Power of Apps

Episode 883: Power of Apps, with Sean Casto

The power of apps in business has endless possibilities! Listen to Sean Castro and learn more about the marketing power of apps.

Learn about the power of apps, especially in its role in business and marketing. Our guest in this episode, Sean Castro, is the Founder of the premier app marketing agency, PreApps, where he has helped thousands of apps reach millions in downloads. He has worked with many million dollar apps such as Flyp, OverKill 2, Gadget Flow, and even billion dollar apps such as Cheetah Mobile’s Security Master with over 550,000,000 downloads. He is also the Creator of the App Marketing Academy, the world’s best online mobile app marketing program.

Today, Casto is one of the most in-demand experts on mobile app marketing and growth. His clients and associates have expanded to 80 countries, in 24 different app categories to create, launch, and market their app, from nothing to millions of downloads and sales. Casto has been a guest speaker at industry conventions for Microsoft and Samsung and lectured at Universities such as Northeastern and Harvard. He has also appeared on and been featured by The Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe, Entrepreneur Magazine, and The Associated Press.

What you’ll learn in this episode about the power of apps:

• How Sean found a love of entrepreneurism as a child, and how he learned the ins and outs of app development
• How Sean developed the number one industry-leading app marketing agency, and what services his agency provides to app developers
• Why app development and having an app for your business is appealing to business owners in any industry
• What new business marketing potential and customer interaction possibilities have been created thanks to the power of apps
• How new technologies like Augmented Reality (AR) can be integrated into an app to differentiate your business from competitors
• What key strategies and “seven pillars” are fundamental to finding success when launching an app
• Why an app should be user-centric, innovative, and address the needs and wants of your customers
• Why it is difficult to cut through the noise and be discovered when there are over 15,000 new apps launching a week, causing 95% of apps to fail
• Why virality is probably an unrealistic goal, and why it is important to rely on the power of apps to track analytics
• Why understanding where customers typically find apps and understanding Apple and Google’s app store algorithms and optimizing for them is key

Resources:

• Website: www.preapps.com
• App Secrets by Sean Casto: https://amzn.to/2CuDzgw
• Learn more about the power of apps by reading this ultimate guide for beginners

Additional Resources:

• Sell With Authority by Drew McLellan and Stephen Woessner: https://amzn.to/39y7x13
• Predictive ROI Free Resource Library: https://predictiveroi.com/resources/
• Stephen Woessner’s LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/
• Learn how to grow your digital footprint and apply it when you’re utilizing the power of apps

 

 

Power of Apps: Full Episode Transcript

 

Get ready to find your recipe for success from America’s top business owners here at Onward Nation with your host, Stephen Woessner.

 

Good morning. I’m Stephen Woessner, CEO of Predictive ROI and your host for Onward Nation, where I interview today’s top business owners so we can learn their recipe for success, how they built and how they scaled their business. In fact, my team at Predictive ROI, while we recently rebuilt and hopefully, hopefully you have revisited our resources section on predictiveroi.com because we continue to add new resources on a consistent basis to that section.

 

So you can download free practical and tactical guides for everything from search engine optimization, or how to use links to generate leads and other success strategies that we have compiled from the brilliant insights shared by our very generous guests. If you haven’t visited yet, you can find it at predictiveroi.com/resources and whatever you request, we will send it right to your inbox.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Sean’s Introduction

 

Now let’s welcome today’s guest, Sean Casto. Sean is the bestselling author of the book app Secrets and the founder of the premier app marketing agency, apps, where he has helped thousands of apps reach millions of downloads. He has worked with many multimillion dollar apps such as fly P, overkill two, Gadget Flow and Cheetah Mobiles Security Master. With over 550 million downloads Onward Nation.

 

Welcome to Onward Nation, Sean. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, goodness. Thank you for saying yes. And Onward Nation, I was super, super excited when Sean and I connected because, you know, for all of the guest interviews that we’ve done and all of the insights and wisdom and expertise we’ve had as part of our show from the generous insights shared by our guests, we’ve not had this opportunity yet to really go super, super deep into strategy, into marketing, into why having an app might be really beneficial to a business owner.

