If you are assessing your company's readiness to add SaaS providers to your partner base, it's important to consider the strategic differences that underlie a SaaS strategy. "You'll need to do more than tweak your on-premise marketing strategy to meet the unique challenges of marketing your SaaS solution," says Peter Cohen in his MarketingProfs article, "Ten Essentials of Software-as-a-Service Solution Marketing."

Sell success, not the software. "Market the promise, not just the product," says Cohen. "With SaaS solutions, customers are subscribing to the promise that your company will not only deliver functionality in the product today but also provide fast and reliable access to the application, protect sensitive data, and deliver valuable enhancements over the entire life of the subscription."

Trust: Build it, brand it and market it. Develop customer trust by demonstrating your ability to deliver on critical success factors, advises Cohen. "Market this quality as part of your corporate identity, your brand."

Educate your buyers. Most VARs (value-added resellers) are used to selling to savvy IT professionals. While your target audience will ultimately depend on the nature of your solution, the SaaS approach is still relatively new. So be prepared to educate your prospects on SaaS solutions, terms, and conditions. Finally, although your solution may not directly have an impact on the IT department, make sure to address their concerns up front—particularly in the areas of security, performance and integration with other applications.

The Po!nt: The decision to add a SaaS vendor to your portfolio is far more complex than adding another on-premises software vendor. Selling SaaS requires a new and dynamic marketing approach.

Source: MarketingProfs. Read the full article here.

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