Demand Generation Making it work in the Technology IndustryMarketing to technology buyers in the enterprise and mid-market.

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

But as the world becomes more tech savvy and IT departments need to become more agile, so does the decision making process.

9/10 business buyers say when they are ready to buy they will find you1. Add the word technology in between business and buyers and you can make that 10/10! While the technology revolution takes hold and IT become responsible for some serious buying decisions, we tech marketers know that it’s getting tougher and tougher to talk to technology decision makers.

Traditionally C-Level IT held the purse strings and kept them close. But as the world becomes more tech savvy and IT departments need to become more agile, so does the decision making process. This has opened up a new world of IT decision makers and influencers in enterprise and mid-market organisations. They have different purchase drivers and use less traditional channels to research solutions and vendors.

1 Source: DemandGen Reports, 2012

Introduction

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

Add this to the fact that, within this global technology revolution, most people around the business consider themselves to be tech experts. They put demands on IT to deliver projects that will push boundaries. And this creates a very different landscape and audience if you want to market technology solutions in the 21st century.

IT is no longer just a support function. It can drive a business to the top of their market or leave

them lagging behind their competitors. As a result the IT roadmap is more valuable than ever but equally it is at risk of becoming chaotic – so today it’s not easy to be at the helm of an IT department.

Cloud technology has changed everything, don’t pretend that it hasn’t. Those IT buyers that have resisted cloud until now will be overruled or ignored in 2014 and beyond.

Gartner has claimed that 80% of organisations intend to use cloud services in some form within 12 months, including 55% of the organisations not doing so today2.

2 Source: Gartner, 2013

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

Marketing to tech buyers has changed, there’s no doubt about that, but it hasn’t changed as quickly as the audience mind-set. There are some great marketing examples from challenger and start-up brands where they are really buyer focused as well as some big vendors moving quickly to position themselves alongside the less corporate brands and ride the crest of the start-up wave.

In this guide we talk about the broad personas within IT, how their purchase drivers are changing and how to get them to listen to you through the rest of the noise.

2014 is the year that will sort the wheat from the chaff as more IT buyers embrace cloud and vendor loyalty becomes less important than the business benefits offered by challengers in the marketplace.

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

In a world where your competitors are telling everyone that change is great, the CTO needs to see your brand as one that understands their challenge.

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

These days if what you’re offering is not on their immediate radar you will struggle to cut through and get their attention, no matter how quirky your high value DM is!

The CIO has been the target for Enterprise IT vendors for too long. With their area of the business moving to the forefront of business change in recent years they have had to devolve decision making power for the majority of the buyer journey to IT Directors and Managers.

Does this mean you shouldn’t talk to them? No, they are still responsible for the roadmap and prioritising what tech

developments are important to the business but messaging to CIOs needs to be very focused. So start by raising awareness with the CIO, get your brand in front of them through creating comms and content that talks about the bigger picture and adds value to their long-term strategy. From there you can get them engaged in your brand and build a profile of them for some really targeted follow-up that will cut through the noise.

Talking to the CIO

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

The CTO has a problem: change. Their business wants to move forward quickly and not be left behind in the technology revolution, but legacy infrastructure is so entrenched in the organisation that this leaves the CTO and their team with a big job to do and fast. The CTO needs to be seen as a facilitator of new technology and the benefits it brings to the organisation not a blocker so the key is to help them do that.

Add to this the difficulty of distress projects when networks and infrastructure are on the verge of falling over and you’ve got a tough job on your hands to get this person to even find time to look at anything you put in front of them.

In a world where your competitors are telling everyone that change is great, the CTO needs to see your brand as one that understands their challenge.

Talking to the CTO

Empathy with the issues around speed of change will set you apart in your market and support their case to the board for answering the question ‘can we make this work with our existing infrastructure?’

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

At C-Level, specific security issues such as network and data security as well as the newer world of mobile device security and risk assessment metrics are increasingly measured along with other analysis such as customer satisfaction and financial impact as part of the wider business continuity strategy.

This means that today’s CSO is seen as a more integral part of the wider business than simply a

technical role as they have been historically.

Their business drivers have changed from being just technical to more of a focus on business impact. The pressure has always been on to not let information security fall down but the scope is wider than ever and the risks continue to increase. Unlike the CTO this role is comfortable not to be a facilitator when the risks seem too high.

To talk their language you need to show you understand the top issues on their agenda such as reputational risk and economic impact of IS breaches.

If you can position yourself as a brand that is aware of the growing responsibility they have, you will jump over the heads of your competitors’ messages that are still focused on purely technical solutions.

Talking to the CSO

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

8/10 of the clients we talk to say they want to be seen as thought leaders in their space as this approach works to engage decision makers at the top of the funnel.

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

Their power is increasing all the time. For enterprise solutions the power is being devolved, certainly at the earlier stages of the buyer journey. The IT Director is more likely to be the one to research new solutions that are on the company’s roadmap and explore new vendors than ever before.

The IT Director is dealing more and more with the pressure of developing the roadmap across the business in an increasingly fast-paced environment, dealing with distress projects when IT

stops or is about to stop working and taking on a project director role for new technology roll-outs.

