我们正在经历有史以来最大的机遇,通过移动应用构建世代财富。
人工智能让任何人在几天内都能开发出应用。入门门槛前所未有地低,市场也从未如此庞大。有人靠周末做的简单应用每月赚取2万、5万、10万美元。
但大多数人会错过这波浪潮。不是因为你不够聪明,也不是因为你不会开发,而是因为开发应用变容易了,分发却没有。
所以我会给你一份详细的操作手册。如何选择合适的应用,如何获取第一个付费用户,如何做好用户引导,如何扩大分发,所有一切。
这就是我用来把Prayer Lock推广到每月2.5万美元,利润率50%的操作手册,我不会有所保留。
第一步:做一个应用。
别同时做10个应用。这是你最容易犯的错误,只会降低你成功的几率。
大家看到别人这里的成果,觉得复制很简单(某种程度上确实如此),但你必须明白他们有一个共同点:他们破解了一款应用的成功密码。
你现在可能看到他们有多个应用,那只是因为他们已经掌握了复制系统,无限复制更多应用的知识。
你刚开始还有很多需要学习的,未知的东西太多,你不能失去专注,同时做10个应用只会让你分心。
相信我,如果你现在就是这样,我理解你,通用人工智能近在咫尺,你可以三天内开发并上线新应用,还有自动化工具承诺替你解决营销问题,坦白说,这一切很有趣。
但反直觉的是,在无限软件的世界里,少做应用比以往任何时候都更重要。
你抱怨孩子们追逐廉价的多巴胺刺激,但你却把厄运刷屏换成了一个又一个地开发应用。
开发应用变成了新的廉价多巴胺。
是的,传播渠道令人害怕,但这正是世界发展的方向,绕不过去,现在任何人都能开发应用,你并不特别,接受这一点,否则以后你会后悔。
那么,你怎么知道该开发什么?你怎么知道是否应该专注于一个应用?你怎么知道什么时候应该转型?
要知道该开发什么,你可以做两件事之一:
拿一个成功的应用,加入你自己的特色,我不相信简单的模仿,那种行为注定失败。加入你自己的个性、颜色、吉祥物,任何能使应用显得独一无二的东西。
这实际上就是我们对Prayer Lock所做的。我们借鉴了@lottsnomad非常成功的Pray Screen应用,创造了我们自己的版本。如果你看如今的这两个应用,它们设计理念完全不同,外观一点也不像彼此。
另一种办法是拿两个成功的应用,把它们的主要功能合并到一个应用里。
Pray Screen的想法就是将Opal和Prayer结合起来。我们的新应用Step Lock则是把步行应用和Opal结合。这其实更难做到,所以如果你刚开始,我建议你还是加点自己的特色到一个成功的应用上面。
如果你看到这里,你大概已经很清楚怎么开发你想要的应用了:Claude Code、Codex、Cursor、Rork,随便用一个,尽可能快地把应用做出来。你不应该花超过两周的时间从想法到上线,速度很关键。
我觉得没必要讲怎么设计你的应用、截图、logo和发布你需要的一切。但如果你想看的话,请在评论区告诉我。
那么,你怎么知道是否应该坚持你已经发布的应用?
