Friday, June 28, 2013

Selling Marketing SaaS (software as a service)

The idea of software as a service tends to appeal to brand marketers. Investors like the margins of the software as a service model and strongly encourage startups to adopt the SaaS business model: staffing up with salespeople, going for big enterprise deals, and spending as little as possible on customer service.

In class today, the visiting expert on advertising technology mentioned that in the race to cash in, too many companies are falling short by putting service second. Signs of weakness are popping up in the marketing-software business. Surveys of brand leaders at the world’s largest advertisers echo the same complaints:

·         They don’t have the time to learn new software and keep updated on new features.
·         The software is not keeping up with their specific needs.
·         The tools are not producing noticeable business results.

The reality is that marketers need service before software. For decades, they have relied on an ecosystem of partners, agencies, consultants and specialists to help them do their jobs. 
Good marketers understand customers’ needs and develop products that meet those needs. In order for marketing software companies and their investors to succeed, we must take a chapter from brand marketers’ playbooks and deliver service first, and technology second.

Read more at


No comments: