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Pitch Perfect is the perfect marketing primer for the indie developer
If you're a developer with an app and a dream, you would do well to pick up Pitch Perfect by TUAW's Erica Sadun and Steve Sande. Their book lifts the veil on how app reviewers, bloggers specifically, operate. Most of the advice I give to people looking to pitch an app is in this book. Added to the valuable knowledge within are some great illustrations by Nitrozac and Snaggy (of Joy of Tech). Pitch Perfect starts with why you should care about reviews, and dives quickly into some essential advice on crafting your app. It's hard to be objective when you've slaved over code and graphics for months, but if you take Erica and Steve's advice to heart, it will snap you awake and hopefully give you a discerning eye before you send us your hard work. The book has several chapters on crafting your pitch, from what to include and what to avoid, all the way to how to reach out to harried, underpaid bloggers. Managing expectations, dealing with bloggers in general -- these are things I wish I could tell everyone before they send us a single PR email. Then there are a bunch of case studies, which they pick apart for good and bad examples. Finally, there are tips and techniques for making a product video, press release and more. A few quick tips on social media, and the all-important care and handling of bloggers rounds out the book. These last few chapters are marketing classes distilled into action items. How do you know which PR outlets to use, for example? How do you shoot a video of your app? I think the social media tips are the most sane I've read in a while, honestly. While this book is a great first step, it won't tell you how to measure ROI on your social media campaigns, or provide a list of secret emails that guarantee you great reviews across the galaxy. Pitch Perfect is tuned especially for indie devs who lack a marketing team, who likely can't afford one, and who have a ton of other responsibilities besides promoting their app (like, bug reports, making enhancements, eating food, playing outside, etc.). Once you've launched your app, however, this book is your best chance for a fair look from any number of review sites. Obviously I wouldn't keep Erica and Steve around if they couldn't write and knew nothing. I think any developer who is looking to understand how to pitch blogs for reviews would do well to read this book not just because it's a sneak peek into blogs or reviews, but because Erica and Steve know their stuff and (most importantly) know how to explain what to do in a wonderful way. You won't feel lost, either. Pitch Perfect is one of those delightful books that guides you through a process and points out all the right moves. Well-written, with great examples pulled from the stuff we do every day? It's a bargain at US$8.99 and available on Kindle and the iBookstore.
DevJuice: Promotion from the Trenches
TUAW Dev Juice talks with Mac developer Lyle Andrews, who agreed to discuss his real-world experience launching applications. He'll be sharing tips and hints about practical app promotion skills. I want to thank you for taking the time to talk to me and to TUAW readers. The reason I asked you here was because I think you have a really compelling story to tell and tips to share. You're a small developer who's achieved some exciting success in Apple's App Stores, yes? Can you tell us about your background and your products? Yes, I've been coding since I was 12, have been through 14 languages, have a degree in philosophy, and am a veteran of the dot.com wars where I ran over 60 projects including a dot.com startup and a Fortune 500 web deployment. My project history can be seen here. I've been moving into consumer software development and have two large projects in the works, Ynnis Myrddin, an interactive film about Merlin, and MetaView, a 3D market vizualizer. When the Mac App Store started operations I decided to write a few small apps to learn its dynamics: Tempest - a video lightning screensaver, Fireworks HD, another screensaver, and Network Logger, an active network monitor. Network Logger is currently selling in the top 6%, Fireworks HD in the top 2.5% and Tempest! in the top 2% of their categories on the US store. I first came across your work when I reviewed your Fireworks app just before New Years. Can you share how that process of pitching and reviewing worked from your end and talk about how the TUAW review affected your sales? Getting Fireworks HD reviewed by Apple was straightforward compared to getting the first screensaver on the store, since the App Store doesn't sell screensavers directly. I tried numerous ways around this restriction, including zipping up the saver and storing it in a shell app's bundle or having the app download the saver. After half a dozen rejection cycles one of the Apple reviewers took pity on me and suggested adding a download link that the user could click on in the app. This puts the onus of responsibility on the user, gives them control, and with that approach I was able to get approved and onto the store. Being very much a developer I have the classic indie tendency to just keep coding and sit around wishing that someone was promoting my apps full time. This does make the exposure the App Store affords very attractive. I do occasionally send out press releases and hold free promotions on the store. For Fireworks HD, I knew getting some exposure for New Year's Eve was important so I emailed an editor at TUAW about the possibility of a review right after Christmas. I saw that as a win/win since that was the app on the store most appropriate for New Years' Eve at the time. Fireworks