Who uses FTP servers and how to reach them?
My last product, initially targeted at graphic designers, found a sweet spot with small business owners that struggled with FTP and who were looking for a drop-in replacement for their FTP server and file sharing needs.
- Are their more specific segments or verticals of FTP server users?
- How would you reach them?
6 Answers
I think the better question is:
Who shares large files with people? There's a group who deals with pain.
(one to one) Take a look at yousendit.com Sure, the title states FTP replacement, but I would bet that most people don't have an idea about what FTP is (my graphics designer didn't - but uses this service)
(one to many) - dropbox.com - easy file sync between geographically distributed people. easy to use mac and PC clients. freeimum.
Now - what would the benefit of using your product be over these services? What advanced feature set would these big file sharing types want that neither of the above support?
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I understand your re-focusing on large file sharing as the real problem and am very familiar with both services but that is not the question I am asking. I specifically want to know if there is a segment that still relies heavily on ftp servers and how to identify and reach them. – Ashmaurya 14 years ago
I would start with companies who sell FTP servers. Here's a list. Simple FTP servers are free, so if you're selling FTP servers you're serving a market of people who really care about FTP.
Next question: Who are they selling to? Answering that will take manual digging, but look at things like:
- What verticals and situations do they list under "solutions?"
- Do they say something in "about us" which gives a hint?
- Look at their news feed and see if there's a vertical or other pattern.
- Look at their testimonials and see what people say and where they work.
- Can you find their advertisements elsewhere? Where do they advertise and what's the message?
- Use a tool to list web pages which link to those companies -- what are those sites about and what is the message/context of that link?
Banks, insurance, travel industry.
I would say any business that handles very large databases and needs to transfer them.
Enterprise software support and customer-facing development teams need a tool like this -- every team I've worked with (at big companies as well as smaller companies) either uses an FTP server or a one-off solution for securely sharing files with customers. You might try to reach out to the Agile development community and users of web-based Helpdesk/CRM tools if your product integrates well with the needs of this user base.