 

So this has been a really, really unique opportunity to tackle a subject that we’ve not yet tackled before. So Sean, thanks again for saying yes. And it but before we dive into your book and to the questions I want to ask you actually take us behind the curtain here because obviously impressive bio working with thousands and thousands of apps.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Sean’s Path and Journey

 

That’s awesome. Building a premier app marketing agency that is just fantastic. So but really is as impressive as your bio is, it still is just a portion of your story. So take us behind the curtain. Tell us more about you. Tell us more about your path and journey. And then we’ll dive in. Yeah, absolutely. Well, a little bit of myself is, you know, I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since.

 

I can kind of remember one of those people that, you know, just always had the knack for it in terms of, you know, selling Pokemon cards and going door to door selling baseball cards or flowers or whatever you may. And so I had this kind of addiction early on to be able to create what I had in my mind to reality.

 

And so, I was lucky to be able to grow up in an area where, you know, technology was readily available. And so I was able to actually create my own first startup in high school. And then that evolved into college. And it was in college that I really started to grow my passion towards the mobile app industry, and started developing apps on my own, and then also worked for a mobile app development company.

 

And it was kind of first hand that I began to understand. One, the potential that the mobile app industry, provides outside of any other industry in the world in terms of high growth in a very short period of time, to be able to create, you know, again, what you visualize into an actual working product and business that can be access to billions of people around the world, very quickly.

 

And then it was through my own experiences as an app developer and working with others that I really understood the struggle. But it really came down to understanding how you can actually get your app out there? And, and so I understood the numbers and the metrics of, that’s honestly 95% of all apps in the world out there, failed to be discovered and get about, you know, 5 or 10 downloads upon a launch.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Understanding The Fundamentals of a Good and Bad App

 

And so I understood the biggest need was really in the marketing realm. And so I really began this journey of understanding, the fundamentals that really distinguish between a successful and a failed app, understanding, you know, why the most successful apps including, you know, Candy Crush, Instagram, Airbnb, Uber, Snapchat, how they all incorporate actually the same fundamental traits and began to drill deeper and working with these developers and interviewing these, you know, app creators to understand what was it that distinguish these successful apps from others?

 

And again, breaking that down and then creating a marketing agency that where we can actually support and work with these people, to be able to essentially kind of be their marketing arm and to be able to support them, to be able to reach their marketing goals and been luckily and fortunate enough to be able to have been doing that for the past seven years now, actually developing the number one app marketing agency here in the US working with thousands of apps as you mentioned, reach over half a billion in downloads, working with both small, you know, businesses early, you know, starting off early and and being able to launch their apps successfully and reaching, you know, let’s say the initial 100,000 downloads and then going from 100,000 to 1 million and 1 million to 10 million, 10 million to 100 million, and to really establish themselves as market leaders in their category. 

 

And so, you know, with our agency we’re able to understand that there’s not just one channel that’s going to drive growth when it comes to marketing.

 

It’s a plethora of different initiatives and strategies that need to be incorporated, kind of at the same time to really grow and, and, and build, you know, this successful app to where it needs to be. And so, we’re very fortunate to be in a position to be able to actually work with all different types of app creators from all over the world.

 

We service over 80 different countries across 24 different categories of apps, on both the App Store and Google Play. And so it’s so exciting to be able to see these people turn their baby that they’ve worked on for the past, you know, 2 or 3 years sometimes of development, to be able to actually launch it into the world and actually getting traction and momentum and really tabs themselves, you know, the marketplace, this is going to be such a fun conversation.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Why Business Owners Should Consider Having an App

 

So, I mean, just there are several really big nuggets that you just highlighted there, Sean, that that I’m going to want us to to go in and kind of slice apart or break apart whatever you want to call that for Onward business owners because, I think this is going to be really, really insightful to them. For those owners who are thinking or may have thought, gosh, if I build out an app, it might be able to benefit my business this way.

 

But how do I do that? How do I make sure that I’m not in that 95% of the failed apps and because people don’t find it and so forth. And so this is going to be a lot of fun. So at the, but let’s set some context, some foundation first, as we kind of in this building sort of conversation, if you will, from your perspective and in your opinion, like, why should a business owner even even start to think about going down that path?

 

Like, why should a business owner consider having an app for his or her business? Yeah, that’s a good question. So, you know, depending on who’s listening, if you have a brick and mortar store, or if you’re more B2B, it really varies depending on what your needs are in terms of business growth. But you have to look at the overall landscape.

