marketing software

[bonjour]

O.K. so I make a good and useable product. Anyone know how to get it on the store shelves?

To get a product in the stores seems harder than making it. A friend of mine owns a store, and when I asked if they would sell my product ( and give them 20% ) they said forget it. without even looking at what I had.

Any ideas?

[Evan]

Thats an interesting question.

If you did noticed ... most
freelance programs only sell
there programs online.

So unless you own a company
with means to a factory that
can produce your product, its
impossible right?

Consider:

1. Does it have good packaging.

2. On-line Help.

3. Printed Manuals, (this is by and largely optional now days).

4. A good marketing campaign.

5. Media is CD, disks are no longer acceptable.

Try to see if your mates will sell it on consigment, (i.e they only pay for copies when they sell).

Work out your market segment, the product may be great but of little interest to the vast majority of high street computer shoppers.....if you have a niche market contact the association for that niche and advertise in their trade journal...we have made a lot of sales that way, generally they will give you an advertorial as well.

Hope that helps.

[bonjour]

Thanks Jethro. That helps. I guess my weak area is marketing. I couldn't sell a glass of water to a guy in the dessert. Best bet is just keep trying though. My problem though is trying to look for the easiest and quickest ways of selling. I know that's not always a good idea.

[Dim]

My problem though is trying to look for the easiest and quickest ways of selling.

You can buy yourself a domain (www.myproduct/company.com) and advertise your software on there. That would be the easiest way of marketing an uprising company/product.

Gl,
D!m

[cnp]

Yes, I think Dims idea is really good.
You can get a domain for 0$ at http://www.freecity.de.
I registered my own there.
It really costs 0!!!

[softwareguy74]

How about releasing it as a demo/shareware and put it on shareware.com? I'm sure it would get a lot of exposure..

Find a reasonably high profile company/person in your target market and get them using a beta version. This allows for:

a) The detection and fixing of bugs through real use.

b) Enhancements...doesn't matter how well you design it, when it gets to the market place there will always be a few additional requirements.

c) A reference to put against the software.

Good idea above on the web stuff, but you will still need to market the web address to your intended audience.

[softwareguy74]

In response to the domain name/web site suggestion, don't think that just because you get a domain name and web site that millions of people will all of a sudden find your site.. If no one knows about it then, it's basically as good as not having one at all..

In opinion, a web site is just for customer service and information about the product, not marketing it.. YOu need a web site IN ADDITION TO some type of marketing effort which draws people to your web site..

That's why I suggestion shareware.com or winfiles.com...

Dan

[Lafor]

"I couldn't sell a glass of water to a guy in the dessert!"

R u sure?

--- By the way who was that friend?? who did not even take a look at what you had? Is it a friend?

don't mind me...
-- Just in a laughing mode tonight


Good luck and hang in there..

"In opinion, a web site is just for customer service and information about the product, not marketing it.. YOu need a web site IN ADDITION TO some type of marketing effort which draws people to your web site.."

Spoken like someone who hasn't sold via websites before!

By utilizing websites with techniques such as an eZine, discussion forum much like the one here. The use of Viral Marketing techniques such as the one Hotmail used to acquire their millions of e-mail users. You can sell tons of product to the consumers!

Or how about using an affiliate program whereby someone else receives a share or percentage of the selling price for sending site traffic to your website???

Customer service is just one small aspect of a web site. There are many sites operated by people I know who are doing thousands of dollars monthly in business.

Bonjour... Don't let anyone tell you you cannot do something, or a certain technique is only good for one thing or another.

As long as your product solves a problem others experience... They will pay for your solution.

Marketing is more science than most people realize. Human needs are basic and always will be. A website and downloading directly is the way to go. Giving impulse buyers a direct means to access your software.

As for dbassettt74's opinion on websites being customer service only... Good thing http://www.Adobe.com , http://www.Microsoft.com , http://www.Macromedia.com and many others don't lend credence to his opinion. They sell thousands of dollars of product daily.

Or try http://www.JourneyEd.com They sell academic versions of software from programming, html editors, animation software to AutoCad. They are online to SELL software... Not just be a Customer Service center!

Good luck to you!

P.S. The sites mentioned above would be good ones to review and emulate. Don't re-invent the wheel!!! Use them as a "Template of Success"!!!


[Edited by vbMarketer on 10-11-2000 at 12:58 AM]

[softwareguy74]

Ya, the reason people go to Adobe, Microsoft, etc.. is because they advertise the hell out of those domain names.. You see those domains everywhere. Also, they are already reputable companies that had millions of customers even before there was such thing as the Internet.. Are you trying to tell me that they have millions of customers because of their websites? I don't think so..

