Advertising Software in a Store or Website?

There are two common ways of selling software: either online or in a store. Both have some kind of advantage, both for the costumers and for the merchants. It is in the merchant’s interest that his/her clients know about the product, and the way to achieve this point is through advertisement.

There are advantages and disadvantages to advertising software in a retail store. The main advantage is the presence of a salesperson, who can field questions from the prospective buyer. The buyer may also be attracted by the medium that the software comes on, such as a CD or DVD. The main disadvantage of the retail environment is that there will be other similar products competing for the same customers.

A product which is being sold online requires differrent distribution and advertisement techniques than the products sold in stores. advertising software on the web can be quite user-specific: an inexpensive way is the use of marketing software, which for example sends e-mails out to customers which did buy similar products in the past. This is just one example of the use of ecommerce software in a product promotion.

Another way of advertising software online is the use of popup windows. This is an approach which is less personalized. The mass of people being reached through this method compensates for its lack of distinctiveness. It is also cheaper than the use of expensive ecommerce software, the advertiser just pays for the views the advertisement is receiving.

%NL% The disadvantage for online advertising is that there has been desensitization among frequent online users toward online ads. This is due to the extensive and sometimes intrusive use of advertisements on a number of websites. As a result, users tend to just block out the ads.

It is also noticeable that some Internet users are now afraid of clicking on any advertisement online, especially in the case of advertising software. Consumers have become aware that they might inadvertently install a virus packaged along with software they have downloaded, and it is no wonder that this makes them leery of clicking on an advertisement.

As for me, I like to research software on the Internet before I go into the store to purchase it. For that reason, I can be influenced by online advertisements in addition to the ads inside the store.

http://www.cyberpowersoftware.com

- Thom Dickey