Side Hustle App Marketing Strategies

What is up app nation. It is Steve P young founder of appmasters.com. The place you'd go. When you want to learn the latest strategies to increase your downloads and your apps revenue through the podcast. In through this YouTube channel, I get to talk to some amazing entrepreneurs from the billion dollar app companies to the guys, just doing it on the side. And in this video, I want to share. The three amazing side hustle entrepreneurs out there.

We're coming up with creative strategies to launch their app, get awareness, get those initial downloads and find product market fit. Tip number one is somebody within the Appmasters elite and Academy community. His name is Chris and he's going to share how he used Reddit to first validate his app idea. And then use that platform for his first initial. So the way I came up with this idea was first a lot of failures along the way.

Like I would say this is probably my fourth app after. Like, this is the fourth app I made before this. So like first I made this app for budgeting. The thing about that though, was that like, I think it was, it's a very saturated market and I did not find a way to differentiate myself. Then the second one I created was a password managing app called Sentinel, which was kind of like a similar deal. I was trying to figure out a way, like, just look at apps that were successful, in the app store. And then just try to go off that.

The one key piece though, that I missed is that you don't. Copy it, you gotta like, actually find like, Some different spin to get people interested in it. And then by accident, I came across this one app that I made call the picture split, which was like a, a photo app that would allow you to like do before. And after pictures, I found that through, some freelancing work where someone wanted me to do something with like their camera app.

And then I by accident, Lee realized that this would be a cool idea. So I just did my own thing with that. Oh my God. A little bit of, um, downloads from that and realize, yeah. Along with reading some books that like, if you do something different for like a specific of people, then that will then be more interesting to people and will help them be more interested in downloading your app. So after reading some, a couple of books and just different resources, I found that maybe I should try and niche market to go for.

And this app that I came up with was grounded an app to help people quit or moderate their usage of weight. So. when it came to niches, I knew that Reddit had a million different niches. And if you go to this website, you can find, and you know, people always say like, there is. Whatever you can do on the internet. Like you'll find someone that has interest in it. So that was very true for me. So I ended up looking into subreddit and I first realized there was an app for, for quitting smoking, um, just nicotine in general.

And I was like, Oh wait, maybe there's an app to help people quit smoking weep. So instead of just making it, like I did in the previous iterations of other apps that I made, I actually went to those communities and ask them, Hey, like what. App, would you be interested in this app that I'm thinking about making for quitting weep? And after going through a couple of the different subreddits, they all told me that they were super interested in this idea.

So then I ended up making it and then pushing it out there and then just letting everyone know. And the other part about that I missed is that like, when I told them, I told them to give me their emails so that I could let them know that that was created so I can get some feedback and then reviews off of that. Okay. So you got their email addresses. Yeah, I did get their email addresses. That's awesome. Were you taking them to a form or how were you collecting those email addresses?

So in, so within the sobriety, it was just basically like, just like I made, I made a subreddit posts and then does have the concept of the app idea. Just like, if you're interested in this, then comment below with your email and let me know if you're interested in this people posted their email address right on the Reddit forum. Yeah, that's crazy, dude. I would not expect that. That's crazy. That's really cool. Tip number two is Chris again, and he shares how he used a beta testing website to get product feedback, but also how he hacked it to get app store or reviews.

Did you do anything besides Reddit to grow those initial downloads after that? Um, so I would say my, my strategy for growing the diamond so far, one was Reddit in marketing to them bile. And the other part that I didn't mention about Reddit was that, like, it only lends itself to your app. If you can do this, like, I think it works so well for me because like my app allows you to actually show what you're doing. Like, for example, it would work well for a picture app because like you're making pictures and you show cool pictures and you're consistently show those pictures and we're like, Oh, cool.

This is what I, took a picture of this is pretty cool. People can eventually see that over and over again and be like, Oh, what app is this? That works. Okay. My case grounded, because, the thing about grounded is you start to help people motivate themselves to quit or to moderate their usage of weep. The longer they stay on their goals, the longer, um, There are tree grows. So my app grounded has like an acorn, a tree concept that when you begin, um, quitting or just monitoring your journey, you start as an acorn in the longer you stay on track that acorn eventually grows into a tree.

So the thing is, for me, it worked because like every, like periodically I can just be like, Hey look, my, my app. In my period. My progress is I was wasn't. I was a tree this week. I mean, I was an acorn this week and then next week, I'll just Sproutling. And the next week I was a small tree and the next week I was an acorn. So the more I did that, people were like, Oh, cool. What is this app? Like, I want to know more about this app so I can help myself.

