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Subscribe Now to Al Harberg's Software Marketing Newsletter, the best way for software developers to get free, usable marketing information. We'll never use your email address for anything besides sending you this twice-monthly newsletter.
Hot Ideas to Increase Your Market Share
Every week in the newsgroups, new software developers ask questions like "What's the best download site for buying banner ads?" or "Should I buy Google adwords?" or "Should I send press releases?". And when some of the experienced authors give advice, a lot of the newer developers follow it, without taking the time to translate it to fit their own situations. It's only natural for new software developers to look for advice from owners of established software companies. What better role model is there than an independent software developer who has faced the same challenges that you're facing, and who has emerged as a winner? There are a lot of dangers in blindly accepting advice from other developers, no matter how much sense their ideas seem to make. Here are some things to keep in the back of your mind when you're listening to the advice of the sages: (1) There is no such thing as a software marketplace. There is probably a marketplace for Macintosh software which uses a drill format to teach multiplication and division to home-schooled 7 through 9 year old kids. If that's the kind of software that you're selling, it makes a lot of sense to listen to the experience of somebody else in your market. But if you're selling a totally different type of application, then you can't blindly accept another developer's advice, no matter how successful their sales record has been. (2) Users' knowledge and expectations have changed over time. Listening to advice from somebody who built a successful software company in the 1980's is a risky proposition. The world has changed since the 1980's. The world has changed a lot since last week! While there are some fundamental sales and marketing principles that are eternal, you need to think through how the marketplace has changed, before you accept another developer's formula for marketing success. Some people believe that users are a lot more sophisticated today. After all, kids are learning about computers before they start school, and in many business fields, there's a computer on every work desk. Some people believe that users are a lot less sophisticated today. In the old days, only the really sharp people owned computers, while today most US homes have several computers running. The situation, of course, varies. You can't casually take advice from somebody who doesn't know your target audience. (3) Mature markets are different from emerging markets. Two years ago, marketing anti-spam software was a new concept. Today, introducing a new anti-spam application is a totally different challenge. Your new product would be competing in an established market, with existing niches, and established leaders. Before taking another developer's advice, think through how it must be adapted to account for your software's place in the market life cycle. (4) The market is different for leaders, followers, and newbies. Is your advice coming from the market leader, an established brand with a significant share of the market, or a successful new entrant? A marketing plan that works for, say, WinZip might be less effective in promoting PKZIP or WinRAR, and might be a total failure for the less well known competitors in the file compression market. Be sure to translate before implementing other developers' advice. (5) The rules are different for companies and software with high name recognition. An established company can use brand extension to introduce a new product, and it might enjoy immediate success because of the high name recognition. Following in their footsteps to launch an unknown product could lead to disaster. (6) Companies with deep pockets can afford to market lavishly. Before accepting advice from another developer regarding buying ad space or adwords, make sure your risk tolerance is roughly the same as theirs. You can lose a lot of money on an unsuccessful advertising campaign. (7) Don't model your web site after a site in a different market niche. If you're marketing business software, it would be an error to model your web site after a successful game developer's site. Translate and adapt. The bottom line - Don't rush to follow other developers' advice, no matter how successful they are, and regardless of how sensible the advice sounds on the surface. Take the time to think through the similarities and differences between your software and theirs. Before spending a lot of time or money launching a marketing campaign, look at your marketplace from all angles.
How many US pennies does it take for a software developer to buy first class (37-cent) postage? 33.3! In the US, it's easy to find old, distinctive postage stamps to make your postal-mailing stand out from the crowd. In direct mail, the trick is to get the envelope noticed and opened. The signs of junk mail are (a) bulk mail stamps, meters, or indicia, (b) punctuation-free, upper-case addresses, and (c) indications that the envelope was processed without being touched by a human being. By wallpapering your envelope with attractive stamps, you get people's attention and you improve your chances of getting your envelope opened. Using discount postage is not a money-saver, if you put any value on your time. The stamps that you'll buy typically require moistening (versus the more modern peel-and-stick stamps). And while there are a lot of easy-to-find combinations that add up to today's 37-cent postage rate (34 plus 3, 33 plus 4, 29 plus 8, 25 plus a block of 3's, 22 plus 15), it still takes a lot more time than you'd think to use discount postage. And you'll have to buy a bunch of odd values from the Post Office to convert all of your discount postage into usable postage. Most discount postage is marketed by stamp dealers. When they buy, say, a $5,000 stamp collection from an estate, they typically find that $3,000 of the collection has no philatelic or investment value. There are mint sheets, strips, plate blocks, and singles that they're willing to sell at a discount, simply to get back the bulk of their investment immediately. I am not a lawyer, but this is my understanding of the legal issues: It's illegal to find envelopes that you've received in the mail whose stamps haven't been postmarked, and reuse those stamps. You can find online auctions for this type of "unused, ungummed" US postage. It's probably legal to add these stamps to your stamp collection. But if you paste them onto envelopes and give those envelopes to the US Post Office, you can get into serious trouble. To ensure that you're buying legal discount postage, look for phrases like "post office fresh", "full gum", and "mnh", the philatelic acronym for "mint never hinged". If the stamps have been sitting in somebody's desk or safe and the gum is intact, then they're probably legal. Try Joe Kenton, PO Box 480456, Kansas City, MO 64148-0456. If you're in the US, send him a check for $33.30 and he'll send you a packet of $37 face value. He pays the postage, and he won't include any oddball stamps that you can't use for ordinary postage (for example, fractionals, postage dues, or denominations higher than 37 cents).
Buzzing Your Way to Success
Unleashing the Ideavirus
by Seth Godin (published by Hyperion) Traditional ads are out. Buzz is in. The Big Picture - There was a time when you could market by interrupting people. If you presented enough people with a television commercial or a magazine ad, you could sell a lot of product. Today, that's no longer possible. You need to teach customers to market to each other. Light a fire under influential users, and get out of the way. What it Means for Software Developers - An ideavirus is a particularly effective form of buzz. You create an idea that grows and infects everyone it touches. For example, you give people free email accounts, and you require that their signature file be an advertisement for your free email service. Every time a client sends an email, they spread your ideavirus. While Godin doesn't mention any of them in his book, there are a number of tools available that can help software developers create and propagate ideaviruses. - Press releases can tell influential editors about your application, and they can spread your ideavirus to thousands of their readers. - A well-designed affiliate program can energize a team of sneezers who can spread your ideavirus. - You can add "tell a friend" buttons to your product pages. Help your customers and prospects talk about your software. - You can write magazine articles, speak in front of industry groups, and do other things to get your ideavirus launched in your target communities. The Bottom Line - The ideavirus is a cute concept. If your software is unique, it's worth thinking about how to use an ideavirus to spread the word. Even if your software is a commodity product in a commoditized niche, it's still worthwhile to think through every opportunity available to use word-of-mouth to publicize your application. This book is not particularly about the computer industry. The press release, affiliate, and other examples above are my ideas, and not something that you'll find in the book. For this book to be useful in your software business, you'll have to do a lot of translating from its general principles to your software niche. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this newsletter, send me a note. I'll remove your name immediately and permanently. To SUBSCRIBE to the email version of this newsletter, send me your name and email address. I'll only use your name and email address for this newsletter. I'll never spam you, or let other people have your name or email address. al@dpdirectory.com To SELL MORE SOFTWARE, bookmark this web site, and visit often. There's a lot of free, useful software marketing information on http://www.dpdirectory.com/.
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