Please, do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it’s my least favorite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you, it’s just true.
– Conan O’Brien
Sure, you have a great idea for an app or a business, but who is going to buy it. Making a great product is way less than HALF of the work. Advertising cost a lot of money. So, where do you start? Think about who you are connected to now. Make a product for them. Also, don’t forget to make something that YOU would use. Finally, ideas are worthless! Don’t forget, at a certain point, if it’s a good idea, you need to stop thinking and start making it.
Who is your market? Make something for them!
The Bump
So, I updated my AppViz software when I got home today and surprisingly, I saw a big bump in my ShakeItPhoto sales on Christmas day. This got me thinking about what would cause such a spike. What would cause my sales to practically double going into Christmas?
First, I thought that ShakeItPhoto was reviewed or featured in an article online or in a magazine. I looked around online and checked my google alerts and didn’t see any reviews or articles that came out. Nothing there. Second, I checked twitter to see if I could find any info about what was causing such a big jump in sales. There were the usual tweets of people showing off their favorite photos, but nothing that would cause such a jump.
So, that got me thinking. With internet use during christmas being as low as it is, and without an article or an ad to promote my product, what was doing all the selling? People! People were selling ShakeItPhoto by showing their friends during the holidays. The holidays are all about people getting together, talking about their year and, of course, showing off their toys. My theory goes… As a family member pulls out their iPhone during Christmas, they want to show off the device to their nephew, aunt, mom, whatever. They will open some of their favorite apps (hopefully ShakeItPhoto) and show others what their new phone does. This works well too when someone receives an iPhone as a gift. People pull out their phone and show the new iPhone owner what apps they should buy. This happens all the time when I’m around family. “Have you seen this” or “Check this out” is a common phrase as somebody loads up a new piece of software or app. So why does this sell so many apps? Word of mouth SELLS!
The Power of Word Of Mouth
Of course, everybody knows how powerful word of mouth is when it comes to selling a product. People trust their friends WAY more than they trust an ad or even a review. But what makes Christmas so different when it comes to word of mouth? Quantity. While the year may bring a few parties, there is nothing like the holidays to bring a HUGE amount of people into one room. All these people are also taking photos! It’s a match made in heaven for my app. People take a photo with ShakeItPhoto and show off the shaking feature and the final product to their whole family in one twist of the phone. If I did my job right, they like the result and want to buy it themselves.
Christmas Year Round
So, how do YOU promote word of mouth in your app? What makes people turn the phone around to show their friends.
When it comes to making cool shit and getting things DONE. There is nobody like my dad. He taught me that you should LOVE you job and that you should be passionate about everything you do. I decided to do an interview with him while I was home for the holidays. This one runs a bit longer than the other MCS vids, but I think there is some solid information in here about loving what you do, staying productive, and getting your ass out of bed each morning for something more than a paycheck (spoiler alert: It’s your family).
More from Tim
Inventor of the Two-Day list.
The inspiration behind this lovely advice.
His retirement video.
In this video, I go though the process of cleaning up your bookmarks bar in Safari. This will help cut down on the visual clutter on your desktop and keep you more focused. I also show you a few tricks and keyboard commands to help bookmark your favorite sites on Delicious and Instapaper instead of in your browser.
Sites Mentioned in the Video
Delicious
Instapaper
Trevor (he was the one who told me to clean up my bookmark bar)
