My app growth strategy (users first, revenue second)

Category: App Development

Tags: appsdownloadsgrowthmarketingmonetization

Entities: AdamApp StoreFacebookFortniteInstagramPiano RunTikTok

Transcript

00:00

I get a lot of messages from indie app developers who ask, "How do I actually get more revenue?" And the answer is a lot simpler than you think. You need people actually using your app.

You need users. You need downloads.

You need to be seen. That's exactly the strategy I'm

00:16

using with my latest app. In this video, I'll show you how I plan to grow my new app to 1 million downloads.

The mistake I see all the time are developers trying to squeeze revenue out of an app before anyone's even using it. Surprise, surprise, nobody's sticking around.

00:32

Growth stalls and the app fails before it's even had a chance. You could have the best app in the world, but if nobody's downloading it, it's going to fail.

So, my strategy is simple. Release for free and focus on user acquisition above all else.

I've done this time and

00:49

time again, and it's worked quite well, generating over $1 million in total sales from the App Store. But Adam, how are you supposed to generate revenue from an app that hasn't even been monetized?

I'm getting there. Just wait.

For the past 6 months, I've been building Piano Run, a game that tricks

01:05

kids into learning the piano. And this week, I launched it.

All that hard work, all those late nights, and a final push finally got it over the finish line. And you would think my work is done.

Now I can relax, maybe go on a holiday, or at

01:21

least take a day off. But no, the real work has now just begun.

When I launched on the App Store, it had limited visibility. I had to run ads just so people could find it when they searched for my app, costing me $1922 so far.

Annoying. Even with Apple featuring it

01:37

as an iOS 26 launch title and it being ranked number 36 for the keyword Learn Piano, it generated a total of 152 downloads over 3 days. Not great, not horrible, somewhere in between.

At this rate, I'll be lucky to hit 1 million

01:53

downloads by my 100th birthday. Happy birthday, Adam.

So, what's the plan here? To get there, I need users.

I need lots of users. So, I'm hiring an agency to create viral Tik Toks.

And then I'll turn the best ones into ads to promote

02:09

on Instagram, on Facebook, and on Tik Tok. And I'm making the app free to play using a consumable inapp purchase model.

The user can access every part of the game for free using coins that they unlock through progressing each level, or they can just purchase coins using

02:25

real money. This unlocks new levels, songs, game modes, and customizations.

It's kind of like a modified version of the Fortnite model, and this isn't that different to how I've grown my other apps in the past. I would release the initial version for free on the App

02:40

Store and wait to see if it ranked well. Once apps generated enough consistent downloads, then I'd monetize, adding premium features and a payw wall.

And Piano Run is kind of no different. Version 1.0 has been on the app store for 2 years.

It consistently generates

02:56

over 700 downloads a month with a spike of 1,517 downloads over Christmas. And this was enough to make me realize that there's probably something here.

And when I dug a little bit deeper, I discovered this niche is worth millions. with a number

03:12

one ranked app generating over $4 million last month. Originally, my app was just another learning piano tool, a simple tool to practice the piano, but that's boring.

I learned by playing games, so I rebuilt it. Now, it's kind

03:28

of a learning tool and kind of a game. It's light-hearted, it's fun, and it could be a nice casual game or a well-deserved break between piano lessons.

By taking this path, I'm not competing with any of the other piano apps. Instead, Piano Run kind of

03:44

complements them. And the upside, even if I generate 1% of what this niche is actually worth, that would generate over $40,000 a month.

This app warrants a lot more of my attention and is the first app I've built that has a wider reach.

03:59

So, I'm going above and beyond the normal app store optimization path. And of course, I'll be documenting my journey, and showing you exactly what works.

So, my aim is simple. Instead of focusing on revenue at this stage, I'm focusing on getting downloads, getting people to play, getting feedback, and

04:16

hopefully sparking some sort of viral growth. And once I've got the momentum, then I can start experimenting with monetization, maybe even adding a subscription model in the future.

But first, 1 million downloads. That's the vision, and I'm going all in to get

04:32

there.