This post -- written by our Craig Palli -- originally appeared on Boston.com.

With more than 1.5 million apps in the Apple and Android app stores, mobile app marketers face the enormous challenge of achieving discoverability, sustained user engagement and, ultimately, monetization. Successfully marketing your app requires more than strategic mobile media buying and compelling, creative advertising. High-performance mobile app marketers have a laser-like focus on targeting and acquiring loyal users – those who take a specific action, such as an in-app purchase or registration. It's these loyal users who become repeat customers, word-of-mouth advocates, and deliver real, ongoing ROI.

The following eight tips for marketing your app are focused on driving more of these loyal users. They're based on more than 70 billion user-based app actions, including launches, registrations, and in-app purchases, as well as real time bidding requests recorded on our platform, and they're proven marketing tactics for putting your app ahead of the competition:

1. Establish goals for loyal users. Exactly what constitutes a loyal user will vary from app to app – perhaps it's opening the app a certain number of times or completing an in-app purchase or registration – so define that metric before launching any acquisition campaigns. You'll also need to determine your lifetime value per user so you can set cost-per-conversion targets (i.e., determine how much to pay for different traffic volumes to deliver the best possible ROI).
2. Promote your app across several traffic sources. There are several types of traffic sources for mobile apps: ad networks, real-time bidding exchanges, incentivized download networks, and more. Using just one source – or even one from each general type – gives you too small a universe to be successful. You'd be missing out on valuable opportunities to identify the best sources for large volumes of loyal users. In fact, working with several traffic sources can improve loyal acquisition results by up to five times.
3. Track post-download activity. As your mobile ad campaigns are running, it’s critical to track users’ post-download activities and tie this data back to its traffic source, ad creative, and other campaign variables. This helps to pinpoint which specific traffic sources and campaigns are driving your most loyal users – not just the most downloads.
4. Optimize ad campaigns in real-time. By analyzing real-time data, it’s possible to eliminate inefficient ad spending and shift budget to those traffic sources and campaigns that are delivering loyal users.
5. Employ a campaign optimization solution. Optimizing advertising campaigns based on post-download actions is challenging but there are automated solutions available. Instead of managing a huge matrix of ad networks, costs, creative, downloads, and conversion rates, it's worth investigating a solution that incorporates everything and adjusts your campaign spending on the fly.
6. Conduct ongoing closed-loop analysis. Continuous analysis of marketing campaign performance, post-download usage and revenue return helps you understand, at a granular level, what's moving the needle. It’s important to dive into these analytics frequently to fine-tune campaign planning and align with marketing objectives.
7. Conduct a loyal user acquisition test. Not convinced that the concept of marketing specifically to bring in loyal users will produce results? It's easily testable. Assign a portion of your marketing budget to a test that employs the above-recommended strategies. You’ll gain valuable insights into how a loyal user acquisition strategy can directly impact your bottom line.
8. Benchmark performance against industry averages. The best way to improve your mobile marketing results is to more precisely understand the competitive landscape you're pouring your budget into. By benchmarking how your mobile app marketing stacks up against industry averages, you’ll gain a larger, more accurate picture of the trends impacting your business goals, allowing you to adapt and plan with more agility.

Mobile app marketing shouldn't require guesswork. By deploying these tested strategies and tactics, mobile app marketers can achieve high-performance results that not only drive business objectives, but also acquire large volumes of loyal users.

• Apple reported record revenue numbers this week, along with record iPhone and iPad sales.
• As if the App Store isn’t packed enough, 2013 will bring an estimated 435,000 new apps to iOS users – further aggravating discovery challenges for app marketers.
• Across iOS, Android, and RIM, Facebook is the No. 1 app in the U.S., with nearly 86 million unique visitors per month.
• Experts believe 2013 could be a year of explosive tablet growth, as global tablet shipments are expected to reach 145 million. What does this growth mean for mobile marketers?

This week, Apple reported its first quarter earnings, revealing the company sold a record 47.8 million iPhones, 22.9 million iPads, 4.1 million Macs and 12.7 million iPods. In total, some 75 million iOS devices were sold during the quarter. “We’re thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world.” AllThingsD has more here.

A recent year-end adeven report forecasts that the Apple App Store will boost its inventory this year. More than 435,000 new apps are expected to launch in the already jam-packed App Store, creating more user acquisition headaches for app developers and marketers. “Growth in terms of App Store size will continue to increase steadily as it has during the past few years, but it also points to a steady climb in the number of apps that fall into its ‘zombie’ category, which accounted for 60 percent of apps in June, but climbed to 64 percent in its most recent tally,” reports Darrell Etherington in TechCrunch. Zombie apps are those that aren't ranked and so have very little chance of being discovered by users.

