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27 search results for "marketing"

Why I am excited about XOJO.CONNECT … and why you should be too!

Geoff used an interesting metaphor in a conversation recently. He said, “Since we have been working on so many multi-year projects, 2019 had a bit of a drought of big new features, but in 2020 we are predicting rain … lots of rain.” This really got me thinking about how different XOJO.CONNECT 2020 will be from the past few Xojo Developer Conferences.

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Guest Post: Adding Language Translation to Your Xojo Apps

Recently, I was asked by a client if it would be possible to build language translation functionality into a Xojo-based middleware solution that I had developed for them. The Xojo app obtains product information (including product names, descriptions, and other marketing-related information) from suppliers via a SOAP call, and returns the data in a JSON-encoded response. They wanted to be able to translate the product information, which is provided in English, to other languages (such as French, German, etc). The client wanted something similar to Google Translate. However, they wanted the translation function to be built directly into the app and to be performed “on demand.”

I did some research and found that Amazon provides a service that does exactly what the client was asking for. The service, called Amazon Translate, is available as one of many services that are available through Amazon Web Services.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the process of getting signed up for Amazon Translate, and then share some code that you can use to add language translation to your own Xojo projects. We’ll use the MBS Xojo CURL Plugin, which makes calling the Amazon Translate API easy. But first, let’s learn a little about Amazon Translate.

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Using Advanced Twitter Search

Twitter can be a great resource for developers and small business owners looking for new audiences. How do you find that tweet you saw last month from @xojo to that other guy about the graphics property?

Here’s an overview of Twitter’s search capabilities and some tips to get the most out of using the platform to promote your apps.

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Guest Post: Process and Structure to Control Clutter

Ever been unable to find that document you need for your next meeting?

Have you lost focus while working on one thing because you can’t stop thinking about something else? Feeling overwhelmed? There are several types of clutter: physical, technology, and mental. And that clutter is likely affecting you negatively. 

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3 Things Developers Need To Release Their App Right

So you’ve created an app that you plan to sell, now you’re done, right? Nope, not even close! Developing your app is just step one. Marketing and promoting your app is the key to its commercial success, starting with announcing it. We talked to one successful Xojo developer who has several apps in the App Store. He told us that he spends 50% of his time on development and 50% of his time on marketing. Marketing. You think it’s just something for the Pros or people with a big offering, but it’s not.

Making sure everyone knows about your new app or latest update is really important. I have been in PR/Marketing for many years and have seen it all! The biggest mistake I see is developers forgetting to put a link back to their website or sitelet when talking about their app. In announcements and on social media it’s so important to make sure people can find you easily! Here are the 3 most essential steps you should take when announcing your app (or release) to the world.

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Upskill Your Best Employees to Citizen Developers

Employee turnover is expensive, time consuming and stressful. But the need for new skills, whether to bolster your existing sales and services or to usher your company into emerging markets, is a constant. You already have excellent employees that “know the ropes” of your business but they don’t always have the skills needed to take those next steps. These employees may be called “power users” or “business analysts”. This is where upskilling comes in, giving rise to the age of the citizen developer. The citizen developer is able to use low-code and rapid application development tools to make apps that improve efficiency or more easily collect or gather data that can benefit the company.

Encouraging and even educating your employees to become citizen developers doesn’t mean eliminating the IT department, it means improving productivity and efficiency with collaboration and innovation. After all, who better to say exactly what the marketing or sales department needs in an app, tool or automation than the department members who will utilize it the most?

This is where Xojo comes in.  Our long history (over 20 years) as an easy-to-use, rapid application development tool makes Xojo an ideal choice for would-be citizen developers.

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Software Distribution Simplified with GuancheMOS

In an ideal world there is a person responsible for every step in software development, from coding, UI design, distribution, documentation, marketing and support. All of this can seem really overwhelming for independent developers and small businesses. But if you break it down and take it one piece at a time, it’s manageable by even the smallest team of one. Right now, let’s look at software distribution.

For software, distribution usually means generating and validating unique serial numbers for each of your products and users. Serial numbers (or license keys) help you manage your users, unlock a free trial or demo version for full use and, of course, minimize illegal use of your apps.

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Love it or Hate it, Networking is Necessary

So many of you in the Xojo community are independent developers and though you are smart for choosing Xojo for rapid, cross-platform development, you probably aren’t focused on marketing and promoting your app.

I’ve shared some tips on using Twitter to market you apps, and Dana has talked about other ways to market your app for free. These efforts do not live in a vacuum. Let’s discuss ways to integrate all these forms of marketing to make the greatest impact…let’s talk about Networking.

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