Three ways you can tackle the booming SMB market
February 20, 2013 —
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Everywhere you look, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are changing the way they use technology to run their businesses. Expensive, bloated software is quickly becoming a thing of the past as SMBs make the switch to cloud computing. For developers, the exploding demand for innovative business tools spells out one thing in giant, flashing neon lights: opportunity.
Even today, the cloud has no shortage of apps to tackle standard business-critical operations like payroll, marketing and inventory. However, the market is wide open for fresh, innovative takes on traditional business computing. Consider a company like Box and how it has transformed the humble office suite: What was previously a basic hub for documents and spreadsheets is now a sophisticated, secure platform for productivity and collaboration.
Who wouldn’t want to launch the next revolutionary app, particularly one that appeals to eager, cloud-hungry customers like SMBs? But, as numerous examples have shown, creating a great app is only half the battle. It’s marketing and distributing those products that can mean the difference between failure and success.
For many developers busy writing killer code, figuring out how to maximize the reach of their applications isn’t just a mystery; it’s something for which there simply isn’t enough time in the day. If this is all sounding a little too familiar, don’t despair: It’s not a lost cause. Here are three quick, easy ways to get your app seen, make it sticky, and start bringing in revenue.
Find great distribution
When SMBs decide to jump into the cloud, their first step is always tracking down the right apps. This alone can be a daunting task, big enough to send them running back to their hard drives. There are dozens of apps on the market for any given purpose. They’re listed and sold through several different channels. And to top it all off, the lack of trustworthy ratings turns deciding which to buy into a chore.
Fortunately, app stores are here to save business owners from these headaches. Just like they’ve been doing for years with music and mobile apps, users are flocking to cloud-based marketplaces to search for software, read reviews, make purchases, and manage their products.
These app stores represent a huge opportunity for developers. For starters, listing your product in a cloud marketplace means you can do a small amount of work and get a ton of exposure in return. Usually, app stores are aggressively marketed by the companies that own them (remember Apple’s almost ubiquitous “There’s an app for that” commercials?), so developers benefit from the droves of customers coming by to look for their next app.
App stores aren’t just an elegant way to showcase your product; some make it easier for customers to use your product too, with features like single sign-on and unified billing. By distributing through an app store, you’re essentially taking advantage of a powerful marketing platform with a huge audience, and it costs you nothing but a little integration time. What’s not to love?
Related Search Term(s): SMBs
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