Everything starts with an idea

The market of mobile apps is growing rapidly and that is one of the reasons why more and more users decide to become market participants and not observers. According to Flurry, mobile sales have grown 58% last year and the number will continue rising. Mobile market has become a substitute to websites and online stores, attracting more and more customers every year. Therefore, it is not surprising that so many enterprises find it crucial to enter the mobile market in order to widen the audience and enlarge profits.

First thing you need to do if you want to influence the mobile market, is to generate a unique and outstanding idea. We may have millions of them but we need to be sure that these ideas won’t drown in an ocean of similar apps. Generating the idea can become a real challenge and many people just quit without even trying. The difficulties one can face can include the fear of creating a useless app, wasting money on the app, which won’t give profits and a fear of losing savings and investments if something goes wrong.

However, all the greatest apps with millions revenues were created according to a couple simple rules, which are easily traced, when you take a careful look! They are based on the proven ideas and everyone can use this pattern in order to enter the mobile market and create an app, which will reach all the goals.

How to generate a winning idea

Some people think that generating an idea requires talent and special skills, which are not inherent to everyone. Most of us agree that in order to enter the market, we need to wait for that special idea to come in at least expected moment. However, history shows that creating an idea is not more than a hard work and multiple attempts.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a professional or a novice, there is a list of rules and methods, which will help you generate an idea, suitable for your business. By following these recommendations, you will be able to create a masterpiece and will enter the market without any difficulties. By the end of this article, you will have all the tools to change your life for the better, occupying firm positions on the international mobile market.

All you need to do is to have a closer look at your own ideas and enterprise, at the market you want to enter and the competitors, which can give you a direction. After careful analysis and putting key ideas on paper, you will definitely have a chance to create an outstanding and useful app!

Analyze yourself

The whole process should start with a careful examination of your company, because no one else knows it better: its weak and strong sides, key directions and aims. Moreover, enterprise is a living organism, which is constantly changing, so you should examine it at this particular moment. Make sure that you realize what the company is strong at, what makes it unique and interesting. What are the ‘pain points’ you need to avoid or eliminate. Decide whether you are a mortal company, which focuses on the local market and personal relationships or you are a virtual one, occupying firm positions on the global market. Are you ready to maintain relationships with the customers through emails, blogs, forums and chats? Are you mobile enough to create a stable and interesting environment?

You should also take your time and have a closer look at the people, who are working for you. They may have interesting, useful ideas about the app you are going to create, and together you will be able to generate outstanding solutions. Moreover, personal involvement of every employee will make the bonds tighter, which is always a big plus in a long run.

In addition, you need to pay attention to the overall impression you produce. There is nothing worse than a company, which can’t create harmonious connections between its departments. Your business model, priorities and goals should complement each other and serve your general ideas.

Analyze the market

Knowing the market you are going to enter is one of the key points of a successful strategy. You can’t occupy leading positions if you are not able to catch interest of the audience and serve its needs. That is why you need to put many efforts into the process of getting feedback from your customers.

If you already have a running website, you can use various tools to learn more about your weak sides. For example, online questioners, mailing systems with suggestions and scheduled calls can greatly help you to learn more about your ‘pain points’ and how to avoid them.

We are living in a fast-moving world and users dedicate their time only to those apps, which are useful and catch the interest immediately. That is why you need to make sure that your app is useful, clear and stands out from the rest. Try to learn more about other participants of the market and the average time the users spend on your website. All this data will give you a direction and will help you avoid common mistakes in future.

You should also pay attention to the latest tendencies on the market. Luckily, there are numerous blogs, analytical sources and predictions, which will help you to always stay on the forefront. Your idea should reflect the expectations of the audience and knowing the latest tendencies will greatly contribute to your popularity.

Analyze the competitors

At first, it may seem that there is nothing good in having competitors in the industry, because they occupy your potential market place. However, it is impossible to create a winning app and strategy without learning on others’ mistakes.

Pay attention to their strategies, as you can later improve them and use as a part of your own project. Often creating a profitable business is not about generating a brand new idea. It is about using previous experience.

