My app creation and implementation journey has been one of the most challenging but rewarding things I’ve ever done in my life.
During my 15 years as a primary school teacher I found that, more often than not, children didn’t know their times tables any more – a fundamental skill was slipping through the cracks. My strategy to teach children their times tables was to sing them to rock songs. It was so much fun and it always worked really well.
When it was time to go back to work, having left children to bring up my own family, I had to decide whether to go back into the classroom or follow my dream – to give every child the opportunity to learn their times tables the way I taught them, which was great fun…and worked!
So, I had the idea for an app, but no clue on where to start – my app creation and implementation journey has been one of the most challenging but rewarding things I’ve ever done in my life.
From scope creeps, to complete changes in direction, to day-to-day dealing with strange customer enquiries, app creation is not for the faint hearted, I can tell you. However, if you’re passionate, love to learn and believe 100% in what your app can achieve, like I do, then you’re onto a winner already.
App development
The initial stages can of app creation be very trying, frustrating and even heartbreaking. Know what you want your app to do and how you want it to look.
It is so important to have every navigation and page mapped out precisely. Go into way more detail than you think is necessary. Developers are not mind readers – you see the picture in your head, they only have your notes. I am speaking from experience – hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Once you’ve had your concept mapped out, the development is done and the first release is on its way to you, you have this huge expectation that it should be near perfect. It will not be. The finer details and tweaks, and being happy with your product, will come after many releases and all the testing phases. It is trial-and-error. Then, once you do go live, the users will let you know what works and what doesn’t. This process will go on and on and on.
Choose a team that values your idea and that love it and believe in it like you do. This is tough takes time to find, but when you have it, it is fantastic. We collaborated with Brisbane-based mobile app development firm Cloud Downunder and I couldn’t be happier.
Advertising
Advertising is key. One wise guru told me once that one tenth of your costs should be spent on your product or service and the other nine tenths should be spent on marketing.
Facebook has been a brilliant platform for us and videos have been key to promoting to our target market – mums.
I was initially a little daunted about investing in advertising, However, watching the number of downloads in relation to how much we spent on advertising was a no brainer; the numbers don’t lie. Facebook campaigns are an incredible way to get to your target market quickly and provide amazing tools for setting up and monitoring your advertising campaigns.
The more people that have your app on their devices means word of mouth and organic growth will naturally happen. We have spent at least $25,000 so far on Facebook advertising. We also engaged a PR company in Australia to promote Maths Rockx, with online media hits and radio hits all giving us added credibility and web-hit uplifts as we grow our brand presence.
Next week we’ll look at three more ways to make your app stand out – knowing your customers, continuously evolving and giving back to the community.
Jo Otto, Creator, Maths Rockx
