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Integration of AI in app development and marketing

5 min read

From: gregisenberg

Joseph Choy, an expert in consumer app growth, highlights how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming app development and marketing, especially through platforms like TikTok [00:00:11]. He emphasizes that TikTok organic content currently represents the biggest underpriced distribution channel due to the low cost of content creation and distribution [00:01:41].

AI in App Functionality and Development

AI is being increasingly embedded into mobile applications to enhance core functionality and user experience [00:14:31]:

  • Color Analysis Apps: Apps like “What Colors” utilize AI to analyze a user’s hair, skin tone, and eye color to recommend suitable clothing and makeup [00:14:05]. This provides a digital alternative to expensive human consultants [00:14:24].
  • Looksmaxing Apps: The “Umax” app, for instance, scans a user’s face to assess potential for physical appearance improvement, offering tips on aspects like jawline, skin care, and hair [00:41:48].
  • Sports Performance Analysis:
    • Golf Swing Analysis: AI can be used to develop apps that analyze a live view of a user’s golf swing, providing tips on angle and speed for improvement, effectively acting as an AI golf coach [00:23:33]. The alternative of a human coach can be significantly more expensive [00:25:08].
    • MMA and Other Sports: Apps like “KO” for MMA training feature wireframe skeleton overlays to analyze movements, a concept applicable to other sports like tennis, golf, or pickleball [00:30:13].
  • Poker Hand Analysis: AI can power apps that help poker players analyze hand histories and strategies, offering advice on betting and common mistakes [00:29:47]. These can serve as educational tools for beginners [00:30:00].

The recent emergence and improvement of AI vision technologies, such as GPT Vision, make these AI-driven analysis functionalities more accessible and powerful for app developers [00:28:40].

AI in App Marketing Strategies on TikTok

The marketing tactics for apps are increasingly borrowing from the e-commerce space, especially on TikTok [00:02:28]. Many successful strategies involve AI to generate content and optimize distribution:

  • Mass-Producing Content with AI: Companies like Tabs Chocolate, an e-commerce product that scaled to $10 million/year, used mass UGC (User Generated Content) creators to produce content daily [00:03:07]. These tactics are now being applied to consumer SaaS businesses with higher margins [00:03:34].
    • AI-Generated Visuals: Many viral TikTok videos use AI-generated images (e.g., Midjourney) instead of real photos, making content creation faster and easier [00:04:21]. This allows for rapid experimentation with different hooks and visual themes [00:06:48].
    • Slideshows: Surprisingly, slideshows on TikTok (carousels) are performing very well, despite lacking the “human feeling” of influencer videos [00:07:52]. They offer greater scalability and a lower barrier to entry [00:08:16].
  • Leveraging TikTok Shop Creators for Apps:
    • Identifying Opportunities: The TikTok Shop Affiliate Center provides valuable data to identify successful e-commerce creators who are generating high sales volumes [00:11:17].
    • Pivoting to Apps: These creators, skilled in converting views into sales, could be leveraged to promote apps instead of just physical e-commerce products [00:12:39].
    • Utility-Driven Content: Developers can create apps that assist these creators in selling their existing products, such as a skincare app that analyzes a face for before-and-after videos [00:19:16]. This allows apps to be integrated subtly into marketing content, often getting free promotion because the app provides utility for the creators [00:20:29].

Key Marketing Principles Applied to AI Apps

  • TikTok as the New App Store: Unlike the early days of the App Store where discovery was centralized, TikTok, Instagram, and similar platforms are now the primary channels for content discovery and, by extension, app downloads [00:16:39]. Gaining traction on TikTok can significantly boost an app’s App Store optimization (ASO) and organic downloads [00:17:32].
  • Affiliate Marketing and Incentives: TikTok Shop allows brands to upload products and creators to sign up as affiliates, earning commissions [00:09:03]. Some brands offer substantial prizes (e.g., MacBooks, Rolexes, Teslas) to top affiliates to monopolize creator attention, making it hard for competitors [00:10:00].
  • Redefining Influencer Marketing: On TikTok’s “For You Page,” content is prioritized over who created it [00:33:47]. This allows brands to hire creators as “actors” for content creation, even if they have zero followers, rather than paying for their audience [00:35:41]. This makes influencer marketing significantly cheaper and more accessible [00:37:10].
  • Niche Targeting and High LTV: Identifying niches with high Lifetime Value (LTV) customers who are willing to pay more for solutions, such as golfers or poker players, presents a significant opportunity [00:22:51].
  • Capitalizing on “Cult Movements”: Developing apps that cater to existing, deeply rooted online “movements” or ideologies (e.g., looksmaxing, wealth generation) can lead to highly engaged and loyal user bases [00:41:01]. These movements often revolve around universal desires like health, wealth, and relationships [00:43:55].
    • The “Umax” app for looksmaxing capitalized on a deep internet movement focused on physical appearance [00:43:10].
    • Crayo, an app that automates video creation, partnered with YouTubers who teach teenagers how to make money, productizing a “cult of money” course into software [00:44:45].

Prerequisites for Success

While these AI-driven marketing and development strategies offer immense opportunity, it’s crucial that the underlying product is high quality and retentive [00:46:54]. A strong product with good retention metrics allows developers to understand customer lifetime value (LTV) and customer acquisition cost (CAC), enabling more effective and scalable marketing spend [00:47:47]. Without a good product, marketing efforts lead to a “leaky bucket,” where users are acquired but do not stay [00:48:11]. This is critical for organic growth and long-term success.

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