Solved: Low-Effort App Marketing Strategies for Indie Dev

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. It's a classic scenario, and frankly, a good problem to have. You've built a solid product that people are finding and paying for organically. That's more than most app developers can say, so well done on that front. The fact you're at $700/month with zero marketing spend is a massive proof of concept.

You're a developer, not a marketer, and you want to stay focused on the product. That makes perfect sense. The constant grind of posting on socials, making videos, and writing content is a full-time job in itself, and it's often a poor use of a technical founder's time. Your instinct to look for "low-effort" strategies is the right one, but I'm going to reframe it slightly. What you really need are high-leverage strategies. Things where a concentrated upfront effort builds a system that then runs and generates results semi-passively, freeing you up to do what you do best.

This is precisely where paid advertising comes in. It's not about shouting into the void on social media; it's about building a predictable, scalable machine for acquiring customers. You build the machine, you fuel it with a budget, and you tune it. It's a system, and that should appeal to a developer's mindset. Let's walk through what that machine looks like.

We'll need to look at your offer first...

Before we even think about ads, we have to be crystal clear on the offer. Right now, your 'product' is a second number app. But your 'offer' is how a user experiences it and the value they get from it. This is the first and most common failure point for any campaign. A weak offer will kill the best ads, every single time.

I see so many founders, especially technical ones, get obsessed with features. They build a brilliant piece of tech, but they struggle to get traction because they haven't nailed the offer. The offer is the gateway to the product. For a SaaS or app business, the gold standard offer is almost always a free trial or a freemium plan. You're selling a recurring service, so the biggest hurdle is getting someone to install the app and integrate it into their life. You have to remove as much friction as possible to make that first step happen.

Asking for money upfront for an unknown app from an unknown developer is a high-friction request. A user has no idea if it'll work, if it's reliable, or if it even solves their problem properly. The "Request a Demo" button is the classic B2B version of this sin, but "Buy Now" on an app store page can be just as arrogant. It presumes the user should trust you implicitly from a few screenshots.

Your offer’s only job is to deliver a moment of undeniable value—an "aha!" moment that makes the user sell themselves on subscribing.

• Freemium: Can you offer a limited version for free, forever? Maybe one number with a limited number of texts or calls per month. This gets them in the door, using the app, and seeing its value. The upgrade to a paid plan then becomes a natural next step once they hit a usage limit or need a premium feature.
• Free Trial: A time-limited, full-featured trial (e.g., 7 or 14 days) is also incredibly powerful. Let them experience the full power of the product. Let them feel the relief of having a separate number for their business calls. When the trial ends, the thought of losing that benefit is often enough to drive the subscription. Crucially, don't ask for credit card details upfront if you can avoid it. The conversion rate will be significantly higher.

The core idea is to let the product do the selling. Your ads aren't meant to convince someone to pay you £10 a month. They are meant to convince someone to take a zero-risk action: install an app and try it for free. That's a much, much easier sell. If your product is as good as you say, a percentage of those free users will convert. Your job is to get as many relevant people trying it as possible.

I'd say you need to define your ICP's nightmare...

Okay, so who are these 'relevant people'? This is the next critical piece of the puzzle. Most marketing advice will tell you to build an "Ideal Customer Profile" (ICP) based on demographics. "Men aged 25-40 who live in cities and are interested in technology." This is utterly useless. It leads to generic ads that speak to no one.

You have to stop defining your customer by who they are and start defining them by their pain. Specifically, you need to become an expert in their urgent, expensive, career-threatening, or privacy-invading nightmare. Your ICP isn't a person; it's a problem state.

Your app provides a second phone number. So what? Who desperately needs that, and why? Let's brainstorm a few potential nightmares your app solves:

Nightmare Persona 1: The Fledgling Freelancer

• The Nightmare: She's a talented graphic designer who just quit her job to go freelance. She's put her personal mobile number on her new website and business cards. Now, she's getting calls from potential clients at 10 PM on a Saturday. Her work-life balance is non-existent. She cringes every time her phone rings during dinner, not knowing if it's her mum or a difficult client. She looks unprofessional and feels like her personal life has been invaded. The pain is a loss of professionalism and personal boundaries.

