The crowded tech market demands uniqueness and proof of credibility. How far will the traditional lead gen strategies for IT companies take you? Find out.
“Your competition is any business that can fulfill the wants and needs of your potential buyers the same as you can, or even better.”
This realization has sent the market scampering in different directions. And why the vitality of competitive analysis has surged. In a market with no breathing space, it’s easy to lose your footing, let alone establish dominance. And if you don’t stand out, your competition whisks away your target account.
That’s how cut-through selling has become. The same hiccup for sales has instilled a challenge for marketing- how do they reach prospective buyers?
The legacy lead generation techniques don’t fill the gaps in the current landscape. Of course, the statement, “we require more leads,” has become overused, but the foundation for actually generating high-quality leads is wobbly. It poses a severe conundrum for lead generation across IT companies.
Why Is Lead Generation Substantial for IT And Technology Companies?
Have you ever wondered about the immense market size of the IT industry? In 2024, it was estimated to be around $1.5 trillion, and is projected to skyrocket to $2.59 trillion by 2030. That’s 9.4% CAGR in over six years.
If you look at the numbers through squinted eyes, these numbers would easily reflect the competition that’s out there. It’s intense, and with the cycles of digital transformation gaining momentum, the level is about to soar.
In this crowded market, it’s a challenge to stand out. Every other business is selling similar products to yours and even targeting the same market segment. It’s obviously a conundrum for you. Your competition is technically every organization that can meet your potential buyer’s needs as well as you can, or better.
The competition is 360-degree.
But it’s not always about your solutions; it’s about whether you can market them. In a crowded market with no breathing space, how will you retain your footing? And as the market makes a 180-degree shift every couple of years, how do you re-establish your positioning?
Optimizing Your Lead Generation Framework for IT And Tech Industries
While market competition remains a substantial challenge for IT firms, the focal lead gen challenges move beyond such generic hurdles. The evolving data privacy landscape, complex tech offerings, and exhaustive sales cycles add to the mix. And introduce unexpected complications.
Are you stuck at ‘discussing’ leads as the only lead generation strategy?
This doesn’t mean that your traditional lead gen playbook isn’t working. The truth is, the same playbook isn’t optimal for evolving IT businesses. Your age-old lead capture tactics follow a very myopic purview of buyers.
And lead generation, from a very crucial marketing model, has been oversimplified into merely ‘capturing leads.’ There’s no further probe into this methodology of lead generation. And how it’s impacting other marketing and sales functions:
- Why are the leads not converting, and what are the fundamental reasons?
- Does the funnel continue to leak opportunities even after adopting automation tools? Why?
- Even with so much data at our disposal, why do the boundaries between us and the buyers continue to exist?
The thing is, these aren’t B2C customers, they’re tech buyers with the smarts and their own conversing age. It’s only a fraction of the picture. And in recent years, lead generation has become a simple yardstick- downloading eBooks, signing up for newsletters, or filling out a form.
Are you reaching the ones with the actual decision-making power?
The IT ecosystem is more complex than the others. Every supposed “right-fit” lead has conducted research at least at a single point across the marketing funnel. And not all of them are even decision-makers. Lead lists and contact databases are filled in with names, and you believe the work is done.
But do you think reaching the right buyers in a saturated tech market ends at this?
You’re marketing complex tech solutions to more than a single decision-maker. And not all of them entail a deep tech expertise. Marketing to a buying committee across IT businesses means marketing to CFOs and CTOs. And honestly, each of them assesses value in their own ways.
Even two distinct buying accounts in the same market might measure value differently at a given time. While one places substantial value, the other could find it detrimental. This is the challenge of marketing an IT solution- the market walks on extremes. And with tech, there come attached too many questions about privacy and security.
Any of the research that they conduct could be done off the grid. And they’re likely to only interact with your brand in their own terms. Your potential buyer is not even on your radar.
Where’s the marketing budget? (It’s a hypothetical question)
According to a survey conducted by The Partner Marketing Group, 48% of IT marketers stated that most of their marketing budgets go into trade shows and events. This is a 44% increase from the preceding year.
Okay, fine, the contacts are now in your pockets. So, what now? Even though 60% say that their priority and baseline objective is lead generation, their primary challenge is converting those leads. This means they’re making significant mistakes at the very top.
By eroding a majority of the budget into trade shows, paid and digital channels are attributed fewer resources. This has proved a major misstep for B2B tech marketers. They’re missing a significant chunk of what’s in vogue: intent-led strategies and adaptive classification in line with account behavior and fit.
The shift in marketing was because of the disjuncture between marketing and sales. Marketing would hand off ill-fitting ‘MQLs’ to sales, and call it a day. And a majority of those leads wouldn’t convert into opportunities.
IT firms need to keep up.
Stuck in the quantity-quality conundrum, the need for intensive technical vetting of low-quality leads has resulted in manual qualification. The consequence? Slow pipeline velocity and inflated cost-per-lead.
It’s high time IT businesses made a pivot to a more purpose-led and value-centric approach.
Lead Generation Strategies for IT and Tech Industries
#1 Think of reliability as a commodity.
What happens when large systems fail? Heads roll.
A poorly implemented IT solution can lead to network breakdowns and frustrations. We’ve all been there. There’s always some ambiguity regarding the potential of an IT solution, but that’s not your cross to bear.
What actually matters for lead generation in IT companies is proving reliability and attesting to it. There’s little tolerance for operational downtimes, and any fluke can cost millions.
Here, it becomes crucial to curate marketing messages that showcase reliability rather than spotlight the product features. It’s about taking note of the high stakes involved and communicating the disruptions without creating fear. And given the intense market competition, you must communicate this reliability a tad differently from your competitors-
In a way that differentiates your IT solution and instills credibility at the same time.
#2 Paint emotional associations to rope in the prospects.
Most marketing messages don’t prove effectiveness because they jump into solving the problem. How do you build connection and trust this way?
Of course, getting into the solution is a crucial factor, but tech buyers have the smarts and have done their research. In a needs-based society, they know what their business requires.
Your lead generation strategies for IT businesses should entail every bit of balance between cold reasoning and emotional association. This is where the GAP (Gathering, Association, and Problem-solving) model will do the trick-
- G – Gather facts on the target account’s current pain points. Focus on the hardcore facts that can be transformed, altered, or influenced in some way.
- A – Get into the emotional reasons why they should buy the solution. This is where you also establish the value of your IT solution from the buyer’s perspective. What do they care about the most- scalability, security, ease of use, or pricing points? Here, you get to the root of their pain. And through this, you understand how to trigger an emotional response.
- P – Prescribe what is best for them