The Costco Connection

©SHUTTERSTOCK/DIGI TALSOTRMlist they had moved. ;at tactic alone generated its own buzz. “We got a crazy barrage of press inquiries from this. ;ey wanted to know why people are willing to wait in line,” Underwood recalls.

While Underwood’s tactics may not be right for everyone, his instinct is. By figuring out your app’s appeal and ;nding a way to market it creatively, you’ll rise above the competition.

Upgrade your app regularly

;e old expression about the relevance of yesterday’s news holds true even more so for apps.

With websites changing multiple times per day, an app that looks new when ;rst downloaded quickly becomes stale unless new features are added.

“Put out the first version, see how
people use it and then iterate it over and over,”
says Underwood. “Every version must be
meaningful and exciting.”
“If you leave it stale, no one will come
back,” agrees Pusenjak. New versions of
Doodle Jump add new levels and new charac-
ters matching the seasons. “After several
months of adding content, word of mouth
kept us on top.”

Consider the freemium model

Many successful developers o;er a free, limited version of their app. ;at hooks users, who are then o;en motivated to spend money to buy additional levels or functions.

For example, Paper, an innovative iPad sketching app, o;ers users its Draw module at no cost. Users can draw sketches with a virtual fountain pen, creating lines of di;erent thicknesses. But additional drawing tools and the ability to create color sketches requires the purchase of extra-cost modules.

Doodle Jump is another app that follows the “freemium” model. ;e game is available as a free version offering four themes; a 99-cent version adds six themes, different character outfits, multiplayer gaming and other features.

Ask users to rate your app

Notices can be placed within apps asking users to rate the so;ware. But there’s always the risk of asking users to rate it too often and souring them on the product. While you don’t want to make the mistake of not asking for any feedback at all, successful app creators say there’s a happy medium between silence and bombarding users with ratings requests.

Forget traditional advertising,
and use social media

None of the app developers I spoke to said that traditional text advertising, such as that found on search engine Web pages, helped increase sales.

What worked was promoting their app on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and other sites; persuading bloggers to write about their app; and ;nding novel ways to promote it.

“We haven’t paid for any advertising,” says Paper’s creator, Andrew Allen. “It’s mostly word of mouth.” Allen’s company partnered with the fashion periodical Women’s Wear Daily, using professional illustrators to live-sketch New York Fashion Week. It then posted those sketches— impressions of the show and its designs—on the Paper website to generate enthusiasm for the app’s capabilities.

In London, visitors to the Fashion Rules exhibit in Kensington Palace can use the Paper app to color in sketches of clothing worn by the royal family and then email the sketch or place it on the o;cial Tumblr blog, generating more buzz for the app.

To date, more than eight million copies of Paper have been downloaded. And Allen attributes at least part of his success to the positive publicity generated by his unique product tie-ins.

Maximize your chances
of success

If you’ve succeeded in creating a compelling app, you’ve shown the world your creativity. To sell it, look at the traditional promotional methods used in the past to push products—and then reject them. For your app to be a success, you need to be as creative in your marketing as you were in your product’s creation. Reject last year’s ways of thinking. When it comes to apps, that’s too old. C

Eric Taub writes about the intersection between society and technology for ;e New York Times and other publications.

The Costco Connection

Costco.com and The Costco Connection both feature popular apps at the Apple Store and Google Play, allowing you to shop and read from your mobile devices.

WHETHER YOU’RE WELL versed at writing software code or have a great idea for an app but haven’t a clue what to do next, here are some excellent resources to help you create the next Angry Birds or LinkedIn app.

• For those with a bit of programming knowledge, both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems offer official no-charge, online programming tutorials. Learn iOS programming at bit.ly/1c0l9mo. The official Android tutorial can be found at bit.ly/H4aSrG.

• Ray Wenderlich’s website
( raywenderlich.com) has more than

300 tutorials that can help absolute beginners to advanced programmers learn how to write programming code to create apps and games for iOS.

• For those who like movies and already understand programming basics, Stanford University iOS programming lectures by Paul Hegarty are available free in the i Tunes U section of the i Tunes Store,

apple.com/apps/itunes-u.

• If you’d like to create Android apps and need more information, a series of 40 videos takes you through the process at bit.ly/1gP4QbK.

Once you’ve created and tested your app, you’ll need to get the word out. A clearly written, comprehensive tutorial on how to market your app or smartphone game can be found at