Software Product Companies and Brand Advocates
Quite some time ago, I had encountered a problem which I see most software product companies struggle with. The problem is, incorrectly leveraging their brand advocates, fans, and social media to help promote their software products. They assume that they need the help or rather should be connecting with their brand advocates and seek their help in just the marketing of their products. The thinking is flawed and let me illustrate why. Note: I’m not saying that they shouldn’t leverage them for marketing, I think there are many more mutual benefits.
Software Product Development Lifecycle
Software product development has a typical lifecycle which I’ve simplified and visualized below.
The above visual shows interesting opportunities for engaging with brand advocates.
Each and every stage, from ideation, testing(alpha and beta), to launching and finally supporting of their software product can benefit from involvement with their brand advocates.
For those of you to whom software development or social media/ brand advocacy is new this might not be so clear. But I’ve found that as soon as I show the above visual to people in this industry their eyes literally light up at the opportunities they can now see.
P.s. If you’re interested in this topic feel free to read my recent article on how software product companies can leverage brand advocates to save money and reduce time to market.