你会立即知道的。如果你之前发布过多个应用,你会知道大多数应用在发布当天即使有苹果的流量扶持(苹果让你的应用首次发布时推向新用户的方式)也不会获得任何关注。
对于你即将成功的应用来说,你在发布当天会获得1次试用,甚至5次试用,或者直接转化。
就我而言,我之前发布过3款信仰类应用,发布当天完全没有任何转化,即使在TikTok上走红,仍然没有转化。
而Prayer Lock在第一天我就获得了5次转化。
如果你在发布当天没有转化,我建议尝试在社交媒体上走红,如果在获得10万浏览量后还没拿到哪怕一次转化,我会考虑启动下一个应用创意。
步骤二:专注于分发渠道
应用本质上不过是一个漏斗
漏斗顶端是分发渠道,是社交媒体上的关注度和浏览量;漏斗底端是实际转化,即用户为你的应用付钱。
在刚起步时,优化漏斗顶端以下的东西毫无意义。
改善动画效果,让你的吉祥物更可爱,调整配色,优化用户留存,添加新功能,甚至优化新手引导,这些在这个阶段全都是浪费时间。
“但Mau,如果我的应用没优化好,我在少量下载时可能转化率不高。”
没关系,100次下载量根本没有什么可以优化或者改变的东西,我甚至认为5千下载量也是如此。
所以,在你的分发引擎运行得相当不错之前,完全不要碰你的应用(我们接下来会讲到这部分内容)
你有4个选择:
自己制作内容
雇佣意见领袖
雇佣用户生成内容创作者
付费广告
选择哪一个完全取决于你现在能为应用投入多少钱。
你能投入的钱越多,成功就越快。
我花了3年和10次尝试才做到每月赚2.5万美元,因为我一开始一无所有,并且决定我一辈子都不想打工(直到现在我都没打过工)。
但@ErnestoSOFTWARE仅用几周和一款应用就赚到了同样的钱,因为他有以前创业积累的资金可供投资。
一个重要的心态转变,尤其是像我这样技术背景的人,必须学会舒适地投入资金。别再试图在你需要用来发展业务的工具上省每个月9美元了,这种心态会渗透到你的应用其他方面,当你需要每周花费数千美元来扩展时,开始现在就投资吧。
自己制作内容
如果你是分销新手,即使你手头有投资资金,这是最好的选择。
自己制作内容能培养你的病毒感知能力,并为你日后聘请影响者和UGC创作者时提供判断基础。
开始在TikTok、Instagram和YouTube Shorts每天至少发21次。这听起来不少,但其实你只需每天做7个帖子,然后交叉发布到不同平台。
现在问题是到底该做什么内容,对吧?这取决于你的细分领域,看看竞争对手做了什么内容,模仿它,真的,使用相同的开场白、相同的脚本,甚至如果能的话,使用相同的CTA。
内容类型取决于你的细分领域,但这里有一些你现在就可以试试的内容示例。
UGC反应 + 演示
依我看,这是开始制作内容的最佳方式,也是一个百试不爽的形式。单靠这种形式,我们的应用就达到了每月2.5千美元的收入。
你可以从朋友那儿或像@dansugcmodels这样的平台购买反应视频,并把你的演示视频拼接上去。
开场白,也就是视频片段和你加在片段上的文字组合,必须非常吸引人。确保你用的演示视频不超过8秒。
幻灯片展示
另一种超棒的形式,有些应用仅靠幻灯片展示每月收入就超过2万美元(而且它们作为广告表现也很棒)。
正如@ErnestoSOFTWARE所说,确保你的帖子不是杂乱无章、毫无关联的Pinterest图片集合。
让你的幻灯片账户保持一致,直接借鉴你的竞争对手,并包括一个直接的下载应用程序的号召性用语(CTA)。围绕你的幻灯片打造品牌形象。
这是一个幻灯片账户的好例子:
它有品牌形象且保持一致
这是一个坏例子:
这个账户内容杂乱无章,没有明确的格式,没有清晰的品牌形象。
Jack Friks 方法(@jackfriks)
根据我的经验,这种格式转换率不算最高,但制作批量内容非常容易,刚开始时不应忽视它。你在标题中声明一个讨人喜欢或易于共鸣的身份标签,然后展示4张带有特质、爱好或行为的图片卡,表明某人符合该标签。
视频开头钩子 + 号召性用语(CTA)
同样,这不是转换率最高的格式,但极其易于自动化。我们正朝着成为第一个因完全自动化内容而获得YouTube播放按钮的移动应用迈进,这全都归功于这种格式。
我们开发了一个抓取器来获取视频钩子,然后用Python脚本将视频拼接成一个完整视频,我们在30分钟内制作了700个剪辑,然后批量安排发布。
如果你希望我为你制作一个Claude或Openclaw技能来完成这项工作,请告诉我!
