TLDR;
- Your immediate goal isn't 'marketing', it's quickly and cheaply validating demand. Paid ads are the best tool for this, forget slow organic methods for now.
- Don't send people to a finished product yet. Build a simple landing page and collect emails for a 'waitlist'. This is a much lower-friction way to measure real interest.
- Meta (Facebook/Instagram) is likely your best starting point. You can target specific NBA teams, followers of sports media, and other fan behaviours to find your audience quickly.
- The most important thing to get right is your offer and messaging. You're not selling an app; you're selling the feeling of outsmarting the system and saving money for beer and a hot dog at the game.
- This letter includes an interactive calculator to help you estimate your cost per waitlist signup, so you can set a realistic budget.
Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some initial thoughts on how you might go about marketing your new app. It sounds like a great idea, but the real test, as you say, is seeing if there's proper demand for it.
The good news is you don't need to guess. Instead of just interacting in social channels and hoping for the best, you can use paid advertising to get a very clear answer, very quickly. It's all about getting your product in front of the right people and seeing if they bite. My thoughts below are all geared towards doing that as efficiently as possible.
First things first... forget the app (for now).
This might sound a bit backwards, but the single biggest mistake I see founders make is trying to drive traffic to a finished product too early. Your first goal isn't to get downloads, it's to get proof of interest. The easiest way to do that is with a pre-launch waitlist.
Here’s what I mean:
Before you spend a single pound on ads, you need a simple, single landing page. The only job of this page is to get an email address. That's it. It should have:
- A killer headline: Something that grabs an NBA fan by the collar. "Stop Overpaying for NBA Tickets." or "The Smart Way to Buy Tickets to the Game."
- A clear explanation (Before-After-Bridge): Explain the pain (Before: stressing about ticket prices, buying too high), the dream (After: getting a notification for the price drop, saving cash), and how your app is the Bridge that gets them there.
- A single Call-to-Action: A button and a form field. "Get Notified & Save" or "Join the Waitlist". Offer a small incentive, like "Be the first to know and get your first 3 alerts for free."
Why do this? Because getting an email is a much, much lower commitment for someone than downloading and setting up a new app. It's a micro-conversion. If you can't get people to give you their email, you definitly won't get them to download the app. This is your canary in the coal mine. It validates the idea cheaply and it also builds you an email list of your most interested potential users that you can contact the moment you launch.
We'll need to look at the right battleground: Where to find your fans
Once the landing page is sorted, you need to drive traffic to it. Hanging out in social channels is fine, but it’s not scalable and it’s slow. For getting quick data, you need paid ads. Your two main options are Social Media (Meta) or Search (Google).
Google Search Ads: This is where you target people actively typing "cheap Lakers tickets" or "best time to buy NBA tickets" into Google. The intent is super high, which is great. The downside is that it can be very competitive and expensive, you'll be bidding against massive companies like Ticketmaster and StubHub. It's probably not the best place to start for validating a new idea on a small budget.
Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram): This is where I'd say you should start. You're not catching people in the moment of searching, but you can be incredibly specific with who you target. You can find NBA fans, followers of specific teams, people who've shown interest in ticketing websites etc. The audience is massive, and you can reach them relatively cheaply to see if your message resonates. I remember one campaign we worked on for an events app where we managed to get over 45,000 signups for under £2 each, mostly using Meta and TikTok ads. It's perfect for testing demand.
The path is pretty clear for a product like yours. You need to build awareness and desire amongst a specific group of people, and for that, social media is king.
(High intent, but can be expensive)
(Build awareness, cheaper to test demand)
I'd say you need to target a true fan, not just a casual follower
The power of Meta Ads is in its targeting. But a lot of people get this wrong. They'll just type "NBA" into the interest field and hope for the best. That audience is huge (millions of people) but it's full of casuals, people who watch a game once a year. They're not your target audience. You want the die-hards. The ones who go to multiple games a season. The ones for whom saving £50 on a ticket really matters.
So you need to get more specific. Think in layers. What do these die-hard fans *also* like?
- -> Specific Teams: Don't just target "NBA". Target people who like the "Los Angeles Lakers" page AND the "Golden State Warriors" page. Or people in a specific city who like the local team.
- -> Media & Pundits: Target people interested in ESPN, Bleacher Report, or even specific commentators like Stephen A. Smith.
- -> Behaviours: Meta knows who buys things online, who engages with sports content, etc. You can layer these on.
- -> Other Interests: Do they like fantasy basketball? Sports betting apps like DraftKings or FanDuel? These are all signals of a more engaged fan.