So I'm with Reddit, it was helpful because. I actually, I could show the app and action. Um, so that was one part of my growth. The other part, initially that helped me was that like, I, went to this website called so first it was beta testing and then there, and then there was, uh, I'll have to look it up, but there was another, um, um, beta testing site where you can get feedback from people about creating your apps and like, let them know like, like what they think of it.

So you can get, not only can you get feedback, but then you can, at the very end of it, you can ask them like, If you enjoy this app, please give it a rating. Not saying like, give it five stars. Just give it if you like it. Oh, that's a great idea, dude. I didn't even think about that. How much do you have to pay? Do you remember for that beta user? So beta testing. If I remember correctly, it was about 60, like probably like 50 to 60 bucks, but this other one that I'm looking at, maybe I'll come back to later, but it was, it was actually free really.

Oh, interesting. So they're, they're beta testing, your app, they giving you feedback. It's kind of like. I think it's called usertesting.com where they'll download your app. They'll create a video that took they'll talk over it like, Oh, I thought this was this and that, that this is a very useful, you know, feedback, qualitative feedback. Is that the right word? Yes. Qualitative feedback. And then you hacked it by saying, Hey, if you really like this app, would you mind leaving a review?

Exactly. Nice. And I like that. Tip number three. Is my friend Murphy, also part of the Academy and Lee community. He shares how he uses the Apple preorder feature and search ads to not only get those initial downloads, but also test the product to see if it will be successful. Okay. Let's talk in some of the growth stuff. So what do you do when you first launched the app? How are you getting more downloads for your apps?

Yeah. So what I do is, you know, when I'm building it out, uh, I have no idea if it's going to be successful until I launch it. Right. And so I'll launch the app. Um, and a lot of times I'll do the pre uh, you know, the prelaunch, you know, so our preorder, so that, you know, you can get, whenever you first launch it downloads to people's devices and you have a bunch of users on the first day. Um, you know, so I like to do a preorder for maybe about a month.

Um, you know, it really depends on how long it takes me to put in those final touches. Um, you know, and so once it actually is live on the app store, um, I like to, if it's getting amazing organic growth, then I'll immediately jump into search ads and start pumping money into it. Right. Because, um, you know, it's obviously doing well, uh, you know, but if not. I like to put maybe $50 or $250, something around that range, um, into some search ads to drive growth towards it.

Because that way, um, you know, you have to have users in order to test the things inside the app, like the monetization and, you know, AB test things in the app, you know, and even if you're not getting a lot of downloads, you gotta have users in order to optimize it. Right. So I like to do that. Uh, you know, it's a small investment to get people into the app, using the app and, you know, you know how to work things out to make them better.

Um, and you know, if, if I notice that I'm not getting organic growth, then you know, the app stead, I'm not going to put money into it. I see. Okay. So you're like, it has to have organic growth. I'm willing to spend the two 50, but if it's not going to get an organic growth on its own, then I'm not gonna waste my time on this. And, you know, I have apps that I've noticed don't get a lot of organic growth. Um, and whenever I pay for the search ads, You know, they get lots of downloads.

It's just, you know, maybe a niche out that people aren't searching for, but they don't know they want it until they see it on the ad. And they're like, yeah. Great idea. True. I like that. Okay. The back to the preorder phase, are you doing any advertising on the preorder or are you just kind of letting Apple take its course will take its course. You know what I mean? Maybe you're at, let's say you release it and it's getting.

Five downloads a day. Right? Well, if you do that for a month, then you know, you're going to have a lot of users compared to, if you just immediately released it. Now you have five users on your first day, you know? So it's, I mean, I've, I've, I've always done the preorder because, you know, I want to have users. They want tip number four is all about how genes. Is studying the popular apps, the top grossing apps that certainly launch and how he's using giveaways.

Through his personal Facebook page to get those initial downloads and the, Oh, so important initial app store reviews. How do you figure out, like from a monetization piece? So you've kind of determined the model it's going to be subscription-based monthly yearly, probably. And then how do you determine the pricing? Are you looking for specific apps with similar pricing or like, how do you determine that part? Yeah, absolutely.

