The iPhone App Everyone is Talking About: A Guide to Successful Marketing

According to Apple, roughly 8,500 new apps and updates to existing apps are submitted each week to the Apple app review team. In this crowded marketplace, it’s increasingly difficult for developers to get new apps noticed. Without marketing to gain the necessary publicity and exposure, a killer app may simply get lost in the relentless stream that floods the App Store on a daily basis. So how do developers utilize the skills of marketers and what steps are needed for a new app to get noticed?

New York, NY (PRWEB) March 4, 2010

Yes, there’s money to be made in the App Store and everyone wants in on the action. More than 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch users have downloaded more than 1 billion apps through Apple’s iTunes App Store. With stats like that, it’s easier than ever to make money in the App Store, right? Think again.

According to Apple, roughly 8,500 new apps and updates to existing apps are submitted each week to the Apple app review team. In this crowded marketplace, it’s increasingly difficult for developers to get new apps noticed. Without marketing to gain the necessary publicity and exposure, a killer app may simply get lost in the relentless stream that floods the App Store on a daily basis. So how do developers utilize the skills of marketers and what steps are needed for a new app to get noticed?

This is not about expensive advertising campaigns. There are plentiful cost-effective marketing ideas any developer can take advantage of to help sell more apps. Developers today should have a solid marketing plan in place even before they write a single line of code. David Wooldridge, author of the newly released "The Business of iPhone App Development: Making and Marketing Apps that Succeed," offers some questions directed to iPhone app developers. These questions are a great place for developers to start considering marketing during the app development process:

1.    Have you done some good old-fashioned detective work and analyzed what your competitors are doing right and wrong?
2.    Did you fine-tune your app icon and your screenshots (since these are the first visual elements users will see)?
3.    Have you explored new business models with in-app purchase and affiliate programs?
4.    Did you conduct thorough beta testing? Do you provide built-in help, and track usage and performance through in-app analytics?
5.    What have you done to generate pre-release buzz? Have you prepared a company logo, app icon and logo, screenshots, or website for your app?
6.    Have you crafted an effective press release for your app? Do you have a list of blogs, magazines, and websites to send your press release to?
7.    What have you done to sustain momentum for your app in the App Store? Have you considered running promotions, giveaways, and carefully timed sales events?

About "The Business of iPhone App Development: Making and Marketing Apps that Succeed"
The phenomenal success of the iPhone and the iPod Touch has ushered in a “gold rush” for developers, but with well over 100,000 apps in the highly competitive App Store, it has become increasingly difficult for new apps to stand out in the crowd. Achieving consumer awareness and sales longevity for your iPhone app requires a lot of organization and some strategic planning. This book will show you how to incorporate marketing and business savvy into every aspect of the design and development process, giving your app the best possible chance of succeeding in the App Store.

"The Business of iPhone App Development" was written by experienced developers with business backgrounds, and take you step-by-step through cost-effective marketing techniques that have proven successful for professional iPhone app creators—perfect for independent developers on shoestring budgets. No prior business knowledge is required. This is the book you wish you had read before you launched your first app! For more information about "The Business of iPhone App Development," visit http://iphonebusinessbook.com.

The Business of iPhone App Development: Making and Marketing Apps that Succeed
By Dave Wooldridge, Michael Schneider

• ISBN13: 978-1-4302-2733-5
• ISBN10: 1-4302-2733-8
• 377 pp.
• Published March 2010
• Print Book Price: $29.99
• eBook Price: $20.99

Michael Schneider
At the beginning of 2009, Michael Schneider left the Silicon Valley technology firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to found HiveBrain Software. HiveBrain publishes a variety of applications on the iTunes App Store, the most notable of which, TouchType, peaked at #13 in the U.S. App Store. Michael continues to practice law under the name Bitwise Legal, focusing on software and interactive media clients. Notable clients include Bungie and Innerfence.

About Apress
Apress, Inc., part of Springer Science+Business Media, is a technical publisher devoted to meeting the needs of IT professionals, software developers, and programmers, with more than 700 books in print and a continually expanding portfolio of publications. Apress offers a complete package of books on developing for the iPhone and Mac OS X. For developers who want to code games, create compelling user interfaces, or better get a handle on just what makes an App cool, Apress has books to suit. For more information about Apress, visit http://www.apress.com.

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