I'm no expert, but for me, Cloud is a buzzword. Most companies just use the word "cloud" for any Internet services, even though they don't have any cloud infrastructure, or they have it, but it's actually another service over the basic service you're paying for. A VM is a VM. The advantage of having a VM in the Cloud is that you can have "clones" all over the world, which means faster access for clients based on their location, plus another layer of protection in case of disasters. To put it roughly "the cloud" is a more advanced clustering system.
So, in a way, Cloud VMs do offer more customization, but unless you have a complex system, they won't give you any advantage.