 

And I truly believe if you don’t have a mobile app in the near future, you know you will become irrelevant due to the fact that your competitors will think about this. For example, why would Starbucks, who is a retail store that sells coffee, have a mobile app? Yeah. I mean, I thought, right. So, in my opinion, in experience using it, it completely compresses or shortens the time from being able to submit the order, pick up the drink.

 

It’s like customer service on your phone. And so then, I guess on the metrics side, behind the scenes, I would make the assumption that it gives them a chance to churn or turn more customers through within an hour, as opposed to just the store alone. Exactly, exactly. So, you know, Starbucks, obviously predominately sells coffee. They don’t sell anything digital.

 

You would think, why would they have an app? But the truth is, they have over 50 million people that use their app, on a weekly basis now, a million people. And the reason behind that is because they understand that having that mobile app, they see an increase in sales, sales actually coming from, you know, online, mobile orders, they have brand loyalty.

 

People are actually using the app, because maybe they know their local coffee shop doesn’t have an app. And they’re able to use those points, incentivize people to continue to come back. And obviously, that competitive advantage, piece of it. So there’s a number of different advantages and it all depends on obviously, your business and what type of business you have.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: The Advantages of Apps in Connecting You to Your Target Market

 

But that’s just one example. Another good example would be, Great Clips. Great Clips is a barber shop. They cut hair. Why would a barber shop that has cut hair have a mobile app and not a game or they’re not, you know, selling products. But they’re exclusive, using it to be able to have people be able to, again, incentivize them to use their store over others, to be able to, you know, make reservations to get that cut.

 

As well as, I think being able to pay for that card and other kinds of benefits on top of that. But they have over, I think, 15 million people using their app on a regular basis. And so I truly do believe that if you don’t have one now, you’re going to need one in the near future to be able to compete against, you know, other businesses in your space.

 

And the reality is, you know, as you know, mobile apps and your phone itself has become an extension of your body. I mean, I think physically, 95% of your time throughout the day, you have your phone within three feet of you at any given time. And there’s never been a time in history we’ve been able to have your business actually connect with an individual 24 or 7 day and night, you know, with that individual, whether it’s through push notifications and advertisements or being able to access, you know, your business instantly.

 

And with that, you know, beautifully intuitive design as opposed to just, you know, going to your website and things like that. So again, there’s a number of different advantages in terms of being able to connect with your target market as well as potential users, in an innovative new way. 

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Consider The Usage Habits of Your Customers

 

This is really interesting because you’re actually opening my eyes to my own kind of usage habits.

 

And then I’m thinking, okay, Onward Nation business owners, how might this plug into their business, which is you and I talked about, you know, during our pre-interview chat in the green room, you typically, our listeners are the owners of a professional services firm dealing with clients, you know, either locally, regionally, nationally or what have you. But as you’re going through Starbucks and the great clicks example is, it’s almost become ubiquitous.

 

Is that the right word? You know, I travel a ton. And so I find myself using the American Airlines app all the time. I especially during, you know, travel when it’s like, you know, exchanging flights and this and that due to cancellations. But then I find myself in the Marriott app or the Bonvoy app, like all the time and making reservations.

 

So, as we’re thinking about this from a business owner perspective, that might if he or she might only service a firm. Are there some examples that you and your team have worked on where a services firm has had an app, whether that’s better communication with clients or maybe scheduling things, or have you had an experience in that category, or are service firms developing apps as of yet?

 

Maybe that in and of itself is an opportunity because it’s kind of a blue ocean. Exactly. I think it is honestly a little more blue ocean in that capacity. So I think, now is the time to get in, because you can get that kind of first to the ocean and to be able to track those users that would go to you as opposed to your competitors because they don’t have that type of opportunity.

 

But what we are seeing is, yes, there are services that are able to, again, innovate and kind of wow the consumer a little bit more than just going into your website. And so you can kind of wow the user by having some, you know, unique benefits and interface, things like that, you could only do with a mobile app, whether it’s through augmented reality, you know, things like, for example, showing your product, you know, in use through AR or even AI at that matter.

 

Again, it all depends on what kind of business is and what you’re selling. And, you know, how can you best show to your prospect the doubt you can offer in a unique way? Interesting. 

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Commonalities of a Successful or Failed App

 

Okay, so when you mentioned the thousands of apps, you noticed some kind of commonalities in the category of, like, a successful app did this or maybe a failed app, unfortunately did that.