The main questions should be:

• What strategies are my competitors using?
• What are the most successful ones?
• What strategies should be avoided?
• What flaws can you use as your benefit?

Prepare a business plan

If you already have a running business plan, it can become a starting point of your future strategy. That is why you need to go through your previous goals and aims to see which of them were already completed or became outdated with time.

A business plan is a map of your enterprise and it is fundamental for a quality achievement of any goal or strategy. Take your time to indicate your short term and long term goals, which will help you see whether you are going in a right direction. Try to mark out strategies for the future, which will correspond with your needs and goals. It is very useful to create an up-to-date mission and follow it in any decision you make.

Use your previous experience and skills to achieve all the goals. Look how you can reach them through a mobile app. Decide how your app should look like and function in order to contribute to the achievement of these goals.

Additionally, you should remember that marketing is an important part of any business strategy and should never be neglected. The decisions you make will influence the promotion and advertisement, partnership and profit modeling, so you need to spend quality time on choosing the best marketing strategy.

Usually marketing becomes a huge part of investments, so you need to decide how your app will contribute to the process and make the marketing budget lower. For example, you can create a virtual catalogue, various loyalty programs and so on. These simple methods will add new functions to your app and will reduce your costs on printed material.

Crazy ideas that conquered the world

Certainly, there are apps, which drag attention of millions users around the world and sometimes it is difficult to explain why they are so popular. Below is a list of various apps, which became leaders on the market and continue earning amazing profits. And it all started with an idea!

Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social network in the world and is gaining popularity due to the occurrence of a mobile app and many additional features, which aim to simplify user’s life.

There are more than 1 billion users daily and the number is growing. Isn’t it a great example to learn from? At the time of creating Facebook, it was a crazy idea to compete with already existing social networks. However, founders knew how a tight community should look like and gave users what they wanted to have.

The example of Facebook showed that you need to be really passionate about what you do and have a clear vision of the product you want to have. It doesn’t mean that you need a million budget to create an app of your dreams. Your app can be much smaller than Facebook is. But the key to success lies in the necessity of being useful for the community, because it always finds feedback and appreciation of the target audience.

Pou

When we were children, we all loved playing Tamagochi, which allowed us to take care of virtual pets. We even woke up in the middle of the night to feed them or to play with them. Taking care of others is in our nature and creators of Pou decided that it was a great idea to start a profitable business. It was launched in 2012 and now gives its publisher a chance to earn almost $400K per month!

Moreover, Pou is not the only one game of this kind. There are thousands of similar apps, where you can take care of various animals and most of them are highly profitable!

If you think that this market area can be the one you are interested in, you should spend some time on learning more about competitors, reading reviews and noting down their flaws. By cooperating with a talented team of developers and designers, you will be able to create a new and improved version of the app.

Periscope

When Periscope first appeared, it immediately caught interest of users around the world and the idea was so popular that almost every celebrity has started a personal Periscope account, gaining millions of followers every day.

Despite the fact that YouTube and Instagram are giants among video-storage services, Periscope was created to show videos live, without any changes and filters. And it was the key factor of success! Users got tired of similar edited videos and wanted to be a part of the event.

Periscope is a great example how a usual idea can become outstanding by using just a little more imagination! This app taught us that you should always pay attention to people’s needs and desires. Follow the feedbacks, ask for opinions and you will see what the community is willing to experience at this exact moment.

IFart

IFart can be considered one of the most popular ‘classic’ gag apps on the mobile market. Who doesn’t love simple jokes from childhood? The publishers of this app thought it a great idea and converted an old fart cushion into a virtual app for mocking friends and passers’ by.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that you should rush and make another fart app, but this can be a great lesson to those, who think that it is impossible to enter the market without brand new ideas.

Think of the classical games you enjoyed and decide whether they can be transformed into an app! What can be easier?

Remember, nothing is impossible and you have all the tools to achieve your goals! By using all these advices and recommendations, learning more about success stories of other apps and listening to the users, you will surely create a profitable idea for your mobile app.