I'm trying to build a passive income stream for my family by selling software applications.
My strategy is simple:
- Keep releasing apps to complement those I am already selling.
- Get better at marketing - an activity which is way out of my comfort zone.
I've had an Android music making app in the Play store for years which has made a low volume of sales for nearly a decade.
This Android music making app is my muse: if I can somehow a) reverse the declining trend by marketing it better, and b) replicate and scale up that small success by releasing more apps, then I can achieve the passive income dream.
Shipping more apps is a no brainer for me. I've been building software for clients & open source projects for decades and I'm strong at shipping. Knowing which features to cut, which tech will accomplish the task most quickly, doing rapid MVP implementation, and then packaging things up for platform release. That process comes easily to me.
So, I'm going to try to ship 10 apps by February.
The hard bit is marketing. Surely this is something I can learn though right?
So far I have two existing apps to practice marketing on:
- #1 is CanOfBeats, an Android music making app for quickly and easily generating hip hop beats.
- #2 is SVG Animation Assistant, a utility for making animated SVGs with Inkscape.
My marketing strategy so far is to post on forums and to contact blog authors where there is content relating to what the particular app does. I've also listed my apps on alternativeto.net which is a great resource.
I have a TODO list where I add marketing action items whenever I think of them, and each day I tick off a few. A lot of this involves doing searches for related terms and following up with the page owners. I think they call this building a funnel. It's early days but I can detect a small upward trend:
Any marketing tips for a n00b are very much welcome. Please leave a comment if you have a tip!
Two apps down, what's next?
I've started on my third app in the series. It's an acid music generator for Android. It's a reboot of one of my old Android apps. I'm trying to get it out this weekend & I'll post it up here once I get it released.
If there is some app that you think the world needs please leave a comment. I'm particularly interested in building minimal Windows, Android, and web apps.
Let's go!
You don't know how to do marketing so your strategy is to spend all your time doing what you already know (coding) so you get better at marketing? That makes no sense.
You're leaving the success of all of these great products you are putting out up to luck. If you would just slow down and build a business around one of these products you would see a lot more success per product.
A very good point & insight, thank you.
If you were doing this what specific activities would you be doing?
The first thing I would do would be to build a following targeted towards one of your products (or several if they all have the same customers). For example, you could be building a YouTube channel catered towards content for music making which will attract your target audience. A following is the secret sauce that nearly everyone is missing, especially most entrepreneurs. Having a following allows you to build products and have a much easier time with marketing because you can just go to your followers and sell. And they will love you.
This is a deep insight, thank you so much. I will research and brainstorm how to go about building a following. Seems like a thing that requires persistence and consistency. Thank you!
Like the GP comment says, why are you developing new products when you want to sell more existing products. Why not either choose one of your existing products, add features, sell it more OR find something new and market the hell out of it.
You should use this time to develop your skills in marketing instead of just hoping it works. There are companies and people that make a living by having lots of apps and making a small amount of money from them but it's hard work that won't necessarily pay off.
It sounds like you want to make your millions so why not actually try and do that instead of setting yourself up for 15 sales of $2?
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Thank you, you're right I must take time to develop my skills in marketing. Here is what I've been doing:
Things I plan to do:
Does this sound sensible? What kinds of marketing activities do you think I should be doing that I am not?
I thought that building more products and posting on IH about them would be another good way to get eyeballs but you have rightfully challenged that assumption. Thank you.
The other things you mention - pricing strategy, aquisition strategy, product road map, learning what customers want - are things I will read up on and learn about. Thank you.
All of these things are good if you're selling to people interested in technology and new products. If that's your market then you might be onto something.
Try to keep away from work that feels like it's helping but really is just stroking your ego and not building either your brand or your product.
You're right, this type of marketing is geared towards that segment. Food for thought, thank you.