Archive for the ‘ Cloud ’ Category

Startups can beat the software giants (a recap)

I’ve been getting a lot of traffic to my first ever post, about a month ago, “how can small software startups beat the SW giants?” and lots of comments in mail, twitter, etc.  So – here is a collection of posts that include tips that are very relevant to software startups. Keep in mind one thing as you read these – you can dare to be different, the big companies cant…  Think about it as you go through the links below Continue reading →

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2010
02/26
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Apps
Cloud
Marketing
SaaS
startup
3 comments

Why many free trial offers fail

Note: This post was also featured on building43

For many SaaS vendors  offering prospects a free trial seems to be the prescribed route of getting the customer on board.  Many marketing & sales executives dictate to their team that this is the key goal they should push for with all their prospects in order to convert them into paying customers. What many vendors don’t realize is that this process in many cases is flawed and if not properly managed, could be costing them the loss of the most qualified customers. Continue reading →

2010
02/21
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Apps
Cloud
Marketing
Sales
startup
12 comments

how to do a webinar without putting your listener into a coma

Also published on building43.com: http://www.building43.com/blogs/2010/02/10/how-to-do-a-webinar-without-putting-your-listener-into-a-coma/

Presenting in front of an audience is tough.  If you have ever noticed good public speakers, it seems like they almost make love to the audience.  In the age of SaaS & social media, webinars have become the standard for delivering information to customers, and like me you probably attended many of them that put you in serious risk of going into a coma.  The difficulty is in the fact that the presenter (you) is not there right in front of the listener and you have no control of what they are doing.  You can’t make love to the audience, you can only have phone sex.  And just like phone sex (so I’ve heard) chances are that if you are boring, the listener is not exactly doing what they say they are doing (they might also look different than they describe, but I digress..)

Here are some tips to delivering online webinars that will keep your listener non-comatose and will increase your success rate: Continue reading →

2010
02/03
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Cloud
Presentation
Sales
startup
10 comments

a great social media map

If you love twitter like I do, twit-on.  If you’re a facebook fan, fantastic.  But if you are only on these or other social platforms for “commercial” reasons, then unfortunately you have to put in some structure (and maybe take out some fun – poor you) into your decision of which social media to use.  Look at the amount of tools available in the map below (courtesy of theconversationprism.com) and choose wisely.

As for the content – if you want to both be successful & have fun, keep it real. Nothing beats the pure fun of true love, so keep it real, keep it fun, and people will love you. (in other words, no one likes to get ads over twitter… ) Continue reading →

2010
02/03
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Cloud
Marketing
social media
startup
5 comments

want an effective reseller channel? put yourself in the VAR’s shoes

Want to build a fierce reseller channel?  you need to put yourself in your VARs shoes, and build a plan that works for their business.

Here’s a nice dream: you come up with a killer idea for a great software product, spend a bunch of time and money building it, publish a few articles, and start calling up some VARs and telling them about your solution. They are so amazed and excited by your ingenious product that they line up to sign onto your VAR program, grab a demo kit and run out to their customer base selling your software like it was a Platinum Edition of the iPhone.  Then you wake up.  Yes, it was just a dream, and now you are  back in the real world where even you’re grandma won’t return your calls (and she works for a reseller) Continue reading →

2010
01/31
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Channel
Cloud
Marketing
Sales
startup
VAR
10 comments

Market penetration, choosing the right vertical (or – joining Morpheous, Neo, and the rest of the enlightened)

Hopefully you are convinced that you need a strategy that includes starting with a vertical market niche that will help you take the whole market by storm.  Unless your name is Steve Jobs, this is the first stepping stone of any market penetration. Steve is in the position to make stuff with a coolness factor so high and he has branding so strong that he doesn’t need to do much except for announcing it.  If you think that your product announcement will have the same effect as his, you need to take the Redpill and join the liberated ones that are living in the real world fighting the sales & marketing battles against the agents (guess what movie I watched again last night?).  If you’re not convinced that you need a market niche to begin with, read this.

So what are the makings of a vertical market that you can dominate, and that can be your first stepping stone to conquering the universe? Continue reading →

2010
01/30
POSTED BY
CATEGORY
Apps
Cloud
Marketing
Sales
SMBs
startup
3 comments

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