这个思路是从其他创作者那里抓取病毒视频,用前三秒作为钩子,然后以用户感兴趣的方式切换到你的应用程序的号召性用语。
表情包
这些在Instagram上效果很好,虽然这不是我首先推荐的内容形式,但它对于品牌知名度非常有帮助,如果配合Manychat自动化和Instagram故事导流用户下载你的应用,这种形式效果会更佳。
我建议先运营一个表情包账号,复制热门的表情包短视频,再添加你自己的文案。
网红
网红是扩展你应用规模的好方法。实际上,很多优秀应用都是通过这种方式扩展的,包括@ErnestoSOFTWARE的第一个应用。
正确运营网红合作相对更难,需要投入。你可能至少需要1万美元的预算,因为很多网红合作并不奏效。
获取网红的第一步是群发私信,你需要每天至少发100条私信,大多数不会回复。确保你的私信开头写“付费推广机会”或类似字样,以打破噪音。内容要简短明了。
而且,你不能随便联系任何网红,他们必须真正在你的细分领域活跃或面向你的客户,他们需要有良好的互动率,你还需要查看评论区。
大多数回复都是火焰表情吗?人们真的关心这个创作者吗?最好的网红拥有真心关心他们的粉丝,寻找这样的迹象。
切勿通过私信透露合作细节,否则会给网红时间考虑,从而让你无法获得更好的条件。
相反,尽快安排电话沟通,如果实在不行,至少通过短信将合作细节发送到他们的手机。
基本上,你应该寻求接近每千次观看1美元的合作费(CPM)。
@ErnestoSOFTWARE 为我们的应用设计的交易结构是,先通过一个 "试用" 交易,以$1 CPM(千次展示成本)购买30万次展示,预付40%,然后再签一个$1.2 CPM的交易。
UGC 创作者
现在通常被称为规模化移动应用的最佳方式。你雇佣微型影响者或新创作者,创建新账号,仅为你的应用制作内容。
拥有一支成功的UGC团队实际上比X上的任何人说的都要难得多。你必须确保创作者为你的品牌制作合适的内容,持续检查他们,跟踪表现,招募新创作者,快速淘汰不合适的,付薪水,老实说这是一个相当复杂的流程。
基于此,我不建议新手开发者尝试组建UGC团队,除非你有分发经验或者有联合创始人,否则UGC活动会占用你大部分时间,这完全是一份全职工作。
话虽如此,如果你能够成功运作,你一定会大获成功,并拥有终身宝贵的技能。对我来说,UGC活动是分发领域的圣杯,最难攻克的难关,却拥有最高的杠杆效应。
完全坦诚地说,我们目前没有任何应用在开展UGC活动,但我们确实拥有一些相关经验。
第一步与影响者类似,大规模主动联系,但你寻找的目标稍有不同。
影响者大多通过Instagram和电子邮件接洽,而UGC创作者主要通过抖音(TikTok)联系。
粉丝数并不重要,反而要找有2-3个爆款视频、有镜头魅力、沟通能力强的创作者。UGC活动更注重品味和病毒感,这也是它们既有趣又难做的原因。
这里有一些非常优秀的UGC创作者,例如@alexolim_ @juliapintar 和 @xElenaYangx
如果你想了解如何制作成功的UGC活动,关注他们吧。
付费广告
我的专长,以及我们如何将Prayer Lock的收入从每月2500美元扩展到每月2.5万美元,保持50%的利润率。
大多数人完全忽视广告,他们要么太晚开始,要么太早开始。
我故意将这个分发渠道放到最后,因为你不应该一开始就用付费广告。
当你已经有了有效的有机内容时,广告效果最佳。这些内容可以来自你自己的帖子、你的影响者或你的UGC创作者。
所以,确保你已经有一个内容系统,再去投放广告,你也不需要很多,一周只需5个高质量内容就能开始测试广告。
这里的高质量并不是指高度制作或编辑,我的意思是那些有机效果好的内容。
不要发布那些只能通过评论区转化的超级模糊的帖子,你的广告需要是我所说的“有机广告”:
帖子有一个非常自然的开头,让用户感觉这是一个真正的有机视频,但带有明确直接的行动号召 (CTA)。
如果你感兴趣,我整理了一份关于如何用Meta和TikTok扩大你的移动应用规模的免费指南:
指南链接
在你真正搞定入职流程之前,付费广告是列表中唯一我不建议启动的分发渠道。你需要至少达到10%的下载到试用转化率,才能成功投放广告。
这将引导我们进入将您的应用扩展到每月 2.5 万美元的下一步。一旦您启动了内容引擎,并且部分解决了漏斗顶部的问题,也就是说,您每天至少有300次下载,接下来您需要回到产品本身。
您不会新增功能,也不会优化留存,您现在需要完全专注于您的用户引导流程。
第三步:专注于您的用户引导
您的用户引导无疑是应用中最重要的部分,如果您正在阅读这篇文章且还没发布应用,尽量在第一次就把它做好,不要拖延。
我把这当作第三步提及,目的就是要您尽快动手进行营销。
设计用户引导时以下几点至关重要,遵循这些步骤,您会获得极佳的转化率:
把您的引导流程看作一个由三幕组成的故事:引言部分阐明问题,高潮部分让用户体验您的应用,结尾部分为付费墙做准备。
不要从零开始设计用户引导,要研究您所在领域和其他领域的最佳引导,找到有效的方法并加以自我改造。
您至少需要一个“顿悟”时刻,一张能够让用户驻足并感受到问题严重性的页面,而且应在第一分钟内出现。
大多数创始人使用引导问题来了解用户,但真正目的正好相反,您希望用户思考自己的回答,慢慢说服自己他们确实有个值得解决的问题。