The key is to start by testing seperate, themed ad sets. One for fans of specific big teams, one for followers of sports media, one for fantasy basketball players. See which one gives you the cheapest email signups on your waitlist page. Once you find a winning audience, you can put more budget behind it. The data will tell you who your real customer is.
You probably should know what this is all going to cost
This is the million-dollar question. The good news is, we can estimate it with some basic maths. The cost for a conversion (in your case, a waitlist signup) depends on two things: how much it costs to get someone to click your ad (Cost Per Click or CPC), and what percentage of those people then sign up on your landing page (Conversion Rate or CVR).
CPC: For a US/UK audience in the entertainment/sports space, you can probably expect a CPC somewhere between £0.50 and £1.50. Better ads and targeting will get you to the lower end of that.
CVR: A decent landing page for a simple email signup should convert at least 10% of visitors. A really good, persuasive one could hit 20-30%.
So, let's do the calculation:
Cost Per Signup = CPC / CVR
- Worst Case: £1.50 CPC / 10% CVR = £15 per signup. (This would be a bad result).
- Likely Case: £1.00 CPC / 15% CVR = £6.67 per signup.
- Great Case: £0.50 CPC / 30% CVR = £1.67 per signup.
This is the range you should expect. A cost per signup of around £2-£7 would be a pretty normal result. If you're getting signups in that range, it's a strong signal that you've got something people want. If your costs are much higher, then either your targeting is wrong, your landing page isn't persuasive, or the demand just isn't there.
I've built a small calculator for you below so you can play with the numbers yourself. Adjust the sliders to see how small changes in click cost and conversion rate can massively impact your cost to acquire a potential user.
Waitlist Signup Cost Calculator
You'll need a message they can't ignore
Once you've got your targeting and your budget expectations, you need to write the ads themselves. This is where you have to speak the language of the fans. You're not selling a piece of software. You're selling a better experience. You're selling the feeling of being smarter than the average fan.
Here’s a quick copywriting formula that works wonders (Before-After-Bridge):
Headline: Tired of Ticketmaster's prices? There's a smarter way to get to the game.
Body:
(Before) You see the Lakers are in town. You check the prices. Ouch. You wait a day, they've gone up. You panic buy tickets that cost more than your rent, and spend the first quarter fuming about it.
(After) Imagine getting a simple notification on your phone: "Lakers ticket prices just dropped 20%." You tap, you buy, you save £50. That's a new jersey and a few beers right there. You feel like a genius.
(Bridge) Our new app tracks ticket prices 24/7 and tells you the exact best moment to buy. Join the waitlist now and be the first to start saving.
See the difference? It’s not about features ("real-time price tracking algorithm"). It’s about the emotional journey. The pain they feel now, and the relief and victory you can give them. That's what gets people to click and sign up. You also need good creative, probably a simple video showing the app interface, or even just a strong image of a basketball game with a bold text overlay.
Your plan of action
This is a lot to take in, I know. But it's a proven process for launching and testing a new digital product without wasting a load of money. If you follow these steps, you’ll know very quickly if you’ve got a winner on your hands. If this was a project we were taking on, this is the exact process we'd follow to get started.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
| Phase | Action Item | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Foundation (1-2 Days) | Build a simple landing page with a single goal: collect emails for a waitlist. | This is the cheapest, lowest-risk way to measure real user intent before you spend heavily on advertising a full app. |
| Phase 2: Initial Test (First Week) | Launch a Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads campaign with a small budget (~£20-£30/day). | Meta allows you to target NBA fans with precision. It's the fastest way to get your message in front of thousands of potential users. |
| Phase 3: Targeting (Ongoing) | Create 3-4 ad sets, each targeting a different fan 'theme' (e.g., Specific Teams, Sports Media, Fantasy Players). | Avoid broad targeting. This tells you which segment of fans is most interested in your solution, so you can focus your budget effectively. |
| Phase 4: Measurement (After 1 Week) | Analyse your Cost Per Signup. Is it in the £2-£7 range? | This is your key metric. If you can acquire interested users affordably, the business model is viable. If not, you need to rethink the offer or targeting. |
| Phase 5: Scaling (Once Validated) | Put more budget behind the winning ad sets and audiences. Engage your waitlist via email. | Once you have proven demand, you can confidently invest more to grow your user base ahead of the full launch. |
Running ads like this isn't just about pressing 'go'. It’s about setting up the right tests, understanding the data that comes back, and making smart decisions based on it. It’s a mix of art and science, and getting it right from the start can be the difference between a successful launch and running out of cash before you even get going.
If you get stuck or feel like you'd rather have an expert handle this initial validation phase for you, we offer a free, no-obligation strategy session. We can take a deeper look at your project and map out a precise advertising plan for you. It's often the best way to make sure you're starting on the right foot.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
