iPhone

App Marketing

Market Your App or Fail…Not Necessarily

by Mike Vallez on May 7, 2012

A recent article by Sean Ludwig at Venture Beat, based on a survey by App Promo laments that 59% of iOS (Apple Platform) developers don’t generate enough revenue from their app efforts to break even. Unfortunately, Mr. Ludwig did not correctly analyze App Promo’s survey results since the 59% of developers includes Android developers as well. Further more, after investigating the App Promo’s survey I found that only 102 developers were queried for their stunning results, again a mix of iPhone, iPad, and Android developers. The questions that made up the survey apparently were multiple choice and were based on general, revenue/download, and marketing areas. While the survey is at best sketchy, App Promo is an app marketing company, which unfortunately appears to have an ulterior motive — marketing apps for iOS developers and Android developers. The below infograhic is a quick look of the App Promo survey (via App Promo).

App Marketing

While there is no doubt that the iTunes App Store of 2012 is nothing like it was back on July 10, 2008, indie developers should not be frightened off by Mr. Ludwig’s incorrect assesment or App Promo’s developer survey. For starters, there is always going to be a viral app success in the iTunes App Store whether it’s due to sheer luck, great app concept, or other intricacies that don’t include marketing budgets made up of thousands of dollars. Besides the viral effect, there are several questions raised by this scary survey. Most developers only need a Mac ($1200) and to be registered as an Apple developer ($99) to create and publish apps in the iTunes App Store. Was this survey a determination of one’s value for their time or investment dollars (you know real cash) used to create an app for the cost metric? I tried to access App Promo’s survey to see the questions, however, the survey is now closed and all 102 results (both iOS and Android) are confidential. While I am not refuting what App Promo states, and actually agree that marketing is necessary for developers, I have seen some very big success from indie developers’ efforts with very little investment other than their time, such as Chad Towns and his iPhone app Doodle Army

Chad published Doodle Army in 01/2010 and since doing so has had approximately 2,000,000+ downloads. Funny thing is that Mr. Towns to date has spent approximately $200 total in marketing this app and that was after the app had been live in the iTunes App Store for one year. Sure he has poured many hours of  his own time into this app and much of that only after the app realized success. Nonetheless, if Doodle Army had failed he would have been out only the cost of his time and a few hundred bucks. Another early iTunes App Store success is Steve Demeter and his app Trism netting him $250,000 in 2 months time. It is said that Demeter worked on the his app part-time after work, again costing him his time and $99, as I am guessing he already had a Mac. While these success stories are not the norm, there are plenty of developers who have and are making money from their app development. However, app marketing is going to continue to be a huge problem as well as a threat to the indie developer.

The iTunes App Store top 200 paid and free is filling up with large corporations apps who have huge calculated app marketing budgets to keep their apps in the top spots for both the free and paid apps using mobile advertising, banner ads, and their own large app communities. This will continue to increase as the money continues to be spent by app customers, which is not expected to peak anytime soon especially as mobile evolution continues. It does not take a rocket scientist to determine that if the top companies can pay their way to the top 200 paid and free spots, this limits the opportunity for an indie to get their app in a visual location to chart better. While the indie developer is not going to be a thing of the past, they will face increased and potential unstoppable competition.

For indie developers, there are several things that they can do on the front end of their app development to increase their chances of success. First, create a unique value proposition for your app that is timed right, well developed and not an after thought app being pushed to the market too early or incomplete simply to try to hit the lottery. Second, there is always the publishing option. If your app is a cut above the rest, you can potentially work a deal with the ever increasing app publishing houses that are popping up like pimples on a teenager. Although, you can expect to give up another 1/3 of your revenue, but 1/3 overall is better than no thirds. Third, seriously consider a marketing budget and strategy for your developed app using any and all free and low cost Guerrilla marketing tactics to gain awareness (social media, app community, forums, etc). Lastly, and very grass roots, indies need to start working together and quit thinking that their app idea is top secret or could not be better without collaboration. Try pooling your time and talents with others, graphically, creatively, etc. where each gets a percentage of the app revenue. This is a great model to realize reduced cost/loss and increased probability of success/revenue.

