Inbound marketing is probably the most cost-effective way for IT service companies to increase their market share, drive more sales, and reach more of their target customers. Targeting a tech-savvy buyer base who are comfortable with using digital channels to make complex purchase decisions, IT businesses are uniquely placed to generate a strong return on investment (ROI) from inbound marketing. Read on to find out more about how to use inbound marketing tactics to drive growth for your IT business.
The explosion in the diversity and importance of IT infrastructure and software for businesses of all sizes has opened up a strong market opportunity for IT managed service providers. Alongside this, however, the sector has become extremely competitive, with various businesses offering strikingly similar services. A compelling USP is, therefore, vital for distinguishing and differentiating your business and the value you provide. For your inbound marketing strategy to be successful, you must:
Use your content to drill down into specific strengths, such as partnerships with leading software vendors, expertise in specific areas, and operational strengths, such as your areas of coverage, experience, and customer service reputation. Although you may have a variety of competencies, focus your marketing efforts on the strengths that are most valued by your customer base and those that are most likely to help you achieve your revenue goals. These could include expertise in cloud-based systems, cybersecurity, and hybrid working models.
For example, if you specialise in data security, your content could focus on the way that your service addresses SME fears about cyber-attacks, data breaches, and data loss.
The IT managed services sector has a strong sales culture, and many companies excel at face-to-face and field sales. Unfortunately, with many businesses, this means that marketing takes second place, or that sales and marketing efforts are insufficiently integrated to deliver the best results for the company. Disconnected sales and marketing efforts can lead to misaligned goals and missed sales opportunities, and aligning both functions more closely can deliver a more cohesive strategy. One way to do this is to establish shared objectives for both marketing and sales staff with unified key performance indicators connected to lead conversion rates and sales velocity.
A good CRM tool can also help to bridge the gap between your sales and marketing staff, allowing both marketing and sales people to track behaviours and manage a smooth transition for leads through the sales funnel. It’s also beneficial for IT companies to strike an inbound/outbound balance in their efforts. While inbound marketing focuses on attracting leads through value-driven content, pairing it with a strong outbound sales effort, such as direct email campaigns and even traditional telesales, can expand your reach and make sure that no opportunities are missed.
Investing in strong educational and problem-solving content for your blog, LinkedIn profile, websites, and other landing pages will help position your IT business as an authoritative thought leader in your field, attracting the attention of early-stage, or ‘top of the funnel’, customers. In particular, gated content or guides covering high-stakes topics such as cybersecurity trends or cloud migration roadmaps could help increase your website’s search position for important terms on Google and help capture leads by harvesting contact information for your email nurturing campaigns. You can also use your blog to address common customer concerns, such as how to protect sensitive data against evolving threats, or a comparison of the benefits of on-premises versus cloud-based infrastructure. To maximise the results of your content, it’s important to incorporate keywords relevant to your audience’s search intent and geographic area.
Get in touch with JDR today to find out more about inbound marketing and how our team can drive more sales and revenues for your IT business.