Contact:

Jennifer Schwegman, KC Associates

651.247.6640

jennifer@kc-associates.com

 

 

Minneapolis, Sept. 27, 2004—SoftwareMinds Vice President of Marketing Kirsten Chapman was a featured speaker at Software Business 2004, a conference focused on strategic, business, financial and technology issues, and growth opportunities facing software and IT services companies. Sponsored by Software Business Magazine, the Sept. 22-23 conference in San Francisco reported attendance of nearly 300.

Chapman, who is also a principal of KC Associates—a marketing and public relations organization focused exclusively on promoting IT products and services— was one of 55 industry speakers at the Software Business conference. Other speakers included Mike Bosworth from CustomerCentric Systems and Mitchell Kertzman from Hummer Winbald. Her presentation, “High-Profile Lead Generation Tactics: Best Practices & Budgets,” highlighted five marketing tactics that dominate lead generation in software companies. Based on data collected from more than 120 North American business-to-business software companies, the survey included results about satisfaction levels and budget allocations, and provided insight on how to improve the success of the most widely used lead-generation tactic—telemarketing.

According to Chapman, “The data from the SoftwareMinds study indicated that lead generation is the number one priority of marketing in software companies. For more than 15 years, I’ve been working with IT companies on lead generation programs, so when the data indicated low satisfaction with telemarketing, I wasn’t surprised. Most companies suffer from the same problem—confusion between telemarketing and telesales. My presentation helped companies understand the difference and gave them a roadmap for getting the most from telemarketing.”

For more information about the conference, visit www.softwarebusiness.com.

About KC Associates
For more than 15 years, KC Associates has provided marketing communications services exclusively for information and communications technology companies. Unlike traditional firms and agencies, KC Associates is a virtual organization comprised of seasoned technology-specific marketing professionals, each with 10 or more years’ experience in the IT industry. KC Associates’ services span the entire market development spectrum—from least-cost go-to-market planning and customer retention programs to reasonably priced marketing communications, PR and event management.

Clients have ranged from two-person service organizations, to mid-sized software firms such as International Decision Systems and ShowCase Corporation, to multi-billion dollar companies, including Deluxe Corporation and Lucent Technologies. For more information about KC Associates, visit www.kc-associates.com or call 763.449.0444.

About SoftwareMinds
SoftwareMinds, LLC is a research organization and publisher of business operations tools and resources for the software industry. The company develops comprehensive information products, ranging from best-practice studies, benchmark reports and custom research and assessments for software and IT services executives who seek to improve business operations and practices to increase their firm’s valuation. For more information about SoftwareMinds, visit www.softwareminds.com or call 651.215.3060.