developer's guide to windows phone app marketing and monetization (fall 2014 edition)

Marketing and Monetization of

Windows Phone Apps

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Alan Mendelevich | AdDuplex | alan@adduplex.com | @ailon

Developer’s Guide to

Alan Mendelevich

@ailon

15+ years development experience

Founder & CEO of AdDuplex

Co-host of AppBizDev podcast

Windows

Phone

ecosystem

according to

Microsoft

App Gold Rush

is over

Did you know …

Product

20%

Marketing

80%

Research shows that 20% of product’s success is determined by the product itself and the remaining 80% is marketing*

* I totally made this up

WTH are you

trying to do?

A hobby?

Contracts?

My app is my

business!

Developer’s Work Cycle

Task Deliverables Money

Employee/Contract developer

Task Deliverables Money

Entrepreneur developer

SALE

SALE

What to build?

Original vs. “Me too”

Top AppCampus alumni

from spare time

project to Xbox Live

#1 music game, external funding5 million

downloads

Meg

ah

it

Atley Hunter

500+ apps

Release date is a

feature

“… this was quite important since it got a lot of attention for being the first real picture effects / photo filter app in the market. The big blogs like Gizmodo, Engadget and MSNBC covered a few of the must have WP7 apps and Pictures Lab got featured in all. I guess that helped to jump start the app.”

René Schulte, PicturesLab

Release date is a

feature

With every SDK/OS release

there’s a chance to be the

first to utilize some

previously unavailable

capability

Getting ideas and inspiration

The Daily Practice

“Every day I write down ideas. I write down so

many ideas that it hurts my head to come up

with one more. Then I try to write down five

more.

…

The “idea muscle” atrophies within days if you

don’t use it. Just like walking. If you don’t use

your legs for a week, they atrophy. You need

to exercise the idea muscle. It takes about 3-6

months to build up once it atrophies. Trust me

on this.”

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/

Getting a return

on your

investment

Paid Apps

Set a competitive price

Consider psychology

Consider who and where

your customer is

Set a price that makes

business sense

Can’t try == won’t buy

Trials: 70x more downloads,

10% conversion rate

In-app

purchases

iOS: “18 of the top 25

grossing of all apps are Free

To Play Games (72%).”http://www.treysmithblog.com/the-fall-of-angry-birds/

Windows Phone 8+

Advertising is

best suited for

long/frequently

running apps

and games

Generally perform

better than paid apps*

Ad networks

AdDuplex as a Fallback Solution

Smaato: “Worldwide, the average ad network fill

rate was 10% in Q3 2011”

“AdDuplex +

pubCenter is a

winning recipe”

JC CimetiereMarketing Director,

Unity Technologies,

Former Director

Product Management

Windows Phone

Microsoft

Maximize ad

space value by

multiple network

fallbacks.

Fallback to

AdDuplex or in-

house ads.

Windows Phone Ad Rotatorhttp://wp7adrotator.codeplex.com/

Unified Ad Control For

Windows Phonehttp://wpunifiedad.codeplex.com/

Lifetime user value

So, which

business model

should I choose?

Game’s lifecycle

Promote,

Promote,

Promote

Monetize,

Monetize,

Monetize

Cross-promote

Passive monetization

time

Promote your

app, promote

your app,

promote your

app, promote

your app…

Don’t monetize your app on day one

Giving your app

away is the

cheapest and

most effective

marketing

instrument you

have

Before you

launch…

App Store Optimization:

app’s name, price and tile.

That is all users see.

ASO: Keywords

Release Betas:

Beta-testers are

your first

evangelists

Recruit beta-testers:

WPbeta.me

Twitter #wpdev

“Bad” feedback

should go

directly to you,

good feedback –

to the Store

Good feedback

Bad feedback

Localize

English33%

Italian15%Spanish

13%

Chinese8%

Russian7%

German5%

French4%

Polish3%

Portuguese3%

Finnish2%

Other7%

Windows Phone Languages (March 2013)

Publication:

have everything

to get featured

Don’t auto-

publish

Online presence

A picture is worth a

thousand words.

A video is worth a

thousand

screenshots?

Your app needs

a web site…

or at least a

section on your

siteWindows Phone 7 App Site template

http://wp7appsite.codeplex.com/

WP7Graze

https://github.com/mikoskinen/grazewp7

Free promotion

Tip specialized

blogs

WPCentral.com,

WMPowerUser.com,

1800PocketPC.com,

BestWP7Games.com,

WP7Rocks.com (Russian)…

Filterable list at

WindowsPhoneSites.com

Podcasts

WindowsDeveloperShow.com AppBizDev.com

Get

featured in

the store

Tweet, post on

Facebook,

retweet others,

change your

avatar, bio…

Monitor and

react to

feedback

Social media

integration

Show off your

app

everywhere!

Case Study: Wordament

“This became clear to

Microsoft Game Studios,

which quickly talked

Jason and John into

taking Wordament pro

and becoming full time

game developers.”

Wordament: The developer story of

one of Windows’ most original and

compelling hit games

Cross-promote

your own apps

Empowering developers

to help each other.

What’s the catch?

You show

You get

On the web:

specialized

blogs and sites,

BuySellAds.com,

AdWords,

Facebook, etc.

On the phone

In discovery

apps

Lifetime user value

Summary

Thank you!

@ailonblog.adduplex.com

alan@adduplex.com