So, uh, initially when, whenever I kick off a nap, I try to, uh, give the market what's already working. So I don't try to differentiate, you know, too much from what's already working. What's already out there. So I've tried to take a combination of the top producing app in my category and also the top producing app. This. Uh, this most recently launched. So for an example, in the scanner app space, uh, there is, uh, an app they recently launched and they are, they've like, they've found a lot of success.

And I found that they're doing things a little differently from what the top dog in the market is doing. So I try to add a combination of both and then I usually approach it that way, that dude. So how do you find these like, ones that have recently launched it doing really well is yep. Yeah. Yeah. So pretty much the same. I just, uh, use app Annie. So, uh, within app, Annie, you have the release date that you can view and based on that, I'm able to see, okay, they're currently ranking in the top 100 grossing apps and the business category.

But they've recently launched, you know, they launched like two months ago, but they're already ranking. So let me take a closer look, let me download the app and play around and see what they're doing differently that I may not be doing. And that's how I usually go with that. You seem to be a very systematic person, like you have a process in place. I love those systems. Do you have a process that like, What I found from you from talking to people is like, it's a hard to get that early users.

So do you have a process that you like to go through to be like, all right, I'm going to build a minimal viable product. I'm going to get it out there and I'm going to, how do you drive traffic? How do you get those elements early on? Yeah, initially what I, you know, w one hack that I I'll, um, plug in today is that I've started, um, hosting like a free basically. How would I. How would I word this? It's basically like a drawing, a free drawing.

Um, so I allow my friends. Yeah. And whoever on Facebook allowed them to participate in the drawing. And if they download rate and review my app, they get added into the drawing. And based on that, they get, you know, a hundred dollar gift card or a hundred dollars cash prize. You know, if they screenshot and show me evidence that they've downloaded and. Rated and reviewed the app. So that's how I dropped those initial ratings and downloads.

And then, you know, I started implementing, um, you know, the Apple search ads. That's been really good to me and I try to, you know, tweak my, of course my age ASO, so that I'm able to, to draw some organic traffic as well. But, but yeah, that's really how I drove the initial ratings and reviews and. Oh, the downloads, they helped me, you know, get a kickstart. Did you're able to get good amount of people doing that?

You put it on Facebook. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like, I try to go live, at least when I do run those, uh, free drawings, I try to go live like, you know, every other day. And I'm just reminding people, Hey guys, like there's a hundred dollars on the line literally takes like, A minute, you know, of your time and you can win a hundred dollars. And the thing that makes it so interesting is that you can be entered into the drawing multiple times.

So if you refer the app out to someone, then I'm including your name in the drawing twice. If you refer it out three times, your name is going into a drawing. Well, initially four times because you yourself downloaded and read the app and then you referred it out to three other people. So it gives you a higher chance of winning. So it makes it competitive in a way. So I've found success, doing that. Awesome. Are you using a platform or a tool to manage all this stuff or just all here?

Yeah. Yeah. Yup. And my wife, of course she's helping me, but yeah. All Excel based, you know, I'm trying to keep track of everything and, uh, it just doing it that way. I wish I had a tool that would make it a lot easier, but, uh, right now I just use an example to do that. And lastly guys tip number five is from yours, truly having been a site, entrepreneur myself. It's the common theme that I've heard. Through all my side hustle entrepreneurs that I've been able to interview.

So go check out the full interviews in the description below, but it's that it wasn't their first app. They launched a bunch of different apps. Didn't see those initial attraction and then started iterating, figuring out what went right and what went wrong and really studying the market to see what's really performing well. And it's a lot of research. It's boring. It sucks. But they did a lot of research, a lot of sweat equity to ensure that the app.

Could be successful. And that's what it's all about. The common theme is it's usually not their first app. Usually takes them a couple of different apps to get a feel of the app space, too. I understand what works and what doesn't. And then finally they hit on something that is generating revenues. And that's why I love talking to side hustlers out there because that's where I was seven years ago. And it's through iteration it's through continually and with it and persistence.

That's how you finally, eventually we'll hit on something. No matter if it takes 50 apps like Rovio or 40 apps like David, right. Shot with color switch, or like Matthew Hall who created Crossy road. Who's been developing games since he was the age of 12. It's a long road. It's a long journey. So if you're stuck, hopefully this gives you the inspiration to keep going to iterate and then find that sweet app. That's going to really do it for you.

All right, guys, let me know what you guys thought of this particular video in the comments below and make sure you like it hit that subscribe button. Let's get to that 15,000 for not worried. Yeah, there yet until next time. I'll see you on the next video.