I like AppExchange. That is not the problem.
If you are a Salesforce ISV, being visible where Salesforce customers are already looking for solutions is an obvious advantage. Salesforce itself currently positions its marketplace reach around access to high-intent customers and makes a very useful distinction: you are capturing demand, not creating it.
That second part is the one I would pay attention to.
Because if AppExchange, Salesforce referrals, and ecosystem relationships are bringing in good opportunities, it is very easy to look at the pipeline and think:
Demand is working.
Maybe. But I would ask one slightly uncomfortable question first:
If AppExchange and Salesforce referrals went quiet for a quarter, how much qualified pipeline could you create yourself?
That answer tells you something very different about the strength of your growth engine.
AppExchange Should Catch Demand. It Should Not Have to Create All of It.
A buyer arriving on AppExchange is already relatively far along. They know they have a Salesforce problem. They are looking for a solution. They may even know the category they need.
Perfect. You absolutely want to be there.
But the buying journey did not necessarily start there.
Before someone searches AppExchange, there is usually a business problem annoying them somewhere.
- They are trying to fix lead routing.
- Clean up a particular Salesforce workflow.
- Solve an approval problem.
- Improve forecasting.
- Extend something Salesforce does not handle the way they need.
- Connect another system.
- Handle a very specific industry requirement.
That is the point where I want an ISV to have a chance of being found.
Not only once the buyer has decided: “I need an AppExchange product.”
But while they are still asking: “How do I fix this problem in Salesforce?”
That is demand you have a much better chance of creating yourself.
Be Known for the Problem Before You Are Searched for as a Product
This sounds obvious. It often is not reflected in the marketing.
A lot of ISV visibility naturally gets built around:
- Product name.
- Salesforce integration.
- AppExchange listing.
- Features.
- Release announcements.
All necessary. But if the buyer does not know your product exists yet, none of that helps very much.
I would want the company to be discoverable for the problem that eventually makes the product necessary.
- If you fix a particular Salesforce workflow, own the conversation around that workflow.
- If you solve a problem for RevOps teams, be useful when RevOps is researching it.
- If your product becomes particularly valuable in financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, or another industry, explain why the Salesforce problem behaves differently there.
- If buyers regularly try to solve the problem natively before looking for an app, talk about where that approach works and where it starts getting painful.
That is the kind of content that earns its place. Not “5 Benefits of Salesforce Automation”. The internet has suffered enough.
And Discovery Is No Longer Just a Google Search
The research journey has widened. A buyer might search Google.
- They might ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or another AI tool which Salesforce solutions handle a particular problem.
- They might land on a Reddit thread.
- They might see an answer from a consultant.
- They might hear about you from a Salesforce contact and then search your name.
- They might find your content first and your AppExchange listing second.
Growth Natives’ Salesforce ISV offering explicitly focuses on creating visibility in both search and AI answers before buyers reach the marketplace.
That matters because search visibility today is not just about ranking a product page for a category keyword.
It is about making it very easy to understand:
- What problem do you solve?
- Who is it for?
- Where does it fit inside Salesforce?
- Why would someone need it?
- And can you prove it works?
If the only place that answers those questions properly is your AppExchange listing, you are asking one channel to do far too much work.
Your Website and AppExchange Should Not Be Copies of Each Other
I see these as two different jobs. AppExchange helps validate the solution once the buyer is looking.
Your broader web presence should help make sure you are part of the consideration before that.
That means your website has room to go much deeper into:
- The problem.
- Specific use cases.
- Who experiences it.
- Why the usual workaround stops working.
- Industry differences.
- Customer outcomes.
- Integrations.
- Implementation questions.
- Alternatives.
The things a buyer needs to understand before they are ready to compare listings.
And when they eventually do reach AppExchange, your name is not necessarily new. That is a much stronger position to arrive in.
The Salesforce Ecosystem Should Amplify Demand, Not Carry All of It
None of this is an argument for pulling away from Salesforce. Quite the opposite.
The Salesforce ecosystem gives ISVs something most B2B companies would love to have: access to a large existing customer base, marketplace distribution, credibility, co-selling, and co-marketing opportunities. Salesforce continues to position those benefits as central to the ISV model.
Use them.
The part I would avoid is letting them become the only reliable way pipeline starts.
Because there is a big difference between: Salesforce introduced us to this buyer.
And: The buyer already knew us, found us on AppExchange, then heard our name again from Salesforce.
The second one is interesting. Now the ecosystem is reinforcing demand you already helped create. That gives marketing considerably more leverage.
How Do You Know Whether Direct Demand Is Actually Working?
Not because organic traffic went up 23%. Not because Marketing published more content. And not because branded search improved while nobody knows whether those people were already referrals.
I would look at where serious opportunities are beginning.
- Are more buyers finding you through problem-led search?
- Are prospects coming into Sales already knowing the product or the use case?
- Are direct demo requests increasing?
- Are accounts discovering you outside AppExchange and then using the marketplace to validate the decision?
- Is your pipeline becoming less concentrated in one source?
- Can you distinguish an opportunity that began with AppExchange from one that started through search, a campaign, a referral, or a partner relationship?
That last question matters.
Growth Natives’ approach for Salesforce ISVs specifically separates marketplace, direct, and referral pipeline so teams can see which channels are actually producing qualified opportunities.
Because otherwise you can spend a year “building direct demand” and still have no idea whether it changed the business.
The Goal Is Not Less AppExchange. It Is More Ways to Get There.
I would be very happy if AppExchange remained a major pipeline source. I would be even happier if it stopped being the beginning of every story.
A buyer finds an article while researching a Salesforce problem. Another discovers you through an AI answer. Someone hears about the product through a customer.
A Salesforce contact validates the choice. The buyer checks AppExchange. Then sales gets the conversation.
That is a much healthier growth system than asking one marketplace or one relationship network to keep producing the next opportunity.
And it is why I think the better question for Salesforce ISV leaders is not: “How do we get more from AppExchange?”
It is: “What are we doing to make sure more of the right buyers know they need us before they get there?”
If most of your pipeline still starts with AppExchange, Salesforce referrals, or word of mouth, email us at info@growthnatives.com. We can help you look at what is creating demand today, where buyers are finding you, and how direct search, AI visibility, campaigns, CRM, and attribution can work alongside the Salesforce ecosystem you already have.
Because AppExchange bringing you buyers is a very good thing. Needing AppExchange to create nearly all of them is a different conversation.
