One of the biggest challenges faced by small data centers is perception – in particular, the perception by many prospects that bigger is better.

Because perception in many ways is reality, there’s only so much you can do to change that perception. Or is there?

That’s the beauty of an Inbound, buyer persona-centric strategy: it favors innovative companies that have more brains than oversized wallets.

We talked about this issue quite a bit during the Inbound Revenue Acceleration Webinar for Colocation Data Centers.

An excerpt from this webinar recording appears in this blog post.

The Battle of the Smaller Data Centers vs. the National Competition

The question asked:

Based on a relatively small physical size in comparison to “big box” data centers, many decision makers are unwilling to consider our solutions, even though we possess capabilities and capacities well beyond what the larger companies can provide.

How do we get decision makers to buy into the “big fish in a small pond” mentality and attention to detail that our growing roster of completely satisfied customers currently enjoys? This is a very common question that we hear.

Own Your Buyer Personas

This isn’t just a competitive intelligence issue. It’s more a matter of understanding your buyer personas better than anyone else on the planet – and executing a plan based on that.

(Note: A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of one of your ideal clients based on research and educated speculation.)

Once you understand who the two, three, four, or five different people are that you are trying to reach, look at who else is trying to get in front of them.

How to Test and Evaluate Your “Big Box” Data Center Competitors

And do this basic test on your competitors:

When you go to your competitors’ website home pages, are they talking about themselves? Are they really egotistical, really salesy and self-promotional?

Or are your competitors providing really helpful, educational thought leadership?

Are they trying to be perceived more as corporate, sterile, “big box” kinds of sales people?

Or are they trying to be seen as professors, advisors, subject matter experts? That mindset can make an enormous difference when trying to compete effectively – and allow you to be the big fish in the small pond.

By doing this, you can also position your smaller data center in a way that the “big box” data centers simply are not.

What have you done to show your prospective clients that bigger isn’t always better? Share your approach in the Comments box below.

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