In the hypercompetitive software industry, just having a website and several social media accounts is not enough to stay competitive. Remember that nearly 99% of all businesses are now investing in digital marketing. Therefore, to put yourself in front of the right customers and build a recognizable brand, you need to build your online presence strategically and reap the full potential of each digital channel you use. Here is how.
Invest in Referral Marketing
Your customers trust recommendations from friends and family the most. That is why you should invest in referral marketing. The way it works is simple – an existing customer gets a reward for referring new people to your website.
To get the most out of this tactic, you first need to facilitate the referral process. Your customers should easily learn how to communicate your offers to their friends and how they will benefit from this practice. Include clear CTAs, create personalized landing pages, and build a detailed knowledge base to help them.
Above all, choose the right rewards. Be it free storage space on your cloud app or a monetary reward, make sure the incentive is relevant to your customers. For example, every Uber customer receives a personalized referral code and cash credits they can use when requesting their first ride. When they refer friends to register on Uber using their code, both parties get a free Uber ride.
Provide Social Proof
Social proof marketing will help your software company build trust with your target audience and inspire them to convert faster. Now, there are many ways to use social proof on your website.
For starters, inform customers about your website subscriptions and registrations in real-time. Use a social proof tool like Cue that keeps track of your website leads, conversions, or pageviews and show this data in a catchy popup at the bottom of the website. For example, you could use this tool to show how many people have created a free trial account on your website over the last week or month. Real-time information about your software registrations and purchases will add a pinch of urgency to your marketing tactics, foster customer confidence, and evoke their fear of missing out.
Next, ask for customer testimonials and share them on your homepage. To make your testimonials trustworthy, humanize them. When posting client testimonials on your website, always include their name, photo, and role at the company. You could also create testimonial videos that are highly personalized and engaging.
Finally, encourage customer reviews and ratings on social networks. You should also register on all relevant business review directories. Do not be afraid of negative reviews. Use them to improve your products and services and prove that you are listening to your customers.
Create Authentic Content
In the sea of software companies, content marketing helps you stand out. It gives you the opportunity to showcase your authority, evoke emotions, and build stronger relationships with customers. The foundation of your content marketing strategy is, unsurprisingly, your blog. You need to run it strategically.
To keep your blogging efforts consistent, create an editorial calendar and update it regularly. Publishing blog content continuously will encourage people to keep coming back. Next, choose the topics relevant to your customers. Use social listening tools, Google Trends, or content discovery platforms like Buzzfeed to stay on top of the hottest industry topics. Keep each blog post insightful, data-backed, and fresh.
Sure, you do not have to limit yourself to articles. Creating user-friendly, visual content, such as infographics, videos, photos, gifs, and animations may also work for your audiences. Comprehensive guides, whitepapers, and in-house research studies are a great way to educate your audiences and provide actionable tips, while case studies and user-generated content will help you drive more sales faster.
Strengthen your Social Media Presence
When managed properly, social networks may help you increase your brand exposure, target the right audiences, and build closer relationships with your followers. Precisely because of that, you need to build a thorough social media marketing strategy.
You should first determine your digital marketing goals and choose social media that will help you achieve this goal. For example, Instagram is perfect for building personal relationships with customers using gorgeous photos, exciting stories, behind-the-scenes content. On Facebook, you could deliver value to users. Use social media monitoring tools and join relevant groups in the industry so you can participate in conversations and help prospective customers solve problems. LinkedIn is a perfect place to share your expert knowledge.
Similar to blogging, your social media content needs to be produced and shared regularly. As managing multiple posts across various accounts may be challenging, consider investing in a social media management tool that will automate your social media posting.
Over to You
In the fierce software industry, your goal is to attract new customers, engage them, and inspire their loyalty in the long-run. That is why you should use your digital marketing resources strategically and creatively. Keep delivering value to your customers through authentic and quality content. Humanize your brand and engage followers on social networks. Use social proof and referral marketing to gain your prospective customers’ trust. Create a consistent brand image across all channels to boost brand memorability. I hope these tactics will help you get noticed by the right customers and gain a competitive advantage.
What digital marketing tactics does your software company use?