How to Market and Promote your Games and Apps

Pre-Development Phase: The 4 W’s and 1 H!

Before you write even one line of code, there are five questions you should ask yourself about your idea – the Who, What, Why, When, and How – 4 W’s and 1 H!

1. Who Will Use My App?
2. What Is My Competition?
3. Why Will My Product Be Unique?
4. When Will I Get it Done?
5. How Will People Interact with My App?

If you’ve already finished your app and want to jump straight to the development phase, you might want to skip this section and scroll down to the “Development” section.

Pre-Development Phase Conclusion

So in conclusion, it’s worth the time to vet your idea up front and come up with a good design for your product before proceeding with development:

1. Ask yourself Who to find your target audience
2. Ask yourself What to analyze your competition
3. Ask yourself Why to make sure your app has a “Mariachi moment”
4. Ask yourself When you’ll be able to get your app finished
5. Ask yourself How your app will look and work from a user’s perspective

And that’s it for the pre-development section. Next let’s move on to discussing the development phase! :]

Development Phase Conclusion

So there you have it, six things to consider doing while you’re still in the development phase:

1. Generating Buzz Early
2. Creating a Teaser Trailer
3. Releasing an App Preview
4. Integrating Analytics APIs
5. Integrating Push Notifications and/or a News Feed
6. Adding High-Value Features

It’s worth mentioning that none of this is an obligation nor does it guarantee instant success. You should take the best of each item suggested and apply it to your app only when appropriate.

Also, there are no hard and fast rules in marketing or app development, so don’t be afraid to experiment and to think outside the box from time to time. Being spontaneous can greatly improve your app!