 

What are some of the commonalities that you were discovering in those two kinds of categories? Success? Failure? Yeah. So that really comes down to, you know what the reason why I wrote this book on this book called App Secrets How to Create a $1 million App, which really provides the blueprint, if you may, of you know, how to be able to be successful in this mobile app space in today’s environment.

 

And so from, you know, our research of, you know, looking into the most successful billion dollar apps in the marketplace, again, what we found as being able to understand there are certain strategies that worked for them that to be able to get them to extraordinary growth and within a very short period of time, and that most apps kind of fail to incorporate.

 

And what we found is there’s really seven pillars, and I think I mentioned these seven pillars are actually in many cases our general business pillars in itself as well. So comply with law, different businesses. But what we do is we kind of drill deeper into the mobile app space and through case studies and examples and things like that, of how these pillars are really the fundamentals that are required in order to be able to be successful in this game.

 

And, if you like, we can kind of go over those quickly on our call today. Yeah, I love that. And you and I kind of touched on each of these in the previous chat and in Onward Nation. I think they’re really, really smart. 

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Having a Grand Vision

 

So even if you’re not planning, just kind of adding on to what Sean just said there, even if you’re not playing an app, the seven pillars might change your mind.

 

But regardless, these are common success traits, if you will, that are kind of channel agnostic. So building your business and whatever channel, these are going to apply. So yeah, let’s go through them Sean, because I think they’re really insightful. Okay. Wonderful. Yeah. We can just kind of highlight each of these very quickly. And then obviously I do that to get a copy of the book.

 

So you can kind of drill deeper into each of these as well. And with the first pillar of that, that we outline here is called having a grand vision. And you might be wondering, what does, you know, having a clear vision have to do with creating a successful mobile app. Well, the reason why we start the pillars with vision is, you know, it’s so many app creators and business owners. If you aimlessly just launch their business and launch their app without a destination or goal, you know, in the end.

 

So it’s really the quickest way to fail. It is by not understanding what is your endgame. You know, we always say begin with the end in mind. We see so many people waste time and money building an app just to have an app without having an end in mind. Every billion dollar app creator at some point declared what they wanted and developed a roadmap to get there.

 

Most people work from, you know, where they are now and then where they want to be. And this is really kind of a backwards strategy. You have to begin as though you already have the end in mind, as if it’s already accomplished and done for you, and then work backwards, not forwards, to actually create the roadmap to get there.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Using Uber as An Example

 

For example, Uber. Uber is a good example of just because, you know, everyone knows who they are. But obviously first starting off, no one knew who they were. And it was the founders that really were able to have that grand vision. And it’s actually publicly stated, you can see, I think, on their website and through their details about their company, they actually had a declared grand vision, and their vision was to connect 1 billion people who need a reliable rock ride with people looking to earn money driving their car.

 

They declared that day one, it wasn’t like, oh, let’s just do this thing in one little city and let’s do, you know, help these people close by. No, they knew in advance they had this grand vision. They wanted to really change the world. Trains and trains the transportation industry and really connect 1 billion people who need a reliable ride with people looking to earn money driving a car.

 

And so they built their company and built their app business. Working backwards from there. How can we get to that grand vision as quickly as humanly possible? And what’s required to get there? Because when you visualize, you begin to kind of materialize. And so it all comes down to really understanding what that grand vision is for you and your business. And then obviously taking massive action, to be able to get there. 

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: An App is a Mechanism for The Entire Business Model

 

So let’s just pause for this one before we go to number two here, because Uber’s such a great illustration. Obviously it’s a multibillion dollar company and a big success. And in all of that the app though at least my understanding of that company is there’s a very significant business behind the app.

 

The app is of course the user interface and what we all experience or interact with and so forth. But it’s just a mechanism that lays over top of that entire business model, which is their service business, right? They’re not selling a widget, even though it kind of feels obviously very transactional. But it is a service based business.

 

And then they’ve built the app over top of that to execute the vision that you just now talked about, Sean, which I think is a great point to to visualize that before you ever get started, begin with the end in mind. Habit number two from the seven habits. Love that. But it is a service business.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Small Positive Changes Can Become Your Greatest Innovation

 

So Sean, anything else you want to add to that? No, I think that’s well-put. Okay. All right. So let’s move to number two. Absolutely. So pillar number two is all about innovation. Innovation is the second pillar for, you know, building a successful app because without it you are a commodity, to innovate. And really, its purest form, I believe, is really to solve your users needs better than anyone else on the market.

