the new rules of marketing for cloud technologies

© Copyright David J Brown 2014. All Rights Reserved. 1

The new rules engagement –

marketing Cloud and Cloud-based solutions

© Copyright David J Brown 2014. All Rights Reserved.


Buying software – the traditional way

research solution

implement

purchase

go live



The purchasing decision was

based on risk, reward and ROI

If the technology supplier could sell a vision

of high reward, buyers were willing to take

the risk – and that’s what companies like

SAP and Oracle did. They promised great

things from their software, and people were

prepared to take the risk.



Upfront costs, implementation

expense and the go-live risks

were all assumed by the buyer.



While the customer

implemented the

solution …

...the software

seller had already

banked the check.



But this all started to change:

o the recession of 2008 when IT purchases

were delayed or postponed – companies

made do with “good enough IT”

o the adoption of Cloud solutions

o mobile technologies – employees were

building their own solutions from a

library of apps



Companies like Amazon started offering

“buy what you need, when you need it”

technology services - at wafer-thin margins.

So did Google and a host of other

companies.

Salesforce.com, one of the first to adopt

the SaaS model, offered $5 per month, per

user for their Cloud-based solution.



A shift had taken place,

prices were falling

and …



…the risk moved from the buyer

to the supplier. The day of the

big technology purchase was

coming to an end!



Buyers …

o became resentful of paying for features and

functions they didn’t use

o adopted an “app mentality” – preferring to build

their own device to a pre-packaged solution

o expected “freemiun” or low-cost of entry

o were willing to pay for additional features that

were valuable or useful



Technology selling moved from features and functions

to a “consumption-based” discussion. It was less about

what a technology could do, and more about how it

could be used – or consumed.

The discussion shifted from one of CapEx to OpEx.

Buyers would purchase more only if they received value.



The cost of switching technology

suppliers dropped considerably,

the solution had to be sold and

re-sold everyday – marketing and

sales departments couldn’t

declare victory and walk away

when the first purchase order

was signed …



…the single sales event was

replaced with multiple, lower-

margin sales efforts

selling more features per

user, more users per month

and more apps per user.



Automated marketing program “blasts”

will become a thing of the past – for the

Cloud, a new approach is needed.



“…broad campaigns are expensive but, worse,

they are inefficient. Maybe they influence some

target buyers, but we are also paying to reach

thousands of other people that we don’t care

about… we ask ourselves, why did we put up

with this inefficiency?”

“Consumption Economics: The New Rules of Tech” Wood, Hewlin and Lah



Marketing automation allows the rapidly launch of

programs through email, social media and websites

– but is this the best way to engage buyers?



Not only is it costly and inefficient to send

broad messages to large contact lists –

it’s incredibly frustrating to receive Tweets,

posts, pokes and emails that are not

relevant or important.



Today, almost every company

promotes itself through social

media and automated marketing

programs. We’ve probably

reached the point when there are

more people sending content

than receiving it!



A new approach is needed – one that talks

directly to the consumers of Cloud solutions…



… a more targeted and

relevant conversation

focused on the end user.



“The next ‘big thing’ in tech marketing will be

‘micromarketing’ – individual end-user

marketing fueled by dynamic Consumption

Roadmaps, targeted specifically at end users

based on their unique industry, company , job

role and level of sophistication”




Micromarketing for Cloud solutions

o the decision maker is the end user

o in the Cloud, we know all our users

o intelligent listening gives us the insight needed

o it’s possible to place highly targeted offers

o we can track every reaction to an offer

o we can respond to buyer behavior and

technology consumption


“Consumption Economics: The New Rules of

Tech” Wood, Hewlin and Lah


Micromarketing …

building conversation



A note from our

workbook …


Marketing automation and micro marketing

Contact

Lists

Market

Automation

Programed Engagement

Automated

Pre-built

Content

Micro /Responsive

Pre-built

Content

Dynamically–

formed Contact Sets

Fresh content (curated or built during the engagement)

Conversation-based

Engagement

Marketing

Set

Marketing

Set

Marketing

Set Marketing

Set



Automated Micro/Responsive

1. Pre-programed

2. Pre-built content

3. Automated processes

based on target buyers’

reaction

1. Built “JIT” while the

program is running

2. Some pre-built content but

greater emphasis on

curating up-to-the-minute

news, blogs and relevant

publications

3. The process responds as

target buyers react



A marketing “set” is a group of target

buyers that share a characteristic:

o an existing customer who has

behaved a certain way based on

their consumption of the Cloud-

based service (tracked by the Cloud

provider through intelligent listening)

o a potential customer who responded

in a certain way to a “poll”



Building the dialogue – existing customers

With existing customers you have

purchase and consumption

history in order to group buyers

into marketing sets based on

characteristics they share.

Understanding how they use the

Cloud solution will help develop a

micromarketing conversation.

