Why IT Companies Need to Embrace New Forms of Marketing

The digital space is getting crowded. The loudest ones get the most attention. Being 'loud' means you need to have the budget and resources to do a diverse set of campaigns to be in front of potential customers. Giants in the IT space can afford to do that. Some of them have even started sponsoring sports events and concerts in an attempt to improve brand awareness although there is no clear visibility on how many target customers are reached.

While companies with a fat budget can do this, mid-size and small IT companies are forced to stick to traditional marketing approaches which do not help them to stand out anymore. On the other hand, large companies struggle to compete with comparable players because they all have access to the same (or sometimes better) resources. This is why modern IT companies need to embrace new and unconventional forms of marketing that will make them the Purple Cow in the sea of sameness.

In this edition of the Elevate Your Marketing newsletter, we explore the key reasons why IT companies have to approach marketing differently and a few tactics that they can adopt to differentiate themselves from the crowd.

5 reasons why IT companies should rethink their marketing strategy

In addition to the increasing digital noise, given below are the reasons why I believe new-age IT companies should approach marketing differently:

1. IT services are getting commoditized. There is hardly anything differentiating companies in terms of capabilities. If you can do infra implementation, so can your competitor. Your application support and testing services are not very different from the IT company next door. So, if your services are not a differentiating factor, at least your marketing should be.
2. 1 or 2 channels are not going to cut it. Though omnichannel marketing has been an overused term, it is becoming more and more relevant with the predictability of outcomes going down on individual channels. Whether you like it or not, depending completely on 1 or 2 channels will not help you build a sustainable growth engine.
3. Long-term moats don't exist anymore. The early 2000s saw companies with more digital capabilities win the race. But with technology becoming more accessible in addition to the availability of affordable talent, IT companies have to reinvent every 2 to 3 years when it comes to positioning and messaging.
4. Martech is not expensive anymore. With so many options available, marketing tools and tech today have become much cheaper. Tools like ChatGPT and the freemium model born out of the SaaS boom have made a level playing field between large players and smaller IT companies. So, giants in the space do not have leverage anymore in terms of the marketing tools they have access to.
5. New market entries have become easier. Digital channels, AI-enabled translation, and the ability to easily communicate with people around the world have made new market entry possible even for smaller players.

All these reasons require IT companies (small businesses and large ones equally) to reimagine the way they do marketing. While some age-old methods can prevail, you have to put your money into some new buckets to build a sustainable advantage in an increasingly crowded market.

A shift in mindset

While generating leads, pipeline, and revenue remains the ultimate goal of any marketing and growth engine, IT companies need to shift the starting point of their 'marketing marathon'. They need to build a solid foundation where the brand is known, and known for a good reason. Examples of 'good reason' include:

• Expertise and capabilities in certain domains
• Thought leadership and leading the industry from the front
• Caring for its people, including customers, employees, partners, vendors, etc.

This shift in mindset requires a focus on activities like podcasting, webinar marketing, hosted events, etc., that allow IT companies to talk about how they can make a difference to their customers' lives than just selling.

How IT companies can approach marketing differently

So far, we discussed the what part of it. Now let us look at the HOW - implementing marketing activities that stand out. Here are a few ways IT companies can achieve this:

1. The importance of videos
2. Making others your voice
3. Creating multiple distribution channels
4. Event marketing
5. Direct mail
6. OOH advertising

1. The importance of videos

Videos? That sounds like common knowledge. Well, because it is. But the reality is, not many businesses use videos enough. Wondering why? Let us do an exercise and you will understand.

Here, I am listing down the different ways in which you can use videos for marketing:

1. Shoot a video podcast and publish it as a long-form video on YouTube. Cut it into smaller video snippets. Upload them as short-form videos on multiple platforms.
2. Conduct a webinar and do the same exercise as above.
3. Include these videos in various marketing assets like newsletters, blog posts, landing pages, etc.
4. Create an educational video on a trending topic in your industry. Repeat the exercise mentioned in points 1 and 2 above.
5. Build a community and host a meetup/event. Videograph the event and create short videos stitching together the highlights of the event.
6. Employee speak. Have your employees talk about their experience of working at your company and enhance your employer brand.

I can keep adding many more to the list. But think about how many of these are you doing. If you can't tick more than 3 items on the list, you are not doing enough with videos.

