How do I market my new software application?

Trade shows are good-- as an example, a relatively unknown company called Bluebeam has produced a competitor to Adobe Acrobat, but aimed specifically at the architecture market (has better markup capability, integrates better into Autocad, etc.)-- they handed out 30-day trials at the AIA convention. Our office now owns 10 licenses and has all but abandoned Acrobat, based entirely on the merits of the trial.

Other options include direct marketing, door-to-door salesmanship, viral marketing, and getting a company to adopt your software at a great discount so word of mouth can spread... in the Bluebeam example above, I think we've gotten 2 or 3 other companies interested in it.

And to prove that point, I just went and googled Bluebeam and am now considering replacing my adobe license with it.

But such a convention costs quite a lot of money. I'm thinking in terms of a marketing budget of plus minus Zero. I mean, let's say I had $1000 to register such a conference, would I not reach more users using targeted online advertisements?

Perchik: Really a shame they don't offer a referral program... if they have a "how did you hear about us", tell them "Ben Peoples told you" maybe they'll send me a t-shirt!

Max: Good point, but it largely depends on the conference, the market, and your price point. A targeted online ad campaign will only reach your buyers if they look at online ads... Actually-- something I've seem pretty effective is blog sponsorship-- advertising specifically on a blog (so they mention you in a post, particularly) that is read by your target market is killer for getting your name out there, since you piggy back on that blogger's credibility.

Yell it out on the street ;-)

You could also place it on iusethis.com.

If its a web application submit it to http://techCrunch.com, if its a desktop application, buy some google adwords to target your market. Have your friends twitter about it.