UGCHow to get your app, software or service known
There are only five families of channels: app store optimisation, paid ads, content and SEO, communities, and creators. Paid is the fastest and the most expensive: cost per install in Europe sits around $3.40 on iOS and $1.85 on Android, and it has roughly doubled since 2019. Content and referrals are the cheapest and the slowest. Creators are the only channel that produces both reach and reusable creative, which matters when your product has to be demonstrated before it can be wanted.
Start with the only question that matters
Before picking a channel, settle this: is your product understood in three seconds, or does it have to be seen working? An accessory is understood from a photo. A project management tool, a language app or a course are only understood in use.
That answer eliminates half the advice you will read elsewhere. Tactics designed for e-commerce, the polished product shot and the unboxing, do not transfer to a product that needs explaining.
Is your product shown, or told?
If a stranger understands your product from a screenshot, favour volume and paid ads. If they need to watch someone use it for twenty seconds, then your main channel is demonstration, which means creator video.
The five channel families, with real costs
1. App store optimisation
Store listing work (title, subtitle, screenshots) has the best long-term return, because every organic install it generates is a paid acquisition avoided. The quality benchmark: above 35% conversion from product page view to install on iOS, and above 25% on Play, your listing is doing its job. The first screenshot does most of the work.
Source: Searchlab: App Marketing & ASO Statistics 2026
2. Paid advertising
The fastest and most expensive channel. 2026 benchmarks: roughly $2.24 per install on iOS and $1.12 on Android worldwide, but $3.40 and $1.85 in Europe. Costs have roughly doubled since 2019 because of privacy changes. TikTok and Google App Campaigns are the cheapest, between $0.50 and $2.50.
Source: SEM Nexus: 2026 Mobile App CAC Benchmark Report
On the B2B software side the comparison is different and harder: average customer acquisition cost reached around $1,200 in 2026, from $100 to $500 self-serve and above $5,000 for enterprise. Referrals stay cheapest at around $150, content and SEO around $480, while LinkedIn ads exceed $2,000.
Source: SaaS Hero: 2026 SaaS CAC Benchmarks
3. Content and SEO
Slow to start, then compounding. It is also the channel that makes you quotable by AI assistants, which is becoming an acquisition path in its own right now that buyers ask an agent for advice before they search.
4. Communities and launches
Product Hunt, Reddit, specialised communities. Free in money, expensive in time, and not repeatable: you cannot relaunch every month. Treat it as a spike, not a channel.
5. Content creators
Real people film your product in use and post on their own account. It is the only channel that leaves you two assets at the end: organic reach, and videos you can reuse as ads and on your product page.
Source: AdDogs: how to advertise an app in 2026
How to split a budget, concretely
One observed split on a roughly $10,000 monthly app budget: $3,000 to $4,000 on Apple Search Ads across brand and category terms, $1,500 to $2,000 on listing maintenance and creative refresh, $2,000 to $3,000 on retention and lifecycle, the rest on one experimental channel.
Source: SEM Nexus: Mobile App Marketing Budget Benchmarks 2026
The line people miss in that split is creative refresh. Paid advertising decays when the creative fatigues, and producing fresh creative every month is the real bottleneck. That is exactly what a creator campaign produces, in volume and from varied angles.
| Monthly budget | Priority 1 | Priority 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Under €1,000 | Store listing and content | Communities |
| €1,000 to €5,000 | Creators to produce creative | Paid ads on one channel only |
| €5,000 to €20,000 | Multi-channel paid | Continuous creators feeding creative |
| Over €20,000 | Full measured mix | Referrals and lifecycle |
The most common mistake: confusing reach with understanding
Many software companies buy reach when their problem is understanding. They get impressions, a decent click-through rate, and a disappointing install conversion. The channel was not at fault, the message did not show the product working.
The symptom is easy to read: if your cost per click is normal and your cost per install absurd, your creative is not explaining. No advertising budget fixes that.
- A reach problem: few impressions, few clicks. Answer: more media budget, more channels.
- An understanding problem: clicks but no installs. Answer: creative that demonstrates, so videos of the product in use.
- A trust problem: installs but no subscriptions. Answer: peer proof, so real testimonials.
Why creator video answers all three
A video filmed by a real person using your product covers all three symptoms at once: it travels on their account, it shows the product working, and it comes from a peer rather than your marketing team.
The model that works for a product needing explanation combines two things: a guaranteed fixed amount so the creator actually produces the video, and a performance bonus to reward the ones that break through. Paying only per view pushes volume and damages demonstration quality; paying only a flat fee buys no distribution.
A fixed fee on approval, then a view bonus
Every format offered carries a fixed amount paid as soon as the video is approved, plus €1 per 1,000 views tracked for one month, capped at €500 per creator. You set a maximum campaign budget from €3,000 and only pay for approved videos. Deliberate positioning: software, apps, services and training, not general e-commerce.
FAQ
How much does it cost to promote an app?
On paid ads, expect around $3.40 per install on iOS and $1.85 on Android in Europe in 2026, costs that have roughly doubled since 2019. For B2B software, average customer acquisition cost sits around $1,200, from $100 to $500 self-serve. Content, referrals and store optimisation cost less but take months to pay off.
What is the cheapest channel to promote an app?
Referrals, at around $150 acquisition cost in B2B, then content and SEO around $480. But these are the two slowest channels. If you need results in weeks rather than quarters, you have to accept paying for distribution.
Should you start with paid ads or content?
Start with whatever is blocking. If nobody sees you, buy reach. If they see you without understanding, build creative that demonstrates the product before raising media budget. Bad creative makes every budget increase ineffective.
Do content creators work for software?
Yes, and it is often the best-suited channel, because software has to be seen working. The condition is choosing a model that guarantees the video gets produced, otherwise you get content optimised for views rather than for demonstration.
How long before you see results?
Paid gives numbers in days, creator video in weeks, content and store optimisation in months. Plan for all three horizons rather than expecting one channel to do everything.