Most companies in the data center, cloud services, and mission-critical industries invest in marketing as if the iPhone, Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Alexa had never been invented. The typical excuse-making centers around things like:
- “We’re not there yet.”
- “We don’t have the bandwidth.”
- “There’s no budget.”
- “Our customers are different.”
So regardless of your excuse du jour for why your marketing and sales teams are living in the past and “under-resourced,” consider these three data center marketing tactics that most companies need in their promotional mix. And the best part: Most can be done with very small budgets:
Speak at Groups and Conferences Where Your Best Clients, and Best Potential Prospects, Already Attend
Make the talk 99% educational, delivering crazy amounts of hyper-relevant value to buyer personas. Tips. Action items. Pitfalls to avoid.
At the end of the talk, make an offer for attendees to trade their business card for something of high perceived value (free consult, assessment, eBook -- or, at the minimum, the slides), so you can continue educating and building trust post-event.
Invite Your Clients and Prospects to Your Own In-Person Data Center Marketing Events
(Such as Breakfast Seminars or Lunch and Learn Events)
While most data center-related companies will dress up these kinds of events to impress, often killing their budgets, you don’t need to. Not mandatory.
If you have a conference room, large foyer, or classroom -- and can handle expensing some bagels for breakfast or pizzas for lunch, you have what you need for a minimum viable event.
Teach. Pour your heart out. Share stories about what's working for other companies like theirs.
Have a special offer for attendees that lets them jump-start or continue the relationship with you and your company.
Host Data Center Webinars
In the best-case scenario, social media posts can capture your clients' or prospects' attention for a minute or two. Blog posts or eBooks -- perhaps hold attention for a few minutes. But a webinar? A full hour of interactive real-time opportunity to educate and build trust with your clients and prospects.
Always have a call to action at the end for what attendees should do next.
If your webinar is of high-perceived value and not a glorified infomercial, your average session time should for a one-hour event should be 50+ minutes. In other words, nearly everyone stays for the full event.
What low-budget data center marketing tactics have effectively generated leads and warming leads into opportunities? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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