7 books for B2B writers, editors and readers
Doug Kessler | January 10th, 2023
This is about a huge trend in B2B tech that’s been happening almost in the background—but, at the same time, is making a growing impact on the go-to-market strategies of almost every company.
It’s the rise and rise of platform ecosystems—specifically SaaS app stores, the collections of more-or-less-easy-to-integrate, third-party apps, tools and widgets that let customers get more value from the platform they paid for.
Ecosystems are kind of what makes a platform a platform: Lots of customer/users; and slick, well-documented APIs so 3rd-party vendors can come and play; and a SaaS app store where customers can find new goodies.
The model has skyrocketed over the last decade because it’s win-win-win:
It’s really, really big and growing fast.
Let’s start with a few data points from just three not-very-randomly chosen companies (Velocity clients):
The Salesforce App Exchange has over 3,000 apps and components on offer. Over 90% of customers have at least one app installed, totalling over 10 million installs to date.
The HubSpot App Marketplace has over 1,000 apps in its thriving ecosystem (a testament to the leadership of VP of Platform Ecosystem and all-around martech megastar Scott Brinker, intervieqwed in the next post in this series). Over 90% of customers have at least one app installed here too — and the average customer has installed over 7 integrations.
The Slack App Directory has over 2,400 apps in it, across 19 categories that cover the joy spectrum from ‘Security & Compliance’ to ‘Social & Fun’.
And it’s not just the big, obvious platforms. A whole bunch of vendors out there are growing their own SaaS app stores and actively recruiting other vendors to stock their virtual shelves.
Blue Prism, another client (no, you shut up), is a pioneer of Robotic Process Automation. Under the leadership of rockstar Paul Nerger, they built an awesome Digital Exchange (their DX) full of assets that target everything from specific tasks (like, say, optical character recognition) to whole business processes.
If you’re in B2B tech, you probably offer at least one app or tool or widget in at least one of the app marketplaces out there.
And if your products can in any way be described as a platform, you may well run your own ecosystem too.
In fact, you might play both cards: the SaaS app stores often include vendors who have their own SaaS app stores.
All of this cooperation and coopetition can no longer just be treated as peripheral to your main B2B go-to-market. It’s bigger than that.
B2B ecosystem marketing isn’t just an old-school, channel marketing play. It’s becoming a B2B discipline of its own, with dedicated teams and tools and processes.
Like any market-making model, it’s got different sides to it:
The early versions of each of these plays were pretty primitive: a section of the platform’s website with a list of available app integrations.
These early SaaS app stores weren’t even marketed—the apps were just introduced during the sales process to help clinch the deal (“True, our dashboard sucks, but check out this Domo integration.”).
Today, all three plays are getting sophisticated.
Partner teams are making it really easy for 3rd-party vendors to hop in and start selling (Play 1). As Scott Brinker says in a recent post, “It’s not just about playing nicely with other kids in the sandbox. It’s about creating a sandbox where the other kids want to come to build their castles.”
The platform app stores are starting to look and feel like Amazon, using all the tricks of the trade to merchandise the apps; help users discover what they need; and help app partners market themselves. (Play 2). For a great example, check out OrgChartHub’s listing on the HubSpot App Marketplace (complete with video, reviews, ratings, features, screen shots, pricing, documentation…)
And vendors who sell through the ecosystems are getting better at their own in-store merchandising and off-store marketing. (Play 3).
Ecosystems are becoming a major source of revenue for some software vendors—up to 100% (a dangerous way to live; we’ve all seen companies fail when the Big Kahuna decides to build their own version of their widget or acquire a competitor to be the chosen integration).
As the opportunity grows, B2B companies are professionalizing their own ecosystem marketing, with clear strategies to cover things like:
Play 1: Growing your ecosystem:
Check out HubSpot’s developer portal to see how much they’re helping people build on HubSpot.
BTW: you don’t have to build these superstores yourself: ecosystem management platforms like Constellant make it easy (yes, another recent client: sue me).
Play 2: Marketing your ecosystem to your users (and prospects):
Power tip: Track down and interrogate the people who have already built these things—like Paul Nerger at BluePrism and Scott Brinker at HubSpot.
Play 3: Marketing your app in other ecosystems:
No-brainer tip: Visit as many app marketplaces as you can to analyze what works. Then analyze your target ecosystem and see who’s winning. Then do a specific competitor analysis.
Only you will know how big each of the three ecosystem plays will be for you.
But I suspect that at least one of them deserves more than an afterthought or a footnote in your strategy deck. The days of, “Yeah, we really should get around to listing ourselves in the App Exchange.” are over.
It’s time to get serious about this. Next post, I ask Scott Brinker, head of HubSpot’s App Ecosystem, a few questions about all this.
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