How to Market Cloud Services at a Conference - Reflections of the Seattle Cloud Fair

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With 700+ registered attendees, 40+ exhibitors and 60+ speakers, Cloud Fair finished its first conference with success.

It offered three days of workshops, tutorials, keynotes and breakout sessions, all focused on giving business and technical information to meet the needs of the attendees.

One lesson that I learned was how to effectively market Cloud services. Since the Cloud computing market is full of new services, it’s very important to have a marketing strategy to differentiate your services from those of your competitors.

The effective marketing I observed was as follows:

• Use plain English to explain technology

I found it worked well when the representative in the booth was able to carry a conversation with either a business or technical audience.

• Have a speaking session

Speaking will have an impact.  When a speaker shows the knowledge he has about the service, he gains credibility. An audience will tend to check out the service with confidence. In the Cloud Expo, vendors may present speeches in the exhibition area if they don’t get to speak in the conference. I think that’s a smart move.

• Provide hands-on workshop

Developers like to have a hands-on experience. To offer the opportunity to guide them using a step by step process encourages participation. The Cloud Workshop served the purpose.

• Provide a free trial

No one wants to commit to a Cloud service without extensive testing. A free trial attracts usage. Amazon, Microsoft and Red Hat are all practicing this strategy.

• Be part of the audience

When sponsoring an exhibit, have a person be with the audience. The opportunity to interact with the audience provides a better chance to stand out.

In the competitive market, we want to have a clear focus. Providing information raises awareness, advertising invites adoption and understanding the users needs provides insight.  The traditional marketing strategy that focuses on hosting a booth is not enough for the Cloud Computing market.