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App Marketing 101: How to Grow in a Crowded App Market

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App Masters16:03Open on YouTube
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The bottom line

Distribution, not features, decides whether an app grows, so the first job is to find the channel that fits your app. With AI making apps easy to build, traffic is the scarce thing.

Key takeaways

  • AI makes apps easy to build, so distribution is now the edge. 0:24
    • Justin Kan, founder of Twitch, says first-time founders obsess over product and second-time founders obsess over distribution.
    • Only 17% of apps make at least $1,000 a month, per RevenueCat.
  • Search is the best place to start, through ASO and Apple Ads together. 4:38
    • Keyword research is the most important part of ASO. One launch got about 150 organic downloads a day and made $1,600 in 22 days.
    • Apple Ads needs no mobile measurement partner, and search intent is the best intent.
  • Paid social and charging from day one show fast what people will pay for. 6:43
    • Arya reached $1 million ARR and 20,000 paying members using Meta ads and no-code tools.
    • A refund request tells you exactly why someone didn't want the product. Free features teach you nothing.
  • Viral content can prove demand before you build the app. 10:22
    • A fake live stream video went viral first. The app Parallel Live then made over $1.2 million.
    • If a test post on a warmed-up account gets crickets, don't build the product.
  • A short free lifetime offer can still push keyword rankings. 12:43
    • One app got 106,000 downloads and 800 new ratings, and made $7,000 in the first month and over $90,000 in the first year.
    • Run it for two days right after an ASO update. Ask for ratings after a win moment, not at onboarding or after the paywall.

First-time founders are obsessed with product. Second time founders are obsessed with distribution.

Justin Kan, founder of Twitch, quoted by Steve P. Young

Chapter summaries

0:00 Distribution beats features

When AI floods the store with near-identical apps, the channel that fits your app matters more than any feature.

  • Channel market fit is the first thing to get right. 0:51
    • More apps now try to do the same thing every day.
    • Each of the five distribution channels has its own pros and cons.
    • Second-time founders have built a great product that nobody uses, so they turn to distribution.
    • A third stage adds a team: with the product and the distribution in place, you need more people to reach the next phase.

2:17 ASO: ranking in app store search

A well-chosen keyword can be worth more than a new feature, for new and established apps alike.

  • Buying an app that already ranks for a keyword is a shortcut. 2:34
    • Near the space of the app Endle, an app ranked number one for a keyword and got 100 downloads a day.
    • After it was bought, it grew from 1 to 2,000 a month to 8 to 10,000.
    • ASO is hard for a brand new app, just like web SEO.
    • The point: If you got distribution, monetization is easy.
  • The right keyword can change an app's whole outcome. 3:51
    • One app made about $42,000 in its first year and became the biggest in its developer's portfolio.
    • Another app earned nothing until the right keyword took it to an exit.
    • An established app's revenue grew considerably with a little ASO work. Its sales came mostly from app store search.
    • The tool ASOMobile lets you add your app or a competitor's and open app keywords. Finding the right one is like mining for gold.

5:17 Paid channels: Apple Ads and social ads

Paid channels show fast whether an app has traction, and Apple Ads is the simplest to run.

  • Apple Ads is simple because you only need keywords and bids. 5:21
    • You can tie ads to a custom product page.
    • With no organic downloads, every install comes from the ads, so managing it is just math.
    • The more niche the keyword, the better the conversions. Someone searching "meditation" is likely looking for meditation.
    • Podcast guests sold their apps for seven figures using only ASO and Apple Ads. One made over $100,000 first.
  • Social ads on Meta, TikTok or Snapchat can run on simple no-code tools. 6:43
    • Arya's stack was Typeform for a quiz funnel, Squarespace for the site and Airtable for the content.
    • All you need is a mobile web app, and checkout on the web is fine.
    • He thought he needed an app, then found a mobile web flow that already worked.
    • He suggests no free trial.

8:02 Charge early and learn fast with ads

Charging from day one and paying for traffic gives the fastest and most honest read on demand.

  • A web checkout lets you charge hard and charge high from the start. 8:02
    • A hard paywall means you pay or you leave.
    • A discounted first month can replace the free trial.
    • Example: four dollars for the first month, then it renews at whatever price you set.
    • He still says to be in the app too, but web lets you test channel fit with paid social alone.
    • Chasing the first sale and the refund is "rejection therapy". He says he'd take that principle to his grave.
  • Paid ads teach faster than content, even though they cost more. 9:19
    • Ads show your message, your target demographic and your cost to acquire a customer.
    • Content takes long to get right and gives one or two big wins.
    • Ads are the hardest truth because real money is being spent.
    • Content feels free because it costs only time, which hides weak results.

10:04 Prove demand with viral content

Testing content before building replaces "build it and hope" with a product people already want.

