Scale marketing to SMBs?

I've developed software targeted at attorneys and accountants. In conducting interviews (prior to building) I was able to identify a consistent pain point, which my software resolves, but it isn't one that they are actively searching on the web for. Currently they simply struggle through it, but once they see my software a light comes on and I'm fortunate that a few then want it.

With all of that being said, in my interviews I was able to get a few dozen committed to the software, but now I want to scale this out. Adwords isn't going to be of much use, and I'm uncertain about the direct-mail route. Asking for referrals has only gotten me so far as most seem to operate independently, not thinking of their competition/colleagues.

Does anyone have advice/tips on how they've successfully marketed to other small businesses, especially when those businesses aren't searching for your solution?

Thanks in advance for your time and assistance.

It sounds like you will have to be more proactive since these prospects are not looking for what you have. I would think that direct mail would let you present your solution to a problem they will recognize. They will at least be curious to find out more about your promise to solve one of their problems. One or two endorsements from your customers may go a long way.

You'll have to decide what to do next. Depending on the value of the software may affect the amount of effort you can expend. But initially, it may be most important to find out more about their problem and how best to get future customers - even if it costs you some effort and money to start.

You may be able to follow that up with advertisements in professional magazines, but that is more costly and you need to perfect your sales story first.

in your situation, ads can work, but not the "search linked google ads". I would buy some advertisings (or better some PR articles ) on specialised websites (magazines, professional associations,...) that are visited by your target group - attorneys or accountants.

Just try to find what are the websites visited by this community and see if (and for which price) you can advertise there. For such a specific product/service, advertising on generic media doesn't work and is just wasting of money. You must use specialized media...

You can also try the "cold-calling". It's not funny but instead of starting the speech by "I can sell you...", start with something like: "I would like to know if you encounter this problem..." or "would you be interested by a solution to that specific problem?"