Know-How Exchange

Ask your question ... sign up today! It's FREE!

Topic: Strategy

Search more Know-How Exchange Q&A from Marketing Experts

This question has been answered, and points have been awarded.

How To Market School/college Management Software?

Posted by niharcs063 on 5/3/2012 at 10:36 AM ET 125 Points

Hi.. This is Nihar form India.

I have developed a school/college management software.
It comprises all the real world scenarios happening in the school/college from taking attendance to scheduling exam etc etc. As the teachers inputs all the activities in the software then students can fetch those information from the web. This effort is really important for students as well as parents as now a days most of the parents are on the move.

I really need a good strategy to market this software. I have visited some school but have not got good response.

Please help me by providing some strategy to market the software. Thank you .

Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 5/3/2012 at 12:33 PM Member

The first step I would do is determine what pain you are fixing that your potential customer has. What is it they are doing now that is costing them time or money that your software will fix for them?

Without knowing this, it would be hard to figure out how to market this.
Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 5/3/2012 at 6:01 PM Accepted

What motivated you to develop this software?
Have you been able to test it (with beta testers) in the schools to see how well it works?
What options do the schools have, how much better is what you're offering, and how good is the security of the software (a big concern these days)?
Posted by Gary Bloomer on 5/3/2012 at 6:32 PM Accepted

No, you don't need a really good strategy to market this software, you need a crowd of fanatical buyers.

Until you've established a need for the software you
don't have a market—you have a product in SEARCH of
a market, which is not a good place to be.

Unless you have lots of capital and a gutsy backer your ONLY strategy to market ANY product is to first find out if there is a demand, a want, or a need for the thing you're developing.

Simply because you think your software is fantastic, it does lot logically follow on that other people will think the same way you do.

You first find out what people need, then you meet that need. You're less likely to waste time, blood, sweat, tears and money this way and see nothing come of it then you are by developing the product and THEN finding a market for it. You need to fail quickly and cheaply, THEN you move on to the next idea. And the next. And the next. And so on.
Posted by niharcs063 on 5/4/2012 at 2:19 AM Author

Well, I have gone through all the details required to run a school and they (school management) also agreed. But as I'm in India this kinda software is still not popular for some middle level schools as per as their financial situation is concern.
I made its cost very reasonable. The only problem I'm facing while promoting my software is that they are not trusting us (may be) as we are just a start up company.
I have tested it upto the worst case scenario and it is performing quite well.
Every school to where i have been for promoting it, they are also amazed with its features but as I said they are hasitating just because we don't have a brand name associated with it.

Please help me how to promote it well without having a good brand name.
Thank you.

Top

More on Marketing Strategy

4 in 10 CMOs Feel Unprepared for ... by Ayaz Nanji
Nearly four in 10 chief marketing officerssay they do not have the right people, tools, and resources to meet their marketing objectives, according to a recent report.
One-Third of Americans Regularly Listen to Online ... by Ayaz Nanji
One in three Americans age 12 and older, or an estimated 86 million people, now listen to online radio on a weekly basis, and weekly audience size of traditional AM/FM radio grew from 223 million to 243 million over the past year, according to a recent survey.
A Century of Marketing Media and Measurement: ... by Verónica Maria Jarski
To demonstrate how marketers have adapted to media innovations through the last century and developed measurements for them, IfbyPhone created the following infographic about the evolution of the "growth hacker" from the 1920s to today.
The Importance and ROI of Events: Marketers ... by Vahe Habeshian
Even as events remain a vital part of the marketing mix, and a key channel for direct one-to-one customer engagement, marketing executives—lacking visibility into the conversion pipeline—don't have sufficiently effective methods for measuring the impact of events and tradeshows on sales and revenue (and therefore can't prove ROI).

See more marketing articles »

Take 10: Demonstrate Marketing Success by Setting Clear Objectives

In just 10 minutes, we'll provide you with guidelines you'll want to follow in order to set clear objectives. If you follow these tips, you'll be able to clearly demonstrate marketing success in a language that your senior management team understands.
B2B Data: So Fresh and So Clean

In February 2013, NetProspex released their first B2B benchmark report during a MarketingProfs seminar. Now during this follow-up seminar, they'll share some important tactics, tried and tested over a three-month period, which lead to a strong improvement in deliverability and conversions. Sponsored by NetProspex.
How to Create Marketing Plans that Cross Channels and ...

In this PRO seminar, you'll learn how to create effective plans that make multiple channels and platforms work together seamlessly to deliver the best possible results.
Ain't Nobody Got Time for That: How to Become ...

Email. Blogging. Twitter. Whitepapers. Case studies. Video. Mobile. Facebook. Collateral. DO WE NEED TO BE ON PINTEREST?! The modern marketer's to-do list is miles long and can seem insurmountable.