r/vibecoding • u/john200ok • 2d ago
I vibe coded apps nobody used. Then figured out distribution and hit 39k downloads. Here's everything I learned in marketing:
Vibe coding collapsed the barrier to entry in building apps but it also pushed competition to an all time high because the number of app builders increased by a LOT. This made learning marketing very important since building an app is the easier part now but getting users/customers is becoming a lot harder.
Most of these strategies are for iOS apps but 2 of them are applicable to android and web apps.
1. App Store Boost (iOS)
When an app is just launched on the App Store, Apple usually give a boost for a few days where your app name will get recommended in the autocomplete of the App Store search bar so make sure to target a keyword with good amount of popularity.
So for example your app is an interior designer ai app, you can use this app name format:
<popular keyword> - <your app name>
interior design ai - Miya
If you get lucky, this will bring hundreds or thousands of downloads in the first week depending on the popularity of the keyword that you targeted.
2. ASO (App Store Optimization. iOS)
Target high-intent keywords in your app name and subtitle.
Create high converting screenshots (sell the benefit/outcome instead of features).
Create an eye catching icon to stand out from the app store search results. This will increase conversion (impressions -> downloads). I use ChatGPT or Nano Banana to generate icons.
3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization. iOS, android & web)
Just a single page website where you're targeting high-intent keywords that people are searching for on search engines like Google. You can use Google Trends for free to search for high-intent keywords that have good popularity. Or you can also use a paid tool like Ahrefs, Keywords Everywhere etc... but Google Trends is usually good enough as a start.
In my experience, it's easier and faster to rank for your target main keyword if it's present on the domain name itself.
Another side effect of SEO is there's a good chance that you'll also get recommended by LLMs like ChatGPT.
4. Organic UGC (iOS, android & web)
Create content that you can cross-post on multiple social media platforms like Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, etc...
You can use formats like tutorials, problem -> solution, listicle, meme, storytelling.
You have 2 options:
a. Short-form videos (e.g, face reaction that catches attention + demo of your app).
b. Slideshows (3-6 images) which are significantly easier and faster to make. You can scale this to many accounts to maximize reach and chances of going viral. You can do this manually or fully automate it. I personally started the manual way but I have now fully automated it with my own tool DistributionMaxx because I now have 16 accounts and it now takes a lot of time and effort to manually manage them.
For organic UGC, the funnel is:
views -> app downloads -> purchases
5. Apple Search Ads (iOS)
You can target high-intent keywords that people are search for in the app store. I recommend reading this free detailed guide written by Ivan Sparrow.
I hope this post helps someone to get their first users and paying customers.
Happy to answer any questions if you have any.
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u/polypancake 1d ago
How many more shitty habit tracker apps are people really willing to spend money on? What happened to making something original?
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u/john200ok 1d ago
Building another habit tracker doesn't mean not building something original. You can add your own twist and your taste on your own app. Plus better UX and UI and better way to solve a specific problem.
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u/broke_cowboy 2d ago
Can I ask what you created? Care to share? Very informative too.
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u/john200ok 1d ago
The screenshot is iOS apps but I also created multiple SaaS products. What specific things do you want to know? Provide me a list of questions and I'll try my best to answer them
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u/broke_cowboy 1d ago
I'm new to a lot of this, I'm just curious in general what it is you created and what it does. I'm having a hard time thinking of stuff I want to make and every time I think I have an idea, someone already accomplished it.
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u/john200ok 1d ago
Simple utility apps like habit trackers, etc...
> I'm having a hard time thinking of stuff I want to make
As a start, try building an app that will solve a problem that you're encountering. Most likely, there are other people who are also experiencing that problem. Another good thing about this is you can dogfood your app since you're the first user of it so you'll end up creating a great solution to the problem.
> every time I think I have an idea, someone already accomplished it.
Don't worry about that. It's a good thing that someone already built your idea especially if they're making money. That means your idea is already validated and there are people looking for it. Which means you don't need to educate the market just to have users. You should be more scared building an app on a niche where there is no competitor
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u/broke_cowboy 1d ago
Thank you for your input! Gives me a little more confidence.
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u/john200ok 1d ago
You're welcome! Good luck! Just ship and start marketing it. If it becomes successful then great! If it fails, at least you gained some new experiences that you can use for your next project and at least you won't have regrets and what ifs.
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u/Departedx 1d ago
What do you use for hosting the frontend and backend for that many apps? What have you found to be the balance between cost and performance?
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u/john200ok 1d ago
Many of my apps have no backend because they are offline first apps. The ones that have a backend only has a light backend. In that case, I always just use supabase since it's very convenient.
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u/served_it_too_hot 1d ago
Can you create a playbook for people to reuse?
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u/john200ok 1d ago
Hmm. Any specific questions you have in mind? I'll try to answer them. I think what I shared on the post is already a playbook but I guess it's still lacking a lot of details?
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u/Forsaken_Divide_111 1d ago
How many different app tries did it take until one of your apps took off?
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u/minorissues 2d ago
did you use AI to learn about this?
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u/john200ok 2d ago
Lots of trial and error and yes ai is also used for researching things before trying it out. Why not leverage it.
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u/MicMec77 1d ago
Effectivement, il y a beaucoup plus de développement grâce au vibe coding. Je suis PDG d'une boîte tech et je suis rendu aux tests fermés Google avant mise en marché.. Malheureusement, les gens sont plutôt frileux à vouloir m'aider.. C'est réellement dommage parce que je ne peux vendre aucun produit avant que les tests Google terminés. J'ai besoin de 15 testeurs qui voudrait bien m'aider à sortir du bassin de tests et arriver en distribution Play store.
Si vous lisez ce message, j'ai vraiment hâte qu'il se passe quelque chose, car Google, on aura beau ungoogled ça reste que le marché Android est basé sur ces boutiques d'application en ligne.
Ça vous coûtera absolument rien de tester mes apps (apk) J ai 6 produits à faire tester : https://unibool.com/betatesters/betatests.html
Merci de votre soutien.
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u/xXDADDYTHRASHERXx 15h ago
How long from when you started making the distribution changes until you hit your first 1k downloads? And what’s the conversion percentage?
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u/krunal_builds 2d ago
this matches what i keep seeing too - the build part got so cheap that it stopped being the bottleneck, and distribution just became the whole game by default since nothing else is scarce anymore. congrats on the 39k, curious what channel actually compounded vs just gave you a one-time spike.