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Thanks for that writeup. That's the information I needed to make an informed decision. However, I'm really not convinced to lay out the money. Let me explai
by drewcrawford 16y ago
Thanks for that writeup. That's the information I needed to make an informed decision. However, I'm really not convinced to lay out the money. Let me explain why.
You're in the same boat as a lot of other iPhone app marketing--spend more than you take in, hope you make it up somewhere. The problem is, there are a lot of much better ways to throw away app licenses:
* Giving promo codes to bloggers, who are definitely influencers and costs me nothing for the first 50.
* Just gift apps to people myself, which is 25% cheaper, and I have direct control over who the people are, so I have firsthand experience that they're movers & shakers
So really you're going to have to convince me: first, that giving away licenses is a good idea and second, that paying you to give away licenses is better than doing it myself. This means you're going to need really stellar users who are better evangelizers than my friends & family, who care about the product mostly because they care about me.
That's going to be an uphill battle, to say the least.
One thing that might help you is a couple of testimonials or success stories from other developers. Find a "deadpool" app that really does show some promise. Reach out to the developer and offer to promote it for free in exchange for access to all the sales figures. If you can demonstrate "hey, we made this guy 10% more than we would have charged him" that at least sounds promising enough for me to give you fifty bucks and see how it goes.
- msencenb 16y agoExcellent explanation and I see the logic behind your decision; however, I don't think its all-encompassing for every iPhone developer: 1) I personally never had any success reaching out to bloggers. Maybe it was because my apps weren't innovative enough or I didn't have the right connections but I always felt that the time I wasted reaching out to bloggers could have been better spent elsewhere. If you are successful reaching out to bloggers then more power to you! 2) While I agree that this gives you more control and in fact might be very good for user testing... some people simply don't enjoy this type of tactic or have the time. Some people would rather spend time answering support e-mails and developing new apps and products, its just kind of their style. This is where my product comes in. Also the testimonial idea I think is worth pursuing and I will be looking for a perfect subject tonight. :)
- drewcrawford 16y agoIt may very well be that your strategy provides better returns for less effort than the alternatives. I'm simply saying that, as a potential customer, it doesn't look like that on its face, and you need to convince me to buy in. A good way to convince me is with a success story.