The role of software in the marketing mix.
Software has developed into an incredibly flexible marketing tool. Today this article points out that software is where the value lies in smartphones. A while ago I wrote about a similar phenomenon.
The idea that software creates value is not new, but this hasn’t simply been made possible through more powerful hardware for the software to run on. It’s also been made possible by the rise of experience design.
As you may know, I’ve also been quite absorbed in thinking about experience design and in particular how to think about the communication that results from the structure of interactions.
Software design is fantastically versatile for defining an interaction. Users can be led through a path by creating experiences that reward the desired behavior. By bringing marketing thinking and strategy into this process it’s also possible to deliver your brand’s ideals or values through these interactions in a tangible way. It’s also possible to structure these interactions to fit specific marketing objectives.
Software designed to deepen an existing relationship can be structured completely differently than software designed to create a new relationship. The former can presume a level of intimacy – the latter can slowly ask for one.
Because software does this while actually doing something useful at the same time it’s almost a perfect marketing and branding tool.