5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Creating an App

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Creating an App

Like any big venture in life, getting into the app business is all about how you get there. It is about the daily grind. The sleepless nights. The torn thoughts. The hours of dedication. Are you ready to take the plunge? Before you dive into your mobile app development project, here are 5 questions to ask yourself.

1. Am I All in?

You’re looking at putting a pretty penny down for this project so with the price comes a dedicated schedule. Think of it as a journey and not a destination, filled with a series of goals to reach along the way. Be honest with yourself, are you ready and/or willing to invest the time, money and energy to build your app? There are ways of lightening the load a bit, such as finding a good development team, building a successful team around you, and setting up a thorough plan of attack. In order to keep people interested in your app, you will have to provide support and continue to add features and upgrades even after you’ve launched your MVP. Are you in it for the long haul, because this ain’t no hobby.

2. Is There a Market?

If there are already competitors in the market, you’re set. Now, you just need to find out what will make your app stand out from the rest. Maybe it’s just that one feature that your competition doesn’t have. Why should people download your app instead?

Let’s say you’re entering into a market that hasn’t been touched, an uncharted territory. This is where things get a little tricky. You’ll have to validate the need for your app and identify your buyer persona. Gather detailed research of your potential customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations and goals. Establish how this app will meet the needs of potential users.

3. Who are My Customers?

Before you create a marketing plan and get into the development phase, have a clear picture of who is going to be interested in your app. How does this app solve their problems? The more information you have about your customers, the easier it is to identify their specific pain points.

4. What is My Launch Plan?

Building the app is one thing, but that’s not where it ends. That’s not even half the battle. Have you thought about how you would get the first 100 users? Sure you can spend money through Facebook advertising but that requires you to know your buyer persona. There’s also content marketing, SEO, and social media to set yourself up for results in the future. For immediate results, put together a creative plan to reach out to users within a city or specific area.

5. How Will I Market This?

You don’t necessarily need money in order to market your app, however if you go the cheaper route, you’ll need to invest more time into creating a social media presence, reaching out to people who might be interested, and taking on other marketing tasks. It takes time and patience to experiment with what works and what doesn’t. If you don’t have time for that, then you may need to tap into your financial resources to find an external agency to do it for you.

Apart from the time portion, start with a plan. Identify on what platforms do your potential users exist and how are you going to attract their attention towards your app.

App development is an exciting venture, but it is not something to jump into without planning and forethought.

Robert Patrick

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Founder & Chief Architect Robert ("The One") started writing software at 12 years old, and founded PhD in the 1990′s at the age of 18. His philosophy is that working hard/playing hard, honesty and pursuing your true passion will lead to success and happiness.

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