The “cloud” is more than just a buzzword, it is one of the most useful concepts that has been developed, and it continues to shape the digital future.

There is a lot of competition in the B2B cloud market, and sometimes it can get daunting.

However, there are plenty of things that organizations can do to differentiate their cloud solutions and make sure that they get a good slice of the pie.

Targeted B2B Marketing Handbook: Guide, Checklists and Worksheets

Find, engage and convert the right prospects with the right message.

Understand Techies Aren’t Just Your Customer Base

Remember that technical buyers are usually your first adopters when it comes to new technology, so this means that a good chunk of your customer base isn’t always going to be techies. This opens up your marketing efforts to a lot of other potential prospects.

You need to be able to craft content that can be easily assimilated by people who are not too technical.

Also, understand that even if you are dealing with a technical team, the decision-making unit (DMU) who will be deciding on the purchase won’t be purely technical people. At times you need to be able to help the professional team sell your solutions to non-technical people on the DMU.

Utilize Influencers and Thought Leaders

Your potential prospects are all watching what thought leaders and influencers are doing, so it pays to make sure that you have a couple of industry leaders backing your solution or providing your offering with some social proof.

It is also said that the role of B2B influencers will continue to rise as time goes by, paving the way for more collaborative partnerships when it comes to product or service promotions.

Work on Buyer Consensus

In the B2B world, it helps to be able to go with the buyer consensus, because they dictate the direction of the market at every turn. However, it is also essential that marketing teams be able to bring different sides of the conversation together to create solutions based on those needs.

Even connecting different types of buyers with each other will be able to set your product apart from the rest because it creates cooperation in a world competition.

Attempt to Solve Problems

Anyone can sell a product, but not a lot of people can sell solutions to real problems. People don’t need new products with all the latest features – although that’s great and all – what they need is to have specific issues dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Your selling process must be focused on the individual needs of the organization that you are selling, too. It makes no sense to position a product against a competitor’s because it does not help anyone move forward.

By being able to strategically place one’s product as a solution to a problem that is occurring, one can effectively market the cloud solution.

Focus on Showing Proof

There is a reason why whitepapers and case studies are still predominantly being created in the field of B2B sales.

It just works.

It provides proof an organization knows what they are doing in whatever field they are in. In a sense, it serves as a reminder to potential customers that if a company has already solved this problem in the past, they will be able to address other issues related to it.

Cross Promotional Campaigns

Posting your content on other blogs, promoting key industry partners, and being invited to maximize your material on other platforms will increase your exposure and allow you to extend your visibility.

The more people allow you to put your content on their site; the more vetted your company appears to be. Aim to post quality content instead of paying for advertorials; this will boost the quality of your marketing campaign.

A Killer Content Strategy

A majority of the information dissemination campaign can be done through the use of a killer content strategy, and there are many ways to create content that converts. It’s not just written content that one should be focused on, but there should also be a focus on engagement.

Methodologies such as harnessing the power of video and using other forms of interactive content can drive your content to the next level. When content is being pushed to these levels, one can expect that exposure levels will also increase.

However, the main point of a good content strategy is to allow people to be able to interact with the company’s posts and develop goodwill with the brand.

Account-based Lead Generation

The concept of account-based marketing (ABM) was created to address the marketing needs of tech companies and it’s a no-brainer that this strategic approach is highly effective for cloud providers, especially those selling to the enterprise.

With ABM, you can accelerate slow sales cycles by focusing your sales and marketing efforts on your best-fit customers, engaging them with hyper-personalized messaging, and develop these prospects into win-ready opportunities.

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Conclusion

These solutions to selling in a competitive market can be used individually or combined dynamically to create a multilayered approach to penetrating markets.

By being able to position a product in a competitive marketplace strategically, any organization can create better flow in their sales pipelines and prepare for any opportunities that may come their way. For competitive markets, it pays to make sure that every approach is being utilized in proper systems.

A lot of people think that tech companies are at the top of their game because of their innovations. But the truth is, even tech companies suffer, especially in lead generation. It’s not really about getting leads per se but about getting high quality leads that convert.

If you are an IT/tech company and you are asking, “How can our company overcome this challenge”, it starts with a couple more questions:

• Who are we talking to?
• What are we talking about?

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Who are we talking to?

The first step in finding quality leads is knowing the key people you have to talk to and that starts with creating the buying persona. When creating this, you want to get straight to the decision makers. It will save you a lot of time, money, and effort. 

Well, that’s easy, right? 

Here’s the fact: companies are changing, especially when it comes to who’s making the decision. Not because a person has a certain job title means he has the final say. For example, a small startup company might not have a CMO or CFO. In some cases, the marketing heads have no purchasing power. 

Before identifying who your decision maker is, you also need to define what kind of company will benefit from your product or service.

• How big is the company?
• How much are they making?
• What industry are they in?

Next, what does your decision maker look like? Who do you want to be talking to? They should have similar criteria as your ideal organization.

• What are their duties and responsibilities?
• How long have they been working in the company?
• What kind of decision maker are they — do they make the final decision and sign the paperwork? Do they conduct research and let someone know about the decision? Are they the ones who will directly use your product or service?
• What kind of pages they visit and how much time do they spend on it?

You can get that information by looking at your existing customers as well as your late-stage leads. Look for common threads as you create a picture of your decision maker — the more detailed your profile is, the easier it is for you to find them. 

You can have several buyer personas since your customers are diverse. The more you have, the better you can communicate with each of them. They can be the company’s Business Liaison Officer, the CMO, or the end-user. 

What are we talking about?

