here are a lot of lead generation principles available out there, but they’re not all created equal for each industry. IT or technology lead generation fall under these categories. Your lead generation efforts have to be differentiated.
In this article, we take a look at the strategies than we can implement in our IT lead generation campaign, whether you are an IT startup looking for new IT or software leads or if you’re an established IT company that needs to expand its lead generation efforts.
IT is Technical – Play By The Rules
IT and software are very technical fields that involve volumes of procedural and systematic data. During IT sales, the decision-making unit (DMU) usually comprises of the prospect’s professional team, so you have to make your technical data easily accessible and appealing to those people as well.
You have to be prepared to explain how your company’s methodology works, including its quirks.
Don’t Alienate the Non-Technical People
However, a caveat of presenting technical information is the fact that most DMUs are also comprised of people who do not understand the jargon. You also have to be willing to offer your product or service in a way that satisfies the needs of this group.
By being able to provide the different members of the DMU with information that is relevant to their roles, you will be able to reach them more effectively. This means you need to be able to provide for their bottom lines as well, give them solutions to their pain points.
Also, here’s an added benefit, say that you are only dealing with the IT team with your offering. If you can offer solutions that are relevant to someone with no technical expertise, you will be able to allow them to sell your product internally to the organization for you.
The Buying Process Has Started Before They’ve Even Contacted You
If a prospect contacts you, this generally means that they are already into their buying process and you are one of their candidates. The race here isn’t to show them what your product does, but rather how your product is differentiated from the rest of the other vendors that they have contacted.
Also, think of it this way, they’ve probably read about your services in the past. They know what you’ve been doing so far, so now the questions are more specific. In this light, it is also useful to find out more about your prospects so that you can address whatever pain points and challenges they’re facing.
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Content Marketing is Different
Given the technical nature of IT, your content marketing plan will also be different. You will need to create more specialized pieces that aim to answer specific questions. These pieces will also need to be optimized.
Content marketing will have an informative rather than viral approach since these will be the foundation of a prospect’s information about your organization.
Since tech is extremely information-driven, it is also a good idea to share whatever information that you already have, which leads us to the next most crucial point in generating sales leads for IT.
Establish Yourself as an Industry or Thought Leader
Even B2B leads in tech are also affected by social media, so you need to establish a presence that goes beyond traditional marketing. You have to be a thought leader.
Contrary to popular belief you don’t have to be the most significant player in the market to start being a thought leader; you can do so by being able to establish the methodology for best practices first and market these ideas.
This is why it is essential that whatever information you have that can add value and not compromise your profit margins should be shared with everyone in the industry. For example, let’s say through the results of surveys you have formed a case study, which has a strong statistical foundation.
It would be advisable to make these results available to everyone else; this allows you to be an industry leader in a particular subject because you are willing to provide value for free.
Remember, companies have established their foothold in the market with the value that they have given out to customers and prospects. There is nothing wrong with this as it boosts the image of your brand.
As you can see, by just customizing some of the general principles that we have for lead generation, you can create an effective segmented and targeted campaign. There are a lot of lessons in lead generation and nurturing, but we need to customize for our needs.
This article originally posted at The Savvy Marketer.