SoftwareCEO - Managing to Grow

SoftwareCEO - Managing to Grow http://www.softwareceo.com?src=blog_rss Management strategies, tactics, answers and ideas for faster growth, higher profits and more control. Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:46:28 GMT admin@softwareceo.com SoftwareCEO 60 SoftwareCEO http://www.softwareceo.com/brand/sceo/community.gif http://www.softwareceo.com?src=blog_rss Fresh, Warm Leads - Available Now on LinkedIn http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/48165/Fresh-Warm-Leads-Available-Now-on-LinkedIn/?src=blog_rss If you still think of LinkedIn as a job hunting / recruiting site or you think of it as just another social media network that doesn’t work for software company marketers, I’ve got news for you. Big changes have occurred. Did I say big? I meant HUGE. Just look at these numbers. This info comes from a variety of sources including Neilson Online, UTM, Gartner, Forrester and LinkedIn itself. A motherload of the right people As of January 2013, LinkedIn has 200 million members and it’s estimated that a new person joins LinkedIn every second. Current members include: 2 million C-level executives 5.5 million technology managers 44,402 purchasing agents (as of this morning) Executives from all Fortune 500 companies And: 60% are either decision makers in their companies or have direct influence over key decisions related to product or service purchases. 88% of IT buyers use LinkedIn for professional use Where else are you going to find a collection of buyers like this? Not looking for jobs Third party research also confirms LinkedIn members are there to connect, but not so much for job hunting especially at the higher levels. According to a survey conducted by market research firm Lab42...<div><a href="http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/48165/Fresh-Warm-Leads-Available-Now-on-LinkedIn/">[Read more]</div> Marketing and PR Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:46:25 GMT Susan Tatum http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/48165/Fresh-Warm-Leads-Available-Now-on-LinkedIn/#discussion?src=blog_rss http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/48165/Fresh-Warm-Leads-Available-Now-on-LinkedIn/?src=blog_rss Content Marketing on the Fast Track http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/47656/Content-Marketing-on-the-Fast-Track/?src=blog_rss “The biggest mistake you can make in content marketing is to not create any content.” –unknown Funny how we marketing people can make things so much more complicated than they need to be. Content marketing is a great example. If you’ve done any kind of research into content marketing best practices you know there are precise steps you should follow, beginning with creating comprehensive buyer personas, identifying the information needs of each persona at each stage of the buying cycle, plotting out how and when you’ll create content to meet each of these needs, pulling together your team and so on. All of these are important activities – and you should do them at some point in the implementation of your content marketing program. But on the occasions when I’ve tried to follow a textbook process with my clients, we’ve gotten all bogged down. Reminds me of trying to get anything done fast at Lucent in the late 90s. Akkk! I’m currently talking with a software company CEO who’s on his 6 th month of “getting ready” to create content! I come from the school of “let’s be approximately correct, get on with doing stuff and correct it as we...<div><a href="http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/47656/Content-Marketing-on-the-Fast-Track/">[Read more]</div> Marketing and PR Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:29:23 GMT Susan Tatum http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/47656/Content-Marketing-on-the-Fast-Track/#discussion?src=blog_rss http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/47656/Content-Marketing-on-the-Fast-Track/?src=blog_rss Why Software Companies Can't Afford to Ignore Content Marketing http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/47400/Why-Software-Companies-Can-t-Afford-to-Ignore-Content-Marketing/?src=blog_rss Hello Software CEOs! It’s been a while since I last posted a blog article here so I don’t blame you if you have no idea who I am. I come to you with 25+ years of software marketing experience and my intent is to share what I’ve learned and continue to learn – strategies, tactics, shortcuts that actually get you more leads and help shorten the buying cycle. If you want to know more about me, please check me out on LinkedIn and let’s connect. So, content marketing. Unless you’ve been visiting off-planet for the last year or so, you’ve got to be aware of content marketing. It’s THE marketing buzzword, according to Google search trends, having recently surpassed “inbound marketing” and leaving “social media” in the dust. Normally I caution against paying too much attention to buzzwords as they’re often just shiny objects that distract from the real purpose of marketing, which to me is getting you more business. But in the case of content marketing, it would be deadly to ignore this buzz. It’s not that content marketing is new. Software companies have been practicing content marketing for decades, but you know how buzzwords tend to ride a...