Many vendor partners we speak to each week are facing a new reality when it comes to prospecting for new business.
Clearly the age-old process of attending face to face meetings to build trust and uncover customer issues has been parked for the foreseeable future.
Instead, many organisations are having to become far more proficient in digital marketing and are learning first-hand some of the challenges that come with this complex and constantly evolving business process.
This is compounded by the fact that, for many organisations, the fundamental building blocks are missing or not fit for purpose. Websites are out of date, not optimised for search and often littered with potential security issues. LinkedIn company pages are hardly used and often incomplete, email marketing is sporadic or non-existent, there is no CRM to speak of outside the accounting system and blogging (an important part of search engine optimisation) is infrequent, just to name a few common issues.
When companies were performing well and attracting new business from word-of-mouth client referrals, event marketing and other non-digital means, none of this was critical (although eventually it would have been).
However, now it is a game of catch-up and there is a great rush of companies that are heading online. Unfortunately, this has meant the digital marketing arena has now become hyper competitive, particularly in smaller markets like Australia and New Zealand.
The scramble to be found at the top of search results for a B2B IT services company, to build prospect engagement and ultimately generate qualified leads all from behind a screen is leading to a wholesale shift in management thinking, and spending.
Our main observations are:
- Companies recognise that dabbling and stop-starting digital marketing is largely a waste of money and time and want integrated, continuous programs
- Many companies don’t have a strategy, framework or clear plans when it comes to digital marketing. Knowing what to do is just as problematic as knowing what to fix first. It is all new territory for many.
- Hiring junior staff who need direction and a structure to follow can lead to additional challenges, particularly where there is limited marketing experience in the company that hires them.
- More company CEOs are appreciating the fact that digital marketing is very much a living animal, not a set and forget business process. It can be powerful, but it takes work and expertise to generate a consistent return.
- Organic marketing needs to be supported by a consistent media spend on platforms like Google Display Network and LinkedIn.
- IT vendors are funding partners for multi-quarter, integrated digital marketing and are more accepting of top to middle-of-funnel activities, where many partners need to focus initially.
- The quality and quantity of content that needs to be generated to fuel digital marketing is accelerating. The need for authentic, original insights is increasing as the topic fatigue cycle shortens dramatically.
- Engagement with vendor-funded marketing concierge programs is increasing as vendor partners look to fill skills and experience gaps with outside expertise.
- Appointment of specialist B2B IT ‘marketing-as-a-service’ providers is increasing. Many vendor partners don’t want the overhead costs and distraction of non-core business processes.
There’s no doubt that over the next few years, there will be winners and losers on the digital marketing front. Those that transition quickly and lean heavily on vendor funding where appropriate and engage with scalable third-party marketing suppliers will have the jump on those that don’t.
It is clear that firms which establish their digital footprint and claim the content marketing high-ground will have a healthy pipeline for the foreseeable future, perhaps in a way they couldn’t have before.
If you’d like to know more about Outsource’s marketing concierge program for vendors, click here.
If you’d like to know more about our marketing-as-a-managed-service solution for your own company, click here.
