The technology of Cloud computing has gone past its early days. Now, the Cloud provides invaluable help in many industries, including but not limited to information and telecommunication, fashion, non-governmental organization, and even the top multinational corporations. With this, Cloud fits perfectly with the ever-important business concept of marketing, by enabling businesses to connect with the consumers and clients in a more convenient way. Plus, it has paved new ways and generated new ideas in terms of its use in marketing.

Consumers under the cloud

Recent analysis from big companies such as Cisco, Forrester, and Forbes, detailed the cloud computing has been adopted robustly, and on a global scale. According to them, all the material on the internet for marketing – video, text, audio and everything in between – will be encompassed within the Cloud. The prediction dates a full integration by the year 2016, and as of 2013, the progress is at 7%.

Based on the estimates by the aforementioned companies, the need for virtual space will balloon to 3.3 terabytes in two years. Since the immensity of the need for storage capacity cannot be addressed by current devices, the Cloud is the best and most economical option. Last 2011, the Cloud computing industry reached a bustling $40.7 billion market, and projections saw an exponential growth of over $240 billion in 2020.

The future is clear: the physical memory devices will become obscure and obsolete, and web-based applications will totally replace locally-installed software. This has been the direction Microsoft is taking its services. The consumer will become wired totally, and marketing to this newly ‘plugged’ audience is definitely much easier and cheaper with the use of Cloud systems.

Marketing up in the skies

There are quite a number of reasons why a migration to Cloud computing is happening in the marketing industry today. For one, it is naturally adaptive; the Cloud supports different types of platforms and is easily accessible on various devices. With it, marketers eliminate the possibility of errors brought about by physical memory devices or local storages. Any device with internet connectivity automatically becomes a tool for marketing.

Although this has been a major concern against cloud computing, major strides in security allowed establishments to fully utilize the cloud in marketing campaigns. “The issue of data and the possession of it has been a discussion extending back to the first time anyone actually took the time to create a record of something outside their own memory,” noted Wise Marketing regarding data and privacy for consumers. “Since then, we have elected to use devices for storage that are far more complex than stone or clay tablets…a lot of it digital and a lot of it accessible through the Internet.” More importantly, Cloud computing is a cost-slashing mechanism. This budget-friendliness is the main selling point of the concept. Billions of dollars are being spent on building corporate infrastructure, and the Cloud reduces that amount extensively.

Samples of success

Many have already explored the many possibilities of digital marketing using the Cloud. Among the thousands of portals online is HubSpot, where SEPCO hinges on for their campaigns. According to Liz Karschner, social media manager and marketing of SEPCO, HubSport provides web analytics and other marketing tools on the cloud, similar to new technologies developed by tech titans such as IBM. Pinterest, and other social media platforms, are being utilized fully by small startups and private businesses such as Whole Foods and Whistler BlackComb. Using third party applications such as HootSuite and Tweetdeck, they follow the recent activities of all their competitors and industry experts in one page. Management of these businesses becomes much easier with the wide coverage of the internet.

Soon, we wouldn’t be surprised if the entire world is under one giant Cloud.

Image courtesy of Perspecsys via Flickr Creative Commons


Jennifer Birch is a tech correspondent who loves anything related to digital marketing and tech finance. Her passion lies in examining startups and their progress from small businesses into multinational operations. You may ask her anything on her social networks: Google Plus and Twitter.