This is a guest post from Matt Lütz and the guys at AppClover who recently built a kick ass iPad magazine. I think they’re doing a great job and I’m working with them to build a resource for people to come and learn about marketing your apps. I’m pumped these guys are doing this and want to share this with everyone. Check out what they’re doing at AppClover.com
Newsstand Apps Are Awesome…And You Can Too!
Okay, so admittedly I’m not a professional writer … and I’ll be 100% honest and transparent here, I’m also NOT a developer. I guess the buzzword for me would be “Appreneur”. I’ve taken a dive headfirst into this market, and have no plans of looking back. However, I’m coming at things from a slightly different angle than most developers… More on that in a bit.
First, I’d like to give you the cliff note’s version of my background–a mini-bio if you will. Not to bore you, or because I feel self-important, but rather to set some context as to what I’m going to share with you.
I came from the stodgy advertising agency world–and yes, I used to drink fancy $4 coffees, wear an obscene amount of black, and drive a trendy Volkswagen… I still drive a Volkswagen mind you, but now it’s a friggin-schweet minivan with cheerios generously sprinkled throughout, with animal crackers aggressively smashed into the carpet… because I have kids 🙂
After my short stint as a Creative Director, I made the switch over into the Internet Marketing world (insert disgusted gasps here), where I’ve spent the last few years, split-testing, creating affiliate relationships, launching online products, split-testing, and did I mention split-testing? And in all my time in both my advertising and marketing careers, the formula to success became abundantly clear to me.
The main ingredient is “implementation”. It doesn’t matter how good an idea, an advertising campaign, a website design is, when it comes to success, without implementation, you’re a sitting duck.
The second key ingredient, as with anything is “opportunity”. I won’t spend too much on that since it’s different for everyone’s situation. But sufficed to say, you should know it when you see it.
And the last ingredient is “authority”… which is basically the amplifying agent in this formula.
Implementation meets opportunity meets authority. Got it? Good.
“But what does this all have to do with apps?” you ask.
Everything.
That’s where we’re at now. If you’re reading this on Carter’s blog, my assumption is you’re an app developer. If you’re an app developer, my second assumption is that you either A) love technology, B) want to utilize it to generate moolah, or C) both A & B, plus you’re also observant enough to recognize the vast opportunity that lies in front of us all in this crazy app industry of ours.
So where do Apple Newsstand Apps fit into all of this?
Well, that’s where the authority piece comes into play 🙂
Watch this video, and you’ll see precisely what I mean, and you’ll see how you can use Newsstand apps to not only generate income, but also use them as a great leverage piece to increase your visibility and exposure (i.e. make yourself known to others). I’m so fired up about this “new frontier” (and yes, that’s a Spock reference), and am excited to share this video with you.
We’re at the onset of what I’m coining the “Mobile Magazine Movement” and we as App Developers (or Appreneurs in my case) are in prime position to swoop in and own the space… and take things to the next level. Both in terms of actually writing the playbook for how this industry will roll out, and in terms of generating a nice pile of shekels for ourselves.
Anyhow, enough jibber-jabber from me. If you’re interested in learning more about Apple Newsstand Apps, watch this video with myself (oh, I’m Matthew Lütz btw), my business partner Len Wright (he’s “El Queso Grande” over at AppClover.com), and one of the leaders in the Newsstand App industry that’s paving the way Matt Goffrey.
In this video, we’ll cover:
• What the whole “Mobile Magazine Movement” is all about
• Newsstand App Marketing
• Monetization Strategies
• Where we see the industry heading
• And a bunch of other stuff (we kind of talk a lot, so we covered tons!)
Hope you liked that “App Roundtable” discussion. If so, stay tuned as we’ll be doing another one in the near future and sharing it with you here. We’ll be covering stuff a bit deeper, like how to actually create one of these bad boys, and how MONOLITHIC this market actually is… you know, stuff like that.
Anyhow, if you have any questions or have a comment, leave it down below, as I’d love to hear your feedback.
About Matt Lütz
Founded and ran a 7-figure boutique advertising agency catering to international client (i.e. got to take lots of “business trips” to the Caribbean)? Yup. Worked as an online and affiliate marketing gun-for-hire on multiple 7-figure product launches? Been there done that. So what was the natural next step for Matthew Lütz? Apps of course 😛
As Co-Founder and COO of AppClover.com, Matthew, along with his business partner and CEO Len Wright, are working diligently at creating and maintaining a global app marketing and monetization online resource hub and community, along with publishing the world’s first monthly app marketing and monetization mobile magazine – AppreneurMagazine.com, and building a platform for people to publish their own Apple Newsstand app, called Appzine Machine – whew!
And when Matthew’s not doing all that work stuff, he leads a pretty quiet life with his family in California … well, as quiet as it can be with a 3.5 and a 16 month old 😉
Thanks Guys. Very interesting video. Definitely gets the wheels churning. Do content providers typically ask for revenue share or are they happy enough with prospective traffic generated by sharing a link to their blog? How do you all typically structure those arrangements? One-off or recurring? I’m sure it’s up to the e-zine creator but any baseline knowledge would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Hey Blake – glad you enjoyed it!
Regarding content providers, the real motivation for them is and should be the exposure to a new audience (i.e. your list, and your newsstand subscribers), plus the ability to say “I was featured in X magazine” They are usually happy just to share their content. That said however, the other thing we do with contributors is a “content swap”. We write an article for their magazine, blog, newsletter, they do it for ours.
Another option is to offer a free ad – maybe a 1/4 page advertisement in your magazine in exchange for a couple of articles, or an interview, or something to that effect.
The other thing to keep in mind is that since these magazines aren’t online, or web-based, you can ask people to let you use re-purposed articles from their websites/blogs/newsletters/reports/etc. Chances are, it’s going to be easier to get a “yes” from them if you ask them to do as little work as possible. Basically you can ask them to give you something that’s just laying around (but still valuable content) and in exchange you’ll give them exposure and new leads… they’ll more often than not say “yes”. Then, when your magazine gets more popular, you get more subscribers, etc. You can start asking people for exclusive content
As far as structuring… the looser the better. We find that typically if we try and hold people to writing X number of articles for us, or giving tight deadlines and timelines, we hear more “no’s” than “yes’s”. To give you an idea, we have right now 29 pieces of content heading our way to use on both our website (appclover.com) and magazine (appreneurmagazine.com)… when they’re going to come in, not sure… but if you ask enough potential contributors, you’ll get more than your share of information to fill a few issues 😉
Hope that helped – if you have any more questions, feel free to let me know.
Carter,
Once again- tremendous content. Can’t help but feeling like I’m staring at huge opportunity. Every post you put up gives me serious value to add to my projects.
Thanks again. Now back to work.
-Chad
Thanks for this video, very helpful as I just release a travel magazine in the newsstand Jungle and my main struggle is how to promote it.
Right on man. Check out David Janner’s app magazine called Make App Mag. He’s a great newsstand marketer and could give you really good tips.
Carter
Do you need to have an existing blog, website or user base to really get something like this started? Or can you use this platform as your introduction to the world so to speak. I am interested in a fashion oriented magazine. How do you launch such a venture without a clear network, audience, or any proven authority in the field? Do you have to offer your magazine for free at first and then try to use advertising and other in app purchases to make revenue?
Curious – check out http://www.apptopia.com and reach out to those guys. They can help you out.
Carter