The biggest advantage of videos is that it is second only to in-person interactions in terms of building trust. When people see you, they trust you, It is as simple as that.

2. Making others your voice

Didn't get what I meant? If I said 'influencer marketing', you all would have easily understood. But influencer marketing does not reflect your voice. It sounds artificial. What if you could have others talk about you naturally, in a way that doesn't look forced? Here are a few ways to do this:

• Host a webinar by inviting someone from your ICP as the expert speaker (look at this video podcast I did as an example).
• Create a community and offer so much value that the members will talk about it themselves.
• Conduct workshops that offer a great learning experience for your target audience,
• Make your customers elated by providing an exceptional customer experience that they will talk about you (either on your request or without it).

Essentially, instead of promoting your business yourself or using paid influencers, you are creating more trust with user-generated content .

3. Creating multiple distribution channels

Every business has access to the same set of channels. Why do still some IT companies seem to be doing more marketing than others?

It is not always because they create more content. Rather, they distribute more. They 'invent' new ways to repurpose and distribute their content. Let me explain this using an example.

Imagine you did a LinkedIn Live with somebody from your ICP as the guest speaker. You can repurpose this into:

• Short videos
• Blog posts
• Multiple social media posts
• Newsletter editions

You can distribute these content items across multiple channels like:

• Social media: LinkedIn, X, Quora
• YouTube
• Website
• Email/newsletter
• Communities
• Third-party media websites

Now imagine doing this for all of your webinars. You will be amazed to see the number of content items you end up with. You will for sure reach a stage where you don't have enough channels to distribute content. This will in turn force you to discover or create new channels (say LinkedIn video ads for example) that will enable you to distribute more.

In essence, it is all about how well you distribute the content. To learn how to find the best marketing channels for content distribution, check out this webinar that I recently did:

4. Event marketing

Event marketing doesn't need an explanation. Many IT marketers are shortsighted when it comes to events. But events work well in the long term because nothing beats the in-person connect you establish with people. Also, events are a great way to be 'seen' by your target audience. Even though they might not become your customers right away, you come under their radar. I have had numerous occasions in my professional career where a prospect said during a sales call that they remember seeing us during an industry event.

Now, IT companies have been participating in events for ages. So how is it a new form of marketing?

This is where the shift in mindset comes in. As mentioned above, event marketing is a long-term strategy. The more you do it, the better it is for increasing the visibility of your business. Use these opportunities to showcase your expertise and understand customer problems and not merely as a platform to sell.

To learn how to make the most out of events, check out this newsletter article from Skalegrow.

5. Direct mail

Direct mail was one of the very first forms of marketing communication. It is now making a comeback through tools like Sendoso and The Mailworks where the best of physical and digital worlds are combined. You can create and send direct mail at scale using a digital platform. You can read more about how this works in this Skalegrow newsletter edition .

Direct mail allows you to cut through the noise and deliver marketing communication that stands out. It is a great way to improve brand recall and stay top-of-mind of your prospects and customers.

Related: Unraveling a Meta Trend – Combining the Best of Physical and Digital in B2B Marketing

6. OOH advertising

OOH (Out of Home) advertising works best if you have enough budget to spare. Though not very effective when it comes to targeting, advertising in locations like event venues and airports - where the affluent business class hangs out - can help improve brand awareness.

Final words

Unlike many say, there is enough space for you in B2B marketing to put your right brain to work. So, in addition to the techniques I mentioned in this article, think about the other creative ways in which you can promote IT solutions. List them down, experiment with one or more of them, and observe the results. Adopt those that work into your overall marketing strategy and create a system to replicate the success. End of the day, marketing is all about experimentation.

Also, more than the tactics, it is about creating a strong foundation of awareness with a multi-channel approach. The more you showcase your expertise and knowledge, the faster people will trust you. So put yourself out there without hesitation and invest time and effort in helping your ideal customers solve their IT problems.

Looking to take your B2B marketing efforts to the next level? Try Skalegrow

Are you looking for a 'no-nonsense' B2B marketing agency? Give Skalegrow a try. No false promises. No 'we will change the world' narratives. We focus on simple marketing tactics that work. Moreover, we spend the time to understand your industry, however niche it is.

To learn how Skalegrow can help elevate your marketing outcomes, please book a call with me using this link . You could also write to us at [email protected] .

More learning resources

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