Ultimate guide on how to use Marketing in Software Inc.

Version: 1.6.x

DISCLAIMER:
All the info provided here is gathered from my playing experience, and through Discussions on Steam and Discord. I have tried to provide accurate information on how game's mechanic works, still they might include my own perspectives on how to play this game.
This guide should be used more in an informative way, to help you design your own unique play style and the ultimate experience.

Marketing task can be separated in groups:

- Pre-marketing
- Post-marketing
- Deals (from Receptionist)

Since marketing is not that well explained, what you must first know is that each difficulty setting has it's own period for Marketing. It's called "Marketing boost window before release" and here is list per difficulty

- Easy 2y 8m
- Medium 2y
- Hard 2y
- Impossible 1y 4m

So, when you announce first your new software, you will have that "marketing window" on diff you choose. Also, important thing that is rarely mentioned is "Marketing recognition", which is the most important thing to know behind Marketing mechanic.

Marketing recognition is value that represents general visibility and popularity of your software. It is not equal to the number of fans that your company has.
It can be seen when you hover over Fans on top of screen - a new dropdown list will be displayed giving you insight how much each type of product genre is recognized.

Update: Number of fans doesn't mean anything as a sheer number but I learned it is an indicator of how fast your market recognition is gained for new IP ! So releasing brand new software later in game, when you have millions of fans, will speed up building of MR for that IP. Read it - trustworthy company with outstanding software will have more "credit" and will acquire sales faster because users already value that brand. Example - any new Apple crap is going to be flying off the shelves on release.

Every new IP starts with Marketing recognition of 0 (zero) value. If the first release have good reviews, it will start acquiring recognition. This is a slow process and it will take time for any IP to build good MR (good - at least 4/6 hearts).
Important: Software sales are affected directly by your marketing recognition, and every difficulty will put more and more emphasis on it. This can be also seen on new game start window when you click on ? button next to difficulty, under market recognition impact.

To sum it so far, the higher the difficulty, you will have smaller period for effective marketing, and it will take longer to build marketing recognition for each new IP.

The only way to build strong recognition is by releasing sequels that are at least Great/Inspiring, and are in time frame of 2-4 years in between.
Hint: Smaller software can be issued under 3 years, especially if you want to build recognition fast (Antivirus, Sport game), tools can be done every 2 years, and also every 4 years, there is no general rule. However computer PC sequel shouldn't be released until 4 years have passed, since it's most complex software, and it's usage is longest.

You can always debate how much marketing teams are needed, and my attitude is - the less is better. Since first release has no marketing recognition, it is impossible sometimes to get Unavoidable during pre-marketing, so don't stress yourself if you did enough press releases, as long as you did Press build. Also, post-marketing can get you to Unavoidable in few months if the budget is unlimited.

Steps to market:

1. Announce the release date (0 followers)
2. Issue press release in Design phase (1000+ followers gained)
3. Issue press release in Development phase (10.000+ followers gained)
4. Do Press build (several 20k+ of followers gained)
5. Release the software

It seems that marketing mechanic in game was reworked since before, but this list is what I found to be the optimal on how to effectively pre-market product.

Additional insight: Announcing the release date will start the marketing window period, however number of followers is going to be zero until you issue your first Press release.
Each press release will boost followers moderately for two months, then will slowly stop climbing and decline in the end. With this in mind, a new Press release should keep public entertained around 3 months (four, before rapid decline).

Why am I doing it this way ?

Press release info states that it should be used not often, since each new Press release will have lesser effect than previous- less marketing boost. Earlier it was possible to spam video press releases and shoot followers into sky, however that is fixed now.
Tip: Press release in Alpha is treated same as Beta, so releasing one in each phase will have negative effects (after second, followers will start to drop quickly since there is nothing new to showcase). So when reaching beta, "Press build" should be done only, since it gives the biggest boost to followers - same like a demo or showcase to the press in real life.

My way: I do both press releases with video, however I release mine's first when Design enters last iteration, and second when get reviews and reiterate design to get those 10/10 grades.

PRO-TIP:
You can start project's Design phase, and also start writing first press release, even without announcing. When design phase reaches 4th iteration, do announcement (set release date to be in 15 months), and issue prepared press release. That way you will have enough time to do another Press release during development, review + iteration, finish development, do press build and beta fixing.
If you finish earlier, you can release it also (don't forget to print/order copies),
there is NO penalty for releasing earlier than announced !

