Let’s say you’ve got a million-dollar app idea. It’s brilliant, it’s visionary, and most importantly, it hasn’t been done before! You know you could make it big if you could find a way to get your app into the market, but you have zero app development or specialist tech knowledge. This hypothetical has plagued future entrepreneurs for years. Who has time to research mobile and web app development while trying to juggle life’s other priorities? Not you, that’s who! There are workarounds though, as a lot of the heavy lifting can be outsourced to professionals who can take the pressure off the logistical side of app development, which frees you to focus on the ideas behind the tech. 

However, before the first piece of code is written, it’s important to have carefully considered the other non-technical aspects of your project. In the same way a house requires a strong foundation on which to build, so too does your mobile or web app. Before you dive into the technological back-end of your app, you need to ensure that you first have considered and planned for all possibilities that could derail your idea, your passion, or your launch. 

Do your market research

It’s a busy market out there. In a cutthroat marketplace, if a user is unhappy with the design, function, or experience of your app, it’s unlikely that they will use it again, or even download in the first place. According to a report by SAP, nearly 80% of mobile apps are abandoned after their first use. On many occasions, this is because the app didn’t cater for the specific needs that the market demands. 

It’s important for you to invest time in thorough market research so you can find out what market problems and needs your app will address. Who is the target audience for your app, and what do you know about them? What are their interests, their needs, and their pain-points? If you nail your market research, you can nail the specifics of your app’s features, and ensure that what you’re offering will be tailored to what your users want.

Market research is the most important activity to undertake before launching an app. NetEngine’s highly experienced team members continually ensure that your app’s features are market-leading and user-focused. Book in for a free consultation to ensure that your market research can be translated into tangible results. 

Find the one thing that you do better than anyone else, and improve on it

Let’s call a spade a spade. The market is crowded, and it’s oftentimes hard to break through the white noise. For every app idea, there are likely already hundreds of apps that exist that offer a similar service. This, however, should not discourage you from making your idea a reality; different personal and professional backgrounds are what makes us unique, and apps can thrive even if there are many similar options in the marketplace. To differentiate yourself, you’ll need to ensure that your app has a unique value proposition, even if the core functionality is the same. 

If you’ve got incredible design sense, make your front-end user experience (UX) beautiful and unique. If you’re an amazing copywriter, make sure you’re pumping out relevant and interesting content. If you offer a service that is hard to come by in your industry, promote it more heavily than your other offerings. 

Also, don’t be afraid to think small! Your app doesn’t have to be the next Instagram. If you do what you do well, you can promote it locally across personal networks, and make your ‘thing’ personalised, on-shore, passionate service from a team of friendly locals. 

If you don’t know what your ‘thing’ is, talking to the professionals at NetEngine can help you identify and simplify what you want to offer. This is why workshopping is one of the first stages of working with us; so we can make sure that our ideals align, and we can best create your vision to help you succeed. 

Make sure your marketing is impactful and message-focused

The age-old adage goes, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!”. The same mindset can be applied to marketing (sort of). Many brands pump out daily content because they think that quantity over quality will put your brand on the map, and that social media algorithms and robust search engine optimisation (SEO) practices will establish you as an industry leader. On the contrary, many organisations who push content that doesn’t align with their brand, their beliefs, or their product offering can isolate their mailing lists and subscribers, and they end up struggling when the time comes to promote an exciting new development or feature.

Instead of finding content that you can shoehorn into an article or update, wait until you have something to say before posting. While the frequency won’t be as high, you’ll establish yourself as someone who demands to be listened to, and whose words carry weight. Have you got a new product update with features that will benefit your users? Write an article about it! Is your team expanding, and you’ve brought on a new member? Post on LinkedIn introducing them to your network! By writing about what you know and care about, you’ll find that marketing your app becomes easy and enjoyable. 

Different developers do different things; know the difference

When it comes to app development, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, and each avenue comes with its own pros and cons. If you choose to recruit a full-stack developer, you will likely find they are a great resource, as they are tech generalists who are available to meet one-to-one, discuss ideas, and pull all aspects of your app’s development under one roof. However, full-stack developers generally don’t bring a diversity of experience and can lack specialist skill and technical expertise, and are also generally quite expensive to engage if they work full-time on your project.

If you’ve meticulously planned the nitty-gritty of your app and have all your ducks in a row, or if your budget is quite limited, you may consider engaging an off-shore development team. This can be a cost-effective option short-term, as they usually charge hourly, work efficiently, and can teach you a lot about the technical side of the development process. However, when considering your medium- and long-term strategy, working with off-shore developers can cause you to lose collaboration opportunities, and thus you will need to assume the responsibility of providing the team with detailed direction and a fully mapped out plan of attack. 

By connecting with a local development house, you harness the skills of multiple specialists, and have the opportunity to collaborate every step of the way. More expertise and diversity in the room also means a faster turnaround time for your minimum viable product (MVP). Furthermore, with the right skills all in one place, there will be less idle moments and potential blockers as the need for outsourced talent is greatly reduced. NetEngine’s entire suite of developers is entirely local to Brisbane, and are ready to help you achieve your app goals. Book a free consultation today.   

Workshop your idea with the professionals

If you don’t have collaborators or business partners to bounce ideas off, you may find yourself with a universal problem; you work so closely on the ideas, and you assume everyone sees the concept, the problems, and their solutions in the same way that you do. In fact, the more people you collaborate with when mapping out your app idea, the stronger your foundation will be. 

NetEngine offers workshops at the beginning of our consultation process to ensure that everyone gets in on the ground floor and is clear about the goals, obstacles, and intentions of the app. Our workshop sessions help guide everyone towards the same objective through rigorous and detailed discussion and they will also heavily influence the development process by identifying the problem you are trying to solve and using this as the single source of truth. Throughout these workshops, you’ll have the opportunity to speak with a project lead, a UX/UI designer, a front-end developer, and a back-end developer, so the information you are getting is varied and educated (some NetEngine clients choose to participate in multiple workshops, months before they’re ready to build!).

If you’ve got a million-dollar app idea, don’t let it be snatched up by someone more proactive than you. Reach out to NetEngine today, and talk to our team of professionals to turn your tech dreams into a reality.