Software Marketing Blog - Impact of Software Services Trends

This blog provides my commentary and advice on software marketing, software sales and software business planning. In particular, how these areas are being impacted by the current trends in the industry toward software services, and related areas such as outsourcing, open source software, SOA and enterprises running IT as a service business. It includes any recent related updates to pages on this site, and occasional more time-sensitive commentary or information that I include in the blog from time to time. Please let me know if there is anything else you would like to see here (or if there's something you'd prefer not to!).

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Nov 18, 2008, Selecting a Business Plan Template / Tool

A good business plan template can help you put a strong business plan together. Don't reinvent the wheel! Check out these top resources and tools for your business plan.

Nov 17, 2008, Is the SaaS Model Better in a Slow Economy?

Switching to a SaaS model might benefit an ISV in the current economic climate, with lower initial customer startup costs and ability to scale in small bites.

Nov 14, 2008, Is your software product "Software" first or "Product" first?

When you think about your software product, how is that more than just the software code that you (or your employees/peers) have written? For those with technical backgrounds (like myself originally, by the way) it is often easier and more natural to focus on the "software" side of software marketing than it is on the "marketing" side. But that's actually the wrong way round!

Dennis Stevenson has a couple of thought-provoking entries on the topic of Software versus Product in his "Original Thinking" blog.

This was my comment back:

"To me, "Product" means a solution to a target customer's painpoint .... whatever that might be for the particular product we're talking about (which includes documentation, support, marketing messages, usage models, etc). "Software" is just the code that makes up that application.

The "Product" view must be what drives the process from beginning (product concept - hopefully from meeting a customer need) to end (ongoing support, etc). The "Software" part just comes in the middle to allow that solution to be created... And that is not intended to minimize the role of the "Software" part at all, but I totally agree that it's easy to forget all the rest that makes up a complete Product."

Ultimately, the software should be driven by the Product needs (ie, customer needs, market needs...) but too often it is the other way around.

How could you do a better job marketing your software product by making a switch in mindset? Put the customer first, and step into their shoes for a moment. And exactly who is your target customer? And what exactly is their painpoint that your software is addressing? Start with that, rather than thinking about "how do I promote my cool software?" and the rest of your marketing planning will be much easier.

In the final analysis, it is your customer that defines what your Product is and how it is used... and how successful it will be.

Check this article for some more thoughts about how to identify and profile your most valuable target customers.

Nov 12, 2008, Software Marketing Classes and Sales and Marketing Training

Here is our top list of online software marketing classes, sales and marketing training, etc

Nov 10, 2008, Software Business Marketing Strategy Course Registration

Register now for the upcoming Software Business Marketing Strategy Course Online from Software Marketing Advisor

Nov 6, 2008, Effective Business Marketing Strategies

Develop effective business marketing strategies that will grow your software business

Nov 3, 2008, Newsletter Vol#1 Just Published: "The Software Business Advisor"

We have just published the first issue of our monthly newsletter, The Software Business Advisor.

The Software Business Advisor is a free monthly newsletter aimed at helping business software vendors make sense of the changing industry. It provides tips, techniques and tools to assist in software business planning, software sales, and software marketing.

By subscribing to The Software Business Advisor newsletter you will get timely information, tips and how-tos to help you better plan your software marketing strategy, your business model, and optimize results from your software sales.

Click below to take a look at our first issue, and if you like it you can sign up to get the newsletter delivered monthly directly to your inbox.

Oct 15, 2008, Tips for a Slow Market: Keep Your Marketing Messages Focused on Short-Term Value

How can a software provider continue to increase sales and/or grow market share in a slow market?

The key point was made very well by Mick Liubinskas on his "Web Strategy" blog: , "if your product is about reducing risk or reducing costs and the return is clear and short" then there could be opportunity.

That's something every business software provider should take to heart: in the current times, folks need to look at their messaging and how they're selling, and keep laser-focused on developing a value statement showing customers how they address immediate financial painpoints... if possible.

Oct 10, 2008, How Does the Cloud Computing Trend Impact Enterprise Software Vendors?

The IT cloud computing trend: what opportunities does it offer for business software firms?

Oct 8, 2008, Growing Software Sales in a Down Economy

With the current economic market changes, what can business software firms do to continue to drive strong software sales?

The key is in maintaining a laser focus on your customers and their needs. How does the down economy impact your customers? What are their immediate pain points and needs? How can your software or solution address their pain?

A down economy may require some re-positioning of your product or service, but ultimately software firms will survive by strengthening focus on the core areas that are going to drive sales. Now may not be the time to invest resources in a new series of glossy brochures... but focus your resources on efforts that will drive sales today.

Keeping your sales strong in a down economy is no different than other times... so long as you maintain laser focus on the 6 key elements of strong software sales.

Sep 10, 2008, Six Tips for a Successful Software Launch

Software and services companies spend a lot of time and energy developing and productizing their software product or service. But many times the strategy for the actual software launch and marketing is an afterthought. The truth is that as much time and energy should go into planning the software launch and the ongoing software marketing strategy as goes into developing and testing the actual product. Check out these six key steps for your business software launch.

Jul 25, 2008, Software Blogs

Links to the valuable software blogs that I read related to software marketing and business

Jul 23, 2008, Customer Relationship Management Strategies

Understand these top 10 customer relationship management strategies to improve your consulting or software business results.

Jul 21, 2008, B2B Internet Marketing Top Tips: Influencing Your Customer

B2B marketing strategies must include B2B internet marketing because the primary influence point for buyers is now the Web, throughout the purchase cycle.

Jul 17, 2008, Survey on Software as a Service in the Enterprise

Baseline reported this month on the results of an April 2008 Burton Group and Ziff Davis survey of Enterprise SaaS Usage. Most of the 252 CIOs currently using SaaS that they interviewed confirmed "that SaaS delivers robust applications - typically at a lower cost."