  • Content first beats building first and hoping for users. 10:04
    • The old way: build an app, hope people want it, struggle to get users.
    • The new way: test viral content, validate demand, build what's proven.
    • He built his own business content first, starting with a podcast.
    • The fake live stream idea became a new category. The term barely existed before 2024.
    • Steady posting made people search for it. The keyword reached a search score of 40, which is decent (5 is lowest, 100 is best).
  • You can validate an idea cheaply on a fresh, warmed-up account. 11:45
    • Use a tool like Spy Talk to find viral ideas, then study their hooks, formats and themes.
    • Warming up means acting like your target audience: search, like and interact with similar content.
    • The method comes from an AppSumo article by Joseph Choy.
    • His team now tests new features on social media before building them for an app that already earns.
    • On TikTok search, filter by like count and date posted this month to spot top videos in your niche.

12:43 The lifetime free launch

A short lifetime free promo still gives growth bursts, once it is modified and timed well.

  • The hack was modified after the controversy but still works. 12:43
    • Most sales came from app search, so it lifts organic keyword rankings and indexing.
    • He has used this campaign for over 10 years.
    • He changed parts of it because he overshared tactics that stopped working.
    • His team bought IndieAppSanta to keep it going.
  • Promote the two-day window on deal sites and Reddit. 14:08
    • List it on indieappsanta.com and on subreddits that share such offers.
    • After two days, return to full price. It brings thousands of downloads, early users and feedback.
    • Ask for the rating on the second or third open, because most people never come back.
    • Of the 800 new ratings, 200 came from the US and 600 from elsewhere.
    • The download spike plus the ratings push is what lifted the keywords.

In the growth library

Steve P. Young, Founder of App Masters. Distribution, not features, decides whether an app grows, so founders should find their channel market fit first using ASO, Apple Ads, Meta ads, viral content validation and a timed lifetime-free campaign. Case studies include an app taken to $90,000 in its first year with a two-day lifetime free burst, and a Meta-only funnel reaching $1M ARR.

Lessons that draw on this:

More from App Masters · The whole library, and ask it anything

Transcript421 lines
0:00

Coming up, I'm going to reveal the single most important thing [music] that you need to actually grow your app in 2026. Stay tuned. What is up app nation? It is Steve P. Young, founder of appmasters.com, and I'm going to reveal the single most important thing that you need to actually grow your apps. And spoiler alert, it is not new features. Look, AI tools are making it a lot easier to build apps. So, the influx of new apps every single day, month, and ultimately year is going to be more and more competitive. There's going to be more and more apps trying to do pretty much the same darn thing. So this leads me to that single most important thing that you got to be focused on and that is above all else channel market fit. What distribution channel you're going to use to actually grow your app. We already share a lot of monetization tips that you can find in the description below and I'll link it up into that video as

1:10

well that you can check out. But distribution above all is the most important thing that you got to get right to nail app growth. All right, let's get into the five distribution channels and the pros and cons of each one. All right, at marketing in 2026, distribution way more important than building your features. All right, this is one of my favorite quotes from Justin Con, creator of Twitch and Justin.tv. First-time founders are obsessed with product. Second time founders are obsessed with distribution. And one of the things I've heard recently, third- time founders are obsessed with their team. Get it? Look, first time we care about the product. Second time, we know, hey, I built a great product. Nobody's using it. Now, I care about distribution. Third time, that's the stage I'm at. like, hey, I got first, I got the one, I got step two, but now I need more people that are going to help

2:08

me get to the next phase. So, distribution above all else. So, let's break down each distribution channel and when and why you should be using it. First one is ASO. SEO for the app store is one of my favorite channels still, but one of the most difficult just like SEO to really break through, especially as a brand new app. But if you got an established app, really great for you guys there. All right, here's some ways that I like to do ASO, you got this app, Endle, right? And I I have this screenshot to kind of show we were kind of looking at an app very similar to Endle that Endle was already doing well in the app space. And I found two particular keywords around the same space and I found an app that was ranking number one for it and it was getting 100 downloads a day. And so we bought this app and we're able to take it from 1 to 2,000 a month all the way to 8 to 10,000. Look, if you got

3:02

distribution, monetization is easy. All right, distribution is the hard part. Here's another app that we helped launch. It was getting about 150 downloads a day all organically. If you don't believe me, here's a chart to prove it. Right, this is downloads by source type. It's app store search, which is organic. and we were able to make on launch $1600 just using ASO. Now granted, this was a few years ago, so it's getting a little bit harder, but that's $1,600 in 22 days for free. For those who are thinking, "That's not a whole lot of money, Steve." Well, only 17%, this is to our partners from RevenueCat, they reported only 17% of all apps in the app space make at least $1,000 a month. So, that's one of the first milestones I always look for. All right, here's another app.