Since there are small difference, I've added this section just to compare how marketing is done for additional content.
There are three different types and here is the list per type:
Games - Expansion pack
Office Software - Add-on
Console - new Joystick

Each of these "additional-content" things have two purposes: extra profit + additional user/sales

Expansion packs + Add-ons
Expansion packs for games should be done in 6 months period, but it can be also once per year, however spamming them every month or so is going to have negative impact on their sales.
The main thing to know about them is - max sales = current active number of users
So when printing them, it is safe to print few 100k more than number of active users.
They are relatively simple to develop, each stage taking around half a day to finish (usually), and impact on game sales and active users is noticeable.
Warning: again, Marketing recognition has a big part in this, so if the game is selling really slow you can do few expansion packs to boost it, however, Sport seems to have the sharpest decline in active users and is first to be abandoned, so there is no need to pump out expansions for each release and type.
Add-ons - exactly the same, just for Office software

Joysticks
When you release your new console, you will notice that joypads are being sold, however you are still losing the money. This is because each console is sold with one - sale is not added to the net profit of joystick alone, so there is really small chance to break even on the default one.
But, after a year (and at least 1.5 mill units sold), you can design a new joystick which be treated like expansion pack for game, but with different printing setup.
Note: so far I have observed that number of new joysticks sold on release date and number of console's active users can be very (very) different.
Example:
I have released console in June 1990, on December 1991 number of consoles sold is 1.8 million, and the number of active users is 1.3 million. I announce - develop - market - release a new joystick. Number of units sold first month - 3.1 million ???
This made me realize although joypads are same as expansion packs and add-ons, it is still treated differently in current version, so BEWARE when releasing new Joypad, be sure and prepared to sell number that is pretty much higher than the expected number of active users.

Marketing strategy:
The biggest difference between announcing new software and new expansion pack is that expansion pack gets base following from software's current popularity. With this in mind, the steps how to market Expansion pack/Add-on/Joystick is a little bit changed:

1. Announce release date - (instant new followers, depending on number of active users)
2. Issue press release when starting Alpha phase (several 10k+)
3. Send Press build when promoting to Beta(100k or even millions+)
4. Release

Since the all of expansion content is really simple and is done fast, there is no need for addition press issue. Boost from announcing is enough to get things rolling, and of course, Press build explodes the number of followers.
My way: I announce straight away to be released in 4 months. Start on design and Press release. When the design is completed 100%, I promote to Alpha and issue 3* Press release. After promotion to Beta, I send Press build and start printing copies 500k+ over active user number.
Release is the night before 4th month.

UPDATE:
In current game mechanic, the majority of the sales will be done in first month after the release. There are going to be sales in further months, but they would be dropping/minimal, so there is NO point in doing post-marketing tasks for any of these products !

In my last run, I've tested no-marketing team setup, where I would outsource marketing until I start to build my OS, which is my first marketing project.
Earlier I was hiring 2 teams of 10 marketeers - four 3*, five 2*, one leader/marketing Soc+HR
However with this new strategy, I will not hire any marketing team.

Subsidiary marketing

I acquire a subsidiary that is cheapest - near bankrupt and having low creativity Lead designer, and remove to be autonomous. It will be in charge for every single marketing task for each new release.
Two big things to know:
Subsidiaries will continue to earn money after you acquire them, because they still have some revenue incoming from it's releases. However, it will soon to start to be money sink, so this strategy is for advanced players that have over 200m $ and can afford to buy AI company and give it 50m $ of starting capital.
Second - if you are running 2 shifts like myself, the Subsidiary work only regular working time, so it can handle tasks during day, but don't expect them to be as productive as your company.

So, my new Subsidiary will get Hyping, Press-releases and Post-marketing tasks for each new release. I was testing it to see how many tasks can handle, and I think it's like 30 easily. Also if you assign it over 20 tasks, it will actually stop to be money sink, and be float-able with maybe -1m $ per year.
Advice here: there is no need to market software indefinitely, since you want your sequel to sell as well as previous one - and more, so you need to stop post-marketing for any release when the sequel arrives.

IMPORTANT !
The only downside of having no-marketing teams is that you must do manual development of every project, and you can't use Project management for developing, since you can't assign Subsidiary in PM window.

Marketing deals acquired from receptionist tend to be really long, and would require high number teams, so my advice is to do better support deals, since it is almost same amount of money, but one team of 10 supporter 1* can actually support a deal, however marketing team of 10 marketeers 1* are going to be late with work.
If you decide to do marketing deals as complementary to your pre-marketing tasks, do not take on without at least eight 2* and two 3* marketing skill employees.

Post-marketing
After releasing software, you should assign team to do the post-marketing task. It will ensure that your release stay (or reach) Unnavoidable, and keep it that way as far as it takes.
I have never played with budgets, so I leave them at infinite - so each month they will receive max boost. However if you are running tight ship, then see what budget will allow you to stay Unnavoidable month after month

Again, you can use my strategy of Subsidiary marketing, and assign each new release's post marketing task to it. I can vouch it will always cover even 12 simultaneous tasks.


Comment bellow if you disagree or have a better way of marketing.
Cheers!