Most Common IT Company Marketing Mistakes

When executed properly, digital marketing can have a substantial impact on your IT company’s sales pipeline. It can help you earn the attention of the right prospects, build a brand presence, increase visibility in the marketplace, generate relevant leads and convert qualified leads into sales opportunities.

However, to accomplish these objectives, you need to ensure that your marketing strategy doesn’t include costly mistakes that drive customers away and damage your brand. To that end, here are the five most common IT company marketing mistakes, plus what to do instead to ensure your efforts are successful:

1. Cold calling and sending spam emails.

According to research by Huthwaite, 91 percent of B2B buyers never respond to an unsolicited inquiry, and 88 percent will have nothing to do with cold callers. Cold calling can actually burn a possible bridge for ever working with a company in the future.

In the past, IT companies considered outbound marketing techniques like cold calling and unsolicited emails to be a core marketing strategy. However, that is not the case today. IT buyers are no longer responding to these tactics, which means they are no longer a good use of your time and resources. Instead, we recommend investing in inbound marketing, SEO, and creating attractive, original content – all of which are far more effective at attracting qualified buyers, prospects, and partners to your company.

2. Ignoring social media.

Social media allows you to get information out there in a timely manner – a huge advantage for an industry marked by rapidly changing technologies and trends. Plus, 57 percent of information technology buyers use social networks as part of their purchase decision process. By ignoring social media marketing, you miss out on an important opportunity to engage with those decision-makers and increase awareness of your company.

To get started integrating social media into your overall marketing plan, create company profiles on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, as they are most appropriate for the IT industry. From there, aim to post a few times a day, and look for opportunities to demonstrate your industry expertise and engage with prospects. For example, share original and curated content closely related to the problems your customers aim to solve; engage in industry conversations and debates; and connect with your existing customers and vendors.

3. Targeting a broad audience.

Attempting to be everything to everyone is a very common mistake IT company marketing. It’s ineffective because, in the process of trying to avoid alienating anyone, you very often end up alienating everyone--and wasting lots of time and money in the process. Instead, we recommend identifying a niche audience and narrowing your market by using clearly documented personas, which will increase the intensity of your appeal and ultimately drive margins.

4. Operating without a strategy or budget.

Without a defined digital strategy, content strategy, or budget, your marketing efforts are likely to fall flat. Instead, take the time to establish a clear strategy according to your company’s objectives. Examples of goals for IT companies include gaining new prospects, generating qualified leads, increasing brand visibility, entering a new market segment, or converting leads into customers. Then, allocate a healthy budget and hire talented professionals experienced in the nuanced field of marketing for IT companies who can help you refine your strategy and accomplish your long-term and short-term goals.

5. Not using analytics to make informed decisions.

Analytics tell us what aspects of your marketing strategy are working, and what aspects need to be eliminated and refined. By not using analytics to inform your decisions, you may continue to invest in a strategy that simply isn’t effective for your market. To get started using analytics, we recommend setting daily, weekly, and monthly metrics. Measure the number of web visits; blog subscribers; and leads generated, as well as your lead-to-customer conversion rate and lead close rate by offer type. Have your team examine these reports on a routine basis to identify new objectives; opportunities; and strategies that need to be changed.

Related: Using Inbound Marketing for IT Companies

SOURCES:

No More Cold Calling, https://www.nomorecoldcalling.com/stop-cold-calling/

Marketing Profs, How B2B IT Buyers Use Social Networks, https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/24198/how-b2b-it-decision-makers-use-social-networks