Information Technology (IT) is growing exponentially. Although there is plenty of demand, there are also plenty of firms willing to supply such services. That’s where marketing comes in. It’s not enough to simply offer your services; you need to effectively implement marketing to achieve sales. But how? We’ve compiled both 5 IT firm challenges and 5 tips for marketing IT services.
5 IT Firm Challenges
Identifying the challenges of the IT industry can help us determine what their marketing needs are. What are IT firms struggling most with? It boils down to 5 major challenges:
- 8% have difficulty attracting new business.
- 6% have difficulty finding and retaining good employees.
- 8% struggle to remain innovative.
- 7% face a difficult economy or an overly competitive marketplace.
- 7% find it difficult to meet customer expectations.
A great deal of this list could be addressed with good marketing.
5 Tips for Marketing IT Services
Conduct Some Marketing Research
The tech community often emphasizes compiling and using data and information to appropriately strategize. Marketing is no different. Before you can develop and implement your marketing strategies, you’ll need to understand the business environment. Marketing research is also necessary to understand client needs and expectations. This research will allow you to provide better services, manage these services more effectively, and then market your product to match customer needs. In fact, those who use research on current and potential clients see a growth rate that is 3-10 times faster than those who go without it; further, they are up to twice as profitable. It just makes sense to do your homework before diving in.
Build A Superior Website
You would be surprised to hear the number of IT service firms with outdated websites. Because many early IT firms grew quickly through word-of-mouth (WOM), many put less emphasis on many types of marketing, including digital and of course, websites. If you are one of these IT firms, think of your website as a first impression. As a customer is getting to know your company, they’re bound to search you on the internet, and your website is one of the key sources they’ll check. Websites tell a potential customer so much about your company – from basic information, to a compilation of your services, to case studies describing previous work you’ve done.
It won’t be enough to have a nice-looking website on desktops alone, either. Your site needs to display right on every device: cell phone, tablet, or desktop. Not only does a responsive website improve the consumer experience, but Google will typically penalize you for not being mobile-optimized, and, as we’ll touch on shortly, SEO strength is incredibly important.
This step is absolutely necessary. It harms your credibility to emphasize your success in tech, all the while having an outdated webpage. And with the ever-looming presence of fierce competitors, a good website could be the difference between you receiving the client over your competitor. In fact, research actually shows that an unimpressive website is among the top reasons buyers will rule out a company during their decision-making process. First impressions mean everything, so don’t be so quick to dismiss this step.
More IT Website Tips: 6 Features Every IT Company Needs on Their Website
Promote Industry Rockstars Within Your Organization
Apple had Tim Cook and Steve Jobs, Facebook has Mark Zuckerberg. But it’s not just the big tech companies with employees of status; you can achieve this on a smaller scale. One of our clients Prescient has Jerry Irvine to constantly represent the company – at different conferences, trade shows, and publications. Putting your more impressive employees in the limelight can do wonders for your business. Find employees with both great credentials and unique points of view on your industry. Then encourage them to participate in speaking engagements, publications, and other events to get both their name and the company’s name out.
Focus on SEO
As we have repeatedly stated throughout this article, the world of tech firms is highly competitive. This makes placing on search engine results especially difficult. If you don’t wind up on the first page, or even within the first few results, you’re essentially invisible. SEO can be extremely challenging at times. What works today might not work tomorrow and, in some cases, it can even penalize you. For example, in Google’s early days, many focused on the quantity of their links, rather than the quality. That doesn’t fly anymore – a low-quality link can, at best, do little to boost your rank. At worst, it can severely damage your SEO rank. SEO is absolutely essential for every business’ marketing strategy, but you will have to keep up with the trends and adjust accordingly often.
More SEO Tips: Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Top 10 Priorities
Create Exceptional Content
For many B2B companies, content marketing is crucial for business. High-quality content helps to build your company into a thought leader within the industry, establishing credibility amongst both your peers and customers. Answering questions that customers are actively seeking helps them find your page. The ultimate goal is to eventually capture their information and then eventually convert them into a paying client. There’s a variety of content forms you can use: blogs, whitepapers, case studies, informational videos, and more. All work to increase your visibility.
More Content Marketing Tips: Content Marketing Best Practices Guide
Don’t Get Crushed By the Competition
In the highly competitive world of tech, it can be easy to fall behind. It can be as simple as having an out-of-date website or using inappropriate SEO practices. Through thorough research and marketing tactics that bring you in the now, you can only expect a prosperous IT firm for years to come.
For more information on growing your IT services company, download our in-depth guide: IT Marketing Best Practices Guide. Also, Modern Marketing Partners has broad experience managing marketing for regional, national and global Information Technology consulting and IT services brands with digital marketing excellence, thought leadership content, lead generation tactics, and more. Contact us today to learn how we can help!
Interested in More Leads? Get an IT Marketing Assessment
Information technology is a high-growth category attracting intense competition. So how can software brands succeed, thrive and achieve market leadership? Marketing. But not just any marketing. Digital Marketing Excellence is required, fueled by content and inbound marketing, and integrated with email and traditional marketing to ultimately drive measurable lead generation, sales conversions, and customer acquisition.
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