]
[Tinder]
[Guardian]
[Toon Blast]
[The Weather Channel]

ASO managers have little or no inﬂuence on brand
Status Quo
“Among all keywords with volume over 75, over 90% are
brands [...] Above a volume 90, all keywords are brands
exclusively.”
“Brand keywords account for almost 70% of search traﬃc.”
“65% of downloads come from branded keywords.”
The higher search volume a keyword has, the more likely it is
to be a brand name
“9 out of 10 top keywords are branded.”

ASO managers have little or no inﬂuence on brand
Status Quo
Generic keywords Branded keywords
Under ASO control
● High competition
● Low/medium traﬃc volume
● Generate 30-40% of overall organic
installs
● 70% overall installs volume
● Low competition (remember - ASA)
● 90% of high-volume keywords are branded
● Potentially generate downloads from high-LTV users
No control

Status Quo
Brands in the age of COVID-19
Source: SensorTower - “Search Data Shows Consumers Turning to Trusted App Brands Amid
Coronavirus Crisis”
“Sensor Tower data reveals the top 100 searched terms in the U.S. App
Store in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdowns did not contain any
general queries relating to app types or services that might normally
be associated with a pandemic or shelter-in-place orders.
Most consumers are taking to App Store search with a predetermined
intent to download speciﬁc apps.”
Strong brands are
getting stronger.

Status Quo
To capture maximum value on the App Store or
Google Play you need a brand.

The notion of a brand
What is a brand?
Brand is an identity of a company (product, app). It helps
your users differentiate your product among
competitors, reduces risks and sets expectations, A.K.A.
the product is easy to ﬁnd and users know what they’re
getting into.
Positive expectations explain high CVR on branded
keywords.
McDonald’s
The New
York Times
Spotify
Clash of
Clans
Traditional brands Digital-native brands
Nike Skyscanner

What a brand is made of
What is a brand?
Brand
Promise
Imagery
Performance
Interaction
● Ads
● App store visuals
● OOH campaigns
● Content
● ...
● Crash rate
● Features
● UI
● Pricing model
● ...
Source: NYU Stern

Brand marketing - Before
How to build a brand for the mobile app: from abstract to measurable
Brand marketing is generally regarded as a massive,
diﬃcult-to-measure and very expensive activity. Due to
the absence of a transparent process and clear metrics,
the downside is often too big for small and
medium-sized publishers.
“When we say brand marketing, that could mean a number of
different things: You could run TV ads [...], you could take out
magazine ads, you can get OOH billboards.”
- Shamath Rao, CEO at RocketShip HQ

Brand marketing - After
Brand marketing is generally regarded as a massive,
diﬃcult-to-measure and very expensive activity. Due to
the absence of a transparent process and clear metrics,
the downside is often too big for small and
medium-sized publishers.

Brand marketing - Today

ASO - Brand Dynamic
ASO-Brand dynamic: How existing brand can be leveraged in ASO
ASO Brand
Optimised textual assets
Converting icon
ASO A/B testing
Brand keywords
Branded assets
App & Web Referrer
traﬃc

How existing brand can be leveraged in ASO
1. Utilising brand in your KWO strategy will help you increase visibility

65% of downloads come from branded keywords.
They also convert and retain better.
Keyword type Conversion Rate
Retention rate
(30 days)
Brand 43.7% 42.5%
Generic 23.3% 40.9%
Competitor 16.4% 41.6%
Same developer apps 17.4% 39.8%
Others* 26.7% 16.5%
Source: Google Play Console
*Others : keywords that have low volume of store listing visitors (<100 searches per month)
“65% of downloads come from branded keywords.”

How to utilise brand in your KWO strategy
Consider misspellings and abbreviations for your brand. If you don’t rank for them, add them to the
metadata
Source: AppTweak

Stay dynamic and keep testing. You can later remove certain brand search terms from your metadata in
favor of generics and still keep the ranks you gained

When localising, keep in mind that native speakers of the language you are localising for will often search
for your brand in their language
uber убер ‫אובר‬ ウーバー 우버

Brand search terms popularity can indicate when a
brand becomes stronger or weaker
Brand keyword 1
Brand keyword 2
Source: App Store Connect, AppTweak

2. By including brand in your creative assets, your app can drive more downloads

Best practices of incorporating brand in your CRO
strategy
Using your brand assets on the store product page is beneﬁcial in the locales where your brand awareness
is high

strategy
Using your brand assets on the store product page is beneﬁcial in the locales where your brand awareness
is high
Yet, you can give branded assets a try in the locales where your brand is not so strong. It may not bring you
additional installs on the spot, but it will help you grow your brand in the long run

strategy
Including a brand wordmark in the icon* is one of the well known best practices
App name
Brand name
Brand name
*Icons are for exemplary purposes

strategy
Ensure consistency in your creatives between different organic and non-organic channels.
Ads App Store

2. By including brand in your creative assets, your app can drive more downloads
3. A well established web or app stores presence will ensure quality referrer traﬃc

If you already grew a strong web presence before launching an app, you can direct the web traﬃc towards
the new app. You can do the same if you have a well-established app on the market.
Quality referrer traﬃc

1. As an emerging brand, you can optimise the 3 most important ASO assets as part of your brand
strategy from the get-go
How ASO can help in building the brand
ASO-Brand dynamic: How ASO can help in building the brand

Optimise 3 most important ASO assets as part of your
brand strategy
SEARCH PRODUCT PAGE BROWSE FEATURING

brand strategy
Icon
Title
Subtitle

brand strategy
Title
Do your keyword research, when
you are still developing the
product.

brand strategy
Title
Do your keyword research, when
you are still developing the
product.
And then come up with a short
brand name for your app

Just don’t take it too seriously...

brand strategy
Make sure your marketing tagline is up to 30 characters long and keyword optimised - it is now your subtitle

brand strategy
Contribute to your acquisition efforts and invest in your brand recognition by building your icon with ASO
best practices in mind
Icon with symbolIcon with wordmark

1. As an emerging brand, you can optimise the 3 most important ASO assets as part of your brand
strategy from the get-go
2. As an established company, you can leverage ASO A/B testing for rebranding
How ASO can help in building the brand

Leverage ASO A/B testing for rebranding
Create the best converting icon, not the worst conversing one

Leverage ASO A/B testing for rebranding
Develop the tone of voice and messaging that resonates with the users. See how to create powerful
messaging create powerful messaging for ASO using a creative matrix

Key takeaways
1. While branded keywords are better for organic installs, ASO managers still mostly work with generic keywords and
have no inﬂuence on brand.
2. To maximize organic potential of an app on any app store, building a brand is key.
3. Brand marketing for mobile apps is a function of promise (marketing, UA, ads) and performance (product). When they
are in a perfect match, great brands are built.
4. Leverage your existing brand in ASO through adding brand keywords to metadata, branding your creative assets and
driving more quality app/web referrer traﬃc.
5. Help to build a brand with ASO by optimizing key app store assets before brand guidelines are set in stone and
leverage ASO A/B testing for rebranding.

Final word
“From workplace productivity, to shopping, to education, Americans are
turning to enterprises that have long-established brands for answers.”

Thanks!
Have questions? Contact us:
anton.tatarinovich@phiture.com
katia.covaci@phiture.com

How to Build Your App’s Brand on the App Stores | APS WFH 2020

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