Read: The Four Pillars of iPhone/iPad App Marketing

This text is contributed by Jeffrey Hughes, author of iPhone and iPad Apps Marketing: Secrets to Selling Your iPhone and iPad Apps. He’s put together these four pillars for your consideration. It’s riding high up the Kindle reading list and is currently #13 in the Amazon Electronics book section. For good reason. Here’s what Jeffrey has to say:

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Today’s App Store boasts over 185,000 apps. The competition to get your app recognized is fierce and marketing is no trivial matter. If you want to be successful selling iPhone and iPad apps as a developer, there are four areas of marketing that you must master in order to succeed. These areas are:

• Develop a solid marketing message
• Deliver your message to the right audience
• Price your iPhone/iPad app right
• Implement a marketing plan and follow it

Develop a Solid Marketing Message

Every marketing activity from naming your app to the text you place on the App Store (and many other components) contributes to your overall marketing message. What sets your iPhone/iPad app apart from all your competitors? How can you convey that unique message to your buyers? Let’s face it. There are lots of competitors with similar apps. You must create a unique message that will distinguish your app from the competition. You’ll do this by examining the positioning, target audience, competition and other market conditions to make sure your app conveys it value in a split second. Short, descriptive app names help people remember your app. Icons that visually depict what your app does will give you a leg up on the competition. Keep your app descriptions short and to the point on the App Store and on your product web site.

Deliver Your Message to the Right Audience

With a carefully crafted message you are now ready to deliver your message to the right audience and through the right methods for maximum exposure and effectiveness. There are many ways available to reach different audiences and create demand for your iPhone/iPad apps. These include doing press releases, blogs, reviews, banner ads, and much more. It may take you some time and experimentation to determine the best delivery vehicle for your app message. Demand for your app is created when you help a prospective customer see that you have a solution to their problem. You may pique your audience’s curiosity with a challenging game or puzzle that is both fun and addictive. The demand for most products is already there; it’s just a matter of creating a message that resonates with that audience and gets them to notice your app.

Price Your iPhone/iPad App Right

A key aspect of marketing your iPhone/iPad app is to carefully set your price. Setting your price is not a trivial matter and you should spend some time reviewing similar apps to get a feel for the best price. If your app has more features than other competing apps, don’t be afraid to set your price a little higher. You can learn to sell value over price if you are confident that your app outshines the competition. You must also understand the buyer’s mentality and decision making process as your formulate your app price. If your app is a tool or utility of some sort, you can command a higher price because the buyer already expects to pay a little more for those types of apps. Part of pricing also includes creating promotions and cross selling where possible to expose your app to new groups of buyers.

Implement a marketing plan/launch your app

With the right marketing message and the right audience combined with the right marketing tools and methods, you can create extremely effective marketing campaigns for your apps. Create a marketing plan prior to the development of your app, if possible. The marketing plan is your guide for how to position, price and sell your app against a host of competitors. Your plan should include a definition of your target audience, a list of key competitors, a plan for releasing your app, and a calendar of marketing campaigns.

Marketing your app is an ongoing set of activities that keep your message in front of prospective buyers.

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Nice one Jeffrey. Thank you for taking the time to contribute the text!

Here’s a quick overview of Jeffrey:

Jeffrey Hughes brings over 18 years industry leadership and skills as a marketer, publisher and keynote speaker in high technology industries including such companies as McAfee, Blue Coat Systems, Webroot, and Novell. Hughes is the author of 11 marketing and technology books and numerous trade press articles on high technology marketing topics. His latest book, iPhone and iPad Apps Marketing: Secrets to Selling Your iPhone and iPad Apps, gives independent developers the skill, tip, and tools they need to successfully compete and sell their apps in the highly competitive App Store.

And finally, I couldn’t let Jeffrey go without asking him about his latest app purchase. He tells me it was I Am T-Pain for $2.99 — the infamous autotune app that lets the user modify their voice with robotic sounds. His daughter recently used the app to create a sound track for a video as a school project. “The tools kids have now for doing school assignments is just amazing,” Hughes said, “I never had such technology when I was a kid!”

Me either. I just sounded rubbish… and without T-Pain, I still do.

Thanks Jeffrey. Pick up the book on Amazon.