So I've just started building an app. What can I do to promote it before launch?
I recently started developing Habit a household to-do list with a friend of mine and we have nearly developed our MVP and there are only a few bugs left until we start testing it with more people.
I'm hoping that this app will be quite useful to a lot of families / large groups such as University dorms and I want to get it in front of as many people as possible.
My question is, is it too early to start promoting the app and if not how would be best to promote it this early on.
Our Twitter is:
https://twitter.com/HabitTodo
And the IH page is:
https://www.indiehackers.com/product/habit-the-family-to-do-list
Thank you.
It's never too early to start and the earlier the better. I've made the mistake of building and then finding customers too many times.
At this stage, I'd focus on talking to as many people as you can to validate the problem you're solving (don't even mention you're working on a solution yet). Try and capture some data on where they hang out online.
Hopefully you'll discover a segment that really wants a solution to this problem. Figure out how to reach more of these people (perhaps through the same places they hang out online). And always ask them to refer other friends you can talk to.
Ask them if they'd like to hear from you if you create a solution. These are your early adopters for your MVP.
I also recommend The Mom Test book that @AndrewV mentioned (or find videos by the author on YouTube).
Hope that helps!
Thank you that's very helpful. I keep thinking of new people that might find this kind of app useful and I will now try and find whereabouts I can reach them. I'll have a look at the Mom Test book thanks for the suggestion.
I almost feel like I'm spamming, I send this link so often (I promise I have no affiliation, it's just a great book, and this is a great summary haha):
https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/the-mom-test/
Really good. I would add his talk to this too https://youtu.be/FG1Fa-t4AEQ
Thanks, watching it now :)
I'll definitely give it a read, thank you for sharing the link 👍
I'm working on developing an App as well, it's for Guided-Breathing, Music-Mindfulness, and Relaxation. (https://lineartzen.wixsite.com/marc)
I've been encouraged to join the FB, Reddit, IG, and any sociasl media spots to find and join like minded groups and folks to interact with...listen, chat, and exchange actively.
Three books that have great insights as well are:
Word Wide Rave (even though To-Do might not reach that far)
Dragonfly Effect
Art of the Start
And lastly, you can obtain user feedback from a spot called "Userthink"(https://usersthink.com/)...very inexpensive and useful as well.
Go-get-em!!
I'll check out users think thank you. I'm thinking I'm going to spend a day or so just making content that I can push everywhere to people interested in task tracking or just to people that might find the app useful
Here are a couple of resources I keep in my OneNote and turn to for inspiration. May help:
https://marketingexamples.com/
https://board.first100users.com/
Hope this is useful. I see on your Twitter you're in East Sussex - my old place - small world!
Ah, those websites look great thank you. Very small! That's really cool.
I think you're in for a grind. It's always possible for it to be successful, but that sounds like a tough market to get into.
It's never too early to start talking to potential customers. You've got to reach them where they're at.
Why do I think it's going to be tough?
Because I can't imagine one place where you'll find "families that need to keep track of to-dos." And because I can't imagine that, I can't imagine how you'll reach them well. Do you have money to advertise to a very general audience and hope for signups/installs? Are you going to spend the time to grow a following with low conversion rates? Are you going to reach out individually? Are you hoping an app store launch will get tons of views?
It'd be good to strategize how you plan to launch it, and temper your expectations. It's a jungle out there, and you don't want to rely too much on luck ;-)
At the moment the potential audiences I'm going to focus on is families in general because as you said finding specifically ones that are looking to keep track of household jobs or chores would be difficult. But, I also think that university students might find it useful for dorms or shared houses so that they can track what needs to be done around the place.
There is money we could use for advertising but tbh this is just a little project so I'm not too bothered if this app ever goes anywhere or makes any money although it would be nice.
I'm looking at the moment at growing the profile of the app on Twitter but I don't really know what I should be sharing as I'm not sure when the app will be out or if anyone will even like it or find it useful.
Yeah, this is something we all struggle with. My main point was: knowing who would use an app is just the beginning, if you can't reach them, it doesn't help.
Most people don't grow audiences on social media through constant promotion of an app itself. They share valuable content in the area they're developing in, and some portion of that audience will buy (or at least share) the app itself.
One other tip on Twitter growth I've read recently: In general, people tend to trust and follow personal accounts more easily if you're providing informative content. A "business" account (eg fully branded for a product/company) is often only followed by existing customers (like they tend to follow them for app updates).
That's great to know thank you. I've been trying to build my personal Twitter up since the start of January and recently it's been going quite well.
My Twitter is https://twitter.com/BenjaminGJDavis if you have any tips or fancy following me ;)
I'm trying to post more professional content recently instead of the random stuff I was originally, I seem to be posting a lot less now with a lot more reach and follower growth.