每隔几个问题,就将用户的答案反馈给他们,让他们觉得这次体验是专门为他们量身打造的。
引导流程越长,转化率越高,只要每个页面都增加价值,用户讨厌失去已投入的时间,因此在引导流程中花费10到15分钟后,他们会在付费墙前三思而行。
让用户在引导过程中真正使用你的核心功能,不要只描述应用的功能,让他们亲自操作。
在用户完成你的核心功能后立即显示评价弹窗,此时他们最兴奋,这是你为ASO和社交证明能做的最重要的事情。大多数用户不会付费,但他们仍然可以留下评价,这些评价会随着时间积累,免费为你带来更多自然下载。
询问ChatGPT关于罗伯特·西奥迪尼的影响力原则,并将其应用于你的引导流程,特别是承诺原则,让用户在出现付费墙之前主动表明他们的承诺能显著提升转化率。如果你想深入了解,也可以阅读这本书。
此时除了优化你的引导流程外,不要做其他事情,不断迭代,直到你的转化率达到你满意的水平,我建议至少达到10%。
这是我用来设计引导流程的画布链接,其中包含了我借鉴的应用和我们自己的引导设计。
引导流程画布链接
第四步:扩展和迭代产品
到这一步,你已经拥有了一个不错的应用、出色的引导流程和相当完善的分发系统。
你现在准备好扩展业务,将你的应用月收入提升到2.5万美元或更高。
在这个阶段,你将主要专注于扩展分发系统:增加广告投入,更多的UGC创作者,更多的网红,以及更多自制内容。
随着市场推广的扩展,你会收到大量用户反馈,现在终于是改进产品的时候了。但不要让应用功能臃肿,要非常慎重地决定添加什么和为什么添加。
做数据驱动的决策,不要凭冲动添加功能,只添加必要的。
尽量总是优化回到一个收入事件,例如,不要添加无用的功能,尝试提高试用转化率(如果你有试用的话)。
你应该仍然花90-100%的时间在营销上。
是时候大规模扩展到月球了。
就是这样,这就是你将应用扩展到月球所需的全部。
这容易吗?这取决于你能多快放弃构建,转而投入营销。
这简单吗?是的,如果你遵循我刚刚给你的步骤,实际上没有失败的余地。
你可能会失败几次尝试,没关系,我花了十多个应用才终于成功。
关键是专注于一个应用,一次专注一件事。
这是我们这一生最大的机会,谁也不知道这会持续多久,但有一点是肯定的。
移动应用正经历黄金时代,现在是用它们创造世代财富的时刻。
不管你是否懂营销(我当时不懂),不管你是否技术出身(我金融背景),不管你是否有钱(我开始时很穷)。
你还等什么?
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We are living through the biggest opportunity of our lifetimes to build generational wealth with mobile apps AI has made it so that anyone can build an app in days. The barrier to entry has never been lower and the market has never been bigger. People are making $20k, $50k, $100k a month from simple apps they built in a weekend. But most of you are going to miss this wave. Not because you're not smart enough, not because you can't build, but because building an app got easier, distributing it didn't. So I'm going to give you the exact playbook. How to pick the right app, how to get your first paying users, how to nail your onboarding, how to scale your distribution, everything. This is the same playbook I used to scale Prayer Lock to $25k/month with 50% profit margins, and I'm not holding anything back. Step #1: Build one app STOP building 10 apps at the same time. This is the biggest mistake you can make, it just decreases the chances of you actually succeeding. People see the results of others on here and think that it's easy to replicate (in a way it is) but you need to realize all of them have 1 thing in common: they cracked the code on 1 single app.
