Marketing and Monetizing
Mobile Applications.
Katie Lips.

Appostles.
★ iPhone and Android Specialists.
★ Agency with growing team of experts. Hiring!
★ Strategy. Concept. Design. Build. Marketing.
★ Partners with agencies. Works for brands.
★ Liverpool. London. Amsterdam.

Why are we here?

Oldskool Mobile.

“While the mobile data industry holds
considerable promise in future, the
existing ecosystem is challenging for the
grassroots entrepreneur.”
- Ajit Jaokar, Open Gardens.

1.0 Landscape.
★ Complex Development & Testing
★ Poor End User Experiences
★ Bureaucratic Walled Garden Mentality
★ Low Financial Incentive
★ A Stagnated Industry
★ Little Incentive to Innovate or Take Risks

Mobile 2.0?
★ It’s all about Platforms
★ iPhone
★ Android
★ Blackberry
★ ... and others

Ecosystem
iPhone &
iPod Touch
Developers & Customers
App Store

iPhone Focus.

iPhone Sales by Quarter
Q3 07 Q4 07 Q1 08 Q2 08 Q3 08 Q4 08 Q1-09
Units sold
270,000 1,119,000 2,315,000 1,703,000 717,000 6,892,000 4,363,000
in Quarter

Cumulative iPhone Sales
20,000,000
15,000,000
10,000,000
5,000,000
Q3 07
Q4 07 0
Q1 08
Q2 08
Q3 08
Q4 08
Q1 09

Handset OS
Market Share
Operating System Share
Symbian 44%
iPhone (and iPod Touch) 32%
RIM (Blackberry) 9%
Windows Mobile 8%
Palm 4%
Other 3%
Source: AdMob - using Admob
Analysed Apps

Snapshot Feb ‘09
★ 17 Million iPhones in 80 countries
★ 32% Worldwide Smartphone market share
★ Apple #3 Mobile Phone manufacturer
★ 20,000 Apps / 2.2 million downloads each day
★ 500 million apps downloaded (half a billion!)

App Store

The Opportunity?
★ Investors - speculate (KPCB’s iFund)
★ Enterprise - mobile workforce
★ Brands - your brand in 17m pockets
★ Web Services - extend reach via mobile
★ Mobile Services - The App business
★ Disposable Apps - apps as accessories
★ Games Developers - a new platform

Example Apps
★ Investors - Loopt
★ Enterprise - Salesforce.com
★ Brands - Carling’s iPint, Audi,
★ Web Services - Facebook, Remember the Milk
★ Mobile Services - Urban Spoon, Flirtomatic
★ Disposables - iFart, Sonic Lighter, Ocarina
★ Games - Rolando from ng:moco

Marketing your
App

What we learnt...
Coffee Buzz
www.coffeebuzzapp.com

App Store Catch 22
★ Ratings are based on volume and revenue.
★ You need to sell a lot to get in the featured /
top 25 list.
★ You need to be in the featured / top 25 list of
you’re to sell lots of copies!

Hard Facts!
★ You need to market / advertise / promote your
app however you can.
★ Apps with great reviews from happy
customers can still be at the bottom of the
list.
★ There’s a lot of bad apps in the App Store.
Being at the bottom of the list is bad!

Tactics!
★ Use launch momentum (you’ll be ‘new’).
★ Do what you can to build that momentum.
★ Get early good reviews.
★ Maximize off App Store PR (web, social
networks, ads).
★ Pay to grow volume (via AdMob ads or similar
in other apps for example).

Insider Advice: Ads
★ Once you’ve sustained being in the top 25 for
a while, it becomes organic.
★ If you spent $5000 getting there, you should
be able to make it back by including ads in
your app!
★ (...Says an Ad Network Rep!)

Insider Advice: Price
★ Start high. You can always drop the price.
★ Time limited price drops rebuild volume and
listings position.
★ If you were selling at £2.39, selling at 59p (a
quarter) wil increase sales by more than four
fold.

Cheaper = More
Volume = Higher
Ranking = More
Sales = More Profit

However this theory
has lead to
downward pricing
pressure.
Which we don’t like!

Models
Paid App Low price Mid price
Ad supported
Free plus a ‘Lite’ e.g. Tier 1 e.g. Tier 4
Free App
version 59p £2.39
++ ++ + - --
Volume
Reward if
-- +++ ++ +++ ++
your app
stays in top 25
Reward if
-- -- -- -- --
your app gets
lost

Strategies for
Marketing your
Apps

PR
★ App Store is not a marketing magic wand
★ Reviews, your App Store page, and even icon
are important
★ Blogs, App Listings, and review sites are very
useful
★ Get Social Media Savvy (tell your friends, and
their friends)
★ Resort to ‘traditional’ PR!

Easy Advertising
★ On Blogs, App Listings, and review sites
★ Via Google AdWords Ads & Facebook Ads
★ Within other related social networks, and yes,
iPhone owners seem to like Twitter!
★ In trade press (e.g. Coffee related magazines)
★ Plus........

Pro Advertising
★ AdMob - Ads and Analytics
★ MobClix - Ads and Analytics
★ Pinch Media - Ads and Analytics
★ PurpleTalk - (Ad Sharing)
★ Chillingo - Print Ads Partnerships

If you’re serious
about your App as a
Business you need a
robust strategy!