I know it seems like the latest get rich craze is “make an app and become a bajillionare” but there is definitely money to be made is solid mobile apps/services. RIM has offered some tips in the past on how to market, promote, and ultimately profit from your apps but now we have some straight up tips from Ronjon Nag, RIM’s VP of BlackBerry App World. Ronjon came to RIM is 2012 when they acquired Celmania and offers his tips on raking in the big bucks with your apps in this post with the highlights below:
Optimize Your App
- Your App Name Is Key
- Have fun with your app name, but keep it simple and immediately recognizable.
- Give your app a relevant name to boost discoverability and make it memorable to help your app go viral through marketing and social media channels.
- Remember to include your app name and a few keywords in your description to increase search result placement.
Best Ways To Make Money
- Optimize Your Price
- Pricing and value associated with apps differs throughout the world.
- Be aware of these sensitivities and price your apps accordingly; i.e. in the US, customers might pay $5 for a one-off app purchase, but in developing economies you’ll want to charge much less or use a different payment model.
- Optimize Payment Type
- In-App Billing, Try & Buy and Subscriptions are the best ways to increase discovery and increase revenue. Learn more about Payment Service.
- Ads Can Make You Money
- Advertising Service can simplify your path to in-app ad revenue. It takes care of the commercial and technical requirements so you can focus on what you do best: building fantastic apps. Learn more about Advertising Service.
- Analyze Your Performance and Adjust To The Market
- Analytics Service is a FREE analytics service powered by Webtrends. It helps you improve your end user experience, optimize your app and know – not guess – where to invest your resources to increase your ROI. Learn more about Analytics Service.
- Respond To Negative Feedback
- If you feel any of the reviews of your app are unwarranted or inaccurate, you can apply to ask RIM to have the review removed by going into the BlackBerry App World vendor portal, flagging the particular review for removal and outline your reasons for doing so. For more information, please refer to the BlackBerry App World administration guide.
Social Media and Cross Promotion
- Get Tweeting
- Take advantage of social media channels including Twitter® – they’re free and a brilliant way of spreading the word.
- Follow relevant people and encourage your own followers – build a community and expand the viral spread of your app.
- Use tools such as TweetDeck to help find your audience, and mention others in your tweets to encourage reciprocation and wider promotion.
- When you tweet, deep link straight through to your app on BlackBerry App World.
- Note: Ensure that whenever you use Twitter to promote your app, you follow their applicable terms and conditions of use
- Create a Facebook® Page
- Build a social community around your app by creating a Facebook page.
- Include links to your app, screenshots and useful information.
- Get your users interacting and commenting to spread the word – it’s also a useful channel to gain direct feedback from your users for future app optimization.
- Note: Ensure that whenever you use Facebook to spread the word about your app, you follow their applicable terms and conditions of use
- Get Users to Your App Quickly and Easily
- Use the BlackBerry App World logo on your own webpages and ads to drive users to where they can find your app. The logo is instantly recognizable and trusted, directing users straight into the store to find your app.
- Note: Ensure that you follow the BlackBerry App World naming and logo guidelines.
- Cross-Promote
- Take advantage of any cross-promotion activities, especially if you have more than one app.
- Link from each of your apps to the others for increased awareness.
