225,000 applications available in the App Store. More than 550,000 active applications currently on Facebook. Where's yours? This was the nut Mobile Monday London tried to crack last night.

I always come to these meetings hoping for a moment of enlightenment, for a flashing revelation born out of the gathered expertise that will solve in a second all mobile problems, like fragmentation and application discovery. No wonder I am always disappointed: my expectations are totally unreasonable!

Let me tell you a little secret: there are no miracles in mobile, only hard work.

Good news everyone

Dear apps person: you'll be pleased to know that getting your product found is not a new problem. Marketing people have been making a handsome living out of it for decades. You are not confronting a scary new menace, you are not alone.

Helping mobile crowds find your app is not that different from luring you into grabbing a certain shampoo brand from the supermarket aisle. You can learn loads from other, more traditional industries, and there is a tone of experience out there.

On the bad news side, you face two big hurdles, and these are they.

1. Findability mechanisms in app stores are still quite primitive

Let's face it: when you compare 200,000 apps with the wealth of waffle in the world wide web (or wwwww), indexing those apps and making them findable doesn't look that big a deal. Google managed, e-commerce sites managed, music catalogs managed.

Applications have their nuances: they are not web waffle, they are not books or MP3s, but still there must be a way of enhancing application search. Stores should do their bit: they should research and invest on findability.

It'll be for their benefit: easy to find applications will attract both developers and customers in a increasingly competitive area (84 stores found at wipconnector already).

2. You need cash

In the app stores world, the main marketing trick is still paying for premium shelf space. If you don't have the money, you are out of this particular game.

This is not only a problem for producer people, it is also a problem for consumer people. If featured apps are there purely because their big pockets, how can I, the user, be sure of their quality?

I am poor: what do I do?

These are some of the panel suggestions.

Do not rely exclusively on the store

Remember when there was no app stores, back in the dark ages of the early 2000's? Apps still got around somehow, right?

Know your users

It is not about demographics. Not even about usage data. Much more basic than that: talk to prospective users, and no, your geek friends do not count.

Ben Scott-Robinson from We Love Mobile wants you to stop obsessing with big audiences. Niches rock the mobile world. Focus on a segment and serve it well. Chances are you already know who to talk to in a specialised area: they will spread the word about your application.

Focusing on a niche will also allow you to better communicate with your users, better support them, gather their feedback and respond accordingly.

Reach to the bloggers

This one is a classic. Nag them until they agree to feature your app.

Establish relationships

Alysse Tiane from 7Digital recommends reaching to other companies within your space.

For 7Digital, partnering with Last.fm, music labels and artists has worked well to generate buzz, business and enhanced services.

Play with sponsorship

Chris Bourke from Mobext believes sponsorship deals have a bright future. Fishlabs seem to be a master of this (and lots of other) games.

Eli Camilleri from Vision Mobile observed that associating with established brands can help you build trust.

Tell people when and where it matters

Eli Camilleri mentioned how the staff at the Royal Academy of Arts proudly introduced her to their iPhone application while collecting some tickets.

After forking 19 pounds out for an arts show, 4.99 for an app doesn't seem such a rip off. The Royal Academy were offering the application to the right people at the right time, and apparently it paid off. It doesn't get any simpler, or any smarter. I hope the tickets lady got a big bonus for her good work.

And what I think of it all

The evening left me with the impression that marketing for apps is an afterthought. You do the app first and when it's ready... Surprise! You have to get people to download it.

It reminds me of when accessibility and usability were also an afterthought, something you appended to software at the end of development. That, of course, no longer happens (nervous cough).

The key to accessibility and usability is to integrate them into the design and development process. Maybe we should do the same with marketing. The once-off marketing strategy is dead: be ready for a long, tough run.