To attract the right clients to your data center solutions, you must be found early in the buyer’s journey. However, before beginning the attraction phase, you must satisfy several basic needs.
Search engines and social media dominate the ways buyers receive information. People get what they want when they want it and on their terms.
Purchasing habits continuously evolve as technological advancements and social media changes influence them.
Prior to the recent boom in the communication and technology industry, people relied on manufacturers to distribute product information, and businesses maintained a firm grip on the consumer’s buyer’s journey.
In the past decade, drastic changes in research on purchase behaviors have shifted this position, leaving consumers in control of their journeys and making traditional marketing obsolete.
Before creating content for the attract stage, data center-related businesses should first establish their full-funnel metrics and goals.
“Part of your goals is understanding that you can’t get a customer until you get a sales opportunity,” says Joshua Feinberg, Co-Founder of SP Home Run, “You can’t get a sales opportunity until you get some sort of lead, and you can’t get a lead until you someone is aware that you exist.”
Developing goals that address full funnel needs will help businesses attract the right clients in the right context. Research for the following categories should be satisfied to attract the right clients to your data center solutions:
Smart goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
SMART goals are important to establish because they hold appropriate persons/departments accountable, keep teams organized, and allow organizations to measure the success of a campaign.
SMART goals should address your full-funnel needs and address questions such as:
Buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of a business’s ideal client. Buyer personas are based on both research and educated speculation and must be verifiable through data and thorough research.
Buyer personas help with drawing relevant clients and scoring leads.
“Product market fit is the degree to which your products/services satisfy the demands of a certain type of buyer,” says Feinberg, “When you have product market fit, you know exactly what price points they buy at, what quantities and durations they buy, and it helps to allocate resources to accelerate revenue growth.”
To test if you have product market fit, conduct buyer persona interviews. If you have at least five ideal clients fitting each buyer persona profile, your business likely achieved product market fit.
If your business lacks at least five clients they can interview, you may need to achieve product/market fit before raising capital and developing content.
“Product market fit is one of the most important goals to fill to ramp up lead generation and sales acceleration to get you to product market fit as quickly as possible,” says Feinberg.
Once the above information is retrieved, businesses can focus on attracting prospects early into their buyer’s journey.
Being discovered early in a prospect’s journey is important for businesses because 70% of the buyer’s journey is completed before companies are even aware prospects view their products/services.
This means the average consumer is 80%+ into their buyer’s journey before they are ready to engage with a business.
Often, being discovered early in the buyer’s journey gives businesses the advantage of approaching opportunities with one foot in the door; prospects are typically more eager to work with businesses they are familiar with than ones they are not.
Influencers and decision-makers are approaching businesses with their minds almost entirely made up. Sometimes, it may even be too late to change or shape their opinions.
Getting found early enough in the buyer’s journey allows your data center to explain its value without being forced to compete solely on price.
What does your data center do to attract the right clients? Let us know in the comments below.