What is the best way to get your app “out there” and played?
This question is directed at other developers who have made games using the IOS, I was just wondering how you guys managed to get people buying and playing your games?
Thanks - Dom
You need two of these:
A great game
Recognizable name brand (EA, Gameloft, etc.)
Large marketing budget
Luck
I used this company for marketing for my current game. It’s set to release March 2nd so I’ll let you know how effective it was. The price is a bit high, so hopefully it was worth it. We will see.
@jingato,
That would be amazin + could you tell us how much did they charge, etc.?
Thank you
@jingato that looks amazing please let us all know how it goes for you 
The price plans are on the lower part on their page.
Jingato, I’m also very interested in hearing about the marketing success or failure. Please keep us updated!
i would like to think that a good game will market itself. The key thing is to get ratings, so maybe if you wrote something like if you rate my app there will be more updates.
There is finally a new number 1, and seems like hes an actual indie (with 1 game in the store).
http://www.appannie.com/tiny-wings/
The game is set to release march 2nd, as long as it is approved. It was denied becuase I named the leaderboads “Leaderboard Name iPad”. They wanted it changed to “Leaderboard Name for iPad”. So i did that Froday and it is back in review. I should hear back from them tomorrow.
I’m going to make a post about it’s release when it’s ready so look out for it. As for the marketing, I’ll let you all know how effective it was and if they actually provided everything they advertised.
I think good games can sell themselves in a way, assuming they’re the type of thing that catches Apple’s eye. So far I’ve had the good fortune that all of my apps have been featured by Apple somewhere, and that has inevitably led to strong sales. I think its safe to say that as long as you make something appealing, polished and professional-looking, or if you’re getting some strong coverage from the iOS press like toucharcade.com, you stand a very good chance of getting a spot in one of the coveted App Store lists. I’ve never spent a dime on advertising or marketing of any kind, and don’t plan to start.
Once your app is visible, how well it will perform (and continue to perform after visibility wanes) comes down to how much word-of-mouth it generates, and the best way to ensure that is… again, just make something good. You can try to encourage the “viral” effect through social network integration and all that nonsense, but there’s no substitute for a game that people just enjoy enough to tell their friends about.
I found a group that makes pressreleases for 95 dollar: http://www.indiedeveloperconsulting.com/
but I don´t know how good they are…but their price seems reasonable…
@jingato: Which of their packages did you take (www.apalon.com)
Looking forward hearing from your experience with them…
@everybody: It would be great if more people would share their strategy or experiences concerning marketing
@Eva Maria I purchased the Premium package for the iPhone version and the Standard for the iPad version. I’ll let everybody know how it works out.
I can tell you that indie developer consulting wasn’t a great service. I paid them, and 2 months later after my promo codes expired they still didn’t have the press release out. I had to get a refund and move on I didnt even wait for them to release it.
@Aaron, thank you so much for telling us, that indiedeveloperconsulting wasn`t worth the money!
It will help a lot if such informations are shared!
Please keep it up!
@mikamobile: I´m not sure, that having a good game is enough any more…it worked till a few month ago, but the appmarket is changing so rapidly, that I´m uncertain, if this is true anymore…even if I do hope so.
@Eva Maria:
mikamobile believes hard working beats lucky~
I can see this point from his game---------in his game,there is no lucky item could help you,you just need hard working~~~
by the way,i love his game and hope he is right too.
Just spoke to a quite well known marketing guy today during lunch (James Reardon) Although he’s not in the mobile biz he said most likely today you would often do better with paid advertising. But you have to find the right company to do it for you as well.
I don’t think advertising is utterly ineffective or anything, I just think that the best, most visible advertising is free as long as your product speaks for itself.
Free demo versions of your game, free coverage on blogs/websites/forums etc., free word-of-mouth recommendations from your users, and most importantly - free publicity from Apple if they like your app enough. A spot in the new and noteworthy list is like a super bowl commercial - its the ultimate place to get eyeballs on your product, and its completely free and mostly based on merit. You might not always agree with their selections for the week, but they don’t just pull them out of a hat.
I mean, I may not be James Reardon, but I did sell a quarter million units of my new game in the last four weeks without spending a dime, mostly thanks to Apple, and my players recommending the game to others. If I had run an ad campaign, it might have sold a few more, but the exposure you can buy is just a drop in the bucket compared to what will just fall in your lap if people like your stuff. YMMV.
I still maintain that you need two of the following:
Battleheart may have sold a quarter million units with zero advertising (congrats btw, I can’t stop playing it) but I still feel that the game has two things on the list. It is indeed a great game, but it also has a recognizable brand name. Zombieville was such a hit for such a long time that the words “From the makers of Zombieville” in the app description has a significant affect on sales. Based purely on screenshots and the description, I probably would have written off Battleheart as just another watered down RPG for iPhone without ever having played it, and I am sure I am far from the only one. Someone starting out fresh does not have the history of quality titles that your company has.
As for Zombieville, that game came out much earlier in the market, back when a good game was all you needed. The market has changed since then, and I’m not convinced that Battleheart would have sold nearly as well if it was released as your first game.
Well what about tiny wings its currently the top selling game, it had no marketing and was the developers first game. I think if you give the market what its looking for than they will buy it, play it and then rate it up.
http://www.appannie.com/tiny-wings/
#4: Luck
Brand recognition certainly sold some copies for us, but the main reason it performed so well is because it’s been featured somewhere for the entire month, and people seem to like it. Being featured doesn’t require a recognizable brand, new indie developers get picked frequently even to this day. I doubt any clout we have was responsible for getting picked as “Game of the Week”, which instantly leads to a flurry of sales whether you’re EA or Joe Nobody.
The only thing I think we really disagree on is that a “large marketing budget” can somehow lead to success. Since the overwhelming majority of app discovery happens on the device itself, what exactly would you buy? Banner ads on prominent websites? Have someone send out press releases? A national TV campaign? I’ve yet to hear of someone having a great app that just never got off the ground until they spent a bunch of money on advertising.