“Web-service promotion of SaaS service for mining design”

The market of software for automating the processes of mining enterprises is represent- ed by foreign solutions, which increases the dependence of Kazakhstani enterprises on third-party developers. The marketing strategy for promoting the domestic software product focus on conquering the market segment and increasing competitiveness. The study aims to develop a marketing strategy for promoting the national cloud service “3D-quarry” as a SaaS, taking into account the modern development of Kazakhstan and the globalization of the world’s economy. When writing the matrix of strategic analysis, an analysis of pricing models was used. The possibility of using various measures to promote the service was assessed. A marketing strategy for promoting software for subsoil use is proposed, including tactics of online and offline marketing. The choice of a pricing model for a SaaS product for specialized universities and small design orga- nizations is substantiated. Within the SaaS framework, a set of indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of a marketing strategy is proposed. A comparative analysis of the payback period of the project when using different tariff plans is carried out. Planning horizon – 3 years, planned market share – 5%, conversion rate – 1%, expected payback period – 4.4 years. The developed pricing policy allows obtaining competitive advantages in comparison with the main representatives of the software market: in the segment of small design organizations – at the expense of an acceptable price, in the segment of educational institutions – at the expense of the freemium pricing model.


INTRODUCTION
Trends in the modern development of the economy cloud services are showing growth rates of up to 25%. This growth rate is not typical of any other sector of the economy. 90% of all web services have been created in just the last 20 months. The digitalization of society leads to total automation and computerization of tasks (Zarubin et al., 2021). According to the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the share of innovative products, including digital solutions, to GDP in 2019 was only 1.41% (Agency for Strategic planning and reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bureau of National Statistics, 2021).
Kazakhstan currently has a significant sector of the economy associated with the extraction and processing of minerals. Optimal mine planning is critical for the economic success of mining companies and the country's economy. The share of mining and quarrying in industrial production in 2020 was 43.6% (Agency for Strategic planning and reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bureau of National Statistics, 2021).

LITERATURE REVIEW
The software market for subsoil users is quite attractive for developers and is represented by more than 1,000 titles of various software products, both small free and large proprietary. Freely distributed systems do not provide the required range of tasks for the enterprise and cannot seriously affect the development of both subsoil users and the market segment (Gu et al., 2010).
Commercial systems are presented in various price niches and solutions. However, as studies have shown, products from no more than the top 10 manufacturers are mainly used. Up to 74% (Burdin, 2015) of them are presented in the form of pirated copies, which have several significant drawbacks: from problems with the law, ending with the lack of more or less adapted versions to their local tasks. At the same time, the interviewed potential subsoil users are interested in the appearance on the market of a product for solving local problems of design and planning of mining operations.
Market research has shown that the dominant software model for this sector is the user acquisition of software licenses or bespoke solutions. Only in recent years, elements of using the ASP and SaaS concepts based on cloud computing have appeared . Information technologies are characterized by an accelerating pace of development, a high level of innovation, and an increase in the GDP share of most countries. Naturally, as for any complex production, all stages of the life cycle of a software product should be sufficiently formalized by certain models, including business models. Software companies must be able to apply different business models to be successful both in the promotion stages and in the support and development stages of systems (Heredia et al., 2015).
Many different concepts are presented to promote the software market. However, since the mid-2000s, the trend of cloud computing and the SaaS concept has become clear (Kolesov, 2009).
Although the use of these paradigms solves many potential problems for service consumers, it also raises new questions for developers and software vendors.
Software-as-a-service providers are growing rapidly, while the current research literature does not pay enough attention to analyzing their businesscritical marketing and sales processes. By increasing the effectiveness of marketing to promote a service, one can also increase the efficiency of a profit-oriented organization (Chari et al., 2014).
The SaaS concept, being the development of the rental model, inherits part of the mechanisms for working with clients. The model of the main factors of marketing and selling software as a service is based on the use of the Internet for marketing communications (Tyrvainen & Selin, 2011). The use of digital technologies creates new opportunities and nuances for the promotion of SaaS.
As a result of the analysis of publication on marketing strategies for promoting SaaS for other market niches, it was revealed that: • Hall (2020) researched B2B digital marketing strategy, innovative digital methodologies in critical processes such as lead generation, customer retention, and customer experience personalization.
• Lopez-Lopez and Giusti (2020) compared digital strategies and social media usage across the B2B and B2C industries in Spain. B2B companies are slower to create an overall digital strategy compared to B2C firms. Moreover, B2B companies adopting a digital strategy favor more professional platforms (such as LinkedIn), while B2C companies prefer more socially oriented services (such as Facebook).
• Tak and Park (2018) analyzed the market success of software as a service (SaaS) vendors based on customer growth and financial performance.
