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9 - Marketing Your Baby
At this point, the program is just about ready, There will, of course be further testing, perhaps a few tries at playing it (purely research, you understand). Ideally, having other people work the program lets you see things you've missed, such as assumptions that are familiar to you in the program, but which no one else is comfortable with.Eventually the bugs are squashed, the testers are happy, and you have a product ready for marketing. At this point, you should already be in touch with Franklin's Manager of Software Partnerships (Jeffrey Sharpe), since communicating with him is the next step to moving your software onto their site for sales. For each product, expect to provide the SEB file, and additional advertising data:
- You'll need some test descriptions of products; currently, you need both a large and a small description. You are not just describing your product, you are selling it, so plan to write and rewrite this information until you find it explains and sells well. Key for sales: sell benefits, not features. This is a common mistake, as many programmers are feature-oriented and expect others to be. However, most people want to know what the program will do to enrich their lives, not the technical specifications. Trust me - there is a huge body of literature proving this, although every bone in your body is tempted to resist!
- You'll need two screen shots, small and large - in Windows, the 'Prt Scr' button (Print Screen, usually just above the cursor keys) copies the screen to the clipboard, which you can paste into a bitmap editor and clip to size. Simply run the emulator; select a screenshot you think best sells the program (remembering benefits, not features!), and snap away.
- You'll need a price. My recommendation is to look at what else is currently selling of a similar nature, and even check other hand-held markets for pricing. You'll need to balance a price that encourages buying, while not pricing yourself out of sales. Whole books have been written on the subject, but a great deal of it is still trial and error.
Was it worth it? Well, as I mentioned in part one, there's the royalties. Another significant point to consider is that if you're interested in pursuing software as more than a hobby (which makes sense given you're reading this), being able to offer software for sale on a site such as Franklin's provides validation of your skills, and acts as a calling card of sorts, opening other possibilities along the way.
And don't worry, the first program is always the hardest, and since we've gotten that one out of the way now, your next one will be much easier!
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