Ask HN: What's the best way to promote your app?

Ah, if only there was a 'Best way' - but there isn't. Indeed, the nature of marketing is that most successful promotional techniques are quickly replicated by others and their effect diluted.

Instead, ask yourself: 1) Who are our clients / users? 2) What are their pains, how does our app solve those, and why would they buys/use our app? 3) Where are those clients - and therefore how do we get in front of them?

As an extreme example, the best way to promote a fashion app for 16-year-old girls will be quite different to a finance app for high net worth individuals.

I heartily recommend the book Traction for a thorough list of options and how to approach them. (The list is included in the free preview, if you're strapped for cash, but the extra information is worth buying a copy.)

Best of luck!

In my opinion, the best way to promote your app is with word of mouth advertising. Unlike other forms of advertising, you can't buy word of mouth advertising; instead you need to build something that solves real problems and creates true value for your customer. The bigger problem you solve, the more value you have. A high perception of value builds loyalty, and lays the groundwork for customer advocates (which are your most important customers). When your customer talks with other potential customers that have the same problems, your app or service becomes a potential solution. Word of mouth advertising is powerful because recommendations from friends and peers carry more value than traditional advertising. Potential customers are more likely to try your app or service when it's been recommended by friends or peers. This is most effective when it occurs naturally (not forced). These are lessons learned from my first startup (results of our product, customer reactions, customer surveys, etc)

Check out this app launch guide on GitHub: https://github.com/adamwulf/app-launch-guide

It depends, if your target audience is early adopters submit the landing page of your apps to SHOW HN and Product hunt is a good start

The one by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares?

Well, We wrote this, Have a read :)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9550294

hire a pr agency