How We Marketed 3D Bookshelf

AidanDoolan · 03-05-2010, 01:16 PM

Hi,

I recently wrote a blog post on the steps we took to market our latest app, 3D Bookshelf. You can read it here.

3D Bookshelf made it to #79 in the top 100 Paid Apps chart in the US and was around that position for about 2 weeks. The app was also the #1 Book app in the US for the same period. We sold 16,000 copies in February.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions please feel free to post here or contact me at my blog or twitter.

Aidan

Maximilian · 03-05-2010, 01:42 PM

Epic post. This is very helpful. Thanks a lot!

Rudy · 03-05-2010, 02:37 PM

I enjoyed reading it

Blunketts_Dog · 04-08-2010, 05:58 AM

Fascinating - thanks for posting it. Nice app as well.

nobody · 04-08-2010, 07:19 PM

Great post. Definitely has some good tips for those just starting out, like me ;-)

Show Time · 04-09-2010, 11:30 AM

Getting ready to launch my app and this article is exactly what I needed to read.
Thanks for spelling it all out in detail with actual figures.

For the twitter contest, did you just use google ads and the contest sites to help promote it or did you have someone/s help you who had a large following to send a mass-tweet?

Robert Paulson · 04-09-2010, 11:52 AM

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. Well appreciated!

tod · 04-10-2010, 08:10 PM

All I can add is another thank you, but you deserve it!

AidanDoolan · 04-11-2010, 09:51 AM

Quote:

For the twitter contest, did you just use google ads and the contest sites to help promote it or did you have someone/s help you who had a large following to send a mass-tweet?

The primary driver for promoting the twitter contest was a few hundred euro of Google ads. We didn't have any support from an external promoter with a large twitter following or a large mailing list.

Our twitter following before the competition was less than 30. By the end of the competition it was over 400. Currently, we have around 455 followers on twitter and a mailing list of around 350, which grows by 5 subscribers daily.

Google ads brought in much more genuine participants than the competition promotion sites. This stands to reason because people seeing the ad through Google were not specifically looking for competitions, rather they were looking for news relating to the iPad announcement.

People visiting competition sites tend to be serial competition participants who usually set up bogus email and twitter accounts just to enter as many competitions as they can. This type of participant in general has little viral promotional value since few people will be interested in their tweets - they just retweet competition messages. We probably wont use this form of competition promotion in the future.

Hope this helps! And best of luck with your own ventures.

Show Time · 04-12-2010, 12:44 PM

Thanks for the reply. Really, really apperciate all this info. And thanks for the heads up about the contest sites.
I actually plan on using Magpie - Twitter Advertising - Home Page to help promote my twitter contest but now think google ads is a good supplement to that.

I'll have to let everyone know how it goes as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AidanDoolan

The primary driver for promoting the twitter contest was a few hundred euro of Google ads. We didn't have any support from an external promoter with a large twitter following or a large mailing list.
.....

henmue · 04-28-2010, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AidanDoolan

Our twitter following before the competition was less than 30. By the end of the competition it was over 400. Currently, we have around 455 followers on twitter and a mailing list of around 350, which grows by 5 subscribers daily.

Thanks for your informative post. You seem to have hit a nerve with your app, well done. I am interested in how you are building up your mailing list. I looked around on your homepage and searched a bit via Google but found no place where I could register to a mailing list.

Best regards
Henry Müller

AidanDoolan · 04-29-2010, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by henmue

Thanks for your informative post. You seem to have hit a nerve with your app, well done. I am interested in how you are building up your mailing list. I looked around on your homepage and searched a bit via Google but found no place where I could register to a mailing list.

Best regards
Henry Müller

Hi Henry, I'm not sure how you could have missed them. To subscribe to our mailing list check on the front page of both http://www.idealbinary.com (bottom left) and http://www.3dbookshelf.com (centre of page, just above the main book image).

There's a text box on both pages to submit your email address.

We also allow users to subscribe to our mailing list through the app itself.

Hope this helps.

Aidan

henmue · 04-29-2010, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AidanDoolan

Hi Henry, I'm not sure how you could have missed them. To subscribe to our mailing list check on the front page of both http://www.idealbinary.com (bottom left) and http://www.3dbookshelf.com (centre of page, just above the main book image).

There's a text box on both pages to submit your email address.

We also allow users to subscribe to our mailing list through the app itself.

Hope this helps.

Aidan

Hi Aidan,

thanks for the answer. Sorry to have bothered you, I only looked for it on idealbinary.com and just didn't see it. Must have been to tired... It's also a good idea to let people register in the app.

Best regards
Henry

PS: Good work with your 3D bookshelf...

smartappdevelopers · 04-29-2010, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AidanDoolan

Hi,

I recently wrote a blog post on the steps we took to market our latest app, 3D Bookshelf. You can read it here.

3D Bookshelf made it to #79 in the top 100 Paid Apps chart in the US and was around that position for about 2 weeks. The app was also the #1 Book app in the US for the same period. We sold 16,000 copies in February.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions please feel free to post here or contact me at my blog or twitter.

Aidan

Nicely done. I will link to your post from my site if you dont mind.

AidanDoolan · 05-20-2010, 01:21 PM

Hi everyone,

As part of the marketing for '3D Bookshelf - Classic Literature Collection', we've released '3D Bookshelf - Robin Hood Edition' completely free.

We're interested in seeing if this affects our sales in a measurable way.

It was released less than 24 hours ago and is already climbing the Free Book Chart in 23 countries.

Here's the itunes link for anyone interested. 3D Bookshelf - Robin Hood Edition for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

rocotilos · 05-20-2010, 01:48 PM

Huh? How can i missed this thread earlier??

Anyway Wow! Good job and well thought development processes and plans.
The graphics are superb.

btw, there is some HTML mistake in one of your page
"In an earlier /making-an-iphone-app-prototype" target="_blank">post, "
appeared in my Safari. in this page: Ideal Binary - Making an iPhone App – Prototype Screencast

AidanDoolan · 05-20-2010, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocotilos

Huh? How can i missed this thread earlier??

Anyway Wow! Good job and well thought development processes and plans.
The graphics are superb.

btw, there is some HTML mistake in one of your page
"In an earlier /making-an-iphone-app-prototype" target="_blank">post, "
appeared in my Safari. in this page: Ideal Binary - Making an iPhone App – Prototype Screencast

Thanks! I'll check the blog post.

facebookapp110 · 05-24-2010, 07:57 AM

I also enjoyed reading this. Keep it up