• Dempsey and Kelliher (2018) investigated revenue models and pricing strategies in the B2B SaaS market. Customers in B2B SaaS subscribe to a specific service and usually for a specific period. Thus, the fees they pay for each user are usually a fraction of the traditional perpetual user license fees.
• Brown (2021) reviewed a marketing strategy for SaaS with 12 elements: content marketing, service search engine optimization, contextual advertising, referral marketing, industry awareness, customer selection, pricing, offering free trials and/or freemium models, simplifying registration, improving the usability of the service, offers, and discounts, the use of clear calls to action.
Marketing must ensure continuous and uninterrupted search and attraction of potential customers for their subsequent conversion into real customers. According to Indiani and Fahick (2020), 96% of the surveyed experts in the field of SaaS promotion noted that now their priority tactic is to engage and retain consumers using, first of all, emails and social networks.
However, converting the intent of an online purchase into an actual purchase must be facilitated by the convenience of both purchase transactions and service support. In Marketing 5.0, renowned "Four Pillars of Marketing" advocate Philip Kotler offers an approach to how marketers can use technology to meet customer needs and deliver a service. In the face of digital business transformation and changing customer behavior, he proposes the use of marketing automation (Kotler et al., 2021).
Thus, the purpose of the study is to develop a marketing strategy for promoting the national cloud service "3D-quarry" as a SaaS, taking into account the modern development of Kazakhstan and the globalization of the world's economy.

RESEARCH METHODS
The paper provides a SWOT analysis of competing programs of typical representatives of the studied segment of the software market. Leading specialists of mining enterprises of the Republic of Kazakhstan (SSGPO JSC, Aluminum of Kazakhstan JSC, as well as representatives of higher educational institutions training specialists in the field of mining, IT technologies, and mar-keting) took part in determining the estimated indicators.
Based on the arithmetic mean, the most significant components are highlighted, allowing focusing on the most important criteria and the development of strategic development alternatives. The main strategic actions of enterprises-representatives of software have been determined, which made it possible to highlight the main factors for improving the cloud service.
To determine the marketing strategy for promoting the "3D-quarry" software product, an analysis of the terms of subscription and price proposals of key representatives of this market segment was carried out. The strategy of differentiation and positioning of the developed software product for specialized universities and small design organizations has been substantiated. Activities have been developed, including offline and online marketing tactics.
The analysis and selection of a pricing model for a SaaS product for specialized universities and small design organizations were carried out. Key performance indicators are proposed for a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of a marketing strategy.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
To identify the market niche and target consumer, the analysis of mining calculations for consumers was carried out. Potentially, these systems can be used by three types of users: • mining companies and subsoil user enterprises; • design organizations in the field of design; and • educational institutions that train specialists in the field of mining, ecology, logistics, transport, and the provision of auxiliary processes. On the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan alone, educational institutions that train mining specialists are represented by 11 universities that have the right to teach using educational grants.
In addition, the target consumer can be universities that train specialists involved in organizing the work of mining companies: logisticians, ecologists, power engineers, etc. To identify threats to the project and opportunities for its development, an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of competing programs on the market was carried out. The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of commercial programs is presented in Table 1.
Based on the arithmetic mean for each of the four directions, the most significant components are identified, which allow focusing on the most important criteria and developing strategic development alternatives. Table 2 includes factors with significance above the arithmetic mean for each block.
The main strategic actions of enterprises-representatives of software should be aimed at integration with technological equipment and the ability to work in real time, as well as the development of measures to combat using the exclusion of the possibility of using unpaid software copies. All mining software products today offer tools only for reserve estimation, individual design operations, and mine planning. At the same time, such areas as the calculation of ventilation, power supply, and drainage systems are poorly provided with effective computer-aided design systems.
To determine the marketing strategy for promoting the "3D-quarry" software product, an analysis of the terms of subscription, price proposals of key representatives of the developers of this market segment was carried out. Typical representatives of software in the studied market segment are presented in Table 3 The main market players are represented by such countries as Australia, the USA, and Canada. The market entry of a domestic software product should be attractive at prices for consumers, and also include marketing activities to promote the product both offline and online.
For the successful implementation and further advancement of the system, taking into account the results of the analysis, the main conceptual solutions have been identified: • concept of providing the system to the end user; • means of implementation; • strategy for promoting the system on the market; and • system commercialization strategy.
It was revealed that a distinctive feature of modern digital systems of subsoil use is the use of only the ASP concept in software development, which imposes certain restrictions on their use and additional difficulties in their "deployment" and support by consumers.
