First app, how to promote it

whydra said:

. Is it so hard to reach top500 or (I wish) top100?

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Yes. Most apps will sell very small numbers. You need a combination of an amazingly polished app that does something people want at the right price and a lot of luck.

I mostly send it to some APp Reviewers, and hope they will review it ^_- This mostly helps, cuz alot of people visit such sites for the app.
And marketing over Twitter/FB does alot.

Paid advertising is certainly an option when it comes to promoting your app. As to how effective that is...

Is the app you are referring to the one in your signature?

PRMac is often recommended.

The odds of getting one of the bigger review site interested in an app isn't that high. Maybe shotgunning promo codes to several dozen of the smaller less popular iOS review sites to see if any of them pick up on you app would have better odds.

There are so many new iOS apps, the odds are that only a tiny percentage will make into any top listings.

firewood said:

PRMac is often recommended.

The odds of getting one of the bigger review site interested in an app isn't that high. Maybe shotgunning promo codes to several dozen of the smaller less popular iOS review sites to see if any of them pick up on you app would have better odds.

There are so many new iOS apps, the odds are that only a tiny percentage will make into any top listings.

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I don't understand the value of PRMac... why couldn't a developer just write their own press release? Seems like it'd be easier, timelier, and cheaper...

I'm putting together my own press kit right now to send off to a few websites... I'm going to include in it:
- Description of my app.
- A short video of my app in action.
- Some diagrams explaining some of the behind the scenes stuff that might not be so readily obvious in the video that make my app superior to competitors (users tend not to notice how automated my app is... they seem to take it for granted, when my competitors have clunkier interfaces and less automated logic.)
- A dozen screenshots or so of my app in action.
- A download link for my app.
- A promo code letting the reviewer get all the IAPs from my app for free.
- Extra promo codes to distribute to readers (readers love reviewers who give free things, reviewers love being loved, thus encouraging the reviewer to write something about my app and give me some extra exposure.)
- A link to my support website.
- My email address for questions, concerns, etc...
- A short bio on me (maybe not? Why not? Too much? IDK...)

I suppose I'll let you all know how it goes... or maybe you'll know how it goes when other sites you visit end up putting up stuff about my app (I hope.)

ArtOfWarfare said:

I don't understand the value of PRMac... why couldn't a developer just write their own press release? Seems like it'd be easier, timelier, and cheaper...

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PRMac isn't just a writing service, they are also what I guess you would call a wire service. So they publish your press release (that you or they write) and many other sites (review sites, blogs) tend to echo them or even better, use them to write a more thorough story/review. I don't know how effective PRMac is on its own, but it was one part of a successful app promotion I did in the past (actually, I paid a professional to do the marketing, and got about a 20x return on my investment).

As always, the first step to promoting an app is making the app great and something that a lot of people want in the first place.

Don't mind me. I'm just looking around. But, I'd be foolish to not take some ideas from this thread on any future apps that I might develop.

ArtOfWarfare said:

I don't understand the value of PRMac... why couldn't a developer just write their own press release?

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Being a good app developer does not necessarily correlate with being a good writer of marketing/ad material. That's why a successful project team might involve multiple people each far more skilled than the team lead in their particular area of expertise. PR might be one of those areas. Or might not.

Can anyone please tell me of App reviewers? I would like to send them my app to review...

BlindSoul said:

Can anyone please tell me of App reviewers? I would like to send them my app to review...

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http://www.google.com -> iPhone App reviewers, that's what I did, actually, google DOES help sometimes.

I would google around for reviews of the top grossing competing apps in the same category and look for which web sites did a good job of reviewing them.

You can also check the alexa.com rankings, and see if there's anyone actually reading reviews on those web sites. (macrumors is ranked around #410 in the U.S.)

First app, how to promote it

I agree with pretty much all of the above we have just launched our App Manu and we have a press release just released.

I think one of the most cost effective ways is Twitter and Facebook get friends to recommend your app.

Submitting your app to various review sites is good there are loads out there.

The most important thing is that your app is good. This will help word of mouth advertising but it may take a little while, some review sites that you could try are

148 Apps
Giggle Apps
Smart Apps for Kids
Time - best Iphone apps for 2011 / 2012 feature
Best Apps
iPhone app review
App Safari
Everything iCafe
The Appera
Slap App
CNet
Gizmodo best apps
App advice
Crazy Mike's Apps
The Apple Bites

It does take a while for these guys to come back to you and in most cases they will try to sell you advertising which is not a bad thing as they all get a lot of traffic, its just a question of what is your marketing budget.

Email campaigns have not been particularly effective for us so you could look at an SMS campaigns.

Viral videos are good we have created a couple with our characters.

Video demonstrations on how to use your app will help.

Print Press and QR codes are also a possibility.

Change your email signature to promote your app

Maybe change your answer phone message to tell friends your app is now in the app store

Create a free version of your App will also help and don't over price your App

I am sure I can think of a lot more but hopefully the above may help.

I pretty much did what rjdmstudios did as well.

Our app is being reviewed by appadvice.com and should be up tomorrow.

We have been doing some heavy twitter and facebook marketing mostly. We also sent our app and info to sites like menshealth.com and livestrong.com because they are in the Health and Fitness category. Depending on your apps category there may be alternative media outlets besides actual app review companies.

We also made a landing page for the app. It will be live tomorrow

currently in less than a week we have sold 1500 copies, which we are pretty satisfied with at this point.

the app is called Pushup Warrior if interested

admanimal said:

PRMac isn't just a writing service, they are also what I guess you would call a wire service. So they publish your press release (that you or they write) and many other sites (review sites, blogs) tend to echo them or even better, use them to write a more thorough story/review. I don't know how effective PRMac is on its own, but it was one part of a successful app promotion I did in the past (actually, I paid a professional to do the marketing, and got about a 20x return on my investment).

As always, the first step to promoting an app is making the app great and something that a lot of people want in the first place.

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I really need your help for my first app iOS. Can you introduce me to that professinal. I dont want my app to continue to drop off .
Please contact me <Email removed by moderator so spam bots don't grab it >

Does your app have a Facebook page? If so, encourage your users to "like" it, because their Walls will most likely say they liked the page.