View our infographic now to find out how many of Azure’s biggest customers are buying from ISVs on the Commercial Marketplace.
It’s time to develop a first-rate marketing strategy with Microsoft’s reach and rewards.
At Microsoft, we have a growth mindset culture that lets us try amazing things, and that extends to our Partners. That’s why our Commercial Marketplace is geared around a positive feedback loop designed to support you at whatever level your business is at. Each stage of using our online stores is designed to push you to the next success – all by making the most of our customers, channels and platform.
It’s easy to start small and build momentum with our help. As you do so, you’ll unlock new benefits to keep converting customers and closing deals. Here’s how to get started.
1.Set up shop
You may have big plans but sometimes you’ve got to start with the right idea. Our Solution Workspace is the best place to support you in building a successful product that’s ready to be launched in market, and we’ll help you get started with personalised guidance designed to maximise your progress.
Our tested tools and simplified selling tips will also help you get your solution in front of the right people. Although you might have a specific target audience in mind, Commercial Marketplace offers you the opportunity to find millions of potential new customers, which means sustainable growth might come from unexpected places. And when your product is ready to be published, there are a number of options to get you started.
Offer a Free Trial or give your customers the chance to have a self-guided tour of your product’s key features and benefits with an Azure Test Drive. You can also provide contact options, transactable and bring your own license offers. Then, when your app or solution is ready, we’ll do the heavy lifting.
We’ll take care of the details
We make it easy to level up from the beginning so you can focus on building custom offers and technical support. We look after:
- Purchases
- Billing
- Tax payments
- Customer agreements
- Subscription management experiences.
And it’s free to join.
Professional services app gains 100 inquiries with Microsoft Rewards promotions
European professional services software company KUMAVISION was looking to raise the profile of its applications built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. It immediately started taking advantage of its eligible benefits from Microsoft Rewards to help drive awareness and demand to its new listing. With support from Microsoft, KUMAVISION executed social promotions on Microsoft platforms, resulting in exposure to a target audience of 65,000 followers, generating 8,000 impressions and more than 100 contact inquiries.
2.Build demand
Whether it’s a standout tweet or killer content, we’ll help you find your customers. Once your offer is published in the Commercial Marketplace, you can go further than simply listing your solution in the online store. We know that success comes when customers have the chance to take part in a hands-on demo where your product can be demonstrated in a real-world environment for a limited period of time. And once you’ve helped increase sales, you’ll get more rewards, too.
It’s a self-fulfilling way of working based on a simple philosophy: you get out what you put in. Our Marketplace Rewards benefits build up based on your engagement and sales on Commercial Marketplace. So, the more you engage, the more sales you make, and the more you get back from us – resulting in even more engagement.
What next?
We’ll get you started with:
- Promotional activities as part of Marketplace Rewards to help you get your first customers, using our platform as your starting point
- Content that suits your offer to drive new customers to your product listing page, including webinars and blogs
- New leads when potential customers interact with your listing so you won’t miss a trick.
Microsoft security partner Barracuda logs over 1,000 co-sell opportunities
Security solutions company and Microsoft partner Barracuda uses the Microsoft Azure platform to deliver client solutions to 200,000 customers. Barracuda has gained customers through new capabilities such as Private Offers, offering monthly billing and the ability to sign up to new services without going through procurement. Through awareness campaigns and spotlights to Microsoft field sellers, Barracuda logged over 1,000 co-sell opportunities and registered hundreds of sales in the last financial year, resulting in seven-figure revenue through Commercial Marketplace. In 2020, Barracuda was named Microsoft Commercial Marketplace Partner of the Year Finalist.
3.Shoot for the top
When you choose to fully invest in your Commercial Marketplace engagement by making your offers transactable, you’ll be able to take advantage of a flexible set of billing, packaging, and deployment options to fit you and your customers’ specific needs.
It’s the best way we can think of to connect our customers with the most innovative solutions we can offer – and it helps you grow your business in a more sustainable way, reaching additional customers who may not have been on your radar. Once we’ve landed on the right strategy together, you could start to see some surprising results.
Snowball your growth
The more you grow, the more you’ll be able to:
- Expand your solution portfolio to new markets
- Generate new marketing leads and sales opportunities
- Market your solutions for specific workloads and industry scenarios to reduce sales cycles, accelerate projects, and increase deal profitability
- Get actionable insights on your listing performance and orders to learn how to maximise campaign activities
- Reach additional customers and expand your opportunities.
Microsoft partner FlashGrid reaches 27,000 potential customers
Silicon Valley database infrastructure company FlashGrid was looking to get their product message out to customers and sellers. Partnering with Microsoft, it used blogs, seller webinars, and social promotions to close Azure deals and build customer confidence from Microsoft Rewards. Over 27,000 potential customers learned about FlashGrid’s Cloud Cluster offering on Commercial Marketplace through a social promotion on the Microsoft Azure Twitter handle. Through Commercial Marketplace, FlashGrid has landed deals in the six figures with companies such as Tiffany & Co and tripled year-over-year growth.
Connect with new customers using our Commercial Marketplace and the sky’s the limit. Whether you’re a start-up or well established, we’ll make the most of your offering by showcasing your solutions, helping you to gain new leads, conversions and exposure. If you’re willing to put in the work with your product, we’ll give you the rewards. We’ll build the best place to showcase and sell your solution with all the fine details taken care of – all you’ll have to worry about is scaling up to meet new demand.
For more information on our commercial marketplace, visit aka.ms/commercial_marketplace
ISV Lead, Microsoft UK