Last week we looked at 3 of the lowest cost marketing strategies. Here are 2 more...

4. Social Media

I know, I know... There is so much hype in this area - everyone is talking about social media marketing. But here's how you really make it work...

=> Meet the people who matter

There are thought leaders in every sector of the software industry. Most of them blog.

Post a thoughtful comment on their blog and they will see it. Post something interesting and relevant every couple weeks, and you'll start getting mindshare.

You can get to know - even become friends with - people across the world who you could never ever meet any other way.

You can go beyond thought leaders - start following people who you would like to become customers or business partners - and begin relationships with them.

=> Be genuinely helpful

I guarantee, if you are the CEO of a software company, you have a ton of useful knowledge. Share some of it with prospective customers.

7 out of 10 people who are buying software do not know what they are doing. They don't buy it often enough to fully understand how to evaluate it properly and how to make an educated decision. Help them!

You probably also have a lot of experience about how software should be implemented, or how certain aspects of your customers' businesses should be handled. Share that!

Find discussion forums where people in your market hang out and look for people who need help and help them.

Not every discussion has to be relevant to your software. Provide help where you can. Get your name and your company's name out there. Demonstrate your expertise; show you know what you are doing.

Here's a little more about social media marketing:
3 Easy Ways to Start Web 2.0 Marketing


5. Public relations

Yes, you can spend a lot of money doing public relations. But you can get started on virtually nothing. Here's how...

Find the publications, blogs and portals that target your market.

Then get involved!

Read articles about topics related to your software, then post comments on the article or the author's blog. Begin a dialog. It is a good idea to start with a compliment about the article. Then...

• I agree with what you said and here's my experience...
  
• I disagree with this statement and here's why...
  
• You forgot to mention...
  
• Another aspect to what you said is...
  
• Taking what you said a step further...
  

Include a sentence or two that explains how you know what you are talking about, and if you have specific anecdotes or statistics to offer, mention those too.

Then stay in touch!

Check in from time to time when you have something that will interest them. Help them write better stories and you will build a strong friendship.

• Share your expertise
  
• Demonstrate knowledge
  
• Advocate for your way of doing things
  

Goal: Become an expert they can turn to for insights.

• Collect user stories, anecdotes and statistics you can share with them.
  
• Be quotable.
  
• Have an opinion (don't be wishy-washy - every editor loves people who take a contrary point of view, particularly if they can back it up with facts).
  

There you go... 5 low-cost marketing strategies you can use to start spreading the word about your software in the U.S.

Read More In: Marketing and PR