The iTunes App Store is turning corporate and has been from the beginning, which is only going to make it harder for the indie (little guy) to scrape out a big win, but don’t believe everything you read, even if it is from Venture Beat. If you’re looking for an indie friendly iPhone, iPad, Android, or Mac advertising option, be sure to check out CrazyMikesapps’ App Advertising for a quality custom app demo, social media marketing, and traditional web marketing — all for one low price. Also, tell us about your iOS app success story or fail — we would love to hear it. Is Venture Beat 100%  on this one?  Do you feel App Promo’s survey is legit? Tell us!

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Describe Your App..Before Others Do!

by Mike Vallez on March 27, 2011

app marketing

The number one location developers have access to to sell their applications is their app’s description in iTunes, the Android Market or another app market. Since iTunes is the largest we will focus on how iPhone and iPad developers can successfully use their app description to convince users to buy their app. Here are four tips on how to better compose your app description to increase your app sales.

1) Don’t be shy: This is where you the developer pull out all the stops and describe every feature of your app. Now, this does not mean be over technical and provide a description that only developers would understand, but think in terms of features. Explain what your app does and how it is going to make the users life either easier or more enjoyable (if a game). Be sure to boast about your app and don’t be shy to talk it up about your app. One key point, don’t make claims about your application that are beyond what your app is capable of doing. You will be called out faster than you can imagine in the user reviews if you make this mistake.

2) Honesty: Transitioning from the last point mentioned above, be brutally honest with your customers about your app whether good or bad news. For example if you become aware of an issue with your application and it is something that will take an update to correct then a good practice is to place a statement top of line in your description notifying customers you are aware of the situation and working to correct it. This does a couple things immediately. First it builds trust with your customer base and second this helps you to manage your customer service efforts better. The first place customers will go when their is a problem with their app is to the description to look for the support or customer service link. While working their way through the description they can see that you are aware of their issue and rest assured your are working to fix it. Here is an example of how to write an issue into your app’s description: “We are aware that the application crashes when trying to use the online co-operative game play mode. We have fixed this problem and have submitted an update to Apple. This issue should be resolved in 4 to 7 days.” This keeps users informed and reduces the number of nasty emails in your customer service inbox. You should also be honest about good news about your application, such as being featured in Apples New & Noteworthy or What’s Hot areas as this mentally helps users to make a purchase of your application because if Apple says your app is good then it must be worth purchasing.

3) Use your description space: All too often I will see an application description that is maybe a hundred words and usually bulleted. These app descriptions are usually confusing to me and I consider myself to be somewhat app savvy. Imagine how a casual app user feels when they go to purchase an application and there are 2 sentences in the description and 5 bulleted features with little clarification as to why users should purchase X app. This is a classic failure to communicate to potential customers what your application is all about. If your app has no features and only can muster 2 sentences worth of description than fine. For most apps this is not the case. Don’t be lazy with your application’s description and be sure to take your time to write a thought out description with the following parts: 1) Intro/teaser- critical information about the application that can stand alone if necessary 2) Body- bulk of description with features, reviews, in depth app history, developer history or any other information that is interesting about your app or that could help sell your app. 3) Links/Customer Service- Be sure to provide links to reviews that have been completed on your application. Include YouTube videos and if you do not have a video of your app in action consider having one made by CrazyMikesapps or another reviewer. Although, links are not hyperlinked in the description they are still relevant and can be cut and pasted from the web browser version of your applications iTunes description. Finally be sure to provide app support and or customer service website links for all of your applications. There is nothing that will hurt an application more than if there is a negative issue with an app and there is no way to inform the developer.

4) Ask for feedback: One of the very best places to get honest information about your application is from your customers. Think of this as your best focus group possible. Why? Because your users have either downloaded your free app or purchased your paid app for whatever reason, most likely because your app either solves a problem or provides enjoyment. Ask your users for tips on how you can make the app better. You will typically get solid feedback, which can help you make future versions of your application better. Additionally, ask users what other features/game play they would like in your application. Sometimes they may provide you with development ideas you may have never considered. Be sure to give your customers credit if they give you a development idea that you use and it makes your app better. Put a shout out in your “Description” and you will win over a customer and show other customers that you listen to customer feedback, which builds trust.

