I guess that my question is not very original, but my situation is not so common. I have a software product that is great in what it does, there's no technical downside, people that ever tried it started using it and love it, BUT... - It is proprietary software in a world of open source/freeware - It does not have (or I haven't defined it) the target group (can be used both by pros and beginners) - It runs only on Windows powered computers and it is web tool that requires hosting (requires web server where it can be installed) - meaning that shared hosting administrators probably will not install it. - Telling people that they will develop 4-5 times faster using our product compared to tools and methods they already use does not make new friends I did some changes to solve some of things listed above: - made Lite version that is completely free (commercial and personal use) and still very usable (but not open source) - made Pro version free if it is used on .ORG or .EDU domains - focused (redesigned web site) on developers that can save a lot of working hours by using our product Now, my web site is visited by so few visitors that even Mt. Everest has more visitors on a monthly basis. I did use AdWords, but since my site uses expensive keywords I can not pay as much as I need. I tried writing about my product on developer's forums, but I was banned after first article even if I did not provide a link or anything that is considered as a spam (e.g. someone asks how can I do this and that, and I answer you can use product a, product b or my product). Then, since my product is meant for web developers (those are the people that get in serious fight about browsers, not to mention that their development tools are like a religion) we were insulted and called spamming trolls just for asking questions that mention our product name (that's why I'm not writing it here). I also tried adding an article on wikipedia, but it was deleted and even version revised by their suggestions was not accepted (although there is other commercial product with very commercial article). So, (before you get impression that I made this post just to cry how world is unfair to me) I really need ideas about affordable advertising (remember it is now available also as free product and I really do not expect fast ROI even with the best possible advertising and ideal response from the market) that will not earn me titles like spammer, troll, idiot. And yes, I know I can drop it and do something else, but actually I have to develop it further because my company uses it for developing projects for our clients, so selling it to other developers would be an opportunity to earn some extra money (and to actually help others). The thing is that I know my limits - I'm good in making software and web projects and that's pretty much it. My marketing skills are zero, and I can use any help I can get. I guess that here I can find people that are as good in marketing as I am in software, so I hope that someone can give me a useful advice. Thank you!
For high competition markets, you need to have really solid advertising. You firstly need to have some fantastic supporting graphics made for your product so you can make proper posters with a 3D software box on it ( you know the type ) but that looks like it's had a lot of investment. You need a really good looking website, which is super easy with Wordpress - hire a developer from india to sort it for you if you don't know how. It'll cost you hardly anything and will increase your presentation. Once that's out of the way, you should consider investing in SEO in order to rank higher in google - you said your keywords are expensive so this might be a bit hard.. You could consider using Facebooks targeted advertising system and then direct people from your Facebook page to your website. Last time I was using FB adds you could actually target really well, although it's a bit hit and miss. YouTube tutorials using your software instead of whatever the norm is could work. So How to ***** is the title with the stars being whatever you want to acchieve. They will then watch the video to see if it can solve their problem, and they will see your amazing graphics, the functionality of your product and how competetive the price is! They can then follow through to your website via a link in the video description. Host videos like this on YouTube and Vimeo. You can get free stock video from videvo if you need some free fillers ( see what I did there?) When it comes to posting on forums, yeah - if you're a new user and you're writing a very good article about a product or service, you're going to feel the ban hammer. So instead, be smart about it. Join a community, post around the forums where people who may use your software hang out - actually engage with people. As soon as you are able, put a link to your site in your signature - or even better make one in photoshop using some of your box art which you commissioned previously. Then have it linking to your site when they click your signature. If it's a huge forum, take it a step further - approach people who post a lot in the areas you have been posting, and then ask them to rent their signature space for a few weeks. Before you know it you have 10 people posting 15 posts per day with an advert for your website at the bottom of each post. That's 150 times per day that your banner is going to be duplicated, in front of your target audience. You can also recruit re-sellers, people who will actively go out and sell your software for a commission. This is easy to set up with payment processors, so they can have their own account and you can both see where you stand at any time. I hope some of that is useful to you, and best of luck in the future. Cheers, Harry Videvo
List your software in software websites.. and do lots of advertising by writing articles, videos etc.. you can also go for PPC (google or facebook), create fan page in facebook and promote your fan page..
Thank you both for your replies, but as I said, it's a little bit specific situation. My software is listed in most software web sites. I have a blog both on blogspot and on my own site. Software has been around for 10+ years and we had really good sales in 1998-2001, but then I made some serious mistakes in marketing and now we have really bad situation with number of visits. Ad-words help when we use it, but it is too expensive in my case (like 10$ per click for first page rank). We also have a YouTube channel but not much traffic from that side (although I have to admit - we have just a few how to videos created). We have Facebook page with like 300+ likes (followers?), but now it is increasing very slowly. The idea of renting signature space is new to me - BTW - is it allowed on forums and does Google punish it? Also is there some magazine that does software reviews for affordable price (but I mean real magazine, not some blog visited only by author and his family)? Also I would probably need someone to read all articles we have in our database (not everything can be found on our site since current version is pure minimalism in terms of graphic and content). We had many versions of our web site, some with great graphic (did I mention that core business of my company is web development?) some with very simplified explanations, but somehow we fail to more towards any serious number of visitors and users. Anyway, thanks a lot for your advices. I might try writing on developers' forums and see if I can get some friends or help in any other way. BR, Faik
Hi there. Good that you are good with software and in making them. I would have to suggest that you hire someone to do the marketing for you. Try outsourcing. This will leave you more time to focus on what you do best while being less stressed about the thing where you aren't very good at, because you know, someone is taking care of it and he knows what he is doing.