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Posted by on Nov 8, 2012 in Apps, Marketing, Mobile, Startups | 0 comments

A company/app named Waze

A company/app named Waze

Let me say first that, while I admire what Waze has done now surpassing 30 Million Users with the average user spending 440 minutes in the app each month. Today, the company is rolling out a new product called Waze Ads, a location-guided ad platform for local business owners and big brands that want to attract the attention of nearby drivers. 

Waze Communications Director Michal Habdank-Kolaczkowski said,

"the new product seeks to capitalize on the fact that consumers have begun to adapt to mobile advertising. Of course, given the limited screen space, ads on phones and tablets can be intrusive, so brands have been on a mission to find smarter ways to make those ads more effective (and less obnoxious). Waze believes that the key to this is both frequency and the ability to target advertising to those actively demonstrating intent."

 

What you should really take away from their successes is this..

 

Waze has done nothing different than what any of you can do.

But it all starts with Market Research.


Way too often do I see Developers spending all their time on creating the most amazing app in the world (at least in their minds) and forget about market research.  I can't stress enough HOW IMPORTANT Market Research is to your business.

 

Personally, to me - Market Research and Marketing are more important than product development.

 

Here's generally how it goes..

 

  • Excellent product + Excellent Marketing = Excellent sales (Apple iPhone 5)
  • Mediocre product + Excellent marketing = Good Sales. ( Samsung Galaxy S3)
  • Low quality product + Excellent marketing = Some sales. (Nokia Lumia with Windows 8)

--

  • Excellent product + Mediocre marketing = Some sales (Below the fold - top 100)
  • Mediocre product + Mediocre marketing = Some sales every now and then (Below top 500)
  • Low quality product + bad marketing = App Graveyard - Seriously, go ask your developer for a refund.
 
Seriously folks.  I say this to help you, and I hope it makes sense.
 
Let's get back into my original point of what I was talking about Waze..

Let's look at what they've done right so far.. 

 
Conducted heavy market research and solicited feedback from their users to make continual improvements
 
Solved a major problem with a high quality (excellent) solution. (I am of course referring to Apple Maps here)

Integrated social features which falls under "viral marketing"
 
Implemented an appealing form of advertising that is less obnoxious and more appealing to their users (determined by the solicited feedback from their users and observing the metrics and analytics of how their users use their application)
 
For now, that's all I have but I'm sure by taking what you've learned here and applying it in your own market research it will help you in the development of future apps.
 
Cheers,
 
Kevin
 

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