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Coming up is an Apple Feature case study that will just warm your heart and make you want to work with us. Be careful before you watch this. Stay tune.

Get the EXACT email that we used to land an Apple Feature:
https://appmasters.com/appleemail

Transcript:

What is up App Nation? It is Steve P. Young, founder of appmasters.com, the place you go when you want action-packed content in the App Marketing space, cause I deliver the best in-depth content that you won’t find anywhere on YouTube, on the podcast, or on the blog.

And today, I want to share a really, really cool case study of an Apple feature for a client that we did last year, and what he’s been able to do ever since. He’s become a good friend of mine. We text back and forth, and I got his approval to share all this with you, so I’m hoping that you’ll get a ton out of it and see the value that we can add when you want to really drive some downloads for your app. Now, before I go on, I do want to mention this.

Now, any time I share some of the strategies of an Apple feature, and I’m gonna link up some of the blog posts that we wrote and some of the videos that we’ve created recently, but people generally come to me and say, “Hey, how much for an Apple feature?” And I always say, “Look, I don’t sell just an Apple feature, because it’s like selling you an expensive lottery ticket.”

It’s very difficult to get featured, and while we have certain strategies in place that we think will help you and almost get the attention of Apple, we never just want to sell you that, because it is so hard, and again it’s more of this huge spike and you’ll get a ton of downloads if it works out, but the odds are sort of stacked against us. But we think we have a good process in place and as long as you have a really good app.

What I feel we’ve become really good at is I can look at an app, be like, “Okay, that’s actually feature-worthy. We can do this.” So that’s what I feel we’ve gotten good at, but again, I never sell the package by itself, an Apple feature. It’s usually included in any package that you work with us.

Now we’re usually honest with people. I was talking to a potential customer last week, just yesterday actually. I said, “Hey, you know, we’ll help you with this, but I don’t think you’re a good fit right now. I think the designs are a little bit weak, needs a little bit more work.” So that’s what we provide, and we’re pretty honest with it. We can give it a shot still, because it doesn’t hurt, and I’m going to share the strategies that work for us and our past clients, but again, we just don’t sell it.

And the one thing that I’m most proud of is the strategies that we’ve used to get featured by Apple last year, we still use, but we’ve implemented more and different ones that are working better. We’re always improving our strategies to make it better and worthwhile for our clients.

All right, let’s go into the case studies. Here we go, so before I get started, this is the time that I am recording this is around mid-May, but this, I want to show you a couple of different clients that were featured. Something I’m really proud of is we had two clients actually featured by Apple in May of 2000, what is it, 17 right now. So mid-May, we had two of our clients featured in the same week, really proud of the fact, and different categories, too, which is really fun.

So the first one is this app. It’s a language learning app to help kids learn Chinese, and we got this one featured. I’m pretty proud of this one, because if you’ve been following me on Facebook, you’ll remember a few months ago, I asked, “Hey, I’ve got a few icons. We’re testing it. Which one do you think is best?” And this was the winner. This was something I suggested to the client that we actually change the icon around, because I didn’t feel it did the game justice. The game is beautiful, but I felt like the icon was a little bit weak. So they ended up listening to me. We launched it, and we got it featured by Apple so yay.

All right, the next client that was featured in May just a few days later, we got this client featured by Apple, and this is a meditation app, great meditation app, it’s called Mindbliss. And Derek, again I just like to be friends with everybody, so I like to call everybody friends, even though they’re clients as well, But Derek, he and I hit it off too, and he was featured, and I was really proud of that fact with this one, too. And for this one, I actually ended up pitching Apple, because I just felt like, I didn’t even tell them, I said, “Hey, I’m going to send an email to Apple.”

And a few days later, Apple ended up sending him, getting in contact with him and wanting to ask for different artwork, because not only did he get a feature in the main row, he also got a banner right here in iTunes as well. So really, really cool, and Apple wanted some artwork from him, and he had to deliver that. So really cool stuff that I’m super excited about.And if you’re keeping up, May is not over yet, so I might have one more under my belt, but that’s 11 Apple features in the last 16 months, really, really proud of that stat, all right?

Okay, so let’s go into the case study that I want to remind you of. So let’s turn back the time a little bit. So this was one of our very, very first Apple features. It happened in February or March 2016. It’s called Bumper Jump, and this is the case study I want to share with you. So Austin, again he created this app, and came to me, said, “Hey, Steve, I’m considering.” He was asking for advice. “I’m considering either publishing this myself or seeking a big publisher.” And I said, “Hey, Austin, this is a really good game.”

