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Let’s get down to some straight talk about developing mobile apps and app marketing.

If you’re new to the app game, then you might not have heard of a practice called “reskinning.” To create a reskin, you simply buy a “source code” from another developer—that is, the code engine that drives the app or an “app starter kit” —and swap out the graphics. Voila! You now have an app that Apple recognizes as unique.

For example, I used the Mustache Bash source code to create another photo booth app. Christmas Pictures has the same core functionality as MB, but rather than mustaches, I put in Santa beards, scarves, reindeer, and other holiday-themed paraphernalia. Cute, right?

The original iteration of Mustache Bash cost approximately $4200, but Christmas Pictures, less than $700. Now you see the beauty of reskinning: you can make an app on par with the original while starting at 90%, not 0%. Licensing other people’s code is faster and cheaper than building apps from scratch.

Because a source code license offers a shortcut into the magical fairyland of mobile software, a lot of people get started this way, and in their shiny new rucksacks, many of them carry some rather unrealistic expectations about the future of their app businesses. The sequence of events is supposed to go something like this:

Buy source code.

Create the reskin in an hour or two.

Submit to Apple for immediate approval.

Repeat steps 1-3, ad nauseam.

Laugh all the way to the bank.

The craziest thing is not these unrealistic expectations but that this scenario really was possible at the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012.

But the app ecosystem has changed since then, and with the number of apps in the App Store nearing the 1,000,000 mark, things simply aren’t going back to the way they were. We hear all of the Cinderella stories of indie app developers and are left asking the following questions:

How do they get so many downloads? How do they make so much money? How have they managed to use apps to create such a cool lifestyle?

These days, what separates the winners from the losers is marketing.

Marketing is not a silver bullet. Bring up “app marketing” at a dinner party, and you’re bound to see some eyes glaze over. But your app’s ultimate success or slow death by asphyxiation (underneath a pile of large apps from the big brand studios) hinges upon the least sexy aspect of development: spreading the word about what you’ve created.

The word “marketing” is a big-top circus tent, and “app marketing” is the sideshow with all of the freaks.

First of all, you have to recognize the need for it. It’s very rare these days that an app’s pure viral potential will get it enough organic downloads to break into the Top 100 Free Overall chart, to lock in keyword rankings, and to achieve lasting visibility.

Most apps need a little help to get enough downloads to make them profitable.

The recipe for making money with apps looks something like this:

More marketing equals more visibility. More visibility equals more downloads.

→ Translation: People see your game and download it.

More downloads equal more play sessions. More play sessions equal more in-app purchases and more ad clicks.

→ Translation: People buy stuff and send you more money.

So how do crazy successful appreneurs do it? That’s the question I answer in the first chapter of the Appiness marketing guide.

Sample Chapter from Appiness

It’s not rocket science or brain surgery. Successful developers create a smart marketing plan and implement it.

If you’re not sure how to get started with your app marketing or what to do next, check out the sample chapter from my new Appiness guide. Click here to download it.

There’s still plenty of money to be made with apps. Hopefully, you’ll learn from my mistakes and grab yourself a big slice of the money pie.

If you’d like to be one of the first to know when the Appiness guide launches on January 7, 2014, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/KE-R1 .

Stay tuned for more posts about app marketing …

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