You’ve got the most amazing idea for a mobile game or app. And you have the coding chops to make it work flawlessly. So, you’re ready to make millions, right?
Well, there is the potential to make quite a bit of money, but no matter how good your app is, it may not make a dime. You have to approach app development as a business if you want to get it out there and make money. Otherwise it is simply a hobby.
Without a marketing plan and a solid strategy for monetization, then your app may not see any opportunity at all.
If you want to get your app on as many devices as possible and to get rich doing it then take some time to read these tips on how to make a business out of app development.
Monetization
Before you even start developing your app or game, you have to understand how it will eventually make money. This shouldn’t be a figure it out as you go type of scenario. Without a solid understanding of how the app will make money, you don’t have a business.
Before you do anything to market the game or go beyond your initial idea should be the strategy to make money. This can come in the form of mobile game advertising, direct sales or even in game or app upgrades.
How you decide to monetize depends on a number of things, but you have to decide before you get going.
Build an MVP
A Minimal Viable Product, or MVP is essentially a prototype. This is when you will actually find out if others think your idea is as brilliant as you do. You don’t have to have the app fully fleshed out at this point, Just the barebones and basic version of what you are trying to do.
Putting it out at this stage will help you gauge the interest of your target audience. They will let you know if they like it or not and if it should move forward.
It’s also an important time to take on some constructive criticism and learn how to improve it for later. Users who like what you are doing will let you know the areas that they think would make it better. This saves a lot of time trying to perfect something before you know what needs perfecting.
Marketing
Once you have the fully fleshed out app working the way you and your audience wants it to work, you can start pushing it out.
In essence, this is the most important phase of the development if this is going to be a business and not just a hobby. No matter how good your idea, it will not sell itself.
You should start with an audit of the competition and see what they are doing right and where you may find a gap that you can exploit.
Then, find where your ideal user spends his or her time online. They are on social media, but not on every platform. Find the one that they prefer and focus your attention there.
After that, find an influencer on that social media platform to help you promote. It can be a paid sponsorship, or you can give them a free version to promote to their audience. Using an influencer is a good idea because people trust them more than a celebrity endorsement on a traditional commercial or ad.