The app description is the #1 place to convince and convert app browsers to become customers. You can do this by providing a thorough explanation of your apps features, game play, provide industry review teasers, customer service promises, links to videos and anything else you can think of that helps to describe your application and what your app does. If your app description is lacking change it today and see if you can convert more app browsers into app purchasers. MV

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How to Build A Community to Launch Your iPhone/iPad, or Android App

by Mike Vallez on February 14, 2011

app marketing

Your great app idea does not mean squat without a customer base that is going to buy it. So how do you build a customer base or community to launch your app? Actually, you can begin to build your app’s customer base early in the development cycle, preferably in the brainstorming stage before any coding begins. Once you have your app named or brand nailed down it is time to get busy with your web 2.0 infrastructure.

Start by creating a website, build a blog (that you will actually blog on), and establish all relevant social media profiles to leverage the ability to market your product directly to your customer. I suggest at a minimum establishing a Twitter channel and Facebook fan page in the name of your app or developer company name. This is the infrastructure you will use to market directly to your customers.

Now it is time to begin to build momentum about your new app. Start by blogging about what it is exactly that your app will do (if possible), your apps functionality, the importance your app is going to mean to your customers, basically tease your customers all throughout the development process to build interest. This process should not be overlooked as it is here you begin to build relationships with potential customers. Communicate with them, answer their questions, ask them questions about what they want in an iPhone, iPad, or Android app. Any relationships you can make here may payback big dividends when you launch your app. This is the beginning of your community.

So far all of the suggestions on building a community have been pre-launch, now it is post launch and this is where you have to have a long range plan. You need to look beyond your current app or at least ahead to the update of your new app that has not even launched yet. This is counter intuitive, but necessary. You have the opportunity to build an email list through your iTunes or Android Market app descriptions. Take advantage by providing customers an email address to contact you for any issues whatsoever. An additional opportunity is to put an email capture function right into your app. The email list you build here will be huge in future app launches or other sales opportunities you want to market to your customers. Tips to create, increase, and keep a happy customer base (community) are: 1) answer customer questions in a timely manner 2) Fix any bugs ASAP 3) provide updates with customer provided feedback in mind 4) provide new content at no charge, additional levels, new functionality, but give them customers more for their money. These tips will most definitely keep your customers happy and your community growing.

Building a community for your new iPhone, iPad, or Android app does not need to be a monumental task. Plan on spending a 1/2 hour a day to complete your marketing functions and to begin building your community. Yes, there may be days you need to spend more time in this area, but I have seen this pay off and pay off big. I will provide a case study on developers who have build successful communities and have reaped the monetary rewards from doing so. MV

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mobile media

Android Bar Codes Make App Downloads/Purchases Seamless, Why Isn’t Apple Doing This?

by Mike Vallez on October 11, 2010

Being a “Fan Boy” of gadgets, mobile devices, and technology overall I was extremely impressed when I scanned an application into my Android “Droid X” smartphone the other day. This was by far one of the coolest things I have experienced since becoming a “technology geek.” The technology is a 2D bar code similar to the bar codes on most products we purchase at stores, but there is a twist. This bar codes is made for cell phones/smartphone cameras. There are several of these types of bar code formats as follows: 1) Semacode, QR Codes and Data Matrix (Wikipedia) which are optimized for cell phones. Here is how it works. I downloaded the CNET Scan and Shop onto my Droid X. Then I went to appbrain.com and selected an application, any one will do. You then take your scanner app open it up to the scan functionality and hold it up to your computer screen. The CNET app makes the sound like you hear at the supermarket during checkout and you are asked if you want to download the application. If it is a paid application you will have to go through the purchase process, but if not you tap install and the app is downloaded onto your device.

mobile media

This technology has been around for awhile and In fact I even saw this at Best Buy yesterday while walking down the main isle in the store. Best Buy was using the these bar codes for information on DVD’s and CD’s. In the not to distant future you will be using this at Walmart, Cosco, or any other store to scan your own retail items to determine the cost of those items. More than likely you will be purchasing products at your favorite stores and checking out on your smartphone before you know it. Use your imagination and you can quickly see how powerful smartphones will be as their cameras and overall functionality increase. MV

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