What separates an app rock star, from an app hobbyist? An app rock star understands the power of distribution, whereas, an app hobbyist creates an app based on personal preference, without a clear app distribution strategy.

Do you want to be an app rock star? If so, consider the following proven guerilla and paid application discovery tips when formulating your app marketing strategy:

Guerilla tactics: If you don’t have a revenue model, but want to get your cool consumer app widely discovered, here are a few tips on how you can get distribution:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)- Organic search engine marketing is competitive for blockbuster keyword terms. Focus on a wider, niche-buster strategy to break through the clutter
   • Search Tips and SEO
2. PR/Social Media- Facebook and Twitter have millions of users. Make it easy for your apps biggest fans to start recommending your app to their friends
   • Some good stuff came out of VentureBeat’s DiscoveryBeat conference a week ago
3. App Galleries/App Stores/Directories- Whether you have an iPhone app and are publishing it to their store, a Firefox add-on on AMO(http://addons.mozilla.org), or a Windows app and published on a download library like Download.com (see Upload.com to submit your app).  There are many free sites where you can submit your app for a free listing.
   • Don’t Overlook Software Libraries, like download.com, as a Consumer Software Tactic

The main limitation with guerilla marketing is the lack of predictability, and the lack of scale. Most app marketers cannot get to a meaningful scale through a purely guerilla model.

Paid tactics: If you have a revenue model, it is easier to get scale fast.  There are a few additional options for you:

1. Paid Search Advertising: By far the most dominant way to market an application. Watch out though, keyword prices can be very competitive these days. Make sure you have a good landing page so your quality score is high.
2. OEM/Bundle Marketing Partnerships: There are bundle network solutions like the W3i Application Network that can get you very wide distribution fast. If you have a large budget, you can try cutting a direct deal with hardware manufacturers.
   • Wildtangent
     • Wildtangent became an immediate force in the casual game world because of the huge distribution agreements they signed
   • Yahoo, Microsoft Bing, HP/Ace
     • Lots has been said about Microsoft stealing the HP and Acer toolbar distribution deals from Yahoo
   • Hard drive/back-up drives and back-up software
     • Carbonite with Seagate
     • Similarly, Memeo with Western Digital 
   • Cisco thought so much about consumer app Network Magic that they bought out its parent company Pure Digital for many millions of dollars
3. Display Ads: Not as effective as they once were, but may be an opportunity. For display ads to be effective, your app needs to be supported by most platforms, otherwise you’ll end up with a bunch of users who can’t use your app anyway.
   • Optimizing Banners
4. Pay-per-download (PPD) advertising: Many of the download libraries, like CNET’s Upload.com service that manages listings on Download.com, provide pay-per-download advertising.
   • Don’t Overlook Software Libraries, like download.com, as a Consumer Software Tactic
5. Television & Radio Advertising: It might sound a little odd to many of you online marketers, but I have heard many consumer app marketers say that television and radio spots were very effective at driving web traffic.
   • Ascentive, Xeriton, and Carbonite all do radio and/or television
     • Television
       •  Carbonite                                                                                                                         
       • Ascentive’s FinallyFast.com
       • Norton 360
       • Windows I’m a PC
       • Apple series of “App For Everything” ads
         • I can’t confirm this one, but I heard at a recent conference that Apple maintains a schedule for the apps it will feature in its “App for Everything” television campaign, and they provide placement in the commercial as an extra incentive for certain iPhone app developers to meet their target release date
       • Parody- Florida/Key West travel bureau spoofed it
     • Radio
       • Carbonite- article about their use of radio
     • Retail
       • I would say don’t even bother with brick and mortar retail, but in certain app categories, you can probably get some traction.

Pick your partners wisely when it comes to paid advertising to support your application discovery. Most good channels allow you to try their model with low minimum commitments, and potentially work on a performance based pricing model.

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over ten, profitable years evolving W3i in the consumer application industry.

