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I am a software developer and what I need now is some guidance as to the next steps that should be taken to get a 'finished' project off the ground. I don't need any financing, I just need some marketing. How do you even start spreading the word about it? Where would you spend money on ads? What steps would you take?

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Boy, this kind of broad, general question drives me crazy. It's like, "I have a pain. How should I go about curing it? I don't need any doctors, I just need some MEDICINE." Marketing is a HUGE field. There are HUNDREDS of books on marketing in every bookstore. People major in this in college. We're not going to tell you how to do it, especially without knowing anything about your project, in one internet post. – Joel Spolsky♦ Jun 10 '10 at 2:00
Everyone's else answers were actually useful Joe – newtonianb Jun 10 '10 at 14:51

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have you talked to your prospective customers? Gotten feedback on what their pain points are, and how your project addresses it? Defined your market conditions (market type)?

Sounds like some customer development effort is needed here. Another good resource on customer development can be found on the venturehacks blog.

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I agree I would suggest your thinking advertisement instead of marketing. Marketing is the first step in product development, its the only way to know that what you think is cool solves a problem that a group are willing to pay money for. – John Bogrand Jun 8 '10 at 14:28
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  • Identify the type of customer who benefits from the offer.
  • Get in touch with some of them and ask questions and listen. (What would x need to do for you to be willing to buy it?) (So if if it did x more would you be willing to spend more. etc..)
  • Change the product so that the minimum set of features the customer is willing to buy is on the product.
  • Communicate with the group you previously identified (Advertise) about your offer.
  • Measure results and get feedback.
  • Take feedback and go back to the change product step. repeat.
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thanks beta testers sounds like the way to go, about which have you heard of sites like prefinery.com? I'm not so keen on their fees though do you know of any alternatives? – newtonianb Jun 9 '10 at 2:59
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What type of software is it? Who would you be marketing it to?

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communication, for technology mature audience who possess a smartphone – newtonianb Jun 9 '10 at 3:04
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Do you have a demo or screencast for your product?

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not yet still looking for proper infrastructure to host this – newtonianb Jun 9 '10 at 2:59
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We are software developers as well, and selling project time tracking software I got to say that being on page one on Google results is the best advertising. We spent some money on Google Adwords, but it didn't really work for us. What kind of software do you develop?

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I don't expect to get much hits on google searches given that I don't think people would be searching for things I'm offering (as it's not something common or obvious) I just need a way to affordable expose it to general public. I'm aiming at technology mature audience with smartphone. – newtonianb Jun 9 '10 at 3:04
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If you're aiming at smartphone users I would buy ad space in apps, smartphone blogs, etc. I would also contact industry bloggers and offer them an exclusive view of your product in exchange for a review on their site.

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great idea! thanks – newtonianb Jun 10 '10 at 18:33

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