Your brand isn’t just what you say—it’s who says it with you.
As an ISV embarking on your Cloud GTM journey, one of the most critical changes you’ll make is to your brand messaging. We’re no longer speaking to one audience (or even the same one). With the rise of cloud partnerships, your brand must now connect with an expanded group that include cloud account executives (Cloud AEs), your internal sellers, and different types of customers at various stages of cloud adoption.
The real power of your brand isn’t in your product features—it’s in your partnerships you cultivate, the value you co-create, and the story you tell that makes every stakeholder feel like a key player in your success. And a big part of that comes down to crafting a compelling “better together” story.
Let’s dive into how you can do just that.
The “better together” story
For nearly every seller, a strong co-sell relationship with a cloud provider hinges on an effective “better together” story.
Think of a “better together” story as your pitch for why your product and a cloud provider’s offering deliver more value together than they do alone, ultimately benefitting software buyers and driving cloud consumption.
Of course, a successful co-selling strategy involves more than a perfect “better together” story, but getting your messaging right and evangelizing it in every interaction and engagement is critical. Your sales team should be able to clearly articulate the “better together” story as well, so they can have more meaningful conversations with the cloud reps and with buyers.
Cloud AEs: Your brand as the superpowered sidekick
Cloud AEs are the superheroes of their organizations, and your role? Be the high-performing sidekick who helps them crush their targets consistently.
That means shifting your narrative from “here’s what we do” to “here’s how we help you and the customer succeed.” What are they measured on: sales programs, co-sell volume, win ratios, marketplace deal amounts, listing performance? Your brand should tell a story that maps directly to those goals while obviously aligning to customer value.
Forget product specs and technical jargon, Cloud AEs want to know how your offering helps them hit quota faster. They’re not here for deep-dive demos; they want a partner that brings ready-to-go value and accelerates their wins. Here are some things you can promote with the Cloud AEs:
- Talk about how your product helps them increase consumption
- Show them how your presence in marketplace is consistent and dependable for pipeline
- Position your brand as the one that makes their job easier, not harder
Internal Sellers: Turn skeptics into champions
Next, tackle your internal sellers. They are familiar with your product, but not always with co-sell. Without clear benefits, they won’t adopt your message easily or without compensation.
Your sellers are juggling priorities, and Cloud GTM might sound like just another thing for them to learn. Your job is to turn it into a game-changer for them. They should understand the “better together” story, the Cloud AE motivation, and how this positively impacts their bottom line. Try things like:
- Shifting the conversation from features to benefits (to the customer, your company, the cloud, Cloud AEs, and most importantly, to them)
- Making the cloud feel like a strategic growth channel, not an extra step
- Using SPIFs and internal comms to reinforce their “what’s in it for me”
When your internal team sees the value, they sell with confidence. Typically starting with 1 or 2 sellers who are looked up to or followed and using them to tell early success stories, boosts the time to value and adoption.
Customers: Show the power of partnership
Your customers may be the most traditional part of your audience, but they’re also evolving. Some customers are cloud-native. Others are early in their cloud journey. Your story should speak to both.
Customers want outcomes. For them, the story isn’t just what your software does and where it is. It’s what your software does in partnership with AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud. It’s the power duo that enables faster procurement, better performance, and stronger outcomes. Be sure to:
- Speak to trust, scalability, and seamless buying
- For cloud-native buyers, highlight the ease of procurement and security alignment
- For cloud-adoption buyers, focus on accelerated value and simplified operations
The takeaway? Your customers don’t want to know what your product does, they want to know how you and
Better together or bust
Cloud rebranding is a strategic lever that benefits stakeholders across your organization. Whether you’re new to Cloud GTM or scaling an existing strategy, one thing is clear: co-sell success starts with a clear, consistent, and compelling “better together” story.
And the story works when every persona from Cloud AEs, to internal sellers, to your customers, can see what’s in it for them. That’s when your brand becomes more than a product. It becomes a trusted partner.
So ask yourself: Does every stakeholder—AE, seller, and customer—see themselves in our story? If not, now’s the time to rewrite the message.
Need help getting started? Download our Better Together Story Template or let us help you build the message that unlocks your next wave of growth.