The blogosphere is covered with posts that would have us believe that desktop applications and software are already dead (cloud, mobile, SaaS); however, retail sales for desktop applications and software are a multi-billion dollar industry. In April 2009, the NPD Group reported that PC software retail sales were around $3.4B per year and holding steady. The major change, however, is the impact the web is having on how desktop applications and software are distributed.  According to NPD, web application and software distribution has increased from 11.5% to 17% in the last 4 years.

Following I explain how the web has influenced software bundling.  I start with a brief background of OEM software bundling.  Next I discuss a new type of software distribution that we call recommendation based distribution, and conclude with answers to frequently asked questions regarding recommendation based distribution.

Software Bundling

Software providers (OEM – original equipment manufacturer) for decades leveraged value-added resellers (VARs) for driving sales of their software as part of a hardware/software package.  These marketing partnerships result in what is often referred to as a “bundle” due to the fact that complementary services are bundled together.

A common example is a new computer that includes Microsoft Windows®.  A few other applications routinely bundled include Office®, security, internet browser, and toolbar applications. 

This type of distribution is big business.  Here are a few examples:

1. HP & WildTangent – WildTangent became an immediate force in the casual game world because of the huge bundle distribution agreements that they signed.
2. Storage devices bundled with back-up software such as Carbonite with Seagate and Memeo with Western Digital Technologies.

User acceptance over the practice varies based on the type of users a VAR sells to as well as the quality and quantity of applications that they bundle. The two primary concerns raised by consumers are system performance and the nuisance of removing unwanted software.

Recommendation Based Distribution

Is software bundling fundamentally flawed?  Do users want to receive a more affordable package by having additional software marketed to them?

Now that many users are connected to the web, software can be merchandised effectively without preloading on the users’ systems in advance.  W3i research showed that software bundling is not fundamentally flawed.  Users are however, most receptive to receiving software offers if they are involved in the application selection process.  Users can see recommendations for other applications when they first run a new computer, attach a new external device, or download an application from the web.  The recommendations can call out to the web to retrieve the files required for presenting the recommendations, downloading, and installing.

W3i to facilitate this process created its own proprietary technology, InstallIQ, which supports a fully web-capable solution allowing us to create a software distribution experience that resembles an online shopping experience. 

Here is an example of a website, Wallpapers.com, that runs InstallIQ during installation:

Note the consistency between the initial website and continued branding through the installation process.  We call this feature installer skinning.  By leveraging the website’s brand equity and style in the installer we create a transparent and consistent experience that enhances usability and increases conversions (see our post Creating Consistency to Increase Conversions).

The same flexible technology is used to improve the presentation of software to users:

Notice above that the user has a clear and consistent navigation experience.  This navigation style was influenced by a case study, published by TRUSTe, as well as improvements such as a shopping cart feature that was added based on user feedback.  The cart shows specifically what applications were accepted followed by a check-out process where the user can review all of their selected applications and change their selections before the process is completed. 

Some providers struggle with clear and consistent navigation because it is challenging working with their existing installation packaging technologies.  Their user navigation requires very different buttoning when a recommendation is presented. This is something I like to call “opt-irritating”.

In summary, the web is enabling an evolution in software distribution and software bundling.  It is so different from how VARs bundled in the past that we feel a more appropriate category descriptor, for this methodology is recommendation based distribution.

Frequently asked questions

• Is this business model right for my software?  How will my users respond?

Software with a low propensity for users to purchase have the most to gain. Frequently, developers are experimenting with multiple business models and a hybrid approach wins out. For example, a leading security application offers a free light version which gets heavy downloads, generates revenue from advertising using installer recommendations, and later pitches premium paid services to its users.

The response by users vary greatly from one implementation to another. A software or application provider’s reputation is highly influenced by the quality of software they provide. Distribute high quality software which is monetized through a high quality bundle experience and users can and will be very satisfied.

W3i has an experienced staff that works closely with software providers to define the solution which best suits their needs, including support on decisions such as the:  

• • Customizable look and feel
  • Select which, and how many, applications you want to recommend
  • Determine when you want to present the recommendations, whether it is with new installations or with special upgrades
  • Data-driven recommendations for optimization
• Who should I form a marketing partnership with?