 

It is adding that superior value, you know, to the end user. And the key is really being in today’s market, user centric, you know, knowing your users wants and needs better than anyone else out there. And you can innovate in many ways. People think that, oh, if I’m to innovate, I have to change an entire industry. No, you can actually provide a, you know, small, continuous innovation.

 

You know, sometimes this small, you know, positive change can have the greatest impact. Small little enhancement can actually have a breakthrough impact and become your greatest, you know, innovation. You don’t really need to reinvent the wheel or be first to market to really succeed and innovate in today’s environment really comes down to understanding the simplicity and providing, you know, need better than others.

 

And so this is really important because if you don’t innovate, others will dominate. You are in a very short period of time. You know, why do you think Square, Snapchat, Evernote, Uber, other billion dollar apps launch new innovative enhancements every single month. They don’t do that because they want to. They do that because they need to.

 

And so this is really, really important when it comes to, you know, the growth of the business. And so it really comes down to creating something people simply can’t live without. And really going back to that grand vision and being able to continually, you know, use engaging with your users in a unique and innovative way.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Growth Marketing

 

So pillar number three is all about growth marketing. And so in my opinion, you know, marketing is really two things. First, it’s the process of driving your users to your app to download and purchase what you’re offering. And then also the continual education of your users to the advantages, benefits and results your app brings them.

 

But no one else can provide. And this is really important because, as we previously discussed, I think, office calls, 95% of apps fail into the marketplace right now. And, there’s over 15,000 new apps introduced every single week. Now, 15,000 on. My gosh. And so that’s insane. And so, it’s unfortunate because people spend so much time and money on building out these apps, yet unfortunately fail to be discovered.

 

And so, you know, they’ll launch and get maybe 5 to 10 downloads upon launch. And it’s unfortunate, but what people need to understand is marketing it, just like in most businesses, it is a lifeblood of the success of the app, you know, you can create the most innovative, beautiful design app in the world.

 

You could spend $1 million on an app. And unfortunately, all that time and money, energy goes to waste if people don’t know that your app exists. And so that’s something we highly, you know, encourage others to look at. Even before you build up your app, even before you spend a penny on development, understand, how are you going to go ahead and market it?

 

And a lot of it doesn’t come down to how you are going to market it, but maybe hiring an agency or individuals to be able to market it for you. You know, you don’t have to have everything in place as long as you’re able to leverage others to be able to get there. And so in this chapter in particular, we kind of outline again, what we call the skyrocket downloads, program, which is all about understanding the fundamentals that are required in order to be able to launch a mobile app specifically, successfully into the marketplace and to be able to get you to where you need to be, you know, as quickly as possible. Awesome. 

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Successful Team and Making an App Go Viral

 

Okay. So then what is number four? So number four is all about the team in this chapter. I share the characteristics and traits that are required for a successful team. And, you know, although we look up to founders like, you know, different, different CEOs of businesses, you know, there would be no Snapchat, for example, without Bobby Murphy, there would be no Uber without Gear Camp, there would be no Apple, for example, without Steve Wozniak.

 

And so, you know, when it comes to creating a team and a successful business, a $1 million app begins with a $1 million team. And so we outline in this chapter really the power of delegation, outsourcing to be able to accelerate growth in this, certain traits that are needed within your team to be able to grow the same type of traits that have been able to grow $1 billion apps like Airbnb and Snapchat and Candy crush, etc.

 

Okay, perfect. I love how you’re stepping through, through each of these one by one. So then what’s number five? So number five is all about virality, retention and app addiction. You know, every person I talk to nowadays, their first question is how do I make my app go viral? Right. Everybody wants their app to go viral.

 

And so everybody wants their app to really reach extraordinary success and get a million downloads as soon as possible. And others really want to be able to, you know, retain those users. And so in this chapter, we really break down what we call virality, retention and app addiction. And I believe that apps don’t go viral by accident.

 

Virality is actually strategically engineered. In this chapter, I share what we call our viral app blueprint on how the top apps, you know, go viral using what we call growth engines. And it also covers retention and getting users to come back, you know, and you do that through really making your app and everyday habits. Because what good is having a million downloads if no one is actually using the app?

