Data centers need to generate leads, but there may be one missing core component of their business strategy: marketing.
In a recent Q&A webinar, we addressed concerns of Data Center CEO’s, Sales Directors, and CMOs relating to sales acceleration, discussing this topic in depth. Interested in watching the webinar recording? If so, access it here: “Data Center Sales Funnel Acceleration Q&A Webinar.”
Avoid Cold Marketing Methods
Your business may be fishing if it is looking for permission to connect with prospects through:
- Cold calls
- Cold emails
- Cold LinkedIn connects
For instance, let’s say you sent an invitation to connect with someone on a social media platform such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter, and they accept. If you immediately spring your sales pitch onto them, you will butcher that relationship in ten seconds or less.
If your business is scouting for sales opportunities using the above tactics, it is not likely to get them. People are fed up with getting interrupted and are getting really good at blocking messages out. Buyers are deliberately doing tons of research upfront before contacting companies.
Disruption
Even YouTube is experimenting with this now. For years, YouTube was free of interruption all of the time. Then, they started interrupting people by adding in ads. Now, they have developed YouTube Red where consumers can pay ten dollars a month to turn off all of the ads.
YouTube saw an opportunity and is following where the cable industry has gone with NetFlix and Hulu. They understood market trends and realized their clients would upgrade to additional services to access a commercial-free experience.
Ultimately, buyers are paying for ad blocking services because they are tired of being interrupted.
Generating Leads
Generating leads without marketing could be possible by building out:
- A partnership program
- A channel program
- A partner to generate leads for you
However, before attempting either of the above routes, consider how you will accomplish them.
- How are you going to attract these channel partners?
- How are you going to train them?
- How will you support them?
Without a marketing program in place, accomplishing any of the above feats would be extremely difficult and close to impossible.
Generating leads requires a marketing strategy. Your data center should invest in building out:
- Buyer personas
- Conversion paths
- Blogging
- Social media
Without the above tactics, your company is forced to rent attention from everyone else's assets—and you will pay a huge premium for that.
Which marketing strategies does your data center use to generate leads? Let us know in the Comments below.
To learn more about data center sales acceleration, download the webinar recording "Data Center Sales Funnel Acceleration Q&A Webinar."
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