You might see them with multiple apps right now but that's only because they now have the knowledge to replicate the systems on infinite apps. You have so much to learn early on, so many unknown unknowns that you cannot afford to lose focus, and having 10 apps at once, makes you lose focus. Now trust me, if this is you right now, I feel you, AGI feels at the touch of our fingertips, you can build new apps and launch them in 3 days and you have automations that promise to solve marketing for you, all of this is quite frankly, fun. But counterintuitively, in a world of infinite software, building less has never been more important. You complain about kids chasing cheap dopamine but you traded doom scrolling for building app after app. Building apps is the new cheap dopamine. Yes, distribution is scary but this is where the world is heading, there's no way around this, anyone can build now, you're not special, embrace this now or you'll regret it later. So then, how do you know what to build? How do you know if you should stick to one app? How do you know when to pivot?
To know what to build you can do one of two things: Grab a successful app and add your own twist to it, I don't believe in plain copy catting, that's NGMI behavior. Add your own personality, your own colors, a mascot, whatever makes the app yours. This is actually what we did with Prayer Lock. We grabbed @lottsnomad very successful Pray Screen app and created our own version. If you look at the apps today, they have completely different design philosophies and don't look at all like each other. The other thing you can do is grab two successful apps and combine their main features into one app Pray Screen's idea came from combining Opal with Prayer. Our new app Step Lock comes from combining walking apps with Opal. This is actually harder to do so if you're just starting out i'd recommend adding your twist to a successful app instead. If you're reading this you probably know exactly how to build the app you want: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Rork, whatever, use one of those to make the app as quickly as possible. You shouldn't be taking more than 2 weeks to go from idea to launching your app, speed is key. I don't think it's worth it to go over how to design your app, screenshots, logo, and everything else you need to launch it. But please let me know in the comments if this is something you would like to see. Now, how do you know if you should stick to the app you launched?
You will know instantly. If you've launched multiple apps before you'll know that most of them will not get any traction on launch day even with the Apple boost (Apple's way of pushing your app to new audiences when you first launch it). With your soon to be successful app, you'll get 1 trial, 5 trials even or even a direct conversion on launch day. In my case, I had launched 3 faith apps before and got absolutely no conversions on launch day, even after going viral on TikTok, I still got no conversions. With Prayer Lock I got 5 conversions on day one. If you don't get conversions on your launch day I would then try to go viral on social media, if after 100k views I don't get even a single conversion, I would move to the next app idea. Step #2: Obsess Over Distribution Apps are nothing more than a funnel At the top of the funnel you have distribution, eyeballs, views on social media. And at the bottom of the funnel you have your actual conversion, people paying money for your app.
There is absolutely no point in optimizing for anything below the top of the funnel when you first start out. Improving animations, making your mascot more cute, changing colors around, optimizing retention, adding new features, even optimizing onboarding at this stage are ALL A WASTE OF TIME. "But Mau if my app isn't optimized I might not convert as well on the few downloads I do have" It doesn't matter, there is absolutely nothing to optimize for or change with 100 downloads, heck I'd even argue this is the case even with 5k downloads. So don't touch your app AT ALL, until your distribution engine is running decently well (we'll get to that) You have 4 options: Make content yourself Hire Influencers
Hire UGC creators Paid Ads Knowing what to pick depends solely on how much money you can invest into your app right now. The more money you can invest the faster you'll be successful. It took me 3 years and 10 attempts to make $25k/month because I started with absolutely nothing and decided I never wanted to work a job in my life (to this day I never have). But it took @ErnestoSOFTWARE only a couple of weeks and 1 app to make the same amount of money because he had money to invest from previous ventures. An important mindset shift that you have to go through, specially if you have a more technical profile like me, is getting comfortable with investing money. Stop trying to save $9/month on tools you need to grow your business, this mindset permeates to the rest of your app when you will need to be spending $1000s of dollars a week to grow. Start investing NOW. Making content yourself
The best way to go if you're new to distribution, even if you have money to invest. Making content yourself will develop your viral sense and will give you the foundations to know what to look for when you want to hire influencers and UGC creators. Start posting at least 21 times a day across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts. It's not as much as it sounds, you just have to make 7 posts/day and cross post them to the different platforms. Now the question is what content to actually make right? It depends on the niche, look at the content your competition is making and copy it, literally, use the same hooks, the same script, even the same CTA if you can. Again, the type of content you can make depends on your niche but here are some examples of content you can try out right now. UGC Reaction + Demo In my opinion the best way to start making content and a format that never fails. This format alone got our app to $2.5k/month. Buy reaction clips from friends or platforms like @dansugcmodels and stitch your demo to it.