The analysis of trends in the development of the IT market in other areas revealed a gradual abandonment of localized products and a shift to the "clouds" for most IT solutions. Taking into account this and the active development of cloud technologies, a logical conclusion arises about the need to switch to the use of cloud technologies and to manage mining operations. In this regard, a decision was made to implement the "3D-quarry" system as a cloud service built using web application technology.
The proprietary systems of large manufacturers presented on the market are built on the principle of a single application; they have significantly redundant functionality and do not allow the The option is available after registration the No free version, free trial Australia client to select the minimum required configuration for purchase. For the flexibility of the formation of subsystems required by a specific end user, and to reduce his costs for the system, an approach to building a "3D-quarry" system, as a set of connected services (SaaS-solution), is proposed. Accordingly, it is assumed that each end user determines the required list of subsystems.
In the future, if necessary, the user will be able to both pay and connect new additional subsystems and disconnect unused ones. The use of the SaaS cloud computing model makes it possible to reduce the cost of maintaining software on the user's side by refusing to self-administer the resource, to provide users with ease of use due to the cross-platform nature of the resource and independence from the hardware and software resources used on the client's side. Thus, from the point of view of the client, classical computers, tablets, and smartphones can be used as equipment.
The software resource required for operation is only a browser included in the basic package of any operating system and an Internet connection. An additional requirement for the implementation of this approach is the implementation of an adaptive interface (for the formats used and the screen resolution of the devices used by the user).
Important factors for the choice of SaaS as a promotion model were the economic parameters and use of the resources of the system owner: the convenience of controlling the monetization of the resource, the convenience of protecting against the use of unauthorized copies in comparison with the concept of Application Service Provider (ASP), and the elaboration of mechanisms for the promotion of the resource as a web-site.
Additional parameters of the strategy areselectable modularity of the application for the end user, and transparency of the methods used for the end user.
The market is in the process of constant transformation, at the moment of economic development there are huge potential opportunities for its growth. The strategy of promoting a cloud ERP system, as one of the most important strategies, also has great potential and can change following changes in the economic environment.
The strategy for promoting the cloud system "3D-quarry" to the market includes: • strategy of differentiation and positioning; • PR and advertising strategy; • product strategy; and • pricing strategy.
The development of differentiation and positioning strategy is aimed at determining its place in the market and the target group of consumers and forming a list of differences from competitors. As the world and practical experience show, there are only two ways to compete in the market: to be different from others (differentiation) and to be a leader in terms of costs. Moreover, these two strategies -the differentiation strategy and the cost reduction strategy -should exist in parallel and complement each other.
Adhering to a differentiation strategy leads to an increase in competitive advantage and an increase in the efficiency of the organization. It has also been noted that the success of manufacturing organizations is determined by their ability to be flexible in strategic planning and to integrate internal and operational factors in creating a differentiation strategy (Islami et al., 2020).
"3D-quarry" is positioned as a system of intelligent management and digitalization of an open field, where they value their time and their money. When differentiating the "3D-quarry" system, the following differentiation criteria were identified: • An acceptable subscription price. While maintaining full functionality and high reliability, unlike competitors, the pricing policy is focused on the domestic market and its financial capabilities.
• Functional completeness of the accounting system. The system is initially focused on the domestic market, accordingly, it is built under the current legislation: does not require adaptation, is adequate to changes in the norms and rules of financial and tax reporting.
• Modularity of the system. The system assumes the ability to connect, and therefore pay, only those modules that are needed by the client at the current time.
• Security of customer data. Availability of a reliable and secure centralized backup storage of customer data. Availability of cryptographically protected data transfer protocols and encryption algorithms for client data.
• Geographic independence of the client. The ability of a client (especially a manager) to work in the system from anywhere in the world.
• Cross-platform system for the client. The ability for the client to use gadgets and programs convenient for him to work, and not only computers and regulated operating systems.
• Multilingualism. Ability to work in a language convenient for the client (Kazakh, Russian, or English) with automatic generation of reporting documents in the state or Russian language.
• Prompt customer support. Online customer support center.
Attracting visitors to a software or SaaS solution using content that engages them should include the following areas: • author's website and other platforms on which software is sold using a Gutenberg diagram describing the most typical pattern of behavior when viewing a page on a monitor, tablet, or smartphone screen; • third-party content platforms such as blogs, video sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, podcasts, or software review sites; • search engines such as Google; and • social media platforms.
To promote the system within the framework of the advertising strategy, it is planned to perform the following actions: • development and promotion of a business card site with information about the "3D-quarry" system and the landing page "3D-quarry"; • buying contextual and targeted advertising; • creation of communities in social networks (Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, Facebook) and SMM; • presentation of the system at business meetings with associations of subsoil users and educational institutions; • cold sales (outbound telemarketing, distribution of newsletters to small businesses and individual entrepreneurs); and • advertising in news and business print media.
