Microsoft All in cloud marketing campaign

Microsoft has launched a good cloud marketing campaign called "ALL IN". This is to chase its commitment towards cloud-based software, applications and architecture. Alll good and well – but apparently this campaign has stuck a bad chord with some of Microsoft’s long term partners – who feel they were left out. More on this at chanelweb and cloud marketing fury.

SaaS Weekend

It’s finally the start of the weekend. I am going to be looking at a few new SaaS applications as well as logging into my CRM to add new leads 🙂 and delete old accounts :(. I was catching up on a few SaaS related news and I read that Freshbooks recently realesed a new add-on store.

For FreshBooks (http://www.freshbooks.com) software partners, the new Add-on Store provides a powerful gateway to directly reach the FreshBooks customer base. Partners in the FreshBooks Add-on Store are promoted directly inside the FreshBooks application. In addition, the entire purchase is managed by FreshBooks, greatly cutting down steps for customers and partners alike.

Thats great. I think their huge userbase would  benefit from such an add-on. I also read something interesting about Zerply that its simple LinkedIn. That seems to be very good too. Should sign up for it soon.

How to market SaaS tools?

Software as a service tools are very hard to market  because you need to convince the user to register for your service. This has to be done through the web using persuasive copy writing skills, very high quality graphics and a strong call to action.

most software as a service (saas) vendors use ruby on rails as a building platform. this allows them to register users with their own environment without any problems. this is the beauty of SaaS – customer provisioning is very simple and cost effective. This is why from a lead generation POV, trying to lure the web site visitor to register is of utmost importance.

Here are few interesting links on how to register SaaS leads:

• shoutex is the marketing firm for SaaS vendors
• email marketing through verticalresponse
• and not to forget the biggest CRM

I encourage you to read more about SaaS on wikipeida.

How to market cloud computing / SaaS tools

Cloud computing has been marketed in the past 10 years. It is not a new concept. If you do a google search you get to see how it was mentioned in the last decade for example here are some news clippings:

Cloud Expo was announced on February 24, 2007, the day the term “cloud computing” was coined. That same year, the first Cloud Expo took place in New York City with 450 delegates. Next June, Cloud Expo is returning to New York with more than 10,000 delegates and over 600 sponsors and exhibitors.

Marketing Cloud Computing

No matter how you look at it, cloud computing can be called ASP from yesteryears. But in some argue its more than just the application service provider concept. Some say it has a lot more value since both the data and the software live on the server. The best way is to look at your hotmail or gmail. These are marketed for cloud computing vendors as layman examples of how cloud computing works. another way to learn about SaaS/cloud computing idea is to visit a lot of webinars, tradeshows and vendor sites. There are of course latest expositions on cloud computing that are happening that you should always visit:

Cloud computing Tradeshows

The best one to go to is http://cloudcomputingexpo.com/

Another gone is http://www.cloudconnectevent.com

And not to forget a very good one for SaaS vendors is http://www.cloudwf.com/

There are plenty of things to learn and do with cloud computing, where the architecture of the system allows the service to be hosted on a different server that is seperated by the cloud. As an end user you get the benefit of enhanced security, lower costs and free updates. Cloud computing is really taking off and some predict that year 2011 and 2012 will be the year of the cloud.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is the new term to describe how a client user uses a software that lives on the server. The client user uses a thin machine to access the software through the internet. This thin machine can be running a web-browser for example. The internet is called the cloud. Broadband availability has made cloud computing very popular now.

This type of service is also very commonly known as Software as a service (saas).

 

For more information visit History of cloud computing

And also get the latest news on cloud computing as well

And learn how to market cloud computing software at Shoutex