Coming up with a novel idea is the starting ground for anyone eager to develop the next great mobile application, but what are the next steps after the idea has been born? Not only does an eye-catching design and an intuitive user experience serve as powerful tools for creating a successful application, but it is essential in developing a comprehensive plan to reach new users, build momentum, and possibly even achieve a highly-coveted spot on the top downloads charts. Before an app can launch into the stratosphere, however, the following key components need to be addressed. With hard work, dedication, and a bit of luck, your application might just become the next Angry Birds, Clash of Clans or Snapchat!

1. Develop a Highly-Specific Vision

When creating a mobile app, it’s easy to get carried away with extra features, bonus content, and outlandish design. Unfortunately, these components can easily detract would-be downloaders and cause your app to fall down the rabbit hole. Rather than trying to create an application that is all things to all users, focus on an idea that solves a specific problem for a specific group of people.

As an AppVentor pondering your next AppIdea, it is vital to fully grasp how smartphone user habits are affecting mobile application adaptation. Rather than dreaming up complex apps that can perform a myriad of diverse tasks, invest your time brainstorming applications that are less broad, and instead have a more streamlined approach or solve a specific problem. In turn, loyalty and user base growth will occur organically, boosting downloads and thus climb the charts.

Marketers tackle this challenge in a number of different ways. For example, Inc. Magazine recommends listing out the various attributes of your product as a means of better understanding what you have to offer. For example, if you were to write about a product like Instagram, you might want to list the following features:

• Allows users to share photos with friends
• Provides a simple way to exchange private messages
• Creates a community of like-minded individuals, through the use of hashtags and locations.

You could likely list several more factors in your attempt to explore the benefits Instagram offers, but you understand the premise. A very simple app doesn’t just do one thing well—instead, it performs several features simultaneously, without losing focus on the main objective. Once you’ve established the perks of your product, you’ll better understand who would benefit from downloading the app.

AppVested works diligently to identify very focused demographics in order to market your app accordingly. This might mean targeting a middle-aged professional who works in a particular field, or maybe the target audience falls within the ages of 13-17 year old girls instead. AppVested’s team of marketing pros work to determine whether an app should engage affluent customers, middle class consumers, or perhaps those who earn less than a certain amount per year. They also pinpoint very specific demographics within the target audience, which helps ensure the success of the application. Without this highly targeted marketing approach a great application can fail simply due to the fact that it never reaches it’s prospective audience.

Advertising and marketing encompasses a wide assortment of mediums and techniques—from traditional print ads, sponsored messages on social media platforms to pay-per-click marketing, the list goes on and on. By partnering with AppVested, your funded AppIdea will be given a comprehensive marketing package that ensures your app captures the attention of its target audience. Rather than flailing around aimlessly in an attempt to get people to download your new application, the AppVested approach ensures your app finds success within the niche market identified. It’s merely one of the incredible benefits of the AppVested model.

As the Wall Street Journal explains, many large, multinational companies used to rely on strategic planning as one of their key tools in ensuring a healthy future for their organizations. The global economic crisis in 2008 dramatically changed how these businesses think about their products and services, however. Instead of planning for a longterm future with fixed variables, these businesses have had to learn to become increasingly flexible with their marketing, research, and development strategies. It’s quite simple to draw a correlation with application development.

Thousands of new applications are made available each and every day, which is one of the reasons it’s so essential to create a thorough plan before launching a new app. Competition is incredibly cutthroat, and new operating systems, devices, and products can change the market with the drop of a hat. Rather than setting the future approach in stone, we pay close attention to the market and the consumers we think would benefit from your app idea. If certain events change the marketing approach altogether, so be it! By partnering with AppVested, your app’s development isn’t taken lightly; it is approached as a complex cycle of research, development, problem solving and strategy.

5. Building Clout through Ongoing Engagement

Once your application finally becomes available on app stores around the world, it’s only natural to expect a snowball of great success. In all reality, many of the apps that we think of as overnight successes actually spent months gaining momentum. Once a certain point is reached, the momentum builds on itself exponentially, but many app developers will never experience that phase in their product’s deployment whatsoever.

Apps are only as good as the people behind them, and your product’s launch provides the perfect opportunity to prove this principle. Many app developers use social media to launch a new product, thanks to its affordability and ease of use. Others develop a wide number of diverse methods to build clout in the real world, while still others instead focus on engaging with the press. All of these techniques have merit, and some can prove quite successful. The underlying theme is simply a commitment to continual engagement.

At AppVested, we work to engage app users and spread the word about new releases at they occur. According to some estimates, brand engagement increases by 28% when user-generated content is coupled with professional marketing techniques. Furthermore, Nielsen explains that 77% of all consumers are likely to purchase a new product when they receive a recommendation from a friend or family member. For this reason alone, we like to think of app customers as brand ambassadors. The more satisfied the customer base feels with our end product, the more likely they are to share their thoughts with others.

The hard truth is that building and launching a successful app demands an incredible investment of time, energy, and resources. Launching into this space can easily require years of training and a countless number of failed attempts. Rather than attempting to go it alone, partnering with AppVested will allow you to share your incredible AppIdea, and leave all of the hard work up to us. We are highly selective and only choose the very best app ideas we receive for funding and development. We bring our passion and drive to each and every project we engage. Our talented marketing and development teams work tirelessly to ensure that we offer only the best and most opportune AppIdeas on our platform. The work put in behind the scenes before an AppIdea is ever even presented on our site is a key piece to the puzzle. With many working parts, all strategically aligned, we plan on restructuring the way quality apps are brought to market and the successes thereof.