Nightmare Persona 2: The Online Dater

• The Nightmare: He's been using dating apps and wants to move the conversation to WhatsApp, but he's hesitant to give out his real number to a complete stranger too soon. He's heard horror stories from friends about stalkers or people who won't stop calling after one bad date. He needs a temporary, disposable number to protect his privacy and safety until he knows the person better. The pain is a fear for personal security.

Nightmare Persona 3: The Marketplace Seller

• The Nightmare: She sells furniture on Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree. Every listing requires her to give out her phone number to coordinate pickups. She's now getting spam texts and calls from random people who saw her old listings. She feels exposed and regrets having her personal number floating around on the internet for anyone to find. The pain is the loss of privacy and the annoyance of unwanted contact.

Do you see the difference? We're not talking about demographics. We're talking about real, visceral problems. When you understand the nightmare, you can craft a message that speaks directly to it. You aren't selling a "second number app"; you're selling a "professional business line for £10/month," "a safe number for dating," or "a private number for online selling." This focus is everything. It will dictate your ad copy, your targeting, and even your App Store screenshots. Don't try to be everything to everyone. Pick one or two of these nightmares to start with and build your entire marketing machine around solving that specific pain.

You probably should calculate your LTV before spending a penny...

Now we get to the numbers. You're a developer, so this part should be straightforward. Most people get into paid ads with the wrong question in mind: "How cheap can I get an install?" This leads them down a rabbit hole of optimising for the wrong things and attracting low-quality users who never convert. The real question you should be asking is: "How much can I afford to spend to acquire a high-quality customer?"

The answer lies in calculating your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). This number is the single most important metric for a subscription business. It tells you what a customer is actually worth to you over the entire period they stay subscribed. Once you know this, advertising stops being a gamble and becomes a mathematical equation.

Here's how you calculate it. We need three pieces of information:

1. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU): What's the average amount a paying subscriber pays you each month? Let's say your subscription is $10/month. So, ARPU = $10.
2. Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that revenue? For a solo developer's app, this is likely very high after Apple's cut. Let's assume Apple takes 30%, so your gross margin is 70%.
3. Monthly Churn Rate %: What percentage of your paying subscribers cancel their subscription each month? This is the most crucial number. If you have 100 subscribers and 5 cancel this month, your churn rate is 5%. Let's use that as an example.

The calculation is simple:

LTV = (ARPU * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate

Using our examples:

LTV = ($10 * 0.70) / 0.05
LTV = $7 / 0.05 = $140

In this hypothetical scenario, each new paying subscriber is worth $140 in gross margin to your business. This is your truth. This is your north star. It changes everything.

Now, a healthy business model aims for an LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio of at least 3:1. This means you want to spend no more than a third of your LTV to acquire a customer.
Maximum CAC = LTV / 3
Maximum CAC = $140 / 3 = ~$46

This means you can afford to spend up to $46 to get one new paying subscriber. Suddenly, seeing a Cost Per Install of $2 or even $5 doesn't seem so scary, does it? If 1 in 10 people who install the app become a paying subscriber (a 10% free-to-paid conversion rate), you can afford to pay up to $4.60 per install. This is the maths that unlocks aggressive, intelligent growth. Use the calculator below to play with your own numbers.

You'll need a different message for each audience...

Once you know who you're talking to (their nightmare) and what your numbers look like (your LTV), you can start crafting the actual message. Your ad needs to grab them by the collar and speak directly to their specific problem. This is where your ICP work pays off. We use a couple of proven copywriting frameworks for this.

Framework 1: Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS)
This is perfect for hitting a raw nerve. You state the problem, poke at it to make it feel more painful, and then present your app as the perfect solution.