 

Right. And so when it comes to marketing innovation, you also have to understand how you can get your consumers to not just use, you know, once but multiple times, either throughout the day or week or month or whatever your kind of goals are on that? And how can you really make your app truly indispensable? And, you know, first to mine strategy.

 

And so that’s where it comes down to having habit forming apps and linking your service to daily routines and emotions, you know, for your consumers. And so, Sean, let’s stop there, and kind of go maybe a little bit. I wouldn’t say deeper there because you went, with some depth there, but I wanted to kind of maybe slice that apart, just in maybe a slightly different way.

 

And what I mean by that is, you know, for most of our listeners, if they were to develop an app, probably not going to go viral. Right? So, I mean, they’re running a professional services firm, working with clients, customers and so forth. Probably not going to be the next Uber app, just just being realistic. Right. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they shouldn’t follow through on the strategies that you’re outlining here in building that app.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Making People Invested in Your App

 

It just might be setting expectations. And so instead of maybe having like the, kind of whether it’s a pie in the sky or unrealistic expectation that it’s going to get, you know, millions dollars and go viral, is there also value in developing the right app? It might have a small number of downloads, but it might have a high usage because you’ve created something that is really helpful on a day to day basis with your client base.

 

And so then that leads to retention and maybe them investing more money with you, and that kind of stuff because you have been more helpful to your client base. So is that a realistic expectation? Yeah absolutely. Well it all comes down to, again, having people continue to come back from the app. Right. So for example, if you’re a service business and you have your consumers using the app, you want to make sure they’re actually using it and not just downloading it.

 

And so, you know, the more they’re actually able to use the app, the better and increase sales and brand recognition, etc. and so there are certain techniques and strategies in order to be able to be able to really make your app, you know, irresistible to that consumer and to be able to hook them to continually come back to your app on a regular basis, as opposed to maybe your competitors.

 

Yeah. And so then I guess what I’m learning from you in this process is having the app is one thing. Being able to tie the app into, like, into your core business as a layer kind of on top of the core business so that they’re using the app. Often interacting with the core business is essentially another customer touchpoint as opposed to something that’s standalone separate from the business.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Growing Your App Organically

 

Am I tracking with you? Yeah, exactly. And again, you can look at areas in which you can actually increase growth in sales from the app as well through the app, you know, not just from retention, but also having your app shared amongst others, you know, other coworkers, family, friends, etc. Through incentive programs. So, for example, Uber, you know, incentivizes users, $25 credit.

 

If you share your, you know, the others, it’s kind of a win-win strategy. And that’s one of their growth engines that allows them to be able to grow organically amongst, you know, other referrals and also, you know, getting that benefit of both consumers and the person you’re sharing with that, you know, little coupon.

 

Okay. So let’s move into number six. I think when you had mentioned to me before in our pre-interview, I think you called it Money Mastery, did I get that right? My notes. Yeah, exactly. So film number six is money mastery. And, in this chapter we go over what we call our revenue model using the same techniques and building our apps used to maximize.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Money Mastery and Measuring Success

 

And, you know, as of, 2018, Apple and Google have collectively paid out over $150 billion to app creators. And so in this chapter, you know, we walk you through how exactly you can get that piece of that, you know, billion dollar pie, that’s paid out every single year. And so it’s really understanding, you know, what are the core ways in which you can really monetize your app?

 

And then understanding how you are monetizing and then how can you really maximize that growth? And that’s where the revenue model kind of comes into play. Got it okay. So let’s round out the list then. What’s number seven? Yes. And then measuring number seven is all about measuring success. Because you can’t improve what you don’t track.

 

And it’s about knowing what to track within your app business and when to track it. You might be thinking, well, you know, I don’t have a $1 billion app yet. What’s good is it to track, you know, certain things? Well, on the contrary, many developers launch their app yet, don’t, you know, only monitor things like number of downloads or number of sales.

 

And this is where a lot of apps fail, because without tracking key performance metrics, you won’t understand what’s driving those downloads, where those downloads come from. You know, where your engaged users are actually coming from, not just what’s driving revenue. And because you guys, if you know what works, you can double down obviously what works. And then you know what’s not.

 

And studies have shown that apps using app analytics outperform their competitors who are just, you know, using their intuition about 3 to 1. And so, you know, through this app marketing, you know, initiatives probably follow that 8020 rule. Right. And so 20% of your marketing can in many cases account for 80% of your, you know, growth and downloads of your business.