<div><a href="http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/47400/Why-Software-Companies-Can-t-Afford-to-Ignore-Content-Marketing/">[Read more]</div> Marketing and PR Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:50:31 GMT Susan Tatum http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/47400/Why-Software-Companies-Can-t-Afford-to-Ignore-Content-Marketing/#discussion?src=blog_rss http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/47400/Why-Software-Companies-Can-t-Afford-to-Ignore-Content-Marketing/?src=blog_rss Why You REALLY Need a Management Team http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/45257/Why-You-REALLY-Need-a-Management-Team/?src=blog_rss Let’s talk about management teams. This is a topic I’m asked about a lot by founders and CEOs. The questions go like this: • Who needs a management team? • When is the right time to start building a management team? • How do I put the right team in place? • How do I know if my team is working? • How do I build a great team? You can call it an Executive Team, a Leadership Team (very “in” at the moment), a Senior Management Team, or if your company is small enough, just the management team. Whatever term you choose to use, this is your most important team in the long run. This is the group of people who will help you build your business. The answer to the question “who needs a management team?” is anybody who wants more than a “lifestyle business”; anybody who wants to build a sustainable, growing company. Even lifestyle business owners reach a point where they need a team. I’ve butted heads with a few founders over the years who think they can do it all themselves. They can’t. They are their own worst enemies when they honestly believe they don’t...<div><a href="http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/45257/Why-You-REALLY-Need-a-Management-Team/">[Read more]</div> Strategy and Leadership Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:53:53 GMT Susan Tatum http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/45257/Why-You-REALLY-Need-a-Management-Team/#discussion?src=blog_rss http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/45257/Why-You-REALLY-Need-a-Management-Team/?src=blog_rss You're Never Too Small to Need This Management Tool http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/45153/You-re-Never-Too-Small-to-Need-This-Management-Tool/?src=blog_rss Recently I met with the founder of a 30-employee company that is struggling with dropping profits, missed deadlines and an increasing number of unhappy customers. He had spent a lot of time blaming unscrupulous competitors, rising costs, ineffective sales people and anything else that didn’t require him to take a close look at the way his company is being run. He was getting nowhere and called me him to help him find and fix the cause of his problems. He looked blankly at one of my first suggestions: “Let’s look at your org chart”. “We don’t have an org chart,” he said. “We’re too small for that stuff.” I knew then I was on the right track. Organization charts are a powerful tool for managing a company of any size. It can help the transition from you doing everything to you assigning responsibility for tactical actions to others. Whether it’s for a company, a division or a department, the org chart quickly shows who is in charge of what and how the reporting structure works. You can use it to map out the roles that are needed in your company and determine what is lacking and what might be covered...<div><a href="http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/45153/You-re-Never-Too-Small-to-Need-This-Management-Tool/">[Read more]</div> Strategy and Leadership Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:54:49 GMT Susan Tatum http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/45153/You-re-Never-Too-Small-to-Need-This-Management-Tool/#discussion?src=blog_rss http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/45153/You-re-Never-Too-Small-to-Need-This-Management-Tool/?src=blog_rss The Low Tech, Low Cost Way to Increase Employee Productivity http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/44570/The-Low-Tech-Low-Cost-Way-to-Increase-Employee-Productivity/?src=blog_rss By multiple accounts, increasing knowledge worker productivity is a priority for CEOs in 2012 --just as it was in 2011, and 2010 and so on. Why not make 2012 the year you actually do it? There’s a simple yet powerful tool you can use to easily gain several productive hours per week per knowledge worker – week after week after week. I’m not kidding: two to three hours per employee per week. Let’s call it a position contract. It’s like a job description only better. It will change the way you manage your people. If you’re one of the many software CEOs whose company doesn’t have job descriptions, don’t stop reading! I know job descriptions seem boring and too “corporate”. I know you may think you’re too small for them. You’re not. Here’s why position contracts (and job descriptions) are so powerful. Good job descriptions perform a very important function – they let people know what you want from them. If you need convincing that employees are not completely clued into what you want them to do, pick a few and ask them: What results are you here to deliver? The answer will probably surprise you. Conventional job descriptions are...<div><a href="http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/44570/The-Low-Tech-Low-Cost-Way-to-Increase-Employee-Productivity/">[Read more]</div> Strategy and Leadership Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:26:51 GMT Susan Tatum http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/44570/The-Low-Tech-Low-Cost-Way-to-Increase-Employee-Productivity/#discussion?src=blog_rss http://www.softwareceo.com/blog/entry/44570/The-Low-Tech-Low-Cost-Way-to-Increase-Employee-Productivity/?src=blog_rss