How do I Add Twitter Functionality to My Mobile App?

By John Houghton on January 27, 2014

Not everybody who is responsible for a mobile app project knows how to use Twitter inside and out, so if you are one of those people, this article is for you.  Whether it’s iPhone, iPad or Android app development, for a while now it’s been possible to add Twitter functionality to an app, so if a user likes a piece of content within a mobile app, they can share it in the form of a tweet.  I sometimes get requests to build a Twitter function exclusively with the ability to tweet a fixed message, or to retweet a message (without the option to edit it).  This post is targeted toward people who want those capabilities […]

A Software Lesson Applied from Orson Wells

By John Houghton on January 24, 2014

Winemakers know it, software developers know it, but some people outside these industries sometimes don’t understand.  In 1979, Orson Wells delivered an infamous outtake for a Paul Masson wine commercial when he said, “We will sell no wine before its time.”

Understandably, the pressure is great upon the vintner as well as the software publisher.  You can’t make any money or meet promised deadlines until you release your product.  But the drawback of releasing a poor quality product is that your customers will immediately know what’s going on, and you will tarnish your brand.  When you taste sour wine, the experience is unforgettably unpleasant.  When you use an app that is buggy and crashes, you become […]

Key Metric for App User Acquisition: CPI – Cost Per Install

By John Houghton on January 23, 2014

For those of you that don’t know, and many who call my company are new at this, there is a key metric for marketing your app known as “Cost Per Install.”  It is the marketing cost that you pay to acquire a user to install your app.  I remember last year, the number seemed to be around $1 per install, but now that number is creeping up to $2.  If you’ve read some of the previous articles on this blog, you’ll know that when an app is launched, it needs a boost to raise its visibility and get it moving.  It needs downloads, good ratings, and engaged users, all of which can be boosted by […]

6 Tips to Get Your App Discovered in iTunes: App Store Optimization

By John Houghton on January 22, 2014

We spoke generally before about promoting your app, see the article 8 Steps to an App Marketing Strategy, so let’s speak specifically now about how to optimize it for the iTunes Store.  We’ll cover the Google Play Store in a future article.  It used to be that users could browse the latest apps by category in the iTunes store, but for some reason that functionality has since been restricted to a limited set of select apps in the top categories.  In order for users to discover your app, they need to query for it and search through the results.  Like it or not, we’re living in a keyword-based world, and apps in the App Store […]

8 Steps to an App Marketing Strategy

By John Houghton on January 21, 2014

So you’ve spent a lot of your budget on building the app, and now you want to release it.  How do you drive adoption?  A lot of first-time app developers don’t consider this crucial next step, and as a result their app doesn’t go anywhere.  How you market your app and drive adoption in the marketplace is as important as the building of the app itself.  A lot of well-known brand marketers will say that it’s less important what the product does than how it’s marketed.  Therefore, app marketing is key to the success of your app.  If you want to go the social/organic marketing route, you need to start at least 6 months before […]

Enterprise Mobile App Development Success Comes in Small Steps

By John Houghton on January 20, 2014

For the conceivable future, iPhone, iPad and Android apps are here to stay.  I see a lot of enterprises holding out or holding back on their mobile app strategy, and this is hurting their competitive position.  I think we are going to see a few companies making quantum leaps by harnessing mobile technology.  As every new innovation occurs, the first company to find a competitive advantage will win.  In order to keep up with innovation, companies need to start investing now in iOS and Android App Development, and start learning by taking small steps.  If you don’t invest now and you see a critical opportunity later, you won’t have the experience to execute your strategy […]

The App Icon: A Determining Factor in Your Mobile App’s Success

By John Houghton on January 18, 2014

Creating an outstanding app icon does a lot to drive app downloads.  Many of the people who call my company wanting to develop an app are not aware of the importance of the app icon, and that’s why I decided to write this article.  I’ve seen a lot of app releases, and that has given me a sense of what the numbers of downloads should be.  I’ve been surprised to see some releases do well and generate purchases and installs without advertising, and the success of those apps was propelled by an excellent app icon.  If you’re going to invest anywhere in the marketing success of your newly built app, invest first in your app […]

5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Hosting a Mobile Video Interview Program

By John Houghton on January 17, 2014

I’ve been in the mobile content business since 2005, and I’ve learned a lot about what works and doesn’t work in a video interview program.  I’d like to share the top 5 pitfalls to be aware of when hosting a video program that is delivered via new media, such as in an app.  Now, the context and attitudes that someone brings when their using their mobile phone are different from what they would be if they were sitting in front of their computer watching a video, or watching TV in their living room.  The mobile screen is smaller, so the content needs to be more engaging and dynamic (since the competition is higher on a […]

5 Tips for Successful Mobile Video Content Marketing

By John Houghton on January 16, 2014

A lot of companies are catching on to the power of putting videos into their mobile apps.  I’d like to tell you about how to be successful in publishing Content Marketing videos in your mobile apps using the interview format.  Content Marketing has become one of the most recent and hottest trends, since it has proven to be so effective (if you don’t know what content marketing is, please read Tap Into Riches with Mobile Content Marketing).  One of the hardest things about content marketing is doing the required research to assemble content that presents new and useful information.  With the interview format, you don’t have to do nearly as much research.  Instead, your work […]

How to Drive Revenue with Mobile Content Marketing

By John Houghton on January 15, 2014

In 2005, I founded MobileCast Media in order to focus on mobile content marketing.  We’ve developed a lot of expertise on the subject since then, and I’d like to share some of it with you.  What can you expect from a content marketing app?  If the app and content are done properly, you can expect a lot of buzz.  If you’re the one publishing, you can also expect to become a thought leader, which will also carry over to your organization’s brand.  A lot of companies are blogging these days, and that’s a good use of time since it increases search rankings, builds followers, and demonstrates your expertise.  But since everyone is doing it, blogging […]