 

And if that’s the case becomes important, identify, you know, which 20%, so you can then do more of what works and less of what does it. Yeah. It reminds me of the age old axiom of, you know, I know that half of my advertising is working and half isn’t. I just don’t know which half is which.

 

Right. So. But I love the measuring piece. Measuring success, doubling down on what works. That happens to be our theme for the year. Double down on growth. So, I love that piece. Let’s actually take that and kind of segue back into something else you said before you shared the seven pillars, which I thought was really smart in that it was, you know, not it’s not just one channel, Onward Nation.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Making Your App Discoverable and Reach Top Results of The App Store

 

And you said it’s not just one channel that really drives growth. So tell us a little bit more about your experience or your team’s experience about why seeing something like that? I’m really tracking with that and I’m aligned with that. But tell us more about why you have found that to be true. Sure. Well, it all comes down to really understanding, you know, what your needs are for your business.

 

And so when we work with, you know, potential clients, we really understand where they are right now. What are their goals and what’s their, you know, marketing budget to be able to achieve those goals? If you have an unlimited budget, which, you know, most people don’t, you know, unlimited budget, sure. You can spend all your money on, let’s say, Facebook ads and you can get a lot of downloads in a very short period of time, but it can be very, very costly.

 

Right? You’re looking at like anywhere between three, even upwards of $5 right now per download. So let’s say a million downloads, it’s going to cost, you know, $3 million to do that. And some people like, you know, Candy Crush or Angry Birds, they actually have the resources to be able to spend that because they know that their lifetime value or, you know, their, how much they monetize is, is greater than what they’re going to spend.

 

It’s going to be greater than $3. That being said, most people want to be able to grow organically. Most people would like to focus on more organic growth and spending so much money on, you know, paid acquisition. And so it really comes down to understanding what are the core fundamentals and channels that are needed to be able to drive that growth.

 

And so, for example, let’s say if you’re launching an app, and you have it launched yet or you’re in the process of launching your app or it’s been available but just hasn’t got much traction, there are certain things that you want to focus on. Things like, for example, app store optimization, you know, if you’re familiar with search engine optimization, this is very similar, but in the mobile app realm.

 

And you might be surprised to find out that, 67% of all downloads in the world, 67% of all downloads in the world don’t actually come from Facebook. Advertising doesn’t come from email marketing, doesn’t come from TV advertisements, doesn’t come from word of mouth. 67% of all downloads in the world come from people who actually search the app Store for apps they’re looking for.

 

So when people are looking for a photo editor, they’re going to go to the App Store. They’re going to, you know, search for photos other than your top and download the top app that appears. If they’re looking for a dating app, you know, they’re going to go to the App Store and type in dating, and they’re going to download Tinder because it’s the number one app on the App Store for that.

 

If they’re going to look for taxis, you know, they’re going to download, they’re going to search for taxis and download Uber because then they’re going for that. And so again, it’s really understanding what people are downloading solutions that you’re offering. And then obviously focusing on those channels to be able to do that. And so App Store organization is one factor.

 

And we are actually the best industry that offers that kind of comprehensive service to be able to ensure your app is discoverable and reaching the top of the search results and getting the perfect users to come to the app every single day. But this other thing is like, for example, video marketing. You know, videos have become a standard in the industry and something your potential users will expect.

 

And it’s the best way to be able to access your app, have your app, and business shared across social media, friends and family etc.. And so you want to have obviously the right videos for the app. Another channel would be, you know, press and media exposure, you know, getting recognition for your app, driving, having, leveraging these outlets to promote your app for you to millions of potential users.

 

And these are just examples of other areas outside of, of course, you know, standard things like Facebook advertising. Wow. Okay. 

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: App Store Optimization

 

So let’s go back to thank you for breaking down the channels. That’s really, really helpful. But let’s go back to the App Store optimization here. And because clearly you and your team have developed some really significant expertise here, like a depth of expertise.

 

That’s awesome. And and so I’m not asking you to, to give away your recipe because because I know that you spend a lot of time and, and one could argue that that’s your IP, but, so with respect to App Store optimization, that’s probably like categorically we’re talking about things like titles and photos and screenshots and having really good, accurate descriptions as far as the the functionality of the actual app and, and stepping somebody through the, like in a descriptive process, everything they can expect with the app maybe reviews how many stars like paying attention to those types of things?

