Comments on: Managed Storage Services: Branding 101

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:54:57 +0000

Lux: My best guess is there marketing was mostly word of mouth. The inspiration for the business came from a student who lost data while at school. The student told his mom… and his mom spotted the niche instantly and got a team together to launch the business. I suspect once the site was up the student then went viral about the launch on social networks. One student telling hundreds of FaceBook and Twitter friends about an online service he/she likes is pretty darn powerful viral marketing…

By: Lux

Lux — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:35:28 +0000

Interesting stuff, Joe.

In spite of being in this market for 4 years, I must confess I hadn’t heard about studentbackup.com

I’m curious though about how they managed to create a ‘brand’ amongst the EDU segment, and compete against the likes of Mozy & Carbonite (and now, Vembu Home). It can’t be pricing since they’re similarly priced. And, creating a brand in the rapidly commoditizing consumer online backup space is a hugely uphill task (the $20+ CPC rates in Adwords – for online backup – are a good barometer)

Any idea how they marketed/sold their service?

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:32:02 +0000

Eric: I have a slightly different view on focus…

The more focus, the greater the potential reward … but the greater the potential risk. If you target a highly focused market and business doesn’t material, you’re hosed. If you stay broad, you may get a few wins but often can’t scale as fast.

Ultimately, I think intense focus on a specific niche is worth the risk.
-jp

By: Eric Webster

Eric Webster — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:13:19 +0000

Great posting Joe! I agree, standing out from the crowd is important and being able to offer a branded Online Backup and Recovery solution is critical to being competitive. Recurring revenue is king, providing a path to profitability. Clear messaging and good content will allow MSPs to compete more effectively, taking more market share away from their competitors. When working with MSPs, I always recommend focusing on a specific target (i.e., health care, education, etc). The more focus, the better results. Differentiating with a clear value proposition, targeting, and setting up a recurring revenue stream represent a great opportunity for success.

-Eric