HD was named Mac App of the Day on Dec 27, 2011 and the sales rank responded immediately and dramatically, moving from around rank #100 up to #4 in Top Paid Entertainment within a day. On New Year's Eve itself Fireworks HD was on the Top 10 Entertainment charts of 13 countries. Over the next few weeks Fireworks HD trended down as expected but happily ended in a higher average range which has persisted for five months to date. Can you tell me about some of the strategies you've used in-store for helping your apps stand out from the competition? I know you mentioned something about icons when I first started talking to you about doing this interview. What other suggestions do you have? I anticipated your question, so here is a very long list of suggestions. Pop out. Your icon has to pop out. Look at the primary category you will be listed in, imagine you are in the top 200, what similarities or appearance trends can you find in the app icons, and how can you break them in a way that draws attention and invites a click. A number of people have told me that they clicked on Network Logger just because of the icon. Something about it just makes you want to click it whatever it leads to. Keep it short. This indicates that you are confident that the customer is going to like your product if they are interested in general. It shows you feel like you don't have to say that much to make the sale. This is true with new clients as well as products. A long description starts to feel like an apology after awhile. However, some things are complex and merit a longer description. Conciseness is the actual metric. How can you say the most with the least words? Keep it Plain. Plain descriptions with minimal self-praise and adjectives are trusted more by App Store customers than overinflated rhetoric. Focus on Strength. Best in class in some way? Definitely say so. If nothing is the best, should you be aiming higher? This is true for Fireworks HD, it is in some ways a silly app I built to test out the store, but if you need beautiful 100% realistic HD fireworks for your event that don't repeat in sequence and work when no network connection is available, there is nothing better available for Mac than Fireworks HD. Be a master of the obvious. While there are many great naming strategies, if you can name a product after its product category, you have a home field advantage. With "Network Logger" for instance, the genus is instantly obvious, the customer just needs to know the species. They click, they are coming to see you, you are the category, the sale is yours to lose. Don't sweat bad reviews. They are going to happen, if an app has merit it will tend to sell anyway and time will equalize things. Tempest has been in the top 10 in Spain in Paid Entertainment for many weeks despite having only two reviews there, both 1 star. Follow or lead the market, either way know which you are doing. Leading the market is much more challenging, and can be much more rewarding. Can you come up with a way of systematizing a part of the raw unordered universe and create a new class of human activities? If you succeed your glories will be sung in Valhalla. Following the market can be safer and is often more lucrative. Can you rethink a better way to handle a common human activity? Use resonance awareness. There are some things you just know are going to resonate with a particular audience, fireworks, lightning, beaches, white rounded kitchen appliances...resonance awareness is really a diverse skill set it pays to hone. We know Steve Jobs actively developed this skill set throughout his life. Understand need. You need their need. What fundamental emotions are driving the user as they use your software? A desire for order? Curiosity? Love? A desire to conquer? Every activity has a number of emotions that are commonly associated with it. Knowing what your audience is experiencing and wants to experience emotionally is the foundation of an evolving relationship. It's not just woven into the advertising, the product is built around it. In conclusion, these things are all simple in theory, but if the execution sounds simple, think again. The student sees the simple and thinks it simple, the master sees the simple and thinks it profound. I hope one day to be such a master myself. There's been a lot of negative talk over the last few years about the App Stores being too saturated, that small guys can't make a living at it, that there's no room to break in. What would you say to that? I would say that oversaturation is bound to happen given the gold rush mentality, but overall the App Stores have been really empowering to smaller developers and that virtue will be recognized if one persists. The bar is higher now and development and marketing effort have to reflect that. The App Store gets far more traffic than my own web sites and provides more than just sales exposure; the review system has sort of opened up a dialog between me and my customers that wasn't there before. There are a lot of nasty reviews on the US App Store but internationally they are much more measured; they all make you tougher (better at taking criticism), and your app better. Being able to say you have apps on the store also has a certain social cachet these days that's valuable in personal and professional situations and that opens up new opportunities. Lyle, thank you so much for taking the time to talk today. I'm hoping that your experience and your insights will help inspire other developers, especially those just getting started. And if you're still reading this post and you like this kind of developer-centric coverage, please let our editorial team know. Drop a note and tell TUAW that you care about dev topics.