I'm willing to bet that the people you know who are doing 1,000's of dollars a month on their web sites have advertised them in some form or other.. weather it be word of mouth or paid, it's still advertising.. That was my point in the first place.. You can't simply put up a web site and expect 1,000's or even 100's of people to start visiting it.

I just wanted to give that person a dose of reality. I have known several people who have in the past been really excited about a particular idea for a website, spent long hours and a lot of money getting them up, but did no advertising.. What was the result? No visitors..

I mean come on, do you know of every single web site out there? No. Then how would you know if Joe Shmoe down the street setup a web site? You wouldn't.. The web is just too big.

Originally posted by dbassettt74
Ya, the reason people go to Adobe, Microsoft, etc.. is because they advertise the hell out of those domain names.. You see those domains everywhere. Also, they are already reputable companies that had millions of customers even before there was such thing as the Internet.. Are you trying to tell me that they have millions of customers because of their websites? I don't think so..

I'm willing to bet that the people you know who are doing 1,000's of dollars a month on their web sites have advertised them in some form or other.. weather it be word of mouth or paid, it's still advertising.. That was my point in the first place.. You can't simply put up a web site and expect 1,000's or even 100's of people to start visiting it.

I just wanted to give that person a dose of reality. I have known several people who have in the past been really excited about a particular idea for a website, spent long hours and a lot of money getting them up, but did no advertising.. What was the result? No visitors..

I mean come on, do you know of every single web site out there? No. Then how would you know if Joe Shmoe down the street setup a web site? You wouldn't.. The web is just too big.

Yeap people have to be aware of your web site. Not all industries spend their time searching the web for software! If your market niche is Tile Manufacturers for example, then it doesn't matter where on the web you advertise. Hit the trade magazine and the enquiries roll in.

We have tried both approaches, and the web does not pane out to non-technical people.

Well then let's use a lesser known name... How about Bill Myers??? He developed the Video Newsletter For Profit. Later he began to code in PERL and deveoloped a number of scripts. One of which is http://www.eShowcase.com which was purchased by Western Web Works. For an undisclosed amount of money. Rumors have it at over $800,000 for his product lines.

In addition to that script he also developed http://www.ezOrderForm.com , http://www.odPro.com .

eShowcase is a click and go web site developer, ezOrderForm is explanatory, and odPro is a inventory/customer/invoice/report tool developed off of Lotus.

His original home site http://www.bmyers.com is now set up with his newest software known as 'MemberGate'. He has gone from a free access wesite to a members only site with a fee of $4,995 annually to be a member!

You can see his newest software at http://www.MemberGate.com . It carries a $30,000.00 pricetag!!!

I will give each and every one of you the title of VB king with all the knowledge you fellows share here. But believe me... You are definitely in error on the website for Customer Service only and your "Marketing" knowledge.

The "Little Guy", given the right attitude and know how, can and does profit handsomely off of the web. I gave the names of the prior sites to show known successes. Sites you would be familiar with. I also know of other sites consistently doing $20,000 - $60,000 a month from selling to "Niche" markets from web sites.

There are hundreds of one person sites selling a simple product. Making a nice monthly income from an automated system. Online processing of credit cards, direct downloading of products or electronically delivered by a CGI script. All set up to automate your site.

One person has a 100 person Mentor Circle with a fee of $1,995 to join. He is grossing $199,500.00 a year with a waiting list to join. This is in addition to the other products he sells!

Direct Marketing, Junk Mail, Catalog Sales, and Websites are a high profit item.

One of my old sites was doing $2,000 a month! A site which catered to Beanie Baby enthusiasts. The trend is over so I'm moving on to other areas.

Coding is a black and white venture... Marketing is open to all and there are people with cash to spend. All you need to do is get your message to them. This forum is not the place nor do I have the room to go into further detail.

Believe what you will, while others are carrying cash to the banks...

[softwareguy74]

I think you are a little confused as to the differences between "marketing" and "selling". They are 2 completely different functions. Although they are somewhat related, the functions themselves are different.

Marketing is the practice of enticing people to develop an interest in your product/service and make them eager to find out more information in hopes that they purchase your product/service.

Selling is the actual act of exchanging a product or service for money.

What you're talking about is selling. Yes, I agree with you. A web site can be used for selling as well.. I guess I left that out of my original post. But, loosely, customer service is related to selling so that's why I didn't specifically say "selling". A customer service department usually enters customer orders so that's why I left out the word selling..

So, while your web site can "sell" a product and you can make $1,000's of dollars directly from your web site sales, it cannot possibly "market" itself just by being there. If no one knows about the web site, how will it market itself? Sure, if you're lucky enough to get a common word domain name, you could potentially generate a lot of traffic without any marketing effort. But, I'm sure you're probably aware that there is a shortage of those types of domain names.