The hook, which is the combination of the clip and the text you use on top of the clip needs to be really good. Make sure the demo you're using is not longer than 8 seconds long. Slideshows Another killer format, there are apps out there making $20k+/month just from slideshows (and they perform great as ads as well). As @ErnestoSOFTWARE would say, make sure your posts aren't Pinterest feeds with a bunch of random aesthetic picture with no cohesion. Make your slideshows accounts consistent, take direct inspiration from your competition and include a direct CTA to download your app. Make a brand identity around your slideshows. This is a good example of a slideshows account: It has brand identity and it's consistent This is a bad example:
This account is all over the place, no clear format, no clear brand identity. The Jack Friks Method (@jackfriks) In my experience not the best converting format but it's very easy to make in bulk, I wouldn't overlook it when starting out. You state a flattering or relatable identity label in the headline, then show 4 image cards with traits, hobbies, or behaviors that qualify someone for that label. Video hook + CTA Again, this is not the best converting format but it is extremely easy to automate. We're on track to be the first mobile app to get a YouTube Play Button from completely automated content, and it was all thanks to this format. We made a scraper that gets the video hooks for us and then with a python script we stitch the videos together to form a single video, we made 700 clips in 30 minutes and then bulk scheduled them. Let me know if you'd like me to make a Claude or Openclaw skill that gets this done for you! The idea is to grab viral videos from other creators and use the first 3 seconds as the hook and then switch to your app's CTA in a way that's entertaining for the user.
Memes These work really well on Insta, it wouldn't be the first format I'd try but it can be great for brand awareness and a good format if coupled with a Manychat automation and Instagram Stories that then drive your followers to download your app. I'd recommend warming up a meme account and copying viral meme clips and adding your own caption. Influencers Influencers are a great way to scale your app. This is actually how a lot of great apps scaled, including @ErnestoSOFTWARE first app. Running influencers correctly is a little harder and requires investment. You probably need a budget of at least $10k to pull it off, because a lot of them will not work. The first step to get influencers is to mass DM them, you need to be sending at least 100 DMs a day, most of them will not respond, make sure your message starts with "Paid Promo Opportunity" or something similar to cut through the noise. Make your message short and concise. Also, you can't just reach out to any influencer, they need to actually be in your niche or speaking to your customers, they need to have good engagement rates and you need to look at the comment section.
Are most of the replies fire emojis? Do people actually care about this creator? The best influencers have an audience that deeply cares about them, look for that. Never disclose the deal through DMs, you will give your influencers a chance to think it through and get a worse deal for you. Instead, try to get them on a call as soon as possible, if you can't, it's better to at least send them the deal through text to their phone number. Basically, you should be looking for a deal as close to a $1 CPM (cost per thousand views) as possible. The way @ErnestoSOFTWARE structures the deals for our app is by first getting them on a "trial" deal on a $1 CPM for 300k views with 40% upfront and then on a $1.2 CPM deal after that. UGC Creators Often called THE way to scale mobile apps right now. You hire micro influencers or new creators to create new accounts to make content just for your app. Having a successful UGC army is actually way harder than anyone on X will make it seem. You have to deal with making sure creators make the right content for your brand, checking in on them constantly, tracking their performance, hiring new creators, firing them fast, paying them, it's a pretty complex process to be honest.
