Promotion is the specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations a company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives.
As a software entrepreneur you most likely have limited resources and you are still learning about the market. Information gather is extremely important at this stage of the game. The trick is the start the revenue stream without spending too much money.
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- The objectives that are met by promoting are to move the target market through the following phases:
- It is believed that consumers cannot skip over a phase,
but they need to move through them. Promotion is used to move the target
market from one phase to another to finally purchase.
- The offer needs to be identified before you begin any promoting. What are you offering the target customer? What do you want the target market to do?
- One mistake that can be made is to create a promotional advertisement and not tell the customer what to do. You should prompt the customer and tell them to "call this number to place an order" or "download this software from our web site".
- Testing different offers, advertisements, direct mail letters, lists, and promotion techniques can tell you what method is most effective. There is a trade-off. Testing is expensive. You need different versions of promotions, which raises production expense. You need to track the results, which takes time. But the information you gather could help you reduce wasteful, ineffective spending in the future.
- If you decide to test, make sure you have a method for measuring response. You can do this by first asking the customer where they heard about you when taking the order, if it is a telephone order. If it is an order form that they mail back to you, you can code the order form with a tracking number that lets you know exactly what promotion the customer is responding to. This information can then be entered into the customer database for future analysis.
- The Web allows for a cheap way of promoting your software. It is a great tool because it allows the target customers to educate themselves about your software by reading about it, seeing a demo, and download a copy (and therefore serve as your distribution channel).
- Remember, you are trying to reduce the perceive risk of purchasing your software. By providing a Web page, you are moving the target market through the communication cycle from unawareness to purchase.
- Also, you are trying to reach innovators and early adopters. These people are actively searching for better ways to meet their needs. The Web is a natural place for them to go to look for you.
- The difficulty with the Web is all of the noise out there. It is very crowded and difficult to be noticed. Register with all of the search engines, such as Yahoo and Alta Vista. Make sure that there are keywords in your web site that will attract your target audience.
- An average response rate for direct mail is about 1%. This depends on the offer, the mailing list, the target audience, the creative (how the direct mail piece looks), and the timing of the mailing. There is a whole industry built around direct mailing. They don't like to call it junk mail, because if it is done right and sent to the right people, it isn't junk. Only when the receiver isn't interested to they call it junk.
- This promotional activity involves many steps. For more detail on how to execute a direct mailing, refer to Direct Mail.
- Although it may nice to be able to take out a full color, full page advertisement in an industry magazine, it is very expensive and will not reach your target market of the innovators and early adopters. This target market will read the classified ads in the magazines looking for and willing to try new solutions.
- The key for classified advertisements is frequency. Running an ad once will create awareness, but not necessarily action.
- Request a media kit from the magazine you are considering. This should contain circulation information, subscriber profiles, and prices. This will help you determine if your target market reads this magazine.
- For more information on ad layout, see Layout and Design.
- A press release is an announcement of a new product release. Editors may take this information and publish it as news in their magazine or newspaper. This is a great way to get free publicity.
- To send a press release, you should prepare a press kit that includes:
Cover letter to the editorPress release product announcement
Product features sheet
Corporate background sheet
Evaluation copy of the software
Technical specifications sheet
Reprint of any past articles
Names of end user contacts and comments
Screen shot of your product
Diskette containing a "soft copy" of product announcements and screen shot.
- The editor may take your product announcement, make some modifications to it by hand, and send the original to be printed. In general, editors like to have the press releases double spaced with plenty of margin room. See Layout and Design for more information.
- There can be a 3-4 month lead time before your press release is published.
- If possible, tie your press release into current events or human interest. It has a better chance of being published.
- Don't write your press release like an advertisement. Any claims you make, be sure to back them up with user testimonials.
- Tailor your press release to each publication, or at least each type of publication. Mass mailing press releases don't usually get published. Also, send your press release to one person at each magazine. If you are unsure of the person, contact the magazine for a contact name.
- Include in your press release the product name, the price, a company contact name, the company name, address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Be prepared to take questions.
- Your opening sentence should be clear and concise. "The first software capable of (doing this benefit) is now available from (your company) for people who need to (this need)".
- Magazines have product review editors that take a copy of your software (free, of course) and review it in an article or column. This can provide great exposure. However, it can also be risky. What damage will it do if you get a bad review? Before pursuing this promotional activity, it may be safest to fully complete beta testing, and have contacted many new customers to get their feedback on the product. Make sure there are no surprises.
- Choose a magazine your target market is reading. You can always use quotes from the review in your promotional material for other promotions. With more people accepting the product, the faster you will move past the early adopters and innovators.
- Call the magazine for the name of the correct person to send the software to. Ensure that this person gets a full product - box, manual, install instructions, etc. (See what is in a press kit)
- Be available for questions. If a reviewer has problems with an install, there will usually be a phone call to the company first.
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©1997, 1998, 1999 Michele Determan