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Mobile apps are a great idea, but they do require some work and attention to detail to make it a product that your ideal customer will love. Below are the steps you’ll need to get it off the ground.
1. Define your idea.
There are some key questions to ask to help refine your app idea. Below is a sample of questions to ask yourself, your team, and your app designer:
- Is your app going to stand alone or be part of another application?
- Is it going to be just one aspect of an already existing business or part of a separate startup company?
- Do you want to keep your app forever?
- Do you eventually want someone to buy the app solution and rights?
- Is it a game?
- Are users going to be able to connect with one another?
- Does it have educational tools?
These are just a few of the many questions to consider. But once you decide on a direction for your app, stick with it. Changing directions late in the game is hard – and expensive.
2. Do market research.
You don’t want to invest a ton of money into developing and app – and then find out someone else has cornered the market on it. Do your homework in advance and save time and money. For instance:
- Who is the leading competitor in this area – local, national, international?
- Has anyone announced in the news they will be launching a similar app?
- What are the download rates for your competitors
- How will you be different than your competition? Price? Capabilities?
- Do you have a unique, SEO friendly name that customers will love?
- What keywords do you need to appear in search rankings?
- If it’s a PWA (progressive web app), how will users user get to the site where you’ll push the app to them?
Unless you have the next one-off, market-exploding, never-heard-of-before app like Snapchat, you’ll be rewarded by taking time to do your research in advance.
3. Identify your audience.
The first thing you need to do is find out who will use your app. “My app is for everyone,” isn’t a valid response. You need to target a very specific group.
Take a look at how teenagers in the United States feel about their smartphones – they live on them. This is the initial audience you’ll want, but then you’ll break this group down into smaller segments.
Look for communities and subgroups who need an app to help them do something. How can your idea make someone else’s life easier? If you’re able to answer that question, you’re on the right track to validate your idea. Think about the apps that you use the most on a daily basis. Do you use mobile banking?
Uber is another great example. They recognized a problem with car services and developed an app that gets users connected to a driver with way less friction. It shows the payoff of making sure which group your app is going to help.
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4. Create a Brand Identity.
This is the time to give your app a new name by giving it an easily recognizable name. Think about the colors, look, and feel that you’ll want on your mobile app design. You can consult with professional developers to help brand your app using their skills and knowledge. Your brand creates an identity, which may be the most crucial factor to the success of your app.
Consider your app icon, color scheme, look, feel, and tone that reflects the type of app that you want to build. All of these should appeal to the audience you’re targeting. For example, if your target market is teenage girls. Your app icon probably shouldn’t be a black skull and crossbones. Pink icons or flowers will speak to your audience.
The most important part of branding? Start early and get input. Sketch out a few designs, show them to people in your target market. Their input will be invaluable to creating a lasting brand identity.
5. Choose the right App Dev Team
App building is a full time job, not a side project for a few hours each week. It takes experts in
- Business – to define your business plan and manage operations
- Marketing – to promote your brand
- App Dev – to develop the technical features of your app and do future updates
- Leader – to make sure everyone is meeting targets and moving forward
It’s a rare person who has all of those skills, so finding and assembling the right team is critical to designing and bringing your app to market.
Staying focused and efficient will save you time, money and headaches now and in the future.
6. Run the numbers and manage the budget
Building an app is expensive. There’s no one size fits all answer for how much it will cost you to develop an app, but expect to spend $50,000 and six month or more developing your app idea. Bigger apps with more complex features could cost nearly $2 million and take years to build. Set a clear budget, get the right financing, and stay on track to get it done. Keep in mind, everything won’t always go smoothly. You’ve got to plan for some unexpected hiccups or speed bumps along the way.
The budget doesn’t just go to development, but for marketing, testing, legal fees and labor. Unless you have an extra six figures in your bank account, you should look to investors to offset the costs and invest in your business. Investors need a payoff too, often in the form of a percentage of your company and future returns. In short, there’s many business decisions to make in addition to technical and marketing decisions.
Getting to done
After reading the to-do list, if you’re still passionate about building your app, then it’s time to move forward. Start researching your market, identifying your ideal customer and considering the business aspects.
You will need a team who is well versed in app development with proven results and a full service app building company can support your app dream. Chose someone with a proven track record in the creation, building, and development of apps so you can focus on securing the financing from potential investors and marketing the app. You may find it’s extremely cost efficient for you to go through a full service agency who can bring your idea to life more quickly than creating part time over the next two years!
We want to hear about your idea and give you some FREE advice on how to get it started immediately
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