Again, I felt like, gut-wise, I can sort of tell if it’s Apple feature worthy or not. I said, “This is a really good game, man. Let’s work together. I think I’ve got some strategies that can help you get featured, and if you don’t get featured, this is not going to be the last game you create. So you can always go to a bigger game publisher, but if you do get featured, a lot of great things can happen after that.” So let’s give it a shot and see what happens, and luckily for me, I was right. And I’m not always right, so don’t listen to me.

Just because I’m right this time does not mean I’m always right. There’s been plenty of apps that I felt like had a good shot that did not get featured, but this one did get featured, and did great. He was really happy with it. We did other growth hacks to really take advantage of the Apple feature, and here’s what happened, and this is the best part of it.

So this was about February, March 2016, 2016, okay? We met up recently for GDC 2017. There he is, and there I am back there. It’s a really cool thing I like to do. So if you’re ever in town for a big conference, let me know. I’ll try to organize these dinners. We all got together, a few of us, and a few weeks later, during that dinner, he actually showed me another app. He’s like, “Hey, here’s a few more apps that I’m working on, a few more games.” I was like, “This one’s really cool.”

At that time, he didn’t really, I don’t think he minds me sharing this. He was like, “I don’t know. I’m not sure.” And I’m like, “No, this is a really cool game, dude, like you should try to pitch this thing and get it featured by Apple again.” Because he was like thinking maybe a publisher again, and he ended up listening. I don’t know if it was me, but I’m just saying. He went ahead and published it himself, and guess what happened?

This week, as I’m recording this mid-May, he got it featured by Apple again. So another app of his featured by Apple, and the coolest part? He didn’t use me. Right? He’s like, “Hey, Steve.” I was like, “Did you launch this?” He’s like, “Yeah, I did launch it.” I’m like, “Did you feature or not?” He’s like, “I don’t know.” We were just texting back and forth, and I said, I was looking through the app store, because I’m always looking through the app store, and I noticed it. I was like, “Hey, dude, you got it.” He’s like, “Yeah, yeah. I know that already.”

So he ended up getting a feature for it, and that’s what I’m really proud of, and that’s why wanted to create this case study, and texted him, “Hey, you mind if I share your story?” Because he’s been able to now get, so we helped the first app, Bumper Jump get featured, but the two apps Sticky Space and now Clock Hop, he’s gotten featured just by using our strategies. He now has a connection to Apple that he can now leverage, and he’s able to leverage.

And that’s what really makes me feel good because, obviously, he still credits me, which I thank you, Austin, but you’re the one creating really good games. But at the same time, that feels good. One, he’s always credits me, so I appreciate that, and two, he’s able to really now live the indie success story and really make his games, and have a relationship with Apple and get his games featured. And that’s the proudest thing.

His last app that’s on here, he actually launched way before we even worked together. So ever since we’ve been starting to work together, the two apps that he did launch, he’s been able to get it featured by Apple. And that’s the coolest thing in my opinion, because I’m not here, I’m playing the long game. There’s going to be a ton more apps. I’m not here, trying to be like, “This is my strategies.” Because I know strategies are going to change, and I know, I trust myself, that I’m going to come up with more strategies that might be working in 2018 for an Apple feature than they are in 2017.

So those strategies will always change, but this is what I love. I want to set everyone up for success, and that’s what I believe I can do really well. I hope that was heartwarming, right? Was it? That is the Apple feature success story. Look, we’ve created a lot of blog posts. I’m thinking about putting something together that will show you exactly how we do it. I don’t want to sell it, because again, it is a hard thing to do, but if you do want to see our process, let me know.

But again, I’m going to link up all the strategies in the show notes and in the video, you’ll get Linked up to all the different content that we have around an Apple feature, and we’ll put a complete guide together, just linking out to different blog posts that you can read through and see the tools that we use, the timeline you need to follow. The email pitch is there.

So if you want that email pitch, just go to appmasters.com/appleemail. You can get an exact email script that we’ve used to get our apps featured in the format, a template that you can follow and just copy and paste and add your own text, so you can pitch Apple as well.

All right guys, thank you guys. Again, if you’re watching this on YouTube, hit the subscribe button somewhere. Who cares? You’ll find it. You’re smart, and if you’re on the podcast, I’d love for you to subscribe as well. It’s appmasters.com/iTunes and go to the blog.

If you want to work with us, just go to appmasters.com, and find the Work With Us little link, and just fill out the form, and we’ll get together and talk a little bit more. All right, thank you guys for watching. I’ll see you next time.

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