Example for "The Fledgling Freelancer":

• Problem: Are clients calling your personal number at all hours?
• Agitate: It's hard to switch off when your business line is also your private line. You look unprofessional and your family time gets constantly interrupted.
• Solve: Get a dedicated business number on your existing mobile with our app. Look professional, set business hours, and finally reclaim your evenings. Install and get your new number in 2 minutes.

Framework 2: Before-After-Bridge (BAB)
This framework paints a picture of a frustrating "before" state and a desirable "after" state, positioning your app as the bridge to get there.

Example for "The Online Dater":

• Before: You match with someone interesting on a dating app, but you're nervous about giving them your real phone number so soon.
• After: Imagine chatting freely on WhatsApp without ever revealing your personal number, knowing your privacy is completely protected.
• Bridge: Our app gives you a real, second number you can use for dating apps. Keep your personal life private and date with peace of mind. Try it free today.

These messages are sharp, specific, and focused on the user's pain, not your app's features. They should form the basis of your ad copy and your App Store description. You'd test different variations of these to see which one resonates most with each audience.

We'll need to look at the right advertising channels...

Right, we have our offer, our audience, our numbers, and our message. Now, and only now, can we talk about where to actually run the ads. A common mistake is to just spray a budget across every platform. You need a methodical approach, starting with the highest-intent channels first and expanding from there. For an iOS app, the path is very clear.

1. Start with Apple Search Ads (ASA)
This should be your first and only focus initially. Why? The intent is as high as it gets. People are literally in the App Store, typing in keywords to find an app that solves their problem *right now*. You're not interrupting them on social media; you're placing your solution directly in their path at the moment of need. It's the digital equivalent of being the first result in Google.

I've seen ASA work incredibly well for apps. It's often the most cost-effective channel for driving high-quality installs. One campaign we worked on for an app client drove over 45,000 signups at under £2 per signup, and ASA was a core pillar of that strategy.

Your strategy here would be to bid on keywords related to the nightmares we identified:

• Problem/Solution Keywords: "second phone number", "private number app", "business phone line", "temporary number".
• Competitor Keywords: The names of other popular second number apps. This is a great way to capture users who are already shopping for a solution and might be unhappy with the alternatives.
• Use-Case Keywords: "number for whatsapp business", "safe dating number", "number for facebook marketplace".

You'd set up small campaigns, target these keywords, and direct traffic straight to your App Store page. The goal is to find which keywords drive installs that convert to paying subscribers at a CAC below your LTV/3 threshold. This is your foundation. Don't even think about other channels until you have this working profitably.

2. Scale with Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram)
Once ASA is providing a steady stream of users and you have more data, you can look to Meta to scale. Meta is different. You're interrupting people while they're scrolling, so your creative and messaging have to be much stronger to grab their attention. But the targeting capabilities are powerful.

Here, you're not targeting keywords. You're targeting people based on their interests and behaviours that align with your ICPs:

• For Freelancers: You could target people with interests in "Freelancing", "Upwork", "Fiverr", or people who are admins of a "Facebook Business Page".
• For Online Daters: You can target people based on their relationship status ("Single") and interests in apps like "Tinder", "Hinge", or "Bumble".
• For Marketplace Sellers: This is harder, but you could try targeting people with interests in "Facebook Marketplace", "Gumtree", or "Second-hand goods".

A crucial point here is to avoid the "Brand Awareness" trap. A lot of people waste money on Meta by running campaigns with "Reach" or "Brand Awareness" as the objective. As I've said before, you're basically telling the algorithm to find the cheapest people to show your ad to, who are almost certainly the least likely to ever buy anything. You MUST use a conversion-focused objective, specifically an "App Installs" campaign that is optimised for in-app events, like a trial start or a subscription. You need to give the algorithm a clear signal about the type of user you're looking for – one that actually converts.

3. Further Expansion with Google Ads (UAC)
Google's Universal App Campaigns (UAC) are another powerful scaling tool. It's a bit of a "black box" system where you provide the assets (ad copy, images, videos) and Google's AI figures out where to place them across its network (Search, YouTube, Google Play, Display). I've seen this work very well for software clients. In one case, we got over 3,500 users at a cost of just £0.96 each using Google Ads. Similar to Meta, you'd want to optimise for valuable in-app actions, not just installs.

