Agosto Maintains Its Own Distinct Cloud Brand As It Works Alongside Giant Google

For many solution providers, differentiating their brand from their vendor partner’s is an ongoing challenge.

Solution provider Agosto, however, has succeeded in ensuring its own cloud brand stands apart from that of Google.

"It is always a challenge, and it's something we have to manage through, especially [since] our vendor, Google, is the most powerful, respected brand in the market," said Aric Bandy, CEO of Agosto, a Premier Google Apps and Google Enterprise partner. "But we have to manage the Agosto brand and really highlight how Agosto has transformed the way an organization operates."

[Related: MSP Carousel Industries Flexes Collaboration Tech Muscles With New Webinar Series ]

Having a cohesive message in key to building up Agosto as its own brand, said Bandy.

"We're actively working on it but it always comes back to cohesively talking with Agosto customers and letting them know we created these solutions," he said.

Minneapolis-based Agosto was founded in 2001 as an MSP and became a Google partner in 2007. Last month it was named the 2013 Global Partner of they year for the Google Cloud Platform.

"We don't market ourselves as a Google Apps reseller; we sell collaboratively alongside Google," said Bandy. "It is clear that there is Google and Agosto at the table, and Agosto makes the product work."

To increase Agosto’s brand awareness, the company has leveraged social media and email marketing campaigns, said Bandy. However, bombarding clients or prospective clients with excessive content and advertisements will drive them away, he added.

"We've taken three separate approaches where we run these events, advertisements and have a social media campaign going, and we found them to be far less effective until we were able to piece them together so out of it comes a more cohesive message."

It’s that kind of message that resonates with potential customers.

"One of the things that needs to be true for marketing is that it has to be authentic and genuine or else people will see right through it," said Bandy.

PUBLISHED APRIL 29, 2014