On average, there is probably a billion app ideas floating around the collective human brain space at one time. Much like a good idea for a book, movie, or TV series, everyone has come up with at least one money-making/innovative/harebrained idea at some point. However that idea never goes further than outside your melancholy vortex when drunkenly bantering about your grand plans with friends on a night out. For those of you who believe you are sitting on a potential technological goldmine, here are some of the steps you need to take to bring that idea to fruition.
Market Research
Researching into your market is one of the most crucial aspects of turning your idea into a reality. It will help you establish where you stand next to your competitors, and what you can learn from their success so you can apply it to your own app. You should take a look into the back story of your competitors and make a list of everything they have in common. Ask yourself: How do they monetise themselves? Do they utilise big developers? What are their price points, and have they changed over time? What systems do they operate on? Do they have a large social profile? Where do they advertise?
Partner With a Highly Skilled Developer
You’ve got the storyline for your app and all the added features you’d like to include, but here’s the kicker – you don’t actually know that much about programming. While it may cost you a few bob, it is beneficial to partner with a developer who is highly skilled and experienced. A company dedicated to app development will be up-to-date in the app development world and give suggestions on the best ways to create your type of app. Don’t be afraid to shop around and listen to several different pitches from a range of development companies.
Offer Equity
Considering it’s highly unlikely that you’ll win the lotto anytime soon, you will need to source a considerable amount of money to fund the development of your app. If you can’t afford the funds yourself, it can help to partner selectively with the right people – ones that would be interested in your product or investment – and offer them share equity.
Create a Marketing Plan
Before you start building your app, you need to work out how you will actually grow the demand in an already crowded marketplace. Besides the aforementioned competitor research, you need to establish your point of difference, and figure out how to use this to build hype. Draw up a document that includes your plans for websites, social media outreach, and advertising. It pays to get advice from a PR company or hire a mobile marketing expert like Brus Media to help gain more traffic and revenue to your app.
User Testing
A final product is never perfect, so before launching your app into the market, engage people in active user testing to identify bugs, usability issues and improvements. Take note of the common issues and apply these to your app before the launch.
Do you own an app? How did you get it off the ground? Leave your tips in the comments below.
