Software Marketing? – Before You Do Anything Else…

In software marketing, it’s easy to get carried away by concepts, benefits, and vendors’ slogans. The problem is that unless you are dealing with an end-user who already knows you, you may leave your customer in a fog of confusion. Why? For the simple reason that you haven’t mentioned what your product actually is. For many people, just having that simple understanding that you’re providing software helps an awful lot in grasping the advantages they can get from your solution.

Benefits Backed by Facts

Benefits are good, but they also need to be backed up by facts and a down-to-earth description of how they will arrive (“you’ll be able to speed up reliable order-taking and seize opportunities to upsell, right after installing this software on your server”). If there’s no description of “how,” your prospects may not know if your offering is about software, hardware, consulting services, or government aid for small businesses.

How Will You Know if You’re Off Course?

In a face-to-face conversation, you might be lucky. That puzzled look on the other person’s face might prompt you to supply a little more reality. But if you’re prospecting by phone or attracting people to your website, you won’t have that visual clue to help put your pitch back on track.

KISS Again (Keep It Simple, Stoopid!)

So don’t make your customers guess – they probably don’t have the time or the inclination. Give them the advantages to attract their attention, and follow up with the basics (“it’s software”) to maintain their interest, while you move them towards becoming happy software users.

Which vendors or brands do your customers automatically associate with software offerings? Do you cite any vendor marketing slogans to help position what you’re selling? Let us know what works for you in the space below for Comments. 

And to follow-through on the tips introduced in this short article, be sure to download your free copy of the special report on the Top 10 IT Marketing Strategies For Consistently Attracting New Business Clients to Your Small IT Business. 

Creative Commons Image Source: flickr betsyweber