Below are the video and slides of the “Marketing for microISVS – embracing the ‘dark side’?” talk I gave at ESWC 2009 in Berlin. This is a high-speed ramble through a vast subject. In the 45 minutes available I do my best to dispel some of the myths software developers have about marketing and discuss some marketing concepts, including: branding; positioning; pricing; and segmentation. Taking in Harley Davidsons, tinned tomatoes, Coca Cola and food blenders on the way. The first couple of minutes, where I dispel the myth that good software sells itself without marketing, are missing from the video due to a dead camera battery. But you knew that anyway, so I don’t think this detracts much overall.

Video:

Slides (which might not make much sense without the video):

NB/ When I said 47Signals, I meant 37Signals (brand inflation?). Thanks to Tarek for the correction.

Links to some of the things mentioned in the talk:

• Brief reviews of all the books mentioned (plus a few others)
• Bob Walsh’s ‘microISV sites that sell!’ e-book
• Neil Davidson’s ‘Don’t Just Roll The Dice – A Usefully Short Guide to Software Pricing’ e-book (PDF)
• Brandz ‘Top 100 brand ranking 2008’ (PDF)
• Will it blend?
• Headset hotties
• Alwin Hoogerdijk’s blog
• Eric Sink’s blog

A big thank you to Alwin and Sytske of collectorz.com for hot-footing it from Alwin’s talk to do the video (you can see Alwin’s excellent talk on web app pros and cons here). And also to David and Panagiota for all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes organizing ESWC.

If you found this talk useful you might also like 10 mistakes microISVS make.