Most consumers and developers are in agreement that security and trustworthiness are key when choosing a marketing partner.  Users’ trust is earned by providers who define, educate, and simplify the process so users can effectively take control.

There are a few techniques you might consider when selecting marketing partners.  How recognized are their brands? How useful is their software to your users? What comments, reviews, or ratings have been written about them? Ask your users what they think about the partner or think about how your user persona would most likely respond.  What commitment do they make in educating users about their practices and policies?  Do they have any third party validation and monitoring in place such as certification in the TRUSTe Trusted Download program?

Brands continue to play a key role.  Partners should stand behind their practices with full disclosure and branding.  They should proudly make visible who their marketing partners are instead of burying themselves in a privacy policy or by engineering their technology so it cannot be distinguished on its own.  Be cautious of providers with little or no reputation or experience.  If very few people say something positive or negative about them and they have significant distribution volumes, it says something about their commitment to creating awareness with their users.

• How many additional offers should I present in any single installation?

W3i conducted a test where 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 offers were tested.  The results showed that the quantity had a minimal impact and that the relevancy of the offers was more important.  Relevancy impacts whether the user will complete the installation of the software, keep and use the software, and whether they will accept offers.

Be sure to consider not only how many offers you distribute but whether or not you will allow the offers to include other offers in their updates or a subsequent run process.  W3i’s policy, which it enforces, prohibits advertisers from promoting additional offers.  Some companies say they only distribute one offer but they do not have policies against what their advertisers distribute and so in reality, users that accept a single offer actually end up getting pitched more than one offer, often within moments of downloading and installing.

As you can see online recommendation based distribution borrows from but also significantly enhances software bundling to make it more appealing to users. The solution continues to evolve but the basics laid out above are the foundation for successful online software distribution.

By mastering recommendation based distribution, your applications can leverage a proven model that enables you to be relevant through effective distribution and monetization.

Get more in-depth information about software or application distribution through W3i’s blog, newsletter, or reaching out to us directly.

Ryan Weber, Vice President of Corporate Strategy & Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Entrepreneur and pioneer of Internet marketing focusing on increasing revenue and distribution for digital downloads.

As 2009 comes to a close, 2010 will usher in some fantastic changes for applications.  I am making three application predictions for next year, showing the application landscape’s constant shift and change to meet new user and market demands:

1. The Rise of Social Security Apps
   As phishing, worms and viruses become more prevalent on social networks (see: Koobface and Mikeyy); I predict in 2010, we will see a rise of applications and browser add-ons dedicated to improve security on social networks.  These apps will function as scouts, preemptively warning users to impending dangers, such as worms that intend to gather sensitive information available on your social network profile.  The need for these types of apps is clear and would provide a great protective benefit to consumers.
2. Location finds its way to Desktop Apps
   There are many great social location-based services gaining momentum with users as of lately:  Gowalla, Foursquare, and Loopt are just a few.  Yes, these services are generally best rendered on a mobile device.  But I predict, in 2010, that many of these services will create auxiliary desktop apps.  Presence on the desktop would offer an enhanced user experience: persistent views into location of friends, trip planning/scheduling, landmark information and media, local event information, management of digital collectibles, and account management options.
3. Application Indexing Improves
   I’ve written previously about how application indexes should improve.  These services, such as Wakoopa, catalog desktop applications and their related usage data. I predict these services will improve greatly in 2010.  Currently, their user base skews heavily towards the tech-savvy audience.  To truly index the world of applications, these services need to gain acceptance from all demographics and I predict they will crack this nut next year.  These services will then grow in popularity on a scale comparable to mobile app stores, such as Apple’s App Store and Google Android’s Market.

So there you have it; three application predictions for 2010.  But surely there’s more than just this.  What predictions do you have for the application landscape next year?  Be bold and leave your predictions in the comments!

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLC
Eric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.  

Add-On-Con was a buzz-worthy event for marketers and developers of browser add-ons.  My last posting recapped how browsers plan to lead all application platforms.  If you didn’t catch it, read it here.  In this post, I will cover the Add-On-Con buzz on add-on business models.  In my next post, I will cover the Add-On-Con buzz on add-on distribution channels.

