By now, most have heard about Amazon Web Services.  This is one of the leading cloud companies in the world.  It houses some of the largest platforms that truly are household names.

That said, try to think back to when you first heard about it.  When was that?

It is a tough question to consider for a couple different reasons.  To start, Amazon was known long before the cloud service became commonly known.  Thus, people have a difficult time remembering exactly when it was.

At the same time, outside the developers and technical people, most of us had no reason to be exposed to the name.  Amazon was not targeting the general public.  That was not its customer base.  

<center>![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmabgnZL2Q2cakcYrMTHcejn3UQ2e8kM7j9PAADo9APgbk/image.png)
Source: Wikipedia</center>

Personally, the first time I recall an advertisement on television for it was only a few years ago.  MLB starting hosting commercials.  Quite frankly, I was shocked.  The reason is why would they spend the money when it really didn't matter if they reached me?  I am not going to sign up for AWS.  

This is a statement that holds true for most people.  What is odd is that even thought we do not sign up for the service, almost all of us use it on a regular basis.

Here is a partial list of some of their customers.  Certainly, there are a few names all of us are familiar with.

>Aon, Adobe, Airbnb, Alcatel-Lucent, AOL, Acquia, AdRoll, AEG, Alert Logic, Autodesk, Bitdefender, BMW, British Gas, Baidu, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Canon, Capital One, Channel 4, Chef, Citrix, Coinbase, Comcast, Coursera, Disney, Docker, Dow Jones, European Space Agency, ESPN, Expedia, Financial Times, FINRA, General Electric, GoSquared, Guardian News & Media, Harvard Medical School, Hearst Corporation, Hitachi, HTC, IMDb, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, International Civil Aviation Organization, ITV, iZettle, Johnson & Johnson, JustGiving, JWT, Kaplan, Kellogg’s, Lamborghini, Lonely Planet, Lyft, Made.com, McDonalds, NASA, NASDAQ OMX, National Rail Enquiries, National Trust, Netflix, News International, News UK, Nokia, Nordstrom, Novartis, Pfizer, Philips, Pinterest, Quantas, Reddit, Sage, Samsung, SAP, Schneider Electric, Scribd, Securitas Direct, Siemens, Slack, Sony, SoundCloud, Spotify, Square Enix, Tata Motors, The Weather Company, Twitch, Turner Broadcasting,Ticketmaster, Time Inc., Trainline, Ubisoft, UCAS, Unilever, US Department of State, USDA Food and Nutrition Service, UK Ministry of Justice, Vodafone Italy, WeTransfer, WIX, Xiaomi, Yelp, Zynga and Zillow.

<center>[Source](https://www.contino.io/insights/whos-using-aws)</center>

AWS was formed in 2006.  That means it went more than a decade without appealing to the general public.  Certainly, it targeted the major online platforms, knowing that would bring in the users.  Nevertheless, over the last decade, most of us used the service whenever we logged into any of the abovementioned sites.

# How Does This Apply To Hive?

The key point is that AWS is, for the most part, a back end service.  It supports the front end applications such as Netflix and Spotify.  Each time an individual logs onto those platforms, AWS is catering to them.

At the core, the same things holds true for Hive.  It is the back end service for all that is built upon it.  Fundamentally, it is a data storage mechanism that provides Proof-of-Brain service as well as governance.  

Marketing 101: Customers always ask "What is in it for me?".

Even today, do most reading this care about AWS?  Are we really interested in what the platform can do?  The answer is obvious.  Our only concern is that when go onto Netflix, that the videos play.  As long as that is the case, we could care less where the data is housed.  We are there to watch a video, that is all.

That is why Amazon went more than a decade without promoting AWS to the general public.  To them, it didn't matter.  It was the applications that attracted the users.

Hive is precisely the same way.  Many want to market and promote Hive.  Why?  Does anyone really care about where the data of the applications on Hive are stored?  Are we to believe that newer users are interested in the block speed and data limit size that this blockchain offers?  Are you concerned about the tools AWS provides to optimize the streaming speed on Netflix?  

So then why do we think others will be interested in what is taking place with Hive?

# Target Markets

Look at that list again.  How effective would AWS have been if it tried to cater to all the people interested in NASA, Vodafone, Autodesk, and Canon.  That is truly a diverse set of users who, while there might be some overlap, it is going to be small.  Each is a different target market which requires specialized marketing.  

On Hive we also have a diverse group of applications that cater to different things.  Certainly there are all the ones that focus upon blogging.  However, in there is a wide range of interests.  The STEM people are not going to necessarily be into sports.  Some will be into finance but not all.  Then there is the DPorn crowd which, well, that probably covers them the gambit.  

Then we have the gamers.  There are battle games, ones that focus upon space exploration, and city building.  Each caters to a particular type of player.

Ultimately, people are very focused upon what they care about.  If we look at the DeFi craze on Ethereum, it is safe to say that most do not really get involved because it is Ethereum.  Here again, they do not care.  What they care about is making money.  Ethereum does offer a host of benefits that attract the users such as liquidity, growing pools, and ongoing development.  However, if Uniswap operated elsewhere, those users probably would not be concerned.  Buying a token to operate is no problem for them.

At the end of the day, Hive is the infrastructure that all else is build upon.  This is not going to draw in the average user.  Certainly, this will hold appeal to developers and those could be targeted. 

However, from the user perspective, it is going to be Leo, Actifit, STEMgeeks, Splinterlands or some other application who bring in the users.  This is where the focus needs to be.  These are the ones who can answer the "what's in it for me" question that the user has.

# The Front End Feeds The Back End

The growth of Netflix benefits AWS.  Anytime there is an increase in subscribers or whatever other metrics are used, AWS benefits.  More activity is taking place requiring more from Amazon.  This means larger sums of money in the pocket of that company.

Hive is the same way.  Any application that attracts users from the outside will benefit Hive.  The numbers cannot be separated out.  All transactions that are fed to the blockchain, regardless of the application are posted.  At the same time, for that to happen, in most instances, an account is set up.  There is no such thing as a DPorn or STEMgeek account.  They are all Hive accounts.

For this reason, promoting the back end doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.  It is not something the majority are going to care about.  In the end, the applications can answer the main question users are concerned about.  Thus, they have a chance of attracting the attention of target markets.  This leads to a greater retention rate.

There are many diverse offerings now on Hive.  They are cater to different types of people.  Trying to provide a catchall campaign is going to produce substandard results.  

It is obvious what we got over the last few years.

Perhaps it is time, if there wants to be a concentrated onboarding effort, to choose an application and cater a message to that target audience.  It doesn't matter what it is.  Go for the health nuts by promoting Actifit or focus upon the gaming community with Splinterlands of Cryptobrewmater.  Of help Leo by going after all the crypto and financial people.

The application really doesn't matter since there are solutions for whatever is chosen.  Then one can hit up the Twitter, Facebook, and email of blogs with a concerted message.

Here we would likely see the success rate grow.

Remember, the success of AWS did not come from promoting that cloud service to the general public.

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