Toshiba sings NAND Flash's praises, thinks you should too
Have you taken a moment today to stop and thank NAND Flash for existing? No? Well, Toshiba would like to say tsk, tsk. Today the company launched a full-scale campaign to promote this storage technology -- and by full-scale we mean a dedicated "25 Years of NAND Flash" website, a "NAND Flash Deprivation Experiment" video series, new Facebook and Twitter accounts and a Toshiba Excite 10 giveaway. We must have missed the memo that NAND was dangerously underappreciated, because we're still trying to figure out why it needs a marketing campaign of its own. Toshiba has a slew of laptop refreshes and the Excite 7.7 and 13 tablets just around the corner -- and that interim period between announcement and launch date can be killer -- but somehow talking up NAND Flash doesn't seem the right course of action. Take a look at the campaign's first video below the break and decide for yourself.
Apple may not market "4G" iPad in the UK
In Australia, Sweden and, now, the UK, Apple is facing opposition over its use of 4G in the iPad name. According to GigaOM, The UK Advertising Standards Authority will release an adjudication on Wednesday that could lead to a new investigation into whether Apple is misleading customers when it says the iPad delivers 4G speeds. This adjudication is a response to 40 complaints received by the standards body from people who were confused by the 4G label, as the UK doesn't have a 4G wireless carrier. When approached by the ASA, Apple said it removed references to 4G on its website, but some people are still complaining about what ASA calls "other potentially problematic claims about the iPad." Apple reportedly still refers to 4G features, but adds the disclaimer that "4G LTE is supported only on AT&T and Verizon networks in the US, and on Bell, Rogers and Telus networks in Canada."
Halo 4 heading 'Forward Unto Dawn' with new live-action web series [update: teaser image]
It wouldn't be a Halo launch without a tremendous media campaign, and Halo 4 looks to be no different. The weeks leading up to the Master Chief's return this November will be filled with a new web series entitled "Forward Unto Dawn," according to Variety. Representing Microsoft's "largest investment" in live-action ever, the series will be shown on Machinima and Halo Waypoint.Details around the series still lie dormant – perhaps buried in a Forerunner facility – with Microsoft aiming to shed more light on the project at the San Diego Comic-Con this July. Using our own pervasive powers of prognostication, we're going to predict that Spartans figure into the series somehow.Update: Microsoft has passed along an image to promote the series and, sure enough, it looks like the Chief will be making an appearance. Check out the full image in the gallery below.%Gallery-154354%
Mobile Miscellany: week of April 16th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, Verizon announced that its LTE service now covers two-thirds of the US population, and T-Mobile dropped its 'nice girl' image in attempt to position its HSPA+ network as a viable competitor to LTE. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of April 16th, 2012.
Tiesto tracks released inside Tap Tap music game
Disney's always had kind of an identity complex with Tap Tap Revenge. The brand is one of the oldest on the App Store -- it was originally called Tap Tap Revolution, and was eventually picked up by Tapulous and turned into Tap Tap Revenge, a sort of DDR-style music game. Then, of course, Tapulous was bought by Disney, and its CEO, Bart Decrem, was put in charge of Disney's entire mobile division, where they've had significant success with other titles and brands. But Tap Tap has always been an interesting one. It has definitely benefited from Disney's ties to the music industry, and there's no question that the in-app purchases of popular songs help the app's profitability. But at the same time, it seems Disney isn't quite sure what to do with Tap Tap. The company, along with Decrem's insight, keeps coming up with different ways to try to tie together the relatively ancient Tap Tap gameplay with the Disney empire at large. And here's another one. DJ Tiesto is planning to release a new album, called Club Mix: Volume Two Miami, and he's signed a deal with Disney to debut it in the Tap Tap Revenge app itself. Starting today, fans will be able to download certain tracks from the album for free in Tap Tap Revenge, and then over a two-week period, various songs will be available to play for a limited time, allowing for a preview of the entire album. Disney's also giving away copies of the album in the game itself, and the two brands are just generally promoting the heck out of each other. It's not a bad idea at all, and it'll probably work. Tiesto's audience probably lines right up with the people playing this game, and spinning an album for the first time through an app is an intriguing strategy. But it definitely feels like Disney is poking around for something that works with Tap Tap Revenge, and if this doesn't, they'll have to dream up something else.
Kevin Butler is DLC in LittleBigPlanet Karting
At least a few pre-orders of LittleBigPlanet Karting will include a free DLC pack featuring Kevin Butler, the fictional VP from Sony's promotional campaigns. The pre-order deal is live through Amazon and GameStop and it includes the Kevin Butler Sackboy costume and executive golf cart.Next step for Sony advertising: The VP: Kevin Butler, King of Shadowfighting: The Game: The Marketing Campaign.