Add-On Business Models

Paid Model

• Marketplace for add-ons.
  • Developers agreed that a marketplace, promoting the buying and selling of add-ons, is desirable.
    • The marketplace should provide an embedded payment platform.
    • A concern was raised by a developer, Chris Finke, regarding whether or not you could establish a user-base if you charge users.  Add-ons rely heavily on receiving buzz through the add-on galleries and with users which could be less effective if you begin charging as this creates higher friction.
  • Firefox mentioned a marketplace was one of the most commonly requested features from developers through AMO.
  • Firefox announced its plan to release a marketplace at the end of 2010.
• One developer, Eric Jung from FoxyProxy, is already having success with charging for their add-on.
  • Subscriptions he recommended as the best method for charging for add-ons because they allow the developer to create an ongoing stream of revenue which supports continuing to update the software.
  • Eric prefers leveraging the freemium model to drive the initial paid conversions.
• Contributions (donations) so far are not impressing anyone with Firefox.
  • Top developers are earning just $1,000 per month.

Ad-Supported Model

• Promotion – Developers are using add-ons to promote websites that have their own business models.
• Search Advertisements – Yahoo spoke about providing search advertisements, for syndication, as a source of revenue for add-ons including, but not limited to, toolbars.
• Installer Recommendations – I shared results from a recent W3i survey of 502 users which showed that of the ad-supported solutions, app/add-on marketers preferred the method of users seeing ads within the installation or download instead of ads in their application, or participating in market research.  Check out W3i to learn more about generating revenue through the installation of your add-on.
• Data – It came up several times that the data captured from add-ons is a potentially lucrative source of revenue.  Appeasing user’s privacy concerns and monetizing data were viewed with skepticism by most developers.

During my ten years of experience distributing add-ons and consumer apps, I learned that it pays to test various business models.  There is continual evolution, so it pays to discover and test new models to stay afloat.  For more information on using the W3i Application Network to generate revenue for your browser add-on, click here.

Ryan Weber, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Entrepreneur and pioneer of Internet marketing focusing on increasing revenue and distribution for digital downloads.

In the spirit of the holidays, it seems a little free gift is in order.  So, I am recommending my favorite free applications and why:

7 Zip

This is a nice and easy zip tool.  Of course, anything that zips files up is indispensable.  One that can do it without requiring a lot of thought, is even better.  This is something that I use on a daily basis and frankly, could not live without.

Weatherbug

A little piece of background, I have a main house that is about 200 miles away from my weekday apartment and the office.  On top of that, I am in Minnesota.  Being able to quickly check the weather, be alerted to any problems–whether snow in the winter or tornados in the summer–is crucial.  I have come to recognize the little chirp as a lifeline of information, to the point that little bug can wake me up from several rooms away.  Unless you live in a Utopian weather climate, this is a must have.

KwiClick

I recently discovered this application.  How totally cool.  Right now it only works on FireFox, but when you search, no more going back and forth, right clicking to open another window, all that stuff.  KwiClick keeps my search results handy and when one page doesn’t quite cut it, the next option is right in front of me, a click away. 

CamStudio

Wow!!  Years ago I used another application that was quite expensive to capture what was going on with my screen.  This has so many more features and is a free download.  I found a few great uses for it.  I have used it instead of trying to explain in email how to perform some tasks for my less technical friends, and I have used it when submitting technical tickets to websites where I can’t quite get my words to convey the problem that I am having.  With its ability to capture sound from me or the computer, to capture just a section of the screen and to show or not show the mouse makes it a very useful tool.

Free Living 3D Fireplace Screensaver

It’s Christmas, and I feel a bit of nostalgia at Christmas time.  Since I get a lot of hints that I might be a tad older than most of our readers, I won’t feel bad to say that, as a kid, we didn’t have a fireplace, DVDs weren’t invented (we didn’t even have beta players), no cable and the only satellite we knew about was SpaceLab.  But on Christmas morning, at least one of those TV stations that came in over the antenna would run a film of a fireplace and play Christmas carols in the background.  This was the backdrop for more Christmas mornings than I can remember.  This just reminds me of the Yule Log broadcasts.  Now I get the screensaver on, put a Christmas carol playlist on my Music Oasis and print out the lyrics from EZ Lyrics so friends and family can sing along with the carols. 

