Hi, I would love to hear what people are spending on marketing and PR for their apps. The family of apps that I"m planning to release are going to end up costing me somewhere between 25-40k and I'm trying to get a high-level idea of the money that I'll need to spend on marketing and PR. I realize that estimating a marketing budget requires more information than what I'm providing, but I'm just trying to obtain a ballpark figure for what I should expect to spend. Thanks for your help.
Zero. Nada. Nothing. Emails to review/news sites, and participating in forums, are both free. I haven't seen proof that spending money on ads will help much at all. Word of mouth is your friend. Getting featured by Apple is your very best friend.
I did the same. I still have to send more emails to the big review sites. Anyone have any luck getting through to them? I agree that word of mouth is the best, but you need an initial group of people to start spreading the word.
For those of you that think you need to spend money to get featured, it's not true. I've released three games, and been featured on four different occasions. It can happen for free.
One benefit of paid advertising = Apple noticing the advertisement and becoming interested in featuring the game. Also good for brand recognition, even if it does not increase sales.
I would prefer to sell 500,000 copies and have no one know about App Tech Studios (I assure that people will know about App Tech Studios if I sell that many copies ) than everyone know about me, but no one buy my games. If people buy your games, your name will get out there, if people know your name that doesn't mean that you will sell. Take that guy who just got banned from the App Store (I forgot him name), pretty everyone here at TA (and other places I am sure) knows about him, but no one would have every bought his Apps.
True, but everyone knowing you as a reputable developer almost ensures sales. Think Gameloft, ngmoco, nimblebit, etc.
