Software Marketing: 5 Reasons Content is Essential
Posted by Patrick Hopkins on Fri, May 25, 2012
Are you a software marketer who thinks that software can sell itself? This is your wakeup call! No matter how terrific your features are or how much time your development team has put into understanding the needs of your target market, your sales are going to suffer unless you market your software correctly.
One of the most efficient and effective ways to do this is with content. Content marketing isn’t just some meaningless buzzword. It’s the process of creating relevant and valuable materials to attract, acquire and engage your target audience.
The key is in making your content relevant and valuable to your readers. It’s not about publishing for publishing’s sake. It’s about creating valuable resources that help prove your value, show your target audience more about your software product and move them closer to the sale.
Content marketing helps your software get the attention it deserves in a crowded market. Whether you’re marketing a new application for your software startup, or want to find new sources of sales for an existing program, content can fit the bill in these five specific ways.
1. Lead Generation
Finding leads for your software company has never been easier. Your target audience is online looking for information. When you employ content marketing, you create a perfect platform to connect with new potential buyers. They may not start their online search looking to make a purchase, but due to your informative content; they become a prospect and eventually a customer.
2. Brand Awareness
Becoming known in the software industry is getting to be a bigger and bigger challenge. Fortunately, content can increase brand awareness and bring attention to your company. For example, infographics can be very effective content tools. They are helpful, informative and normally spread across the social web quickly. By developing this type of content and using social media wisely, you can boost your profile and create more familiarity with your brand. Other content pieces like blog posts, newsletters and slide presentations can accomplish the same goals.
3. SEO
Search engines are fueled by content! Fortunately, the days of stuffing web pages and articles with long-tail keywords are over. Modern SEO is focused on creating quality content and building backlinks from reputable sources. With content that is focused on issues that are important to your software buyers, this is a piece of cake.
4. Sales
Content marketing can lead directly to sales. Think about the purchases that you’ve made online in the last few months. Did you find out about the product from a blog post you read? Did you read reviews? Did you look for social media buzz about your purchase? In most cases, you were motivated to buy based on what you’ve read. Your potential customers can go through the same process when they read your content. Ebooks, webinars, reports and email newsletters can all sell your software to an eager audience.
5. Cost Savings
Using content to market your software solutions is one of the most cost effective ways to find new customers. According a survey by Hubspot, content marketing and other inbound techniques are 60% less expensive than traditional paid advertising. By using content to promote your software offerings, you can boost your ROI and make your company more profitable right off the bat.
Content and effective software marketing go hand in hand. Is your company using content for promoting software? Which of these benefits have you experienced?