So have a Merry Christmas, a Wonderful Hanukah, a Joyous Kwanzaa and a very Happy New Year!!

Kristin Oberhaus, Product Manager, W3i Holdings, LLC
Kristin has over 13 years of product management experience and is a certified usability analyst. She is an avid believer in pragmatic marketing.

When was the last time that you watched one of your favorite TV shows and saw no advertising?  Sure, in the world of TiVo and DVR, you can fast forward through ads or watch your show online, but most TV programming is paid for by advertisements.  How many times have you heard the tagline, “this show is brought to you by” followed up by a 15 second blurb about each of the 2 or 3 companies that are paying to allow you to view it?  The show doesn’t stop halfway through and ask you to pay $19.95 for the last half of the program.  No, you get to enjoy your show for free because of the advertisements.  The same can hold true for apps, you can choose between interstitial advertising or advertising in the installer. 

Could consumer application companies benefit from this business model?  Absolutely!  Companies can place advertising in their applications to generate revenue.  Or for a better user experience, ads can be displayed during the installation process.  By giving users the opportunity to “Accept” or “Decline” up front, there are no interstitial ads to disturb the user experience.  By showing the user advertisements for valued applications during installation, your application can drive additional revenue.  To learn more, contact W3i.

Donny Snyder, Business Development Manager, W3i, LLC
Donny uses his experience and excitement for the internet industry, along with W3i’s Application Network, to provide distribution and monetization solutions for content providers.

When looking to distribute free consumer software, there are many different methods of distribution.  Some of the more successful distribution methods are:

• Online marketing promotions
• Affiliate programs
• Physical distribution through retail
• Word of mouth

If you can get all the software distribution you need from the latter, then this blog post probably isn’t for you. But for the rest of us who can’t ever get enough, here’s a tactic that tends to get overlooked -software aggregators. 

There are many benefits to hosting your free software or trial software on sites like Download.com, Tucows.com and Softonic.com.  One of the most important things to look for when researching software aggregators is reputation, look for companies like Softonic.com that are a trusted source of downloads. If it’s not a trusted site don’t use it!  Many software aggregators  offer multiple benefits such as:

• Free listing programs
• Pay per download (PPD) programs at very reasonable rates
• Scalable bandwidth  

Listing your downloads with software aggregators can free up bandwidth.  If your product has a large file size or high traffic influxes, these sites have the ability to provide unlimited downloads to potential users without the worry of servers crashing and bandwidth overage charges.

Working with software aggregators does come with a couple of caveats.  The first is turnaround time.  This problem is mostly caused by us–marketers, developers, etc.  Due to the high volume of requests for listings on these popular aggregators, turnaround times can be days or weeks.  It can also take the same amount of time when you’re trying to remove a product from the site.  Be sure to plan ahead.

The second is the lack of reporting.  You don’t get much visibility into reporting, so before adding this method of distribution to your marketing strategy, be sure to know your Key Performance Indicators (KPI) so you have the ability to optimize.

And now the W3i plug! Apart from software aggregators there is another tool available to you to increase distribution; it’s advertising in the installer.  W3i has created a proprietary Application Network where the advertiser’s popular consumer applications are offered during the installation process.  This distribution method is performance-based and user generated.      

Just like when football coaches tell their players to keep their heads on a swivel, the same can be said for marketers of this generation.  There are many different vehicles of software distribution that you can use to get your software in front of consumers. Just make sure the vehicle you choose fits your marketing strategy and instead of telling you to think outside the box, because I hate that cliché, I will suggest that you work smarter, not harder, when trying to find new vehicles of distribution.

Mitch Bain, Marketing Manager; W3i, LLC
Mitch has 4 years experience focusing on Display Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, and Mobile Marketing, in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.