Fill Your Colocation Space Faster with Highly Personalized Content

It has happened to all of us. After watching a movie on Netflix and giving it five stars when prompted for a rating, we are fast-tracked to a screen that introduces us to other movies we will likely enjoy.

Cue another film marathon and the perpetual renewal of our Netflix membership.

Thanks to changes in modern consumer habits with the rise of services such as Netflix and iTunes, which allow customer preference to drive the shopping experience, no single content strategy will resonate with everyone. Personalized content marketing has gathered momentum over the last couple of years and will be mandatory for colocation data centers that hope to grow going forward.

Buyer Persona

Marketers must get to know their target clientele to create a truly customized experience and fill colocation space. Buyer personas are an invaluable resource because they provide insight into the following:

• What is important to these customers
• How do they make purchasing decisions
• What their priorities and goals are when they buy

This important information can be used to create personalized content that will:

• Convert a prospect into a customer
• Swing a purchasing decision in a colocation center’s favor
• Make customers loyal

By demonstrating that the company can solve its customer’s problems and deliver what is valuable to them, it stands a better chance of filling colocation space and developing a long-term relationship with its clientele.

Lifecycle Stage

The customer lifecycle is a series of steps a prospect takes as they contemplate, buy, use, and then continue using a product or service. Smart marketers maintain an ongoing dialogue with these people by tailoring marketing content to whatever stage they are at in the lifecycle.

This level of personalization is essential to success because the information that customers and prospects seek will vary according to the stage. An otherwise excellent piece of content can fall flat when distributed at the wrong time.

• During the awareness stage, a prospect recognizes that a colocation space provider could help them solve a problem, but they are not ready to commit to purchasing anything. Content at this stage should focus on the service the buyer needs and why the data center is the best one to provide it.
• When prospects are ready to buy and weigh their options among all the colocation space providers, marketing content such as datasheets, case studies, and testimonials can help them decide.
• Once the prospect becomes a customer, the content used to engage them changes yet again. They want to know how to get the most value out of their new service and what to do if they need help with it. FAQs, user seminars, and customer newsletters will make the biggest impact at this stage.
• When a data center’s services successfully address a customer’s need, they can turn into brand advocates by providing them with information about loyalty programs, promotions, and customer-only specials.

Highly personalized content will deliver stronger results with the same marketing budget. Colocation providers can fill up their facility by putting more thought—not money—into reaching and engaging with prospects and customers.

Have you tried filling your colocation space using more personalized content, or are your communications still more general in scope? Sound off in the comments below.

Learn more about Colocation Data Center Providers and Go-to-Market Strategy (GTM) for Growth.