How To Market You 3G I-Phone Applications
Once you have created the I-phone app and have found placed to distribute the product, you need to market. Marketing is different from distribution. When you distribute the product, you sit back and relax and wait for the payments to come to you. Many people who are on the Apple site do just that. There is nothing wrong with this, as many of them do well, but if you want to increase sales, you should do what you can do to market your software so that others who have not heard of the software can learn about it and possibly buy it.
There are many different marketing techniques that you can use when online. The good news about this type of e-marketing is that it costs you a fraction of off line marketing. Some of it is free. Here are some suggestions on how you can market your I-Phone application:
Create a buzz on social sites
Post links on forums (hyperlinks and regular links)
Article marketing
Social marketing
Off line marketing
Direct response marketing
Pay ads
Video marketing
Affiliate marketing
Link exchanges
You can use most of these marketing tools with or without the Apple account. Remember, the more effort you put into marketing, the more sales you will generate.
A buzz gets the information out there and also gets others to recognize the name of your application and find out what all the fuss is about. Curiosity and bandwagon thinking motivates many people to check it out and then buy. The bandwagon effect, which is that “everyone” has something, therefore you need it too, is one of the oldest and still very effective marketing tools.
Creating a buzz is not difficult, especially if you use social websites. You can create several different personalities for these social networking sites and then invite “friends” as well as participate in forums. Each of your alternate personalities can discuss this great feature of the I-Phone and others, seeing the excitement in the thread, may be inclined to listen.
Creating a buzz can also be used on Twitter. If you can come up with a few hundred e-mail names and register them to Yahoo Buzz, you can actually write an article, put it on a site like Associated content and then use each of your emails to buzz up the article. This will get you to the top of Yahoo News.
Use forums to post links and hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are when you see the key phrase as a link. Regular links are just plain links. The reason you should post both is because people will want to understand where they are going before the click on a strange link and will also want to know why they are clicking on the link. Putting both options on the forums gives they a chance to see where and why.
Article marketing is never to be underestimated. You can submit articles to free directories that can link to your home page and help you sell your I-Phone applications. The articles should be informative and not a sales pitch. If you want to write a sales pitch, however, you should use a press release site and create a press release. You can post it on a free site or there are also a number of paid sites that circulate throughout the internet where you can put your release.
Social marketing is easy. You can put links on the social networking sites, including blog sites so that others can see them. You can tell all your friends about your new cool I-phone application and how it works. This may encourage people to want to buy the product.
When you are social networking for business, you should never, ever come off as though you are selling something. You should always come off as if you are trying to help people. Never contact anyone with a link and a sales pitch and never just post links on other pages. This can compromise your account and may even get you kicked off of the social networking site.
If you social networking site allows blogs, you can put in a hyperlink into the blog so that others can see it. Be aware that there are a lot of people doing this. In fact, a good portion of those who join these sites do so because they are looking to make contacts for business. The more you come off as friendly and not intrusive, the better it will be.
Off line marketing is one way to generate interest in your I-Phone application. You can get printed items such as flash drives, hats and water bottles for a lot less than you think when you go online. You can get the products printed and then delivered to you where you can give them out in trade shows and at some charity events.
If there is a technology trade show in your area, you should go there so that you can introduce people to your application. You can demonstrate the application, give out promotional items and cards and tell them where to order the product. Trade shows do not allow money to exchange hands, but since you have an electronic file that has to be downloaded, you can give them all the information they need to get the product right away. They can even download it to their I-Phone right at the show, although you should be careful about taking money as most trade shows frown on this.
Get the word out about your I-Phone application when you are out in public. You can give away some applications to friends and family members and promise them a percentage of the profit if they bring in additional customers. This can help you sell the application quickly. You can even have them wear T-shirts with your I-Phone application logo on it and a catch phrase for the product. This can bring in more business.
The more people on the outside see your name and the name of your application, the more interested they will become. And the more likely they will be to buy your product.
For direct response marketing, you need to use a website. You should have a landing page where people can find out information right away about something that they need to know. Most of these websites are called stealth websites and are used to get information from people.
For example, if your product is all about deals for first time homebuyers when it comes to real estate, you can set up a website that is a mortgage calculator. It can also provide other real estate information. In order to use the calculator, they have to provide you with the email address as well as their name. This is all they need to do and they can then calculate their mortgage.
Once you have their email address, you put them on your list. There is software and tools that you can put right into your website that will capture the information and add it to a list. You can then use an auto responder site, like www.aweber.com to send out direct email advertising to those who have shown an interest in real estate. The purpose is to get people to buy your product. You already know they might be interested because you have targeted people who are looking for a home with and who may be interested in an I-Phone application that can tell them all they need to know about buying a home for the first time.
Pay ads are another way to market your product and work well. You can use AdWords to put a keyword phrase into a link and have Google distribute it all over the net. You pay for the ad only when someone clicks on the link that leads them to your website. This can be a good way to market your product if you use the right keywords. Google has tools that you can use that will give you the best keywords that will help sell your product. You can also use video ads.
Video is one of the best ways to market. Make a video about your application and show the public and then put it on YouTube. This will show the audience just what the application can do for them. This is the ideal way to market as it will be found in the search engines easier than a website. If you have those email addresses, you can use each one of them to log into You-Tube and buzz up your video so that more people see it. Just depending on YouTube to carry the video without actually buzzing it up may end up keeping the video out of site.
Affiliate marketing is another way to get the word out about your application. You can again go on www.clickbank.com as a provider. You can look for affiliates who will market your product for you in exchange for a commission. This is ideal if you do not have a lot of time to market your product. The more people who are out there trying to sell your I-Phone application, the better off you will be and the more sales you can make. Make sure your affiliates have a good reputation on the site.
Link exchanges can also help you market your product. You can put a link to your I-Phone application on another site, again using the hyperlink. In exchange, they will ask that you put a link on your site. You can enter a link exchange community online and use link exchanges as a way to promote your I-Phone application.
You should do all you can to market your G3 I-Phone applications to the masses. The internet is very competitive when it comes to advertising and marketing. You should look at all avenues when you are trying to market anything online. As the I-Phone continues to grow in popularity, the marketing for applications will become easier. Right now, if you have a very clever idea for an I-Phone application, you can usually make money when it comes to selling it.