The marketing strategy should include measures to promote the service of both online marketing and offline marketing tactics ( Table 4). The developed site must meet the required conversion goals.
The product strategy is aimed at continuous improvement of the software product through the development of new modules. The choice and preference of using various pricing models for a SaaS product for the target audiences under consideration (educational institutions that provide training in educational programs "Mining", as well as for small project enterprises) are presented in Table 5.
As part of the marketing strategy, at the first stage, the optimal pricing model for educational institutions is supposed to use the Freemium model, followed by the application of tariff plans; for small project enterprises -the use of tariff plans.
A company with limited resources may qualify for one or more specific segments. This strategy limits sales but can be very profitable.
The marketing strategy for the elements of the marketing mix includes: • continuous improvement of the software product through the development of new modules; Table 4. Online marketing activities to promote the service

Sales quotation automation Embedding automatic subscriptions and payment forms
Applicable for further development of the service when promoting solution Changes to the registration process for purchases: At the first stage, enter the identifier, at the second -the password At the stage of promoting the core of the system, it is functionally impractical two-step authentication Linking through social networks It is advisable to apply with a limitation of up to three attributes third party authentication services reducing the number of required fields during registration Freemium business model to attract leads and increase conversions Using the free version with limited functionality Applicable for the kernel due to the minimum required implemented functionality Content marketing Call booking to receive highly qualified potential customers for software product demonstration It is impossible in online mode due to the small staff of employees involved  Little applicable due to the impossibility of entering real data in a small number of sessions Freemium, the free version with limited features encourages upgrades to paid plans with additional features Optimal at the stage of system promotion Due to the rather small demanded functionality of the system, it is economically inexpedient Tariff fees Applicable Applicable Active user pricing -offers the entire product or feature set, billed per user Applicable, but due to the need for groups of users to work on the same project, it is difficult to implement management policies Applicable, but due to the need for groups of users to work on the same project, it is difficult to implement management policies The implementation of the marketing strategy ensures the achievement of key indicators covering various areas of the organizational activities: financial perspective, client perspective, business process perspective, personnel training and development. This approach allows evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed marketing business strategy thoroughly (Kaplan & Norton, 1996) Key performance indicators are presented in Table 6.
The planned market share is 5%. Within the framework of this project, an analysis of the estimated payback period was carried out, with a range of changes in the tariff plan of 40,000-60,000 tenge (1 USD = 425,41 tenge as of September 1, 2021). The price range is selected based on the minimum prices offered by competing firms in the given market. In particular, the Russian manufacturers of boxed products Mainframe open pit mining 8.0 offer a tariff in terms of the national currency -60,000 tenge.
Tables 7-9 suggest the calculation of the payback period for this project, provided that a 5% market share is reached with a change in the annual tariff plan from 40,000 to 60,000 tenge.
The payback period of the project is determined taking into account discounted cash flows. The discount rate is 10%, the refinancing rate in 2021 in the Republic of Kazakhstan is 9.25%.
Capital investments for the project are 5,000,000 tenge. With the cost of an annual subscription of 40,000 tenge, the payback period of the project within the framework of the five-year plan does not come.
The calculation of the payback period of the project with the cost of an annual subscription of 50,000 tenge is presented in Table 8.
As calculations show, the payback within the framework of the five-year plan does not come. Table 9 shows the calculation of the payback period of the project when using the cost of an annual subscription -60,000 tenge.
Payback on the project comes in the fifth year. The payback period of the project is 4.4 years. Figure 1 shows the dynamics of net cash flow for different tariff plans.  Table 7. Calculation of the payback period of the SaaS-product "3D-quarry" (the cost of an annual subscription is 40,000 tenge) Analysis of the payback period of the project with different tariff plans allows concluding the need to use the tariff -60,000 tenge. In this case, the return on investment will come in the fifth period or in 4.4 years.
Reducing the price when reaching 5% of the market share is impractical, but it is possible with an increase in the share of the market in question.
A marketing strategy for promoting a software product in the domestic market is visualized by a set of indicators that ensure its achievement. Effective cloud service promotion focuses on maximizing customer satisfaction and improving the software product.

CONCLUSION
As part of the development of a marketing strategy for the promotion of the 3D-quarry web service, the commercial prospects for the development of domestic fourth-generation subsoil use systems as cloud services have been proved. The use of a product strategy to promote the cloud system, the use of online and offline marketing activities for selected market segments -specialized universities and small design Table 8. Calculation of the payback period of the SaaS product "3D-quarry" (the cost of an annual subscription is 50,000 tenge)  Table 9. Calculation of the payback period of the SaaS product "3D-quarry" (the cost of an annual subscription is 60,000 tenge)