Damon Sakai
Executive UA Consultant, Adways Interactive


Western app developers looking to promote their apps in Asia are faced with several unique challenges. The language barrier, differences in user acquisition techniques, unfamiliar ad networks and agencies.
Here are some key points to look out for when planning to market your app in Asia.

Localization
A big question that developers face when looking to promote their apps in Asia is whether they have to localize their apps before starting their UA efforts. To achieve best performance developers should localize the store description, screenshots and creative. In-app localization may not be needed for a simple, casual game that’s easy to understand. For word-heavy apps, however, it would be recommended to do in-app localization.

Another thing to be aware of is that creative tastes in Asia are different than in the West. A game developer may want to learn the aesthetic of the country that they are looking to promote in and to revise their creative accordingly. Simply taking Western-style ads and localizing the text may not be enough. Localizing the overall creative will help increase the campaign’s performance.

Here is an example of Banner Ad.







Tracking
Many of the top tracking services - Kochava, Adjust, MAT, Ad-X - have limited coverage in the Asian market. While the Japanese market is integrated with the major Western tracking services, most other Asian markets are not. These markets are dominated by Asian-based tracking services, such as Adways’ PartyTrack.

Western developers looking to do UA outside of Japan would be advised to double check the penetration that their tracking service has in the market they are looking to promote in. It’s possible that their tracking service may only be integrated with a handful of publishing partners, thus greatly limiting their ability to drive a successful UA campaign. If this is the case, one solution would be integrate with the largest tracking service in the given market, so that your tracking needs are met.

Using Non-Asian Networks for UA in Asia
Many Western ad networks and mobile marketing agencies claim to have inventory in Asia. The majority of these agencies, however, are buying their mobile traffic from agencies in the Asian market that they are targeting.

We would advise developers to go direct and to work with the multiple mobile marketing companies in Asia. The quality will be better and the variety of inventory will be higher. They have on-the-ground knowledge of the market and the unique way to promote your app within their country. In addition, the average cost of the campaign may be low due working direct and not through a third party.


Western-style Social Media
Mobile marketing using social networks is different than it is in the West. In addition to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, Asia has larget platforms such as LINE, WeChat, Kakao and more. Each of these platforms offers their own unique opportunities, with some unique differences in how apps are marketed.

With, Twitter, for example, mobile marketing is done in more of a narrative form. Users are looking for more of a story about the app - not a direct call-to-action like in Western advertising. Twitter advertising is used in more of a story-based form to help potential users better connect with the characters in the game. In addition, emojis are used to promote apps, with the emojis built right into the narrative promoting the app.



3-Month Staged Plan
A successful method of marketing apps in Asia is to have a 3 stage plan.
● Non-incent - use a combination of CPI and CPC marketing to gain organics, learn the market and optimize the campaign
● Incent - Run campaigns to drive up the rankings and drive organic lift
● Social Network - use social media to sustain organic lift while targeting specific users


As you can see developers face many challenges when looking to promote their apps in Asia. With smart planning, however, these challenges can be overcome and can lead to successful campaign.

Adways is a leading mobile marketing solution provider headquartered in Tokyo. Adways is primarily known for Asia’s largest mobile CPI adnetwork “AppDriver” and third-party mobile tracking tool “PartyTrack” used by major app developers worldwide. Since 2004 when it opened the first overseas office in China, Adways has been aggressively expanding its mobile app distribution network throughout the Asian markets. Now with more than 1,000 employees in 11 countries (Asia and US), Adways supports app developers worldwide to maximize user acquisition and monetization and constantly thrives to provide new value to the market. press@adways.net