Top 10 Software Marketing Mistakes

Successfully marketing software depends equally on what you do, and what you DON’T do.  Marketing software is a long journey, and along the way there are many pitfalls.   Here are the top 10 most common mistakes made when marketing software:

  1. FORGETTING ABOUT REVENUE
    As with any company, revenue is the fuel that keeps a software company moving.  Far too often, the focus shifts from revenue to user acquisition, at any cost.  The management team fails to make revenue a priority in the software marketing strategy.   The reality is that revenue is just as important as user acquisition.  Strangely obvious, but you’d be surprised how often this needs to be reiterated. Sure, in rare cases software companies with zero revenue and a tremendous user base are sold for incredible amounts of money (YouTube, for example).  But these are the exception, not the rule.  And just imagine how much more valuable those companies would be if the user base was properly monetized.
  2. NOT BUILDING THE MARKETING INTO THE SOFTWARE
    Your marketing shouldn’t just support your software.  It should be a part of it.  Every time  someone uses your software, you should engage them with ever so subtle marketing.  Some ways that you can market through the software include communicating with your customers through the software, exposing advanced features and up-selling them directly through the user interface, and building your user driven viral marketing campaigns into your software.
  3. CREATING BARRIERS TO ENTRY
    In order to successfully market software, you MUST remove all barriers to entry.  If this requires you to give away a free version with limited functionality, and upsell them on advanced features over the lifetime use of the software, so be it.  Don’t give a potential customer any reason to disengage.  Your primary focus is acquiring the user, then repeatedly monetizing them.
  4. AVOIDING THE VACUUM
    Finding an unfulfilled need in the market is the first step in software marketing.  Skip this step, and you risk creating a “me-too” product.  This exponentially increases the difficulty of marketing your software.  You want to look for the unsatisfied need, not battle against entrenched competition.  Remember that a unique product isn’t created by simply adding another feature that you competition doesn’t (currently) have.  You must be able to position your software as distinctly different from your competition – or be prepared for a long battle in the marketing trenches.
  5. UNDER-UTILIZING EARLY ADOPTERS
    Your early adopters, those who truly believe in your software so much that they’re willing to put up with the inconveniences of using imperfect beta software,  are your most important allies in software marketing.  So don’t alienate them – embrace them.  Empower them to give you candid feedback on the software, and help lend guidance with new features and improvements.  Make sure that you give these advocates the time they need to properly vet, and promote, your software.  Don’t rush to get out of Beta and into market until you’ve address the major issues which your early adopters bring to your attention.
  6. ALLOWING FEATURE CREEP
    The “wouldn’t it be cool” mentality – which leads to feature after feature being added to the software – can be the kiss of death for any software launch.  Feature creep creates additional development and testing time, which can significantly push back the product launch date, and the additional features make it difficult to give your software a singular identity.  The entire company must recognize that your software cannot be everything to everyone.  It must fulfill a specific need for a specific market.  Additional features in line with that identity can always be added at a later date.
  7. IGNORING THE CHANNEL
    Channel partners and affiliates are critical to marketing your software.  As trusted authorities, they represent direct access to potential users.  Make sure that your software is Channel Friendly.  Building channel / affiliate tracking into the software, ensuring that there isn’t any “sales leakage”, will make your software very attractive to potential channel partners.  Offering the ability to white label your software is another added benefit.
  8. NOT OUTSOURCING
    It is not uncommon for a software company to have a “build it in-house” mentality, where third party and open source options are shunned for internally developed solutions.  Keep yourself open to utilizing solutions that aren’t build in house.  Time is your enemy and building everything in house can cripple your efforts to launch your software in a timely fashion.  By utilizing a modular development structure, you can always go back and “rebuild” the outsourced components internally and offer them as a free upgrade for existing users, when you aren’t under pressure to build your user base.
  9. ADD-ON AVERSION
    Don’t be averse to developing software which supports or enhances other software products.  The Microsoft Outlook Add-On Market is a multimillion dollar industry.  By developing software which supports existing, widely used software solutions, you free yourself to focus on developing software rather than trying to decide who you should market your software too.
  10. PREVENTING OPEN SOURCING
    Open source software development practices can quickly become powerful marketing tools.  By allowing other users and companies to enhance your solution, you immediately make your software a defacto standard for their solution.

Developing and marketing software is a long process.  Along the way, there are many opportunities to make critical mistakes that can effect the bottom line.  To learn more about the potential pit falls, or for a complementary software marketing analysis, please contact us.