Definitions:
Marketing:
- The effort to determine and meet the needs and wants of current and potential customers
- A product designed to solve a particular problem or set of problems
Students Learn About:
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- The software market does have its own unique requirements compared to other industries.
- However, having said that, general marketing concepts still apply. One common misconception is that marketing and selling are interchangeable terms. This is not the case: marketing is a much broader area that includes sales as well as a great deal more
- Maintaining a software company’s standing and position in the market requires that the company consider social and ethical issues when developing marketing techniques and strategies. The effect of not considering social and ethical issues will result in undermining the confidence of consumers to trust the assertions of software companies
- Marketing is often described in terms of the Four P’s of Marketing namely, product, place, price and promotion.
- The relative proportion of resources allocated to each of these four efforts is often called the marketing mix.
- Let us consider each of these in terms of the software market with special consideration being given to the social and ethical responsibilities of those involved in the marketing process.
The aim of a developer is to maintain their space in the software market.
There are 4 P’s which describe marketing:-
The mix of the resources allocated to these 4 P's is called the "Marketing Mix"
Product - What do you sell?
Whilst the aim of developers is to stay in the market, one developers product can be the default product that customers buy, for example, Microsoft Office compared to Open Office.
There is always room for new developers.
- Firstly, you are not so much selling a software product as selling an expectation of the product.
- The expectation of customers should be met by product.
- It is unethical to produce a product that does not meet the users expectations.
- An audience must be specified before deciding on a place to sell the product
- There are many methods of distributing software, e.g. shop fronts, over the internet and from the industry distributors, etc.
- Location where a product is to be sold can effect the expectations of a product to users.
- A developer has a responsibility to arrange a reasonable price for a product.
- Methods for pricing a product are either a cost-plus basis, or consumer-based pricing.
- The cost-plus method is just to take the cost of making the product and adding a profit margin.
- Consumer-based pricing is when the perspective is focused on the consumer and what they are prepared to pay for the product.
- The different ways that persuade people to buy products.
- Developers have an ethical responsibility in what they say about their product to their customers.
- Promotion should help customers to make informed choices.
- The promotions should contain accurate information about the product that is not misleading.
- Word of mouth is a powerful promotional tool. If a product is liked by customers, they are likely to suggest it to friends of theirs which starts the ‘word of mouth’ effect.
Whilst the aim of developers is to stay in the market, one developers product can be the default product that customers buy, for example, Microsoft Office compared to Open Office.
There is always room for new developers.