Why the quote doesn't include marketing.

Cost & Funding · 5 min read

A client asked me recently, "So when we launch, how do people find it?" It was a good question. And the fact that it came up three months into the project, not three months before it, tells you everything about how most first-time founders think about marketing.

They don't. Not because they're careless. Because nobody tells them. The design quote covers design. The development quote covers code. Neither one covers the part where actual humans discover your app exists and decide to download it. That's a separate discipline, a separate budget, and a separate conversation that should be happening much earlier than it usually does.

Design quotes cover design. Development quotes cover code.

This seems obvious once you hear it. But most first-time founders assume that somewhere in the process, someone is handling how the app gets in front of users. They're not. A designer's job is to figure out what the app should be and how it should work. A developer's job is to build it. Marketing is an entirely different skill set with its own tools, strategies, and costs.

It's the same as building a shop. The architect designs the layout. The builder constructs it. But nobody walks in unless you put up a sign, run some ads, or tell people it exists. The shop doesn't market itself. Neither does your app.

What app marketing actually involves

App Store Optimisation is the starting point. That's your app title, subtitle, description, keywords, screenshots, and preview video. Research from AppTweak shows that 65% of app downloads come directly from App Store search. If your listing isn't optimised, you're invisible in the place where most people look.

Beyond the store listing, there's paid acquisition. Social media ads, Google Ads, influencer partnerships. There's content marketing. A website, a blog, maybe a landing page that captures interest before launch. There's PR. Getting covered by industry publications or local media. And there's direct outreach. Talking to potential users, attending events, building relationships in your space.

None of that is free. And none of it is something your designer or developer should be doing. You need someone who understands app marketing specifically. Not general digital marketing. App marketing. The mechanics are different, the metrics are different, and the strategies that work for a website don't necessarily work for an app.

When to start thinking about it

During design. Not after launch. The design phase is when you're making decisions about your app's name, its visual identity, its value proposition, and how it communicates with users. Those decisions directly affect your marketing. If you wait until the app is built to think about how you'll position it, you've missed the window to shape the product in a way that makes marketing easier.

I connect clients with a specialist app marketing partner during the design phase so that marketing thinking runs in parallel with product thinking. That way, by the time the app launches, the marketing strategy is ready to go. Not an afterthought. A plan.

Budget for it. If your total project budget is $80,000 to $100,000, set aside at least $5,000 to $15,000 for marketing in year one. More if your app depends on reaching a critical mass of users quickly. Launching without a marketing budget is like printing business cards and leaving them in a drawer. The work is done. Nobody knows.

Sources
App Store Search and Downloads (AppTweak) - 65% of app downloads come directly from App Store search.
App Marketing Guide (Business of Apps) - Overview of app marketing channels, costs, and strategies.

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