For this reason I wouldn't recommend new builders try to make a UGC army unless you have experience with distribution or a cofounder, a UGC campaign will take most of your time and it's a full time job on its own. Having said that, if you can make it work, you're going to absolutely rip it and have a skill that will be valuable for the rest of your life. To me, UGC campaigns are the holy grail of distribution, the toughest beast to crack but the one with the highest leverage. To be completely transparent we don't currently have any UGC campaign for any of our apps, but we do have some experience with them. The first step is very similar to influencers, mass reach out, but you're looking for slightly different things. With influencers you mostly want to be reaching out on Instagram and email, with UGC creators you mainly want to be reaching out through TikTok. Followers don't matter at all, instead, look for creators with 2-3 viral videos, look for camera charisma, look for good communicators. UGC campaigns are more about taste and viral sense than anything else, this is what makes them so interesting and hard at the same time. There are some incredible people here on UGC like @alexolim_ @juliapintar and @xElenaYangx Follow them if you want to know more about how to make successful UGC campaigns
Paid Ads My specialty, and how we scaled Prayer Lock from $2.5k/month to $25k/month with 50% profit margins. Most people completely overlook ads, they either start them too late or too early I left this distribution channel to the end on purpose, and that's because you shouldn't be starting out with Paid Ads. Ads do best when you already have organic content that worked for you before. That content could be coming from your own posts, your influencers or your UGC creators. So make sure you already have a content system in place before you jump to ads, you don't need much either, you only need 5 high quality pieces of content a week to start testing ads. By high quality I don't mean highly produced or edited, I just mean content that is working well organically. Don't make super vague posts that convert through the comment section, your ads need to be what I call "Organic Ads":
Posts that have a super organic hook and make the user feel like this is an actual organic video but with a clear and direct CTA. I put together a free guide on how to scale your mobile app with Meta and TikTok if you're interested: Link to Guide Paid Ads are the only distribution channel on this list I wouldn't start before you truly nail your onboarding. You need at least a 10% download to trial conversion rate to run them successfully. Which takes us to the next step in scaling your app to $25k/month. Once you have a content engine running and you've partly solved the top of your funnel, meaning, you're getting at least 300 daily downloads, you now need to go back to the product. You're not going to add new features, you're not going to optimize retention, you're going to now completely obsess over your onboarding. Step #3 Obsess Over Your Onboarding Your onboarding is without a doubt the MOST IMPORTANT part of your app, if you're reading this and still haven't shipped an app try to get this right the first time around, don't wait.
The only reason I mention it as the third step is to try to get your hands dirty with marketing as soon as possible. Here is everything that matters when designing your onboarding, follow these steps and you will get a killer conversion rate: Think of your onboarding as a story with three acts: an introduction that paints the problem, a climax where the user experiences your app, and a conclusion that prepares them for the paywall Don't design your onboarding from scratch, study the best onboardings in your niche and outside it, find what works and make it your own You need at least one aha moment, a screen that stops the user in their tracks and makes them feel the weight of their problem, and it should hit within the first minute Most founders use onboarding questions to learn about their users, but the real purpose is the opposite, you want the user to reflect on their own answers and slowly convince themselves that they have a problem worth solving After every few questions, mirror the user's answers back to them so they feel like the experience is being built specifically for them The longer your onboarding, the better it converts, as long as every screen is adding value, people hate losing something they already invested, so after 10 to 15 minutes in your onboarding they will think twice before leaving at the paywall
Let the user actually use your core feature during the onboarding, don't just describe what the app does, make them do it Show your review modal right after the user completes your core feature, when they are at their most excited, this is the most important thing you can do for your ASO and social proof, most users will not pay, but they can still leave a review, and that review compounds over time and brings you more organic downloads for free Ask ChatGPT about Robert Cialdini's principles of influence and apply them to your onboarding, especially the principle of commitment, getting users to actively state they are committed before hitting the paywall significantly increases conversion, read the book too if you want to go deeper Don't do anything else at this point other than getting your onboarding right, iterate it until you have a conversion rate that is good for you, i would say at least 10%. Here's the link to the canvas I used to design my onboarding, it has the apps I took as inspiration and our own onboarding. Link to Onboarding Canvas Step #4: Scale and Iterate Product By this point you have a good app, a killer onboarding and a pretty good distribution system.
You are now ready to scale and take your app to $25k/month and more. At this stage you're going to mainly focus on scaling your distribution system: more ad spend, more UGC creators, more influencers, more self made content. As you scale your marketing efforts you will get a lot of user feedback, now is finally the time to improve the product. Don't bloat your app with features, be very deliberate about what you're adding and why. Make data driven decisions, don't add features on a whim, only what's necessary. Try to always optimize back to a revenue event, for example, instead of adding a useless feature try to increase your trial to conversion rate (if you have a trial). You should still be spending 90-100% of your time on marketing. Time To Scale To The Moon That's it, this is all you need to scale your app to the moon.
Is it easy? It depends, how fast can you let building go in favor of marketing Is it simple? Yes, there's literally no room for you to fail if you follow the steps I just gave you. You might fail your first few attempts, and that's ok, it took me over 10 apps to finally have a successful one. The key is to obsessively focus on one app and on one thing at a time. This is the biggest opportunity of our lifetimes, who knows how long this will last but one thing is for sure. Mobile apps are going through a golden era and now is the moment to make generational wealth with them. It doesn't matter if you know nothing about marketing (I didn't), it doesn't matter if you're not technical (I'm a finance bro), it doesn't matter if you have no money (I started off broke). What are you waiting for?