6 steps to Turn Your App Idea into Reality

Calling all App-trepreneurs alike…!

Got an app idea? Have no tech experience..? Fear not, turning an app idea into reality is easy with mad hustle and a proper guideline. Looking into steps others have taken and the lessons they’ve learned along the way can help you get your app on the road… a little more smoothly.

Today as an example, we’ll look into creating a social network-based app in 6 EASY steps. This app caters to pastry artists, home-bakers and anyone wanting to make tasty treats by creating an online community and helping them execute their daily baking endeavours. Now even though we’re talking about a social-network based app, most principles will apply across the board.

FYI — There are many ways to go about making an app but these are the tips & pitfalls that we’ve seen & experienced through our 5+ years in the app-making world.

Ready? LEGGO!

MythBuster

Right off the bat, a major myth to bust is the belief that the app is the main show — for the most part this IS NOT THE CASE. The app is just an enabler, it’s like a storefront. Treat your app like a business where you have to hustle to get customers into the door and then provide excellent post-download service to retain them.

Step 1: Ask yourself is your Idea sellable, like honestly..

Before deciding to build your app it’s a good idea to get a feel for your audience whether your app idea will fly or not. Take a hard & objective look at your idea and ask yourself;

1. Why is my idea unique?
2. Why am I more likely to succeed over others?
3. How can I solve an existing problem for my users?

Literally write down what your app has to offer and do background research on apps that are similar (if there are, don’t lose heart. Execution is key :) ), what they offer, and how you can do it better/different.

Step 2: Using Social Media to get a leg up on building your user-base

Moving along, when building a social network based app, chances are you will encounter a chicken and egg problem, i.e. to attract users you’ll need content and to get content you’ll need users. As such, you need to formulate a strategy to seed data — meaning, where will your initial users/content come from?

Now, to get the ball rolling on content/subscribers/users there are a few ways to do this — today we’ll look at social media.

Using existing social media platforms to gain a following is an easy and FREE way to do so. I hear ya, why use the conventional methods, FaceBook, twitter, etc — well because never underestimate its power.

An easy way to get started is to start up a FB page, and begin generating & posting VALUABLE, TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC-FOCUSED and VIRAL content. Now what goes viral what doesn’t isn’t in your control, BUT odds are if you post super content, someone is bound to pick it up.

Looking at our recipe app, we would begin posting recipes (with personalized flair), how-tos, delicious looking images, tips and tricks & whatever else that would be relevant & useful.

The name of the game is to keep your audience coming back for more, so be consistent.

Set up a schedule that you can maintain and then make sure you stick to it.

Create an open dialogue with your audience, ask them to comment, hashtag, tweet you, etc.

The bonus of using an existing social media network is that you have at your disposal a starting audience that can be leveraged. That means, invite your old friends/ new friends/ family/ frenemies/ enemies(why not) and begin building your base. Build relationships with fellow bakers/pastry artists/home cooks by liking, following and commenting on theirs channels. If you build a bridge they will cross it — or at least acknowledge it.

Once you have a certain number of subscribers/likes/followers then you have a better idea of whether your app will succeed and plus point you’ve got a pool to tap when you launch.

Remember it’s mucho gratuit!

Step 3: Deciding what Platform to use

Once you’re ready to build your app, the next question is do I need an app (android/ios/both) or do I need a website (and should it be mobile responsive) or can I live with just a FB group?

The popular answer is “I need it all because my app’s the next big thing”. As true as that may be, initially, it could be impractical and cost a multiplicative factor of time and money. A good way to determine what to develop is by employing the 80/20 rule where you determine which platform to use that a majority of the initial target market that you can connect to will be using.

Taking our recipe app, and say we want to launch it in India where we have a big social network to get feedback. Our target audience would be female, ages 15–35, device-savvy and active on social media. So launching on Android (which works for tablets too) would be a good starting point.

FMI — This comparison between IOS & Android

https://blog.dropsource.com/whats-different-when-designing-apps-for -ios-or-android-99648738206b#.ymo72ul4c

Remember; picture your target audience with absolute clarity, down to the very last detail. The clearer your target is, the easier determining what platform and ultimately how to design your app will be.

Step 4: The Minimum Viable Product (aka. MVP)

Now that you’ve decided what platform to launch on, the next step is to zero down on the features needing the first version of your app or the MVP. If you’re going solo, the main questions you need to ask yourself are;

1. What is the core offering for the app?
2. What features should the first version of the app have?

Going back to our recipe app, the main focus would be;

1. To create simple and easy step-by-step way to dispense instructions,
2. Easily shareable via Social Media,
3. Easy access to a library of recipes with images & video.

