The Great App That Nobody Knows About
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You might have a fantastic app sitting at one or two downloads a day. You’re probably thinking that it’s deserving of a little bit more, yeah? Unfortunately, this is where I see the story end with far too many talented indies.
We love to be the starving artist, even if we don’t realize it. But if there’s one thing that’s changed things for me personally, at least from an earning standpoint, it’s somewhere down the line, I realized the following truth:
A great app that nobody knows about, is still a great app that nobody knows about.
Seriously! It’s so cheesy and hoo-rah, I know, but it’s absolutely true. You have to get the word out…
Van Gogh Releases
…or, stated differently — don’t do Van Gogh App Releases. Our boy Vincent made over 900 paintings. In his lifetime, he sold one. One!
We know how the story ends. His paintings hang in museums, sell for a lot of money, and have inspired generations since. But during his life? Crickets. However, his work was never the issue.
If the App Store had existed back then, he probably would’ve been sitting at two downloads a day, too. And, then, probably would’ve cut off his other ear dealing with app review (too much?).
Market your app
Elite Hoops has grown and grown over the past year, and it’s only because I’ve started taking marketing as seriously as I have traditionally taken development. And, to put my money where my mouth is — I’ve popped on Apple Search Ads for my good ol’ soccer app, too.
To date, it’s done like — $75 in MRR? In the past month(ish), it’s at $131. Not life changing money, but I’m giving it a chance.
When you’re in the pits, it’s easy to confuse activity with perceived achievement. But in the end, you can’t develop or feature flag your way out of nobody knowing that your app exists. You just have to tell them. Then, start shipping some of that good stuff, and it’ll most likely work out better for you.
So give something a try, here are some ideas:
- Try paid acquisition from your expendable income: Even if it’s $10 a day for a few months. You’ll learn a lot.
- Commit to marketing for a month instead of developing: Again, you’ll learn a lot. Put down the feature requests and hotfixes, and see if you can bring some people into your app.
- Post and post and post: If you have a social angle, simple try posting some features sizzle reals. Not marketing, Apple-slickified, polished ones — just simply you using the app doing this one thing that it does well.
- Think like a marketing person as much as a developer: Because when you are an indie, you are in marketing, too.
The list goes on. Try things, fail, and try again. You were probably awful at programming when you started (Me! My apps were too!). You might be terrible at marketing in the beginning, too! It’s all good, I promise you’ll get better. And, I hope you do. Frankly, I want to see more indie apps in the world.
Until next time ✌️