10 Examples of Great Software Marketing

Or how to guarantee encourage your website visitors to buy or use your software in 10 easy steps.

1. Make it clear you’re offering software
2. Reveal what your software does
3. Explain who benefits and how
4. Communicate clearly and crisply
5. Appeal, entice—use emotional levers
6. Reveal benefits progressively
7. Illustrate—use images that add value
8. Consistently reinforce your brand
9. Explain so everyone understands
10. Make the experience memorable

These 10 easy steps will make it much easier to sell your software, or even better use all 10 steps and the customers will want to buy without any selling.

The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous
Peter Drucker

Review your website, try to see it with fresh eyes. Imagine you have no prior knowledge about your software company. Go to your home page and check your software marketing does the following:

1. Make it clear you’re offering software

First, get the fundamentals right. It’s obvious you’re selling software, right? Check this now.

Sometimes, software vendors are so focused on describing business benefits, establishing industry credibility, making their solution sound important… that website visitors have to work out whether this is a consulting firm, a website offering advice or what.

Don’t make them think
Steve Krug

Unlike MediaSignPro, Appclarity ensures it’s obvious that they are selling software.

2. Reveal what your software does

First-time visitors to your website will decide after 5-10 seconds whether your website seems useful. The visitors you care about most are, of course, the  potential buyers for your software. Their first question is “What?” as in “what do these guys do?”, “what type of software is this?”, or “what is this used for?”

This is not the time for industry jargon or sophisticated positioning. MailChimp explains very succinctly they’re used for producing email newsletters. Check you’re not disguising what your software does like QueryShark does.

3. Explain who benefits and how

Assuming you have got visitors’ attention by answering the “What?” question, they’ll next want to know what’s in it for them.

Address:

• What problems does this solve? Similar problems to mine?
• Who uses this software? What type of people? Are they similar to me?
• How do they use the software? Can I see myself or my users doing this?

FeedDemon does this very well, saying it’s “a snap to stay informed”.

4. Communicate clearly and crisply

Refine, tune, and polish your website copy again and again.

One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is to continually add. They end up with too much text competing for attention, slowing down and confusing website visitors.

Improve your writing by editing down, reducing clutter, using fewer words and simple direct language—make it crisp and clear.

Fetchnotes (as shown above) is a great example, explaining what they do and the benefits in two simple sentences.

5. Appeal, entice—use emotional levers

Whether your business is selling to consumers (B2C) or to business (B2B) it is always people who buy.

Numerous studies have shown that people respond emotionally first. Our brains are wired so that emotional responses grab our attention.

So customers typically apply logic retrospectively to buying decisions. People decide they want the product first, and then come up with the reasons–often so they can convince their boss/spouse.

Updating their browser is not going to excite most people, Microsoft makes this less boring. “I want to… see why fast is now beautiful” appeals at an emotional level. Without being too flowery this language invokes feelings like “the thrill of speed” and makes it seem more fun, more appealing, more enticing.