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Clarity

Giacomo Balli

San Francisco Bay Area

Giacomo Balli is an independent technology advisor in San Francisco. He gives owners and CEOs a written second opinion on expensive software, AI, app and vendor decisions before they commit the money. He has shipped iOS apps to the App Store since 2010 and sells no development or software.

https://bigballi.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/giacomoballi/

$2.50/min

1 Call

1 Review

26 minutes
Avg. call

Innovation iOS Mobile Apps mobile Monetization Mobile applications Mobile Technology Mobile Devices iPhone Application Development Cross-platform Development

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Mobile

I have been involved in mobile since it started.

http://giacomoballi.com/blog

Answers 38
Reviews 1

Answers

Giacomo Balli answered

What is the best and most cost efficient way to get exposure and downloads for my iphone app?

Sorry, no answer without more details.
However, some food for thought:
1) cost efficient depends where you revenue comes from.
2) exposure ≠ downloads
3) depends on product & demographic.

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Mobile applications

Mobile Marketing

iPhone apps

Giacomo Balli answered

I want to submit a guest blog post with app marketing tips. Can you recommend a couple popular sites? Thanks!

all the big ASO and mobile marketing tools companies have blogs such as Fiksu, TapSense, Apptamin etc.
Why wouldn't you start your own?

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Marketing

Giacomo Balli answered

What is the one thing I should focus the majority of my time in my startup?

If you should focus on only one thing, it is not your startup (you need partners/co-founders).
You can allow yourself to focus on one thing only if you properly delegate other aspects... and if you do this, you should already know what to focus on.

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Entrepreneurship

Marketing Strategy

Startup Consulting

Giacomo Balli answered

Where Can I find more clients for iOS Development Jobs?

Once you're good they usually come to you...
You might want to try reaching out to existing business in your area but it depends on what you have experience building.
If you have free-time, you might also want to consider creating a skinnable template to be sold to multiple businesses.

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iOS Development

iPhone Application Development

Giacomo Balli answered

I have very little business knowledge but I have found a gap in the market, how would I find a trustworthy business partner with industry knowledge?

Hate to answer a question with a question but...
How do you identify a gap if you don't have industry knowledge?

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Mobile applications

Giacomo Balli answered

After identifying target market for a startup. What are some sure-fire ways of targeting the potential users? How to get the first customer?

There is no sure-fire way. As long as you look for these "shortcuts" or "safe" options you will not succeed.
However, I'd advise tapping into the niche where the targets hangs out:
1) sheltered from mass traffic
2) odds are user knows what you're trying to do (first versions are never perfect)
3) they're willing to pay more than others down the line.

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Startups

Marketing

Giacomo Balli answered

What frustrates you most about mobile marketing?

I wish there were an easy system to provide download attribution.

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Mobile Marketing

mobile

Giacomo Balli answered

In looking at the answers about online marketing I've been getting here, the "experts'" blogs have little readership. Is their advice still good?

In italy you have a saying along the lines of: "Doctors usually suffer from what they cure"... meaning they're too busy being good and helping others do that one thing that they don't do it for themselves.
I see the same for myself: I have 50+ apps in the App Store but unfortunately none of them are at levels I help my clients reach. Greatness requires time & effort, which we have a limited amount of.
In short, just because they haven't implemented what they preach doesn't mean they're frauds. However, always remember to make your own choices.

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Social Media Marketing

Content Marketing

Online Marketing Strategy

Giacomo Balli answered

How do I run a closed beta test for my mobile application? Development will be finished in 3 weeks.

When the waiter asks if they want dessert, he should also drop a card with URL/qr code to the app.
Depending on your flow, it will point to your landing page or directly to testflight (where they register to download the beta, you get their email also from here).

They key is to have real early adopters.
With this system, you:
- make it easy to discover the app
- give them a chatting/funny topic (will remember experience)
- have "true" adopters since they are at that restaurant

...might also suggest to snap a picture with a restaurant mascot for the picture they share related to their dining experience.

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Mobile applications

Software Development

Usability Testing

Giacomo Balli answered

What are the best strategies and resources for doing effective app store optimisation?

There is so much to be said about this… It's like asking the same for SEO, 10 years ago.
App Store Optimization (ASO) implies leveraging to elements: enhance visibility (high rank in results) and improving conversion (compelling artwork).
Although there are common strategies apps usually implement to achieve this, the tactics will be very different depending on target demographic, competition and nature of the app.
you can find more details (multiple posts) here: http://giacomoballi.com/?s=app+store+optimization

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Mobile Marketing

App Store

iOS

Giacomo Balli answered

How to learn sales quickly?

The high-level answer as you can't.
Sales encompasses many aspects and techniques that you can "learn" (as in being able to do rather than just knowing only through practice). When you are selling, the emotional/human factor influences every single aspect of a sale and therefore you need experience to find the best strategy but then be able to adapt tactics on the fly.

However, to give you something useful, you should pick one or two of the elements of sale, and read about them. Depending on your product/market/channel, you will be able to pick form different pools.

I personally like negotiation and price psychology.
Another great thing about sales is that it doesn't have to be about making an actual sale. You can abstract the teachings and apply them to everyday life with much more casual interaction you can use to practice.

Happy selling!

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Sales

Reviews

Great advice from Giacomo on monetization for mobile app publishers. Thanks!

Pietro S. Source: Clarity

Member since December 2012