Introduction
Once your brilliant software marketing idea has been turned into an equally dazzling product ready to be sold, you need to market it to potential customers. But, just where are your potential customers lurking, and how can you persuade them to buy your software? This article will give you 6 helpful tips on software marketing to turn your newly fashioned software into a money maker! Let’s begin!
Step 1
Make a website for your software:
When you start marketing your product, you need to be able to tell your potential customers just where to find your software. That is why the very first software marketing tip is to establish an online presence for your product. Even the most basic website you build needs to appear professional, list all of the software’s features, and display how much it costs. More advanced sites should display product videos and set-up a discussion forum for the software’s users where they can get help and share their knowledge with others.
Step 2
Free Trial Versions:
Offering free versions of your software (but with certain limitations built-in) is another great software marketing idea – people like free things! These trial versions can be limited by expiration dates or by disabling certain features. You can even insert advertisements in place of (or in addition to) these limitations. If none of these are suitable options for you, then you can also have your free trial version simply display a message periodically reminding users to purchase your product to disable the nagging message (also known as “nag-ware”).
Step 3
Spread the Word:
Once you have a website and a free trial version of your software, you need to spread the word! This software marketing tip involves submitting your website to Google, Yahoo! and as many other search engines as you can so they know your website exists! You should also visit relevant web forums and blogs to provide details on using your software, and post YouTube videos that display the capabilities of your software.
Step 4
Optimize your website for Search Engines:
This often overlooked software marketing tip is to make sure that the website you built includes “meta-tag” keywords, uses plenty of keywords that describe your product, is free of grammatical and spelling mistakes, contains inbound links to your site from other high quality sites, and is updated frequently. Search engines LOVE content, so make sure your website provides enough of it!
Step 5
Foreign Markets:
The internet is bringing in an ever growing potential of global customers for your business. Take advantage of this software marketing opportunity by hiring a professional to translate your software into other widely-used languages like Spanish, Chinese, French and German.
Tips
Paid Advertising:
If none of the other search marketing tips are bringing in enough customers, you should consider paying Google, or other advertising agencies, to display your product ads on other people’s websites. When their readers click on your link, you will pay a very small amount to the ad agency in exchange for receiving leads to your site. With all those tips on your mind, you will almost certainly succeed.
