Business tips: Mobile app development without breaking the bank With Android and iOS apps growing in popularity by the day, having a functioning mobile app is absolutely essential to growth hack your business. The good news for your startup is that mobile app development is not only getting less expensive, but the market is ever expanding. So how do you get started? Many options to help drive downloads for your Android or iOS app are free (though not all are good) and can be extremely helpful. However, sometimes a few extra dollars spent on developing the perfect UI or developing a Social Media Marketing strategy can go along way. These options don’t need to be pricey and can be combined with free options to lower your overhead. Here are a few tips on what you can do to develop an awesome mobile app that won’t leave you begging for cash: The You Should Get for Free: • Make Sure Your Idea Can be Sold You may think your idea is great, but does anyone else? Your app should be trying to fix a problem. You could be trying to create an entirely new service, or you could be trying to improve an old. But do something out of the ordinary, be unique or no one will bother to download your app. • Find a Niche So you’ve figured out what problem your idea solves. Now, you’ve got to determine what is your target market. This part is easy if you are developing an app to compliment an existing business. You already know your client base and know what they want, so simply alerting them of your new product can often be enough. If you are creating an unassociated app, you face a bigger challenge. You need to determine who would be interested in your idea. Even if you feel your app will have universal appeal, narrow down your market to a select group of individuals who match your target profile. Start Small, Expand Big This tip builds off the previous idea: you want to find a small niche to debut your app. However, it is hard to generate a revenue off an app that only targets a small segment of the market. You should develop a business strategy that slowly scales up your app, both in the complexity of the features and in the market it is targeting. You should start small, but VC’s and Angel Investors want to see how your idea can make money – and you’d probably like to generate some sort of revenue as well, I would imagine! Branding! Branding is crucial to a successful business. Whether you’re an established business or a recent startup, a recognizable brand encourages trustworthiness and drives downloads. Here is some informative piece of advice for you how to get the first 10,000 downloads for your app. If you have an established brand, make sure your app is clearly recognizable and identifiable. Link it with your site’s main web page. This not only lets the customer know your app is legit, but it tells Google Search that your app is associated with your business. With new mobile-friendly changes to Google, having an ‘official’ app will increase your search rankings. Finally, if you are creating the first in a long string of mobile apps, a successful brand is key. It positively links new apps to previous successes and loyal customers will be more willing to download your next app. Engagement Obviously this is not the “better put a ring on it” type of engagement…though maybe that is the perfect metaphor. Creating an engaging app will keep your customers coming back to your app. Offering deals and specials to customers with your app is a two-fold benefit: it keeps already loyal customers engaged with your app and will draw in new customers interested in a great deal. The Stuff You Should Pay For: Development You don’t need to be a programmer or app developer to have a great mobile app idea. But, successful apps tend to be developed by people with experience. Expert web developers know how to create great UI’s that intuitively answer a client’s needs while still managing to be visually engaging. Social Media Marketing While the temptation do this yourself is tantalizing, you’re really going to want some professional help. It seems relatively straight forward to do your own SMM, but there are a ton of potential pitfalls. Different SM platforms may require different strategies and where one strategy may help on Facebook, the same might hurt you on Pinterest. With Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines continually improving themselves, what worked today will not necessarily work tomorrow. The new Google mobile update did not seem to impact business immediately…but within a few days a number of sites saw decreased web traffic. SEO and SMM are changing constantly so be aware of any changes. A good SMM partner can help you not only target specific SM platforms, but can also help you develop content designed to rank high on Google Search. They should also be totally up to date on new search engine changes and how to drive leads from those changes. Most importantly, they should be able to do this for a fair price. Ideally, you SMM and app development partner should be one and the same. Software Developers India is exactly such a company. We have tons of experience in user design and our marketing experts are some of the best in the biz. Our staff has been doing this for over a decade, and nobody does it better. Get a free business consultation if you contact us now with attractive weekend offers. We have sales teams all over the world and can help develop a mobile app that is the perfect fit for your company.