 

Am I tracking with you with respect to optimization? Yeah, you’re absolutely right. So it’s a combination of obviously all those different things when it comes to, you know, what the consumer sees. And then also of course, what, you know, Apple and Google sees as well on the back end stuff. It’s really understanding, you know, Apple’s and Google’s algorithms and their algorithms do change periodically.

 

Understanding how their algorithms work. And then to be able to obviously customize, you know, your materials, to be able to ensure that they actually rank your app accordingly. But one thing that we always want to make clear is it’s not a one and done procedure, you know, do you’re not going to say, all right, this is my title or subtitle description, screenshots, keywords, etc..

 

And then, you know, I’m going to watch a million downloads come in and there’s never going to stop. You know, it is an ongoing, gradual process. It’s about understanding what works and what doesn’t work. You improve upon that. And so that’s for example, why we, you know, our clients are able to find weekly reports and see fluctuations and change things in real time.

 

And so understanding, you know, you might be ranking for certain keywords at one given time. And then at some point, for some reason, Apple might say, hey, you know what? Actually you’re going to decrease in those rankings. And, you know, then you want to switch out, you know, how those perform and to be able to improve, you know, an ongoing process to be able to get your app ranked number one across more and more keywords.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Closing Comments on the Lesson

 

This is fascinating because, before this conversation, I never knew one, just in full transparency. Didn’t know that app Store optimization was a thing. So, this is a big learning opportunity for me. And my guess is, you know, many of our Onward Nation business owners. So that is awesome. So thank you very much for that.

 

And I certainly don’t have a problem admitting it’s like, wow, hey I learned something new here. This is really, really good. That’s the whole point of having these types of conversations with experts like you, because it can fill in big gaps in knowledge. And you just did that for me. And then also with filling in that gap of knowledge, you know, we built our business on search engine optimization.

 

And so as we’re talking about, you know, web content and so forth. Right. And so as you were talking about the strategy and some of the core ingredients to the recipe, I’m thinking, wow, I didn’t know until today how those kind of run side by side. Obviously they’re different. But there’s also some corollaries. And I’m like, wow, that’s really important.

 

And how important Onward Nation content and good content and fresh content and keeping it updated and and how that is important for both web, you know, your website as well as then your footprint within the App Store. Sean. That’s a huge takeaway. Thank you. Absolutely. Wow. That is awesome. So I know that we’re quickly running out of time here from what I promise you.

 

And I appreciate your generosity very, very much. So before we go, before we close out and say goodbye, I know we covered a lot, but do you have any final advice? Anything you think we might have missed? Because we might have missed something? And then please do tell us the best way to connect with you, Sean.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners

 

Power of Apps: Final Advice and How to Connect with Sean

 

Yes. So, I think we covered the basics again. If you’d like to learn more, I definitely recommend getting a copy of our best selling book App secrets. You can get it on Amazon, for about $25. But for those that are actually listening, we would be happy to go ahead and ship you a physical copy of that book.

 

Just pay for shipping. And what we’ll do is we’ll actually include a link in the show notes where you can take advantage of that. You can also go to preapps.com, and you can get access to the book right there. And you can also if you’re in the process of building an app or already have an app, we’ll be happy to connect with you on a free consulting call so you understand your business and create a growth plan for you as well.

 

That is awesome. Very generous of you. Thank you for doing that. And Onward Nation, no matter how many notes you took. And I took a ton from Sean and his insights and wisdom, or how often you go back and listen to this episode, which I sure hope that you do. The key is to do what Sean suggested back in pillar number one when he was talking about, you know, have a grand vision.

 

That’s awesome. Once you have the vision, but then you have to take massive action. You have to actually put that vision into practice. So take what you learned here from Sean and his generosity. Take it, apply it in, accelerate your results. And Sean, we all have the same 86,400 seconds in a day. And I am grateful that you said yes, came on to the show to be our mentor and guide to help us move our businesses onward to that next level.

 

Thank you so much, Sean. Thank you so much. This episode is complete. So head over to OnwardNation.com for show notes and more food to fuel your ambition. Continue to find your recipe for success here at Onward Nation.

 

Utilize the power of apps by checking out this ultimate guide for beginners