What happens when you shift from selling packaged software to selling Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)? A subscription is an ongoing relationship, not a one-time transaction. To convert the prospect to subscriber, the SaaS marketer must address concerns related to the long-term relationship. The essential tasks of the SaaS marketer include: Earning trust before the initial conversion Demonstrating value […]
Subscription Marketing
Subscriptions Are Eating Software
In an essay published in the Wall Street Journal in 2011, Marc Andreeson famously described the path of the technology industry with the phrase “Software is eating the world.” (Read the original article here.) In short, software is disrupting the technology industry, sector by sector. Everything that a technology sector does is eventually absorbed into software. There’s […]
Nine Marketing Books to Give This Holiday Season
Books make fabulous gifts for family members, friends, and colleagues. A good business book is a gift that keeps on giving: knowledge stays with the recipient long after they finish the book. The gift of a book is more personal than a gift card, yet not so personal as to breach etiquette boundaries at work. Depending on how […]
Marketing and the Subscription Economy: A Zuora Video
At the Subscribed conference in San Francisco last May, I sat down to talk with Zuora about marketing in the subscription economy. Here’s a transcript; the video is below. In the traditional marketing environment, a lot of marketers only keep their eye on the ball up to the point of the sale. They think about customer retention, […]
Subscription Marketing: Not What You May Think
What does the term subscription marketing mean to you? Do you think of selling renewals to newspapers, magazines, or other consumer media subscriptions? That’s a narrow, niche view of subscription marketing. I’d argue that many marketers are subscription marketers today, whether they realize it or not. And nearly everyone has the potential to become a subscription […]
B2B Marketing Forum: 5 Ideas that Stick
I have just returned from MarketingProfs’ B2B Marketing Forum 2015 in Boston. The last time I attended was in 2007, back when B2B marketers were still puzzled by social media. I can’t help reflecting on how much has changed. Here are my personal, top take-aways on the state of B2B marketing, as represented by this gathering. 1. […]