Pre-built

Content

Dynamically–

formed Contact Sets


Conversation-based

Engagement

Marketing

Set

Marketing

Set Marketing

Set

Marketing

Set



But often, understanding consumption

history is not enough to get buyers’

attention. Remember, we’re all

swamped by so much content these

days.

Getting the attention of existing customers



Understanding consumption

behavior is a start, but to have a

meaningful conversation, you need

to get your buyers to stop what

they’re doing and listen to you – for

that, you need to understand their

pain points, or hot buttons.



To understand hot button issues, ask

“What keeps buyers awake at night?”



Finding the hot button item

…for your set-

based discussion



Building sets – getting to the hot button

Industry

sub-vertical

Mapping Buyers

Orientation

Business

Orientation

Able to Purchase

Solution

Technical

Orientation

Able to Purchase

Solution

Technical

Orientation

Able to Influence

Purchase

Decision

Business

Orientation

Able to Influence

Purchase

Decision

President

CEO

CFO

SVP

Operations

VP Sales

CIO

VP

Applications

Dir IT

Project

Manager

Buyers

Influencers

We start by mapping target buyers by role

and title to understand their motivation.



President

CEO

CFO

Each buyer quadrant is faced with a number of tasks to

achieve, or goals – some of these goals are impacted by

barriers that the Cloud solution can address.

Understanding the buyer’s motivation to break down

barriers to achieve goals is how we understand the hot-

button provocation.

Engaging buyers – motivation



Building the polling set – hot buttons

Marketing

Set

Grouping buyers by hot button issues ,

together with consumption of the Cloud

solution, enables us to build the marketing

sets and start the micromarketing

engagement. © Copyright David J Brown 2014. All Rights Reserved.


Now you’ve got their attention – let’s engage

Consumption behavior

Procurement behavior

Industry vertical

Role/Title

Pre-built

Content

Dynamically–

formed Contact Sets


Conversation-

based

Engagement Marketing

Set

Marketing

Set Marketing

Set

Marketing

Set



But, what about prospective buyers?

We have no

information on

consumption of our

solution.



It works pretty much the same …

…but, first we “poll” them to “homogenize” the set.



Building the sets – potential customers

Industry

Role/Title Marketing

Set “Polling”

Set

Polling sets are the first

pass at building a set for

new buyers.

The “poll” is the initial

engagement through

social media or email –

the response of those

polled will determine

membership to

marketing set.



Polling …

is the practice of sending out a social media message or

email to gauge the response of the audience. Those taking

action – clicking a link, downloading content, retweeting or

responding – are placed in a set based on the action taken.

With the set created, the conversation can begin! © Copyright David J Brown 2014. All Rights Reserved.


“Polling”

Set

Marketing

Set1

Marketing

Set2

Marketing

Set3

Let the conversation begin

Social media / direct email

Fresh curated content

White papers, eBook, video

(prebuilt content) © Copyright David J Brown 2014. All Rights Reserved.


Building the conversation

One of the best ways to engage your

buyers and potential buyers is with a

frame-based discussion – in other

words, using a frame of reference

that is relevant and important.



“Frames are mental structures that shape

the way we see the world. As a result, they

shape the goals we seek, the plans we

make, the way we act, and what counts as

good or bad outcome of our actions

(and decisions)”.

George Lakoff

Professor of Cognitive Science, Berkeley



Effective frames engage buyers

o relevant

o important

o demonstrate value

o offer a reward

o provoke buyers to take

the next step

They communicate messages that are:



Building your frame …

Your customer service team

and tech support are great

sources of input for building

the frame.



They understand how your customers are

consuming value from your product today

…and how new customers will receive

value in the future.



Building the frame

customer service

tech support

consumption (usage)

role specific hot buttons

Have your customer-

service and tech-support

teams discuss the goals

and barriers they see for

each marketing set

developed…. and of course,

for existing customers,

include consumption

patterns of the solution.



Then, develop the frame for the set “conversation”

customer service

tech support

consumption (usage)

role specific hot buttons


Marketing

Set

Challenge

Cause

Impact

Resolution


Using the frame to build a dialogue

Well-designed frames ensure the

micro-discussions are:

o relevant and important

o demonstrate value

o offer reward

o provoke buyers to take the

next step with you

Click here to learn how we build

frames in a workshop setting.


Marketing

Set

Challenge

Cause

Impact

Resolution


The set-based frame

…is a model for a responsive engagement with

the target buyers. Showing how your solution

solves their issue in a way that no one else

does is how you establish the unique value

proposition of the Cloud solution.



Responsive “frame-based” marketing…

…drives the marketing engagement into

the hands of those who have the most

contact with buyers – not just the

marketing team.


Now, imagine …

a situation where

everyone in your company

is marketing your

solution.


“So once again we ask ourselves, why did we put up with this

inefficiency? Well, it was the best we could do to reach the

decision makers who drove our revenue. Our marketing

departments did their best to be targeted, and their absolute

best to track the efficiency of their spending.

“We believe that the new world of Consumption Economics

and the cloud are about to give tech marketing a whole new

job…”




dave brown [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]