According to APM Digest, organizations that are able to attract key decision makers in the tech industry dropped from 6 to 3 since 2011. In other words, IT decision makers are tough to please and only a few have managed to pass the test. 

The report added that these successful vendors have been consistent, agile, and trustworthy in their mission to add value to the clients’ organizations. However, there are other factors that are critical to their success. These factors include:

Customer service and response time

Your customer service represents what your business is all about. It also reflects your company values and dedication to meet your clients’ needs and demands. Your customer service plays a significant role in lead conversion and client retention. According to Marketing Sherpa, 76% of these leads do not convert because of poor nurturing.

Your response time is also important. How long does it take you to get back to your customers’ queries and concerns?

A Harvard Business Review study said that US companies have a slow response time. It stated that only 37% of companies respond to their clients within an hour. 

How about the rest?

Some take 42 hours to respond while the rest don’t care to respond at all. How sad is that? And then, many companies are surprised why their ROI goes down instead of up. 

Understanding the business goals

Business goals are important. They direct companies and organizations, they provide clarity, and they help in decision making. As much as your business goals are important, so it is to your clients. If you don’t care about these goals, how will you know if your product or service is a good fit for the organization?

Post-sales support

Selling the product is not the final step of a successful business process. If the customer returns again and creates a long-term relationship with you, you succeeded. After all, businesses are all about forging long-lasting relationships. 

When it comes to customer retention, one of the most effective strategies is having post-sales support. That sends out a message that you are committed to their growth and success. 

Noted speaker and author, John Maxwell, quoted, “A leader who produces other leaders multiplies their influences.”

If you are able to make that business a market leader, they also push you up and extend your influence. 

Long-term viability of the company

Knowing whether your business is viable or not is quite tricky. However, there are certain factors a business has that makes it viable in the long term. 

• It has a unique selling proposition — what makes your service or product unique? 
• It has a stable customer base — do you know what type of people buy your product?
• It has a competitive advantage — yes you have a unique product, but are there others who are selling something that is similar to yours?
• It is financially stable — this is the most important factor of a company’s viability. Do you have the cash flow for your day-to-day operations?

Thorough knowledge of their product portfolio

Product knowledge is not only good for your customer service but for your sales as well. If your marketing and sales team have a thorough knowledge of what you offer, it will not be difficult to answer questions and address concerns wherever and whenever. 

Walking the Talk

If you want to succeed in the tech industry, you need to know who your audience is and you thoroughly know what your message is. 

IT and tech decision makers are a tough nut to crack. You can’t just go to them with a song and dance or a poorly executed product presentation. You need to live and breathe what you’re offering to them. If they see you value your product or service, they will also value what you present to them. 

The primary goal of lead generation is to create a sales pipeline by capturing and stimulating the interest of buyers in a certain product or service. It can be done online, offline, or a combination of both. 

There are many channels for acquiring leads but without a solid lead generation process, you will just be wasting time.

When it comes to processes, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Often, it is the product of constant evaluation of your existing processes where you determine what works and what does not. 

Moreover, a solid lead generation process does not only focus on acquiring leads but it also puts into consideration the nurturing and customer retention strategies. In other words, it should be a holistic strategy. 

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Here’s what a solid lead generation process can bring

Aligns with how today’s B2B customers actually begin their buying journey

A few decades ago, lead generation involves the marketing team acquiring names of prospects and passing them to sales. The buyer expects the sales team to give them in-depth information about the product or service. On the other hand, the sales team expects to be talking to early-stage buyers who haven’t been qualified yet.

The modern consumer, however, is the direct opposite. They can get the information they need from a variety of resources. Thus, they already know about the product or service even before they talk to the sales team.

With a solid lead generation program, you become a valuable resource to prospects throughout their buying journey. You position yourself as an expert who can help them solve their pain points. That includes giving them expert advice and answering any questions they may have along the way. 

Allows you to easily refocus or scale your customer acquisition program

A good lead generation system can be easily measured by KPIs. Your KPI criteria depend on your business goal, process, and target audience. These let you know whether your strategy is effective or not and scale your customer acquisition program easily.

Shortens the sales cycle and improves win rates

Part of a solid lead generation program is a solid lead scoring system. This allows you to easily determine whether a lead is already in the buying process or still deciding. If you are able to determine your leads immediately, you save your team from wasting time and doing unnecessary things. Furthermore, you can easily evaluate which areas need improvement, and which ones are effective.

You can also easily filter, deliver, and enhance your leads to different systems. Once you identify the highest quality leads, you can also direct them to the right conversion process while avoiding those that don’t meet your criteria.

Sets the stage for building relationships and trust

Content marketing is part of a solid lead generation process. Through this channel, you position yourself not only as an expert but also as someone who offers a solution through valuable content. By regularly and consistently providing relevant content, you earn the trust of your customers and prospects. Consequently, it is not difficult to build relationships once trust is established between both parties. 

Increases the return on marketing investment

Clear processes give birth to clear goals and objectives. When your marketing and sales team know what they should be looking for, they become more effective and productive with what they do. And with everything in place, an increase in your ROI is inevitable. 

Don’t Waste the Benefits

Any good strategy is wasted if it remains on paper. Furthermore, it won’t be as effective if not communicated to your team properly. If you want some guidance on how to create a solid lead generation program, we will be happy to walk you through it.

Author Bio:

Rebecca Matias is VP of Sales & Marketing at Callbox. A sales professional with an engineering background, she has more than 10 years of experience in the B2B marketing space and has spearheaded many of the innovations at Callbox. Follow Rebecca on Twitter and Facebook.