Facebook revealing the personal data it collects, won't spare your drunk-poking blushes
Facebook's massively expanding its Download Your Information service into an all-encompassing archive of the data Mr. Zuckerberg collects about your daily dose of people-stalking. DYL was introduced in 2010 and allowed you to pull down all the photos, posts, messages, friend lists and chat conversations in the archives -- but now will also offer stored IP addresses, previous names you've used, friend requests you've made, with further categories due in the future. It'll have to sate the concerns of privacy organizations worldwide, since it's rumored to collect 84 different categories of information about you (85 if you count all those Instagram photos it just bought). It'll be gradually rolled out to all 845 million users in the coming weeks and is available from your general account settings.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Positive charge
PAX East this past weekend was indeed filled with revelations, but none of them had to do with City of Heroes or any other NCsoft game, really, so I can't even complain about one getting all the love while the others were ignored. And while I could probably try to spin a thousand words out of wanting to insert a Rock Band Blitz-style minigame into the game under discussion, I have the feeling I'd get some odd looks and a rejected column. What I did have opportunity to consider, however, is how pretty much the only thing I've brought up in regard to the Paragon Market has been the many, many choices made regarding it that I consider debatable. The Super Pack and the numerous power sets both have been targets for negativity, and I honestly haven't said anything corresponding about the positives. This seems unfair on many levels. Sure, I think the implementation is sometimes dicey, but there are a lot of parts of the market that are great, and I happily doff my hat to the team for them. So instead of burying the shop, let's praise it.
Seen@PAX East: Get your Far Cry 3 themed tattoo right here, right now
Being veterans of the game industry's convention season, we're harder to shock when it comes to bizarre stuff seen on show floors. We've seen food trucks, and crazy shoes, and full-on jets, but we've yet to see a live tattoo application, not to mention one based on a video game.Enter: Far Cry 3.Ubisoft hired a local tattoo artist to pre-screen attendees for the tattoo you see being applied just above. Rather than a Far Cry 3 logo, tattooees (not tattooines) are getting a tribal tattoo ripped from the game. Maybe a game logo should have been the way to go -- to help you remember when you explain this art's origin by the time you're 80.%Gallery-152569%
Apple patent app details 'active packaging,' a new level of window shopping
Apple's generally not one to go overboard with packaging; a simple white box with a few unmistakable logos is just about all it takes to get the point across. But in a future world -- one where people have digitized skin and NFC readers in their fingernails -- we'll obviously need something with a bit more... flamboyance. A patent application originally filed on December 12th, 2011 (and just made public today) details an "active electronic media device packaging," which outlines a method for packaging gizmos in a box that "may include one or more electrical traces in-molded or printed onto the packaging."It gets a little ambiguous from there, but it sounds as if "one or more wireless power techniques" may be tapped into in order to keep marketing material humming when folks walk by. Speaking of which, the app also explains that POM sensors could be used to "detect various movements events," potentially activating as prospective consumers stroll by. To reiterate, an application for a patent doesn't mean that any of this stuff will get close to coming to fruition, but if you'd like to make absolutely sure you don't live in a world where products call to you from the shelves, we heard Sir Richard Branson can assist.
Flurry's analytics: Apple's App Store revenue still leading, but Amazon Appstore close behind
Not like we haven't seen this dog-and-pony show before, but Flurry's latest round of analytics -- which measured revenue of 11 million daily active users from mid-January through the end of February 2012 -- shows Amazon's Appstore pulling in a shocking amount of revenue given the short life that it has lived. Apple's strength in sales has been well documented, but the latest report shows that for every $1 generated in the iTunes App Store, $0.89 is being spent in the Amazon Appstore. Looking more broadly, the numbers show that just $0.23 are generated in the Google Play halls for every $1 spent in the App Store, but that's hardly a new phenomenon; the ease of sideloading (amongst other factors) has raised complaints from Android developers for years now. Flurry's conclusion is that Google's core strength simply isn't in running a store -- something it's about to do once more with Android slates -- while both Apple and Amazon excel in doing just that. Curiously, Windows Phone and BlackBerry were left off of this report, but we're hoping to see those cats thrown in the next 'go round. After all, RIM sure seems certain that its developers are making out just fine.
Swedish Consumer Agency considers investigation into iPad 4G LTE marketing
The Swedish Consumer Agency is thinking about investigating whether or not Apple's marketing of the new iPad's 4G LTE connectivity is misleading. The agency has apparently received "several complaints" from consumers who have discovered that the new device doesn't work with the 4G LTE networks in Sweden. The new iPad supports LTE on the 700 and 2100 MHz frequencies, while in Sweden, 700 MHz is used for television broadcasts and 2100 MHz is used for 3G data. The only countries at this time that support LTE on 700 and 2100 MHz are the U.S. and Canada. Marek Andersson, an attorney for the Swedish Consumer Agency, said that "One may rightfully ask if the marketing of the new iPad is misleading ... the question is whether this information is clear enough in Apple's marketing." Apple is under fire for the same marketing concern in Australia, where the company has agreed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to clarify the claim that the new device supports 4G LTE and to refund early adopters of the new iPad who feel that they were misled.
