What I learned spending $30,000 marketing my indie app

In this video, I share the lessons I’ve learned after investing $30,000 into marketing my app over the past three years. For an indie app developer, it’s a significant amount, and I dive into why I chose to spend it, where it went, and what came out of it. I discuss the challenges of getting attention in today’s competitive market and why I decided to focus on sponsoring podcasts and YouTube channels in the Apple and tech world. I also explain my goals for this marketing effort—building brand awareness rather than immediate conversions—and the results I’ve seen, including increased sales, recognition from Apple, and turning this into my full-time job. If you’re an indie developer or just curious about the business side of app development, this is for you! 0:00 Intro 1:41 Why spend money for marketing? 3:54 Where did I market? 4:30 Why I chose those channels 8:17 My goals 12:23 The results 18:06 Some advice 19:55 Outro ======================== LINKS Sofa's Website: https://sofahq.com Download Sofa from the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1276554886 Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.hickman.studio/newsletter Get my other templates https://www.hickman.studio/shop Join the Sofa Discord Community https://discord.gg/exH55ZKB9b Follow Me on Threads https://www.threads.net/@shawnhickman Follow Me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/shawnhickman/ Follow Me on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/shawnhickman.me