3:51

All right, the app went on to make 42,000 in its first year, a little bit over that, and ultimately became the biggest app in this developer portfolio. All right, just some more case studies for ASO. We took an app that was very much making zero, found the right keyword, it went from zero to something to eventual exit. Here's another app that we worked on and we're able to take it from about $70,000 to over $200 and now about over $150 a month. Right? This is an established app. Just with a little bit of ASO work from our end and a few things that we help them with, we're able to considerably grow the revenues for this app. And here's the chart if you don't believe me in terms of like where the sales are coming from, primarily through app source search, organic downloads. All right, I won't break down all the elements of ASO, but the single most important thing that you have to think about with ASO is keyword

4:43

research. The right keywords, the most relevant keywords are going to be the biggest breakthrough in your app growth. So, keyword research is the single most important thing that you have to be focused on. All right. And the tool that I like to use right now is asommobile.net. I'm going to link that up and you can go to this add any app whether it's yours or competitors go to app keywords and this is how you can do some keyword research and finding the right keywords.

5:10

It's like mining for gold. If you find the right one you can make or break your app if you're just relying on ASO. All right, my second most favorite way to get going is Apple ads. Honestly, the way I would launch any new app is a combination of ASO and ASA. Apple ads, Apple search ads. It's very easy to use unlike Meta and other platforms. All you need are keywords and you can start bidding on it just to see early traction for your particular app. And so you can see here's an example of Apple ads just for you. Why I love it? Easy to set up.

5:45

No MMP. MMP stands for mobile measurement partner like our friends at Appsflyer. You don't need any of that stuff, right? You can easily set it up. You can tie it to a custom product page. And if you got no downloads organically, well, shoot, everything is happening because of Apple ads, right? Easy to manage, just literally just math. And one of the best ROI channels. What we found is search intent is the best intent. If people are searching for meditation, they're more likely looking for meditation. And the more niche you can go with that keyword, the better the conversions. All right? So, that's why I love it so much. We've had guests on our podcast that have sold for seven figures for their app and they just been using ASO and ASA. They were able to make over $100,000 for their app and sell for millions, right? It's a really good platform to start off with. And again, I'm going to link up our Apple search

6:35

ads playlist so that you can see how we set that up and you can just follow along. The next best thing is social media ads. So that's either Tik Tok, Snapchat, and most importantly and most popular probably is Meta, Facebook ads, right? I want to show you Arya, who is a podcast guest of ours, and he was able to get 1 million ARR using just ads and simple, simple tools. Really, really cool. He was able to get to 20,000 paying members across the US just relying on Meta. And here are the tools that he used to get to a million ARR.

7:11

Type form to build a quiz, right? Like a web to app funnel, Squarespace to host his website, and Air Table to host the content that he was delivering. You don't need much these days. That's why distribution is so important. A million ARR with no code solutions. Amazing. And relying on social media ads, primarily meta ads. Some best practices, right? All you really need is a mobile web app. People can check out on the web. That's fine. That's even better for you. Ofur went into the business thinking he's going to need an app, but ultimately he found a funnel that works and decided, hey, I don't actually need an app. I have a mobile web flow that already works. What he suggests is no free trial. So unlike apps where you have to give a free trial, keeping it on the web, you can do a hard payw wall, which means you either pay or get the heck out of here. And you don't have to do a free trial. You can do like a discounted

8:09

first month, right? Four bucks for the first month that renews at whatever you want to renew at. Lastly, because you're on the web, now I'm still saying you should be on the app, right? If you wanted to be on the app, but you can charge high prices. So, it's a great way to start testing that channel market fit, that product market fit with just paid social media ads. Lastly, here's a principle that I will die and I will take to my grave. Instead of trying to build more features, go get that refund.

8:37

Get that first sale. Right? That mentality should be I'm going to go get that refund. So many of you are so scared to try to get that first sale. It is ultimately meaning go get that first sale and don't be shy. Don't be afraid of aiming for that refund. It's the whole rejection therapy. Go get that note. Get that refund. Because with a refund, they will tell you exactly why they are requesting a refund. Whereas, if you give so many features away for free, you'll never know what they're willing to pay for. So lock everything up, charge for it, try to get that first sale. And if and more importantly, don't be afraid of getting a refund.

9:19

All right. Why paid marketing? First, build a brand quickly. Test your messaging. You can do that pretty easily. Understand your target demographic. Understand how much it costs to acquire a customer. And then you build the flywheel. All right? You don't have to rely on content, which takes a whole lot of time to get right. and you're going to get one or two big wins. Whereas, if you go all in on paid marketing first, you're going to learn a lot faster. Yes, you'll spend a bit more. That's what's pros and cons, right? You're going to spend a bit more, but you'll learn a lot faster as well.