Apple offers Australian iPad buyers a refund
Apple is now offering refunds to Australian customers who are not satisfied with iPad because it is not 4G, says a report in the Sydney Morning Herald. Apple is selling the device as the ''iPad with WIFI + 4G'' because it operates on LTE networks in the US and Canada. Australian carriers Telstra and Vividwireless, however, have 4G networks that are not compatible with the iPad's 4G technology. This is confusing to customers says consumer watchdog group ACCC, which filed a legal complaint against the Cupertino company. Besides issuing refunds (and yes, you have to return the iPad to get a refund), Apple is also replacing signage at Australian Apple stores. The new marketing materials will now read "This product supports very fast cellular networks. It is not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks or WiMax networks."
Sony Xperia's 'Made of Imagination' TV spot, directed by Wes Anderson (video)
Sony certainly has its fair share of legendary commercials, but its first major spot since taking over the smartphone torch from Sony Ericsson is a real gem. Dreamed up by an eight-year old longing for understanding of what happens within a pocketable computer and directed by the famed Wes Anderson (you know, the guy responsible for The Royal Tenenbaums and Fantastic Mr. Fox), the 'Made of Imagination' ad features a gaggle of robots powering Sony's Android family. The rest, of course, we'll leave to you to enjoy. Head on past the break for the clip, and have a peek at the TechCrunch via below for a bit of the backstory.
Where's Steve Wozniak? He's doing his regular waiting-in-line thing
Sure it's marketing, but it's also a nice little ritual. Speaking to an interviewer from What's Trending, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak acknowledged he doesn't have to wait in line for his new iPad, but said he'd "rather be genuine, like the real people". They're the ones you can see pretending to sleep / read in the background.
Microsoft patent application details branded web browser frame
Originally filed in the halcyon days of 2010, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has just published a web browser-centric patent application from the fine folks in Redmond. Microsoft's "Branded Browser Frame" app details a "computer-readable storage media" that can be specifically executed (presumably by surfing over to a website that's capable of handling said execution), and then used to present a varying interface based on what the underlying instructions are telling it to do. According to the independent claims put forth, we're told about a "control layout area... wherein one of the selected controls comprises a website-branded control that serves as a website's homepage button, and a navigation control that provides an input field."In lay terms, that sounds a lot like a browser function that would enable many of the typical graphical elements we see atop our URL bars today to be adjusted and dynamically tweaked based on inputs from whatever address it was currently on. We aren't putting words in the applicant's mouth, but we're envisioning a top bar in Internet Explorer that turns red and features DVDs as the forward and back buttons when surfing over to Netflix.com (perhaps a stretch, but you catch the drift). IE9 does a bit of that color changing today, but it's possible that more is in store. Naturally, it'll take some time to see if this here app is actually granted, and it's possible that it'll look / function quite differently in its final form, but there's no doubt that someone at Microsoft is dreaming about a sexier (if not more sellable) browser bar.
Microsoft expands Internet Explorer push with new TV ad
Internet Explorer may still be the world's number one web browser, but Microsoft has a declining market share to deal with, as well as the small problem of folks hesitant to upgrade from an earlier version for one reason or another. The company's now making a new push to address both issues, however, and has today unveiled a relatively rare Internet Explorer TV commercial extolling the virtues of IE9. That ad continues the "beauty of web" campaign Microsoft has been promoting as of late, and focuses more on web-based apps and games than traditional web sites -- or, for that matter, the browser itself. What remains to be seen is just how big a marketing push Microsoft plans to put behind the new ad campaign, but it is an actual TV ad, not just a web ad. Press play above to render your own judgement.
Sony plans largest ad campaign in 'many years' to launch new Xperia smartphones
Sony didn't just reveal some new smartphones at its Mobile World Congress press event today. It also took the opportunity to announce that it will be launching what Sony Mobile CMO Steve Walker describes as "by far the largest brand advertising campaign that we have run for many years." He went on to say that Sony would be "significantly increasing" its marketing investment in 2012, but failed to get any more specific than that, noting only that the company would be "engaging consumers in new and very creative ways." There's also no word on when that campaign might start, but the company's two latest smartphones are slated to roll out sometime in the second quarter of this year.