Nice to haves:

1. Voice command,
2. Break down a recipe into multi-steps, maybe few steps per screen, with an auto-timer to move to the next steps,
3. Social media connections,
4. Metric conversions (kg/oz etc.)

Get creative and dig deep about how to best cater to your users.

FMI — This in-depth article on MVPs

http://scalemybusiness.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-minimum-viable-products/

Step 5: Design Time

Once you’ve hashed out what you want your app to initially have and look like, it’s time get cracking. You have a couple of options here;

Un — Learn to code and build it yourself.

Deux — Find a cofounder with the tech/design chops who can build the app with you or for you, or put you in touch with one that is really good. Bonus, if they take care of the tech, you can focus on the business side (building a base, getting advertisers, initiating partnerships with industry bigwigs, etc)

• As the app-trepreneur, no one knows your baby like you. Most likely you’ve got designs and what you want ready to go. However, if you choose the outsourcing route, you need to know how to choose the right developer. As this is a big one, we’ll just cover the major points.

1. See their portfolio — This may seem obvious but looking at their past work will give you an indication of the work they’ll put out for you. It will give you a feel of the company, their design sense, what they can deliver and whether both your frequencies will sync up. Odds are if they haven’t done something great in the past, they won’t for yours.
2. Stop and Listen — Once you’ve shortlisted to four or five and you’ve explained your idea and all that it encompasses — now stop and listen. See how they take your idea and run with it. If you give all your inputs and not listen to their ideas you won’t be benefitting from their experience, knowledge & creativity. Otherwise, the app will be regurgitated instructions.
3. Independent decision makers — Whilst you’re away dealing with the business side of app-making you want to know your developers can take independent decisions for your app’s sake. You do not want them to come to you for every little problem, obviously your say will be the end-all, but you need to be comfortable enough with your team to trust they’ll make good decisions about the direction of your app.
4. Pick a team — Two more factors; the obvious budgetary one and the other is time-to-delivery. Their delivery times have to match your delivery needs.
5. Get a release plan — Rather than fixing up a final delivery time and getting your app in one chunk, have them break it down into more manageable weekly bits. Wherein, you get to see your app formulate from the start and you can give your feedback — shock factor minimized. Plus if the team, from the start, is quick and responsive and gives you a detailed breakdown on the progress of your app along with when you can test it at each stage — then you know you’re working with capable developers.
6. Direct contact with the developer — Last note, often in the outsourcing tech-world you may initially deal with the company’s sales team and their developing team will be different. This is more applicable to the bigger companies. In this case make sure to have direct contact with the developers because after you’ve been signed on, the sales team’s job ends. You don’t want to be stuck unnecessarily.

Step 6: Post Launch Hustle

You’ve designed, created, toiled and now at ~6 weeks (we’re using this # because it’s when F22 lab’s apps are ready from start to end) your app’s out into the market.

Huuurrrayyy!

So that’s it? Now wait for the good times to roll..?

No way!

You need to hustle to get users to use your app, get feedback, promptly respond, fix any bugs, market it, market it and market it some more.

A good way to promote yourself is by partnering with existing popular YouTubers within your target demographic. Make a list of 500–1000 influential YouTubers that could benefit from your app and initiate dialogue. Think about it, these web-icons, who have thousands of followers, use your app, love it, chat about it on their channel, their fans catch on and bada Boom ba da bing — marketing gold.

However, beware; a major faux-pas is putting your link directly into their comments section. No direct self-promotion on their channels. Instead be a regular commenter on their channels, build & nurture relationships.

Going back to our recipe app, we would scout popular Youtubers that we love and be a regular guest. Post comments/responses/requests to the Youtuber as well as the other commentators. Post pictures of personal completed version of their recipes. Answer questions of other commentators on the YT’s channel (shows you know what you’re doing).

FMI — This piece on promoting your app

https://medium.com/@lauriegalazzo/20-ways-to-promote-your-app-for-free-4006f94e043e#.fwdkes45l

Launching an app is hard work but if you’re willing to put in the time and effort to see it through, you will succeed. If not this idea then the next..

In the words of Thomas Edison -

“The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

We hope these steps help you in your app-trepreneurial journey. If you have any questions/thoughts/future how-to requests, shoot us up in the comments below.

We’ll be breaking down more app-building secrets every month so don’t forget to check in.

À Bientôt!

— F22 Labs —