How to market iPhone applications

Submitted by Brendan McNulty

Since two people I know are now professional iPhone developers, I’ve taken a bit of a closer look at the App Store, the iPhone and marketing of applications. There are a few things I find interesting:

1) It’s essentially a walled garden, distribution is exclusively through the App Store, so Apple owns the customer contact.
2) First-mover advantage was important. If you could get there first with an OK app in front of many rabid Mac fans you were guaranteed of making some money.
3) There is a real problem with the pricing model (if you’re a developer). In order to get into the top-sellers’ bracket people try to get as many sales as possible, so developers keep their prices real low ($0.99). This is a doubled-edged sword, you need to decrease your price to make sales but then the revenues don’t actually mean much. Unfortunately you have to sell a lot of content in order to keep yourself happy with that.
4) It’s a groundbreaking device: it can tell where you are, connect to the internet and do crazy things associated with motion. This opens up the scope considerably wrt development.
5) The barriers to entry are so low (the SDK is available and most tech-literate people could build something). With this low barrier to entry many people are putting their content up there, so it’s hard to cut through the clutter. If you look at how many apps are on the store its heading towards a hockeystick curve; end of December there were 10 000 apps, mid-March 25 000 and a week ago 33 000.

So how do you cut through the clutter?

In order of importance:

1) it seems lame to even say it, but have differentiated content. Don’t have the same knock-off app that everyone else has — create some new exciting IP. Without a good product you’re sunk.
2) PR and reviews are key. Most developers don’t have a lot of money to advertise what they’re doing, so get the word out there and get people to review your content. Make up a good story about yourself to put in your bio (everybody loves the scrappy underdog and the iPhone is pretty sexy at the moment). Use these to make a character out of yourself and your dream of creating. Leverage these stories to push your app not only to the usual game and app websites, but also reach out to other avenues. If your game is about football, contact football sites or send it to the Sports pages. The more you can communicate about your game the better it is. Here is a list of possible reviewers
3) Google. Use AdWords to get out there and get traffic to your site. Start off small (your studio name and game name), build up your negative keywords and carry on adding new terms. This is a great case study of how it can work.
4) Have a trial/lite version. This is classic coming from the casual gaming world, where the “try before you buy” model is an established way of getting people hooked on your content. Your timing in launching your lite model has to be good (you don’t want to cannibalise full-version sales), but it can definitely boost your sales.
5) Have a website that showcases your app (buy the domain name, so that it will assist you with natural search). Don’t mess up the basics: have well-written copy, good screen-shots, a video, and any third-party reviews/recommendations well displayed on your page, with a prominent BUY ME call to action.
6) Cross-promote your new app from your current app. If you already have a pool of users who are using your app, use them to promote your new app. I don’t see anyone selling these spaces to other app developers, but there must be an ad business in this.
7) Localise what you’re doing. The App Store is big in Germany and other non-English countries too. Localised content always works better than English for a local market.
8. White label your app. I put this one last because people may not want to “prostitute” their development. Putting a skin on something (eg Coca-Cola on the loading screen) can have Coke sponsor your development so they can distribute it.

Using these tips will ensure that you differentiate yourself from the mass of people who are selling a ripped-off version of Bejeweled.

Brendan is an internet marketer, games expert and all-round fan of the internet. He blogs at www.brendan-mcnulty.com