Are you a mobile app developer and have successfully created a nearly flawless app?

Are you still waiting for a generous monetary profit for your coding efforts?

If you have answered yes to these questions, then it is time to put your coding skills aside and use your marketing skills instead.

The world of mobile apps is less than 10 years old and yet its growth has been phenomenal, with a surge of independent app developers, who were making it big on their own, initially.

However, this trend has hit a plateau and by late 2014 it was already established that no matter how highly skilled you are at coding, if you are unable to market and push your app into the spotlight, you will fall be one of 50% app developers who fall below the “app poverty line”. You will thus earn less than $500.00 per app per month.

As Stan Lee famously wrote in his comic book, “with great power comes great responsibility”. This statement is also relevant for app developers. If you have the power and skills to create an amazing app, it is your responsibility to publicize it and help it reach the maximum number of end users.

So, as an independent app developer, you must already know that simply spreading the word through your friends and contacts is not enough. It takes more effort and tactics to help you popularize your app and generate sufficient revenue.

Let us thus look at a few things that you should do continuously to stay ahead of the competition and increase your revenue in the process.

Review and Act

Reviews from your users are one of the most valuable assets for app developers. They are guidelines to shape up your app and remove any unwanted issues.

Users sometimes also provide feedback about the extra features that might be beneficial for them and you could then try to incorporate those as well. These inputs help you improve your app to a level where it will appeal to more users.

Also, you should make it super easy for users to rate or review your app so that they do it whether they have positive or negative views of your app.

Local Appeal

Customizing your app to fit into the local requirements and tastes can also benefit you immensely.

The first thing you should do is create app introductions in all the local languages of the areas that you are targeting.

You can even take advantage of Google Translate, which is absolutely free. However, be careful to cross check the translation because it is sometimes far from correct and can prove to be a source of embarrassment. So, a costly but surefire way to localize your app is to get help from people who speak the language.

Once you are done, you will notice that the returns are much more than your initial investment.

Presentation Matters

According to mobile marketing gurus TUNE, about 342,000 apps were downloaded per minute in 2015. This was based on the estimate of a total of 180 billion downloads in that year.

When the download figures are so staggeringly high, you can rest assured that there is immense potential. But, the challenge is to make your app attractive enough to stand out from the crowd.

For Google Play, for example, always remember to put up an attractive and relevant cover image for your app. Images catch the eye quickly and can easily translate into downloads. This is also important for your app screenshots.

However, you should use a high quality camera or hire a professional to take a few realistic screenshots of people posing with your app. They need to appear relevant and the users should be able to associate with the photos.

If you can dole out some extra cash, you can also create a professional video to display your app and introduce it to the users. This can prove to be extremely beneficial for your revenue figures.

The Customer is King

As with any other business, the customers are the most important part and you must pay 100% attention to them. This includes making the experience easier by announcing any payments that are required for download or use right from the start.

No one likes to spend time on the initial steps and only then discover that payments are needed to proceed.

Also, choose your marketing channel carefully, while keeping your target audience in mind. Ideally, it should be an organic match with your target audience.

For instance, if you have created an app that reads bedtime stories to children, it could be promoted through school events where your stage is already set. Or if you have an app that appeals to the older generation, then choosing print media might be a wise choice.

In this way, you will have less competition and you can reach your target audience more effectively.

These are just some of the broader guidelines to help you gauge your progress and decide whether you need to bring in an overhaul in the way you are marketing your app. Once you have covered these points, the only things that will still matter is the quality of your app and what needs it fulfills in the current market.