9:49

Okay? When you run paid ads, that is the hardest truth you can see because you're spending that money, right? I can create all this content for free. Doesn't cost me anything besides time, right? But if I'm running ads, well, shoot, it's the hardest truth. All right? Content first. This is exactly the strategy I used to build my business. I started creating a podcast early on. So, I went content first. Here's the old way. Build an app.

10:11

Hope people want it. Struggle to get users. A lot of people are in this boat. Remember, only 17% of all apps make $1,000. So, most people are in this boat. Okay, here's the new way. Test viral content, validate demand, and then build what's already proven. So, let me break down how to do that. Here's a great video, past guest of mine. I will link up his Instagram profile. He started creating content. That content went viral. It's a fake live streaming app that shows people that, hey, I'm going live right now. And look at how many people are watching. And look at just the reaction people are getting when they see that somebody's live with over 50,000 people. And this is all AI generated those comments, right? Once that v video went viral, he built the app. It's called Parallel Live. The app has gone on to make over 1.2 million since inception.

11:08

And now there's competitors in the space that I won't do that. I won't show too much off of it. For Ethan, the most important thing is he actually created a brand new category. The term fake live stream didn't exist until pretty much and really didn't take off until pretty much 2024, right? So, he kept building content, content, content, content. People started seeing it. People started searching for it to ultimately to the point where it became a very valuable search score. And this is pretty good.

11:38

40 is pretty good. Okay, 100's the best. Five is the lowest, but 40 is pretty decent. All right, here's how you validate your product. This is a article that I took from AppSumo. Joseph Choy is the person who wrote it. Use a tool like Spy Talk to find viral ideas in your niche. Analyze the hooks, formats, and themes that work. Create test content on a brand new account. You're gonna have to warm it up, right? Become, and when we say warm up a a social media account, all we mean is become your target audience. Start searching for, start liking, start interacting with content that is similar to your target audience.

12:14

And if there's crickets, don't build the product. If something goes viral, then you already validated the product. and it's something that we're testing on our end where we're using social media to test out new features before they're even built for an app that it's already making money for us. Okay, here's another way. You can go to the search tab on Tik Tok, find your niche, tap filters, and then sort by like count and then date posted this month. So, you can see which videos have the most likes in there as well. All right, here's one of my favorite hacks. I know there's been some controversy around this, but again, I wanted to highlight this and I saved it for the end because of the controversy, but it is a lifetime free hack that has worked well for folks in the past. And this was an app that we took from just a few hundred a month all the way to $90,000 within its first year just leveraging this lifetime hack.

13:05

We've had to sort of pivot and modify the way we run this, but it still adds a lot of big bursts for you. and I'll show you when to actually run these campaigns. Okay, the app made 90 over $90,000 in its first year after we ran this hack. Okay, and you can see that most of the sales are coming from the blue line app search. So, it really helps your organic keyword rankings and indexing. Right, here's what you got to do. The this is why I still consider this the greatest growth hack. You want to do a ratings prompt. I used to say do it on the onboarding or after a payw wall. Don't do that anymore. That's what's getting people into trouble. So, I just say look, do it right after a win moment. So, after they do something within your app or just save it for the second or third open because most people won't come back into your app.

13:53

Definitely do it after an ASO, right? ASO is getting so hard these days that what I try to do is run this campaign right after an ASO update because it gives these new keywords a bit of a push. You make your lifetime free offer for free for just two days. That's all we need. and you promote it on our sister website, IndieApp Santa. We bought this service. You can promote on indie santa.com or there's a bunch of Reddit subreddits there that promote this stuff, too. And then two days later, you can make it back to full price. It drives thousands of downloads, gets you that early users, early feedback, and hopefully gives your ASO a bit of a push. All right, indieappsand.com. There's our website.

14:33

You guys want to check it out. And here's what we did. We did 106,000 downloads for that app. We got 800 new ratings, 200 the US 600 worldwide. And within the first month, we made $7,000 in sales, right? Because of the lifetime free offer, we were able to generate so many downloads and then that spiked the keywords. With the ratings push as well, we're able to really kick in the keywords and eventually make over $90,000 within its first year. So things always are changing. That's why I love the app space.

15:08

This campaign is still something I've been using for like 10 plus years, right? Ever since I started the app space, it's been a campaign I've been running. We've had to modify some things because I've overshared a few things that don't work anymore. But I still believe in this campaign and that's why we have Indie Apps and that's why we decided to buy it as well. All right, that's it. Let me know in the comments what you thought and what channel you're currently using to grow your app downloads. And if you're struggling with growing your app downloads, reach out to us. It is appmasters.com or join our appfounders.co community where if you want full service, go to appmasters.com. If you want selfservice atfoundersco and if you got anything out of this, go share it [music] with a friend or at least like it because you know I love these vanity metrics as well. All right, till next time. I'll see you on [music]

15:57

the next video.