Branding 101 for Developers - Part 4 of 4

When you just developed your AIR application you are presented with one major, but not unsolvable problem: how to get exposure? In this last part of the series of posts I'll talk on using the correct channels to get your application out there to make it a success.

Get it out there!
I know for a fact that developers are lazy people (myself included). I'd rather write 200 lines of code for some time-consuming task one time instead of writing 250 lines every single time.

Making yourself findable and getting your app noticed is one of the things that takes time and effort to get picked up. Your app does not make itself findable, if it only was that easy... You have to do this yourself. But this is also the fun part of the whole process, because of the responses you get from people (and if you mail them back, it’s also good for the trust you build etc etc).

It also means committing yourself a couple of days after you did your initial release to submitting your application to sites that talk about or review AIR apps, list online start-ups, write on your own blog if you have one, write guest blog posts. Anything to get your word out there.
I have noticed that news in the Flash (and Flex) community gets picked up really fast by other sources, which is a big plus.

There are a couple of sites you can get your application showcased; here is a list I use regularly:

Applications:

• Refreshing Apps - Flex and Flash, AIR in general, reviews and showcase of your app.


• FeedMyApp - They list cool new applications per country and globally.


• Flex.org - Submit link only if you created your app in flex


• Adobe Showcase Submissions - Try to talk to a Adobe employee before submitting, that's always in your favour.
• Adobe AIR Marketplace - they want your app! Adobe is really eager to get the coolest app in their market place (because with your app they dont have content.) And they are still giving away one year developer certificates (from Thawte) worth $300!
• Adobe Feeds - Takes a really long time to get approved, but once you get listed here, you get loads of traffic (of course only if you entice people with what you write...)

People:
- Ask 'big names' to talk about your product. If you know big names in the industry, it helps getting your app out there. My high school teacher used to tell me ‘it’s not what you know, but who you know' . I used to hate him for saying that, but he was right.

Blogs:
Post to technical blogs like;

• Techcrunch
• Killer Startup
• InsideRIA

If your app or start-up is so unique it might help mailing the people at Springwise; they've got a tremendous network of influential people and followers.

Events:
Talking in User Groups -- What you could do is start speaking at events, for instance at Adobe User Groups. The hard part about this is that it might sound like a pitch. Some user groups have a power hour, here you can pitch your product or application.

If you want to do a pitch you can also sign up for the 5 minute start-up pitch from Ryan Carson from Carsonified events

“...This is the end my friend, thank you for calling...”
Like the old saying by Lao Tzu: “Give a Man a Fish, Feed Him For a Day. Teach a Man to Fish, Feed Him For a Lifetime”.

I hope with this article I have inspired you to create. I have given you all the tools and information you need to make your (AIR) application a grand success! So stop thinking about creating the next big thing, go do it!

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