Also, I can name a handful of big name web sites that are losing money and more than a few that have shut down.

But, we are getting off subject a little. The original post asked how they could sell their software and a few people replied by suggesting a domain name and web site. I just wanted to present the other side of the story to the original poster so they would understand that they would need to some how generate traffic to their site in order to produce sells.. Whether it be word of mouth or paid, there needs to be some form of marketing to get people to their site.. The posters that suggested the domain name/web site, failed to mention that they need to market it somehow. They made it sound like all the person needed was a domain name and web site and they would be the king of the world.. If it was really that easy, then everyone would be millionaires.. The hardest part of ANY business is the marketing... Ya, you may have a great product that could benefit millions of people but if you don't get the word out, guess what? No sells.. To prove my point, you know those web sites you mentioned that are making lots of money? Well, I never heard of them... So they didn't get my money, did they..

I guarantee you that all the web site you list at one time did some type of marketing effort to generate traffic.. My arguement is not that you can't make money off a web site.. My arguement is that you need to drive traffic to your site in order to generate those sells.. Even some big, well known sites have trouble driving enough traffic to their sites...

Whatever...

Some people are innovators and leaders while others tend to stick with the flock and follow.

Some are tempted to venture off the trail to head to new places while others will idly watch life go by.

You just can't sit in a car to get to Chicago either, you must at least be willing to start the car and select Drive.

So... Even though it isn't terribly difficult to promote a web site...(Spiders from search engines will also locate it.) You must have a product someone wants in order to be successful.

Does my doctor call me to tell me about knee surgery??? I've had 4 knee surguries and each time I had to go looking for a solution to my problem.

Develop a site, use a signature line in your e-mails, develop a discussion forum specific to your product, offer a "Tell-A-Friend" script so others can refer your program.

Yahoo and Netscape were begun by individuals with basically a Freeware script. They tweaked it and modified it to what it is now.

People found it and used it as a solution to problems they were experiencing. And they made Millions of dollars fraom it.

Today there are hundreds of Freeeware scripts which can be modified and sold commercially for those who want to take the time to follow the "Model Of Success" of others.

If you choose not to, then fine. But I am telling you it can, has, and will be done. Today and in the future!

As for knowing the difference between Selling and Marketing... Or being "Confused"... One cannot occur without the other and believe me when I tell you... I've been marketing and selling for over 14 years. I know the difference and know when someone is just spouting opinions and not from actual real life experiences.

Nuff said...

[softwareguy74]

So what you're saying is that because my opinion varys from yours, that I must be the type of person to:

"stick with the flock and follow" and "idly watch life go by"

Those are mighty harsh assumptions to make about someone you have never met or know nothing about.. I can assure you that what you described is far from the type of person that I am.

I am a very successful and very ambitious person who has a lot going on in his life. My success is due to the fact that I did exactly the opposite of what I quoted you above as assuming that I did.

Also, I'm hardly just:

"spouting opinions"

I'm actually speaking from experience. I have actually created quite a few different web sites all with great products/services. I have also helped others do the same.. and the one thing I learned is that without marketing, these sites generated absolutley ZERO traffic.. So I do speak from experience..

Anyway, as you said, Nuff said.. I think we're getting off topic now so this will be my last reply..

[flint]

A simple analogy.

If a young man tells his date she's intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he's saying the right things to the right person and that's marketing.

If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is -- that's advertising.

If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is -- that's public relations.


Flint, MBA
J&J

"If you're selling water in the desert, and it starts to rain, you need a new business model."
- Ian Clarke, creator of freenet, on record labels

If you are writting a product, and are wanting to sell that prtoduct including all rights and code, that is one thing. As your examples show this can be a successful approach.

However...........

If you are selling software licenses, then you need to market directly to your perceived market niche. Now you can have the best site in the world, but if your intended market does not have a high level of computer usage they are not going to be able to find you.

Any marketer will tell you that the art of good marketing is to aim the advertising dollar directly at the market segment you wish to make aware of your product. That is why quite often stores want to know where you heard about them. If your market segment does not included tech heads then there is little point in spending every dollar in your advertising budget on a web site. Every MS/VBPJ/SUN/APPLE et al market through trade publications/glossies...they don't rely on some one saying "Gee l want a Spreadsheet, guess l will search the web for a site which sells it".

Web sites are great for more detailed info about your products, but first you have to get people to your site.

Here's a test for you. We sell a product called Prostix. See if you can find our web site....hint, it is marketed to the hardware industry in Oz, NZ, Pacific, and apparently recently in the US.