SMBs have had to become very creative when approaching marketing and most cannot afford a PR agency, large marketing/IT staff or even in-house marketing resources.
Cloud Marketing is traditional marketing plus software as a service (SAAS). This is supported by a third party dedicated to maintaining the platform. Through utilising such services companies are able to gain revenue by leveraging market awareness, lead generation as well as benefitting from the inherent value already contained within the Cloud platform itself.
Cloud Marketing as a concept involves the migration of all marketing assets into the Cloud. Such migration allows all parties involved to access material as well as create, modify and share.
The argument for Cloud Marketing is the same as that for general Cloud Computing. Simply put, by using a third party, companies have the ability to concentrate on day-to-day operations. An outside company will look after the back-end system giving the company the freedom to concentrate on innovation.
As software and internet companies boost revenue through Cloud marketing there has been a huge land rush of new applications which would not be viable any other way.
One example of Cloud Marketing can be highlighted by a franchise business which has to train partners in how best to sell it’s products. Such a platform may be individually tailored to allow for different levels of expertise giving partners access to video tutorials, white papers and marketing tips. Partners with limited knowledge would have access to a vast library of information developed at the vendor level. There would also be a further benefit from instant help based on market research and brand quality.
There are now many marketing platforms emerging such as Hootsuite which are allowing teams of marketers to collaborate through the likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and WordPress. Such platforms are especially useful to SMBs which are always looking to cut overheads and outsource at reasonable rates.
Cloud based platforms are leading to a whole host of online developments which are allowing businesses to have increased connectivity and streamline efficiency. With such advantages so imminent businesses not using such services will not be able to avoid the move for long.