They are also fairly indifferent to sales messages having been targeted endlessly with irrelevant content by vendors who don’t understand how to talk to them.

At the start of the tech buyer journey, these are the most important people so treat them with respect and understanding otherwise you risk turning them off you very quickly.

How much power does the IT Director have?

They also tend to be quite vendor loyal so trying to show them there is a better way is not easy. They will wait until their existing vendor offers something similar to your solution than add another vendor into the mix.

To get this audience into your marketing/sales pipeline and talking to you, you need to give them strong and compelling reasons to change or add a new vendor to their portfolio. Timing is everything and giving the positive messages about your brand and what you can offer them is all important until they are ready to talk to you. And they will let you know when they are ready!

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

With the onset of collaborative networks and cloud, this persona has certain challenges in common regardless of their sector or geographical location:

n Infrastructure within the organisation needs to be flexible and agile to accommodate change but remain stable and be more secure than ever

n Maintaining a long-term roadmap; a truly collaborative network across a multi-site or multi-national organisation and staying up-to-date with the latest possibilities in order to refine the roadmap

So it’s not difficult to see where you can add value if you are trying to talk and sell to this persona. Make it easy for them to achieve their strategic goals, keep them up-to-date on the latest functionality available but make your content easy to digest – they won’t have time for whitepapers until they are a long way through the buyer journey.

Infrastructure and networks

Make it easy for them to achieve their strategic goals, keep them up-to-date on the latest functionality available but make your content easy to digest.

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

The ICT Director has seen innovation and change in their field for some time now and is used to seeing the new kids on the block with innovative solutions, which sometimes last and sometimes don’t, as well as the big ICT vendors that have risen to the challenge. They have been the target of many a marketing campaign over recent years so are probably the most hardened to sales messages.

However their challenges haven’t changed:

n They still lack the talent and resources within their team to keep up-to-date with the fast-paced and ever-changing possibilities that collaborative working presents to their organisation

n Their expectations are high of a vendor as they know there are plenty of others waiting at the door to take your place if you can’t deliver what they want

ICT

They expect research and thought leadership content that will support them in their role, they’ve had access to this from ICT vendors for a long time. So give them something nobody else is giving them, content that goes one step further and they can actually use instead of just refer to. Make them see you as a brand that doesn’t mind sharing and collaborating with them and they will be happier to talk to you and share their pains.

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

In 2014 it’s all about

mobile mobile mobile for the apps team.

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

In 2014 it’s all about mobile, mobile, mobile for the apps team. Industry experts are predicting an explosion in mobile workplace functionality; we will see the term ‘mobile-as-a-service’ thrown around a lot this year. This persona will always be targeted to enable the workforce to do more and more away from the office but the drain on budget and resource to manage the security risks has been restrictive, this is changing:

n The application layer of IT infrastructure is perceived as higher risk than the networking layer, and with the explosion of mobile device usage, security is still a big issue for apps. They want to focus more on innovation than security and management

n They need to bring more scalability and availability to their portfolio of apps to allow for speedier develop, test and deploy processes

Applications

Staying ahead of the competition for supporting innovation in the enterprise apps team will be key for any marketing strategy that targets this persona. Don’t underestimate their need for creativity and a brand that understands their challenges.

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

Finding the IT Directors and C-Levels of the future is where the value can be found at Manager level. Don’t underestimate some of these people as key influencers. Those that are high flyers of the future will be looking to bring new ideas to the table and make a name for themselves.

The young, dynamic IT Manager will want to bring fresh thinking to the business and push the boundaries of the old-school legacy that they feel weigh-down many enterprise organisations. If you get the messages and tone right they are more likely to read what you have to say and put it in front of their boss.

Having said that, don’t think that they are your only route in. They don’t hold much sway in the organisation and are unlikely to have visibility of the long-term roadmap in its entirety. Getting your brand in front of IT Managers that are clearly very vocal professionally is just another string to your bow when selling to enterprise tech.

Where does the IT Manager sit in all this?

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MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET

There is a theme emerging in tech marketing…thought leadership. We’ve all heard the term being thrown around a lot lately.

The bottom line is not everyone can be a thought leader and this approach will get tired very soon. Particularly among tech buyers who are usually the first to get hit with any new approach in marketing. What tech buyers really want is you, as a vendor, to prove you can add value. Add value to their strategy and planning as well as deliver a solution to their problem that is robust and, ultimately, makes them look good.

So when you say you want to be a thought leader, be really clear about what you want your business to be known for and what value that adds to your buyers. Make sure your content and comms add value every step of the way, that’s what we mean by being a thought leader.

Everyone wants to be ‘thought leaders’

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About Ledger Bennett DGA

We are a B2B Demand Generation agency that uses sales and marketing know-how to help customers increase revenue by deploying Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing and Marketing Automation strategies. Our highly focused Demand Generation programmes drive our customers’ business performance, helping them to:

n Generate more opportunity

n Convert that opportunity into sales

n Retain customers and grow their value

Using more measurable and cost effective techniques than traditional full service marketing agencies we are able to maximise business revenue in the modern world where the internet has fundamentally changed the behaviour of the buyer.

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