Market enterprise apps like consumer apps

The most successful app stores are the ones that curate their content- that is, the ones which make an effort to suggest apps that will be really useful to its customer base. Most app stores don’t do a great job promoting apps on their platforms; even casual users are likely to check out a widget if it’s the top pick in an app store.

Salesforce has an interesting program where it sends customers a weekly email suggesting top third-party applications. This method gets Salesforce customers engaged with their app market space and promotes growth. Enterprise companies that are also consumer companies, like Google and Microsoft and Salesforce already know a lot about their customers, and should be able to recommend exactly what they need when they need it.

Showcase Success in both Products and Services.

Enterprise app marketplaces should think of themselves as giant Saas platforms. Celebrate the successes, and show how they are enabled by the platform. For example, Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference heavily focuses on how Salesforce can be used alongside specific apps that customers already use. By relating to the daily lives of their customers, they convince them of the value of an Enterprise app space, and catch the attention of many potential customers.

If a third party tool becomes popular in an ecosystem, it doesn’t just do well for itself, but raises the profile of the whole ecosystem. The most popular app on Office 365 will make Office 365 a much more attractive platform. Companies should find a way to partner with successful apps. For example, Salesforce has partnered with Marketo. Marketo’s product SugarCRM is so popular with customers, that at least some of them have bought Salesforce just to use Marketo’s product. 

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