This phased approach—Prove on ASA, Scale on Meta, Expand on Google—is a disciplined way to grow without wasting your budget.

I'd say you should focus on a simple funnel...

For an app, your marketing funnel is beautifully simple. Understanding it helps you identify where things might be going wrong. It's a clear sequence of steps, and optimising each one is how you win.

The entire journey can be visualized like this:

Your two main battlegrounds for optimisation are:

1. The Ad (Ad View to Ad Click): This is measured by your Click-Through Rate (CTR). A low CTR means your ad isn't resonating with the audience. The fix is to test new ad copy, new images/videos, or target a different audience entirely. Your messaging isn't hitting the nightmare hard enough.
2. The App Store Page (Visit to Install): This is your landing page. Its performance is measured by its Conversion Rate (CVR)—the percentage of people who visit the page and then click "Install". If you're getting lots of clicks on your ads but very few installs, your App Store page is the problem. You need to optimise it with:
   • Compelling Screenshots: Show the app in action, solving the specific pain points. Use text overlays to call out key benefits.
   • A Strong Icon: It needs to be clean, professional, and memorable.
   • A Persuasive Video Preview: A short, 30-second video showing the app's 'aha' moment can massively boost conversions.
   • Benefit-Oriented Description: The first few lines are crucial. Don't talk about features; talk about the 'after' state. "Finally separate your work and personal life."
   • Social Proof: Positive reviews and ratings are hugely important for building trust. Encourage your happy organic users to leave reviews.

By monitoring these two key transition points, you can systematically diagnose and fix problems in your acquisition machine without guessing.

You probably should expect these kinds of costs...

So, what's this all going to cost? The answer is, it depends. But based on our experience running campaigns for countless apps and software products, we can give you some realistic ballpark figures. The cost per result is heavily influenced by the country you're targeting. Developed, English-speaking countries (like the US, UK, Canada, Australia) are more expensive but the users generally have higher purchasing power.

For B2C app installs or signups, you're typically looking at a Cost Per Install (CPI) in the range of £1 to £5 in developed countries. It can be lower if you have a fantastic ad and a highly optimised App Store page, or higher if you're in a very competitive niche.

The chart below gives you a rough idea of what to expect. The key isn't to chase the lowest possible CPI. The key is to acquire users at a CPI that allows your Cost Per Acquisition (CAC) for a *paying subscriber* to remain profitable based on your LTV calculation. If your CPI is £2.50 and 10% of installs convert to subscribers, your CAC is £25. If your LTV tells you that you can afford to spend up to £46, then you're in a great position.

These are just estimates, of course. We've had campaigns achieve results well below these ranges, like the software client I mentioned earlier that saw a £0.96 cost per user. But it's better to budget conservatively and be pleasantly surprised. A starting ad spend of $1-2k per month is usually enough to gather meaningful data and find your footing on a channel like Apple Search Ads.

This is the main advice I have for you:

That was a lot of information, so let's boil it down into a clear, actionable plan. This is the roadmap I would recommend for the next 3-6 months to build your customer acquisition machine.

And that brings us to the final point of your post: collaboration. You're right to think about bringing in expertise. While the principles I've outlined are straightforward, the day-to-day execution—the constant testing, analysing data, adjusting bids, creating new ad variants, and staying on top of platform changes—is a specialism. It's a significant time committment to do it properly.

Working with an expert partner isn't just about offloading the task of 'running ads'. It's about having someone who lives and breathes this stuff manage the entire acquisition system for you, so you can remain 100% focused on improving the product for the new users that system brings in. It's about leveraging years of experience from hundreds of campaigns to get results faster and avoid costly mistakes.

You've built something with real potential. Now it's a question of building a machine to help it realise that potential. If you'd like to have a chat about how we could help you build and manage that machine, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can look at your specific situation in more detail.

Hope this has been helpful either way.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh