Hi, this is the Daily Overpass, my name is Eric and I make apps!
Now today I wanna talk about your marketing message!
Ok so today I'm gonna change speeds a little bit - enough about apps, enough about marketing,
all that kind of stuff - today I wanna start talking about dating advice.
Because when I was younger I was kind of a ladies man, you know, so what I thought I
would do now is give some of the younger people out there some dating advice, some of that
kind of stuff, then maybe we could change it to Overpass Apps and Dating Advice.
So, I wanna cover the topic of asking somebody out on a date.
So here's what I used to do when I was a young man.
I was in the army so I would go to some place public and I would see a young lady sitting
there and I would sort of stroll up, really cool and smooth and I would wait until she
looked up and we made eye contact and then I would say "go out with me, 8 o clock, Tuesday!
Meet here!", and then I'd turn around and I'd walk away.
Smooth.
No actually what I really did was I'd go up and when we made eye contact I would say "hey,
could you really help me out?
Nobody will go out with me so if it's possible you could you possibly go out with me and
then give me some feedback so I could get better at it?
So that would be really helpful, thanks!"
So obviously I'm not gonna give dating advice, I'm the last person in the world to give dating
advice!
But I wanna talk about something I see a lot in comments on youtube and also on social
media.
It's the tactic of just saying "download my app!" and then a link, which is the same as
saying "go out with me".
Download my app!
And then a link.
I mean, have you ever seen something like that and decided oh, that looks worth it,
I'm gonna give that a try and click through?!
Of course you don't.
There's no reason to.
it doesn't say what it does, there's no reason to believe it will be anything for you.
And the other side of the thing too - if somebody's asking you to download it, it's about them
and their needs and stuff like that.
Now, one thing you may notice about me is that I read a lot of books, I mention a lot
of books.
So I read about a book a week and I have done for pretty much 12 or 13 years.
I read a lot of software development books, personal development books, sales and marketing
books, stuff about content and writing, losing your accent, that kind of stuff.
I read so much junk!
If you looked at my kindle, you'd be like "man Eric, there's something wrong with you".
So I read good things and bad.
But one thing about sales books that they always mention is this acronym of WIIFM, which
stands for Whats In It For Me.
So if you've got a prospect or if you're selling to somebody, it's always going through their
head.
So that's something you have to think about as a salesperson.
And the thing about being an independent app developer is you can't just think about the
code, you can't just think about the software, you have to start looking at loads of different
fields.
You have to look at sales, you have to look at marketing, you have to look at content,
you have to look at all kinds of different things.
And this is one thing that I learned a lot from the sales books is thinking about what's
in it for your prospect and what makes it compelling for them to actually do that.
So, last week I talked about when I was out of work.
I was out of work for like a month, and I told you how I would go to these interviews
and I would just have this desperation dripping from me.
And eventually I did get a job, and one of the reasons I did get that job was because
I had two interviews lined up and I was less desperate.
And then later on when I became a contractor, I got really good at it.
i went to a lot of interviews and I got really good at doing it, to the point where almost
every time I would get the job or the offer.
So sometimes I would get the offer and I'd say nah, i don't wanna do that.
And one of the things that really changed there was my perspective of it.
So when I was desperate for a job, I'd go in there, and my whole mentality was that
this company has a job, I need a job.
Now if I go in there and if I impress them enough and if they're nice enough, if they're
feeling kind enough, then they might give me that job that they have that I need.
Which is coming from this position of lack.
And later on as a contractor, i started to see things as they really were.
I started to go in there and think "they have a problem, if it's for a contract they might
have a specific problem, if it's for a job then they have more work than they can handle
and they need somebody to help.
So they have a problem, I have a solution.
I'm gonna go in there and find out if I can solve their problem.
So I would go in there, not from this position of desperation and this mentality of lack,
I would go in there and think, how can I help them?
So it changed a lot, because it didn't go in their me talking about me, just answering
the questions they ask and just talking about myself, it was me asking questions about them,
where it was almost like I was interviewing them.
I would go in there and say "what kind of software are you using?
Have you tried this?
Have you tried that?"
So they had to impress me and I didn't have to impress them, which was a much better position
to be in.
And this is the case a lot with the apps too.
This is my opinion, you can disagree with me but whatever, I'm a software developer,
i make apps, I'm not a marketer or anything like that, except for my apps!
But say if you change your perspective on the way you market your apps.
Rather than think, if they're nice enough they'll download my app, you start thinking
about the fact as it really is.
Your person has a need or a problem or a desire, and you have a product.You're trying to give
them the product.
So let's say, instead of saying "download my app" and then include a link, or asking
them to do you a huge favour and download it, let's say we change the language and say
"hey, I know you really like - " let's say it's about candy crush, let's say my game's
like candy crush, i'm trying to refer this to games because I know a lot of you guys
are game developers, but I use this technique for language learners and stuff like that.
So let's say my game is similar to Candy Crush, because it's one of the few games I know about.
So let's say "hey, I know you like candy crush, you mentioned you like candy crush, now I
have a game that I think you'll really like.
We took all the best parts of candy crush and we made it even better.
If you give this a try, I think you'll really be pleased".
And this is a message that is not all about me, it's not all about the app, this is about
you, and this is how I think my product can help you.
That might not be the perfect message, every situation is different, but if you start changing
your perspective and thinking about your marketing message, you know, how do you present yourself.
Whereas the fact that as an app developer, as somebody who has a product on the market,
you have a product and there are people out there who need that product, or they might
enjoy your product or whatever, but they don't even know about it yet.
It's not them out of the kindness of their hearts downloading it or buying something,
it's you being able to provide value and being able to demonstrate to them that your product
is the perfect fit for them.
I know that seems very generic, it seems very high level, but there's a big difference coming
from a position of lack saying please download my app, and a position of hey, I think you'll
really enjoy my application.
I think, based on what I know about you, if you do have a relationship, even if you don't
you could even use social proof.
Say "people have said that this app is better than candy crush" or whatever, from your reviews
and stuff like that.
Anyway, that's it for today, think about your marketing message, think about how you present
things.
Don't leave those comments anymore saying "download my app" and then a link.
They never work.
Have they ever worked for you?
They've never worked for me!
So anyway, that's it for today, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow!