4 Secrets For Making Marketplace Magic

There’s no magic wand for success on a marketplace like Microsoft Azure. It takes time, effort, and expertise. But with the right know-how, it’s possible to get your product listed and generating revenue. For newcomers to the marketplace, there are four secrets to success. Get these right, and you’ll be ready to unleash the magic of the Microsoft Azure marketplace in no time at all. Let’s dive straight in.

1. Technical integration

It starts with technical integration. This needs a robust internal IT infrastructure for communicating with the marketplace. It’s typically the area that takes the biggest chunk of your resources because your tech stack needs to align with the marketplace’s technical requirements.

Software Development Kits (SDKs) are a starting point, but you may find content is written in programming languages outside your area of expertise. To remedy this, you either need to hire new developers with relevant expertise or invest time and money on in-house training.

2. Marketing and sales

As we’ve mentioned in previous blogs, getting listed on the marketplace is only the first step. Executing on a well-planned marketing strategy is also key. For that reason, your marketing messaging needs to be fully aligned with your target audience, and your pricing needs to be a good market fit. Alongside selling on the marketplace, you need to consider the tax implications. That means your CFO or Finance Director needs to be involved from the start.  

3. Microsoft Partnerships

Another important aspect of increasing your Microsoft business is to understand how Microsoft Partners work. Navigating the Microsoft ecosystem and the partnership model, takes insight that many companies new to the marketplace simply don’t have in the beginning. It may be possible to get a product listed, but the go-to-market strategy may be left wanting.  

4. Go-to-market strategy

There are two pitfalls standing in the way of marketplace success. The first is the infrastructure behind your product. The second is the product itself. Think of it like a house.

With the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, your technical and sales teams need to understand each other and work together. They’re like the walls of a house, giving it the strength to hold up a roof. Having this solid infrastructure in place gives your product a solid base for the long term.

Your product is like the roof of a house – protecting the interior. If it fails, there’s an impact on the rest of the building. If you build your product from SDK components that your technical team doesn’t fully understand, there could be problems in the long term if something goes wrong.  

How to create magic in the marketplace

Success in the marketplace takes collaboration between different functions of your business, including marketing, sales, finance, and development. With the right infrastructure in place, you can go it alone. But a better option is to take a managed approach by bringing in outside expertise in Microsoft Azure Marketplace.

WeTransact is a user-friendly platform for publishing to Microsoft Azure Marketplace. With years of Microsoft business under our belts, our team has helped publish more than a hundred SaaS products to the marketplace.

Discover how we create magic in the marketplace. Email us