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Comment by melling | Hacker News Reader

Any advice on cheap marketing, or simply how to get the word out?

I've tried emailing a few blogs to get reviews, and now I'm trying to use Twitter (@h4labs). I'm building iOS language learning software. The apps could still use work but I think I'm approaching "useful."

The one interesting observation that I have is that since I wasn't making many sales at $1.99, I raised my price on Monday to $2.99. As of this morning, I already have as many sales this week as last week. In other words, for the people who want my app, the extra dollar doesn't mean much.

By the way, constructive, even brutal, feedback is always welcome.

http://appstore.com/h4labs

Back to work... gotta get one more release before the holidays.

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Not marketing advice per se, but I highly recommend subscribing to Hack Design [1] and giving more thought to not just the visual design and presentation of your apps, but also the audience. My personal opinion is that non-game indie devs need a niche, what's yours? If you're selling to school kids, then find a good hook. For example, public middle schools in California require Spanish fluency. Sell to the parents of those kids perhaps? Or if you're going after the international tourist, try to combine the language skills with travel info some how: "We'll teach you Spanish before you're plane lands!"

Also, I'm sure I'm not the first one to say it but you've gotta move to iOS7. Do the easy thing and try using all native color scheme. As a design exercise [2] it will help you focus on content.

Good luck!

[1] http://hackdesign.org/ [2] https://medium.com/design-ux/7348987453e3

This has been well received - http://www.quora.com/How-do-I-market-an-iPhone-app-effective...

An invitation for brutal feedback is always a good start!... Graphics -If you update to ios7 customize look, otherwise might be bland completely. I suggest just using the skeumorphic textures to make up for design instead (bad but most viable option). -Needs Better Art / Common Colors (maybe same as language icon) -Too many different apps. It's like dividing & conquering own efforts to make it up the charts. -Good luck... immense competition

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