While the competition is fierce, Facebook sits atop the crowd as the most popular app brand in the U.S., according to comScore. In 2012, the Facebook app enjoyed 85.5 million monthly unique users across iOS, Android and RIM platforms. Of note, Facebook not only has the largest number of users, but also the highest level of engagement. And while Facebook sits at number one, Google apps (including maps, search, and YouTube) occupy slots 2 through 6. Seth Fiegerman of Mashable has more.

New research from ABI Research suggests that 2013 could see dramatic growth in tablet sales. A projected 145 million tablet shipments are set to hit the shelves across the globe this year, meeting the demands of tablet-crazed consumers, reports Mobile Entertainment’s Daniel Gumble. This boost also produces a huge opportunity for marketers. “The concept of mobile advertising started with smartphones but tablets are changing everything, rapidly establishing themselves as universal media players (TV programs, movies, radio, news, magazines) in a way never achieved through ‘personal’ computers,” said Magna EVP and Director of Global Forecasting Vincent Letang to MediaPost. 

• The Apple App Store hits a new record – 40 billion downloads!
• Recent reports indicate that Apple’s iOS tops 50 percent of U.S. smartphone sales, up nearly 36 percent from last year, achieving the highest percentage of sales in the American market to date.
• Expect to see many more tablets in the workplace this year as the BYOD (bring your own device) trend adds more personal tabets to the business environment and companies seek to purchase these devices over computers.
• Mobile ad spending will increase 400 percent in the next four years, reaching a staggering $37 billion in 2016.

This week, Apple announced that consumers have downloaded more than 40 billion apps – with nearly 20 billion in 2012 alone. Today, the App Store has more than 500 million active accounts and had a record-breaking December with more than 2 billion downloads during the month. Apple’s developer community has created 775,000+ apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users worldwide. Also, developers have made $7 billion in revenue since the App Store launched in 2008. Tom Cheredar of VentureBeat has the details.

Data released by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech signals a milestone for iOS, as Apple’s operating system powered 53.3 percent of all smartphones sold in the U.S. from November 2011 to November 2012. Among U.S. iPhone sales, 34 percent of consumers upgraded from an earlier iPhone, and 40 percent acquired their first smartphone. The growth of iOS translated into market share declines for Android, down nearly 11 percent from last year, writes Jason Ankeny of FierceMobileContent.

Analysts from Piper Jaffray and Forrester predict greater adoption of tablets – especially the iPad – for businesses in 2013, reports Lance Whitney of CNET. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster reveals recent survey results of CIOs, where 57 percent of them indicate plans to deploy tablets this year, compared with 46 percent last year. Additionally, corporate users utilizing their own tablets in the workplace are increasingly relying on apps to help manage their busy lives and day-to-day tasks, such as finding a taxi or hotel, following current events, or making payments.

Estimates from eMarketer indicate mobile ad spending will experience 400 percent growth during the next four years. These estimates incorporate display and search advertising and exclude message-based formats (such as SMS, MMS, and P2P). The major beneficiaries would include Google and Facebook, with gains by Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo!, writes Chuck Jones of Forbes. North America leads globally, with the average ad dollar spend per mobile user expected to reach $46 in 2016. eMarketer’s estimates include analysis of various elements, such as macro-level economic conditions, historical advertising trends, estimates from other research firms, and mobile usage trends.

• Mobile app downloads are set to reach 45 billion by the end of 2012, with much more ahead for 2013.
• With just 8 days left before Christmas, competition is heating up and app developers are wishing for the gift of app downloads.
• Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices are still the crowd favorite for app developers, but they’re looking to build across both iOS and Android devices.

While mobile app downloads are on pace to ring in at the 45 billion mark for 2012, there’s more in store for 2013. In a recent predictions report from Gartner, mobile apps are set to “become a replacement for how you [consumers] interface with companies,” says Gartner analyst Brian Blau in eWEEK. Looking ahead to 2016, app downloads are expected to rise to 305 billion and reach $74 billion in revenue, becoming the No. 1 way to engage with brands.

App developers love Christmas morning almost as much as children, because thousands upon thousands of wrapped tablets and smartphones sit beneath the tree, waiting to be filled with exciting new apps. Tim Peterson of Adweek speaks with a number of app developers preparing for this holiday rush. “My understanding is that December is the largest month in the [Apple] App Store for traffic,” said Daniel Raffel, founder and CEO of how-to app Snapguide. For app developers looking for ways to effectively market their apps this holiday season and score many downloads on Christmas and in the days and weeks that follow, check out our latest infographic for some helpful tips. 

The iPhone and iPad still sit at the top of the charts of app developers’ favorite platforms, capturing 89 and 86 percent of interest, respectively. This is according to a new Q4 2012 study of nearly 2,800 developers by Appcelerator and IDC. While these stats remain comparable to a similar Q3 study, the major takeaway is that there’s growing interest (up 18 percent) in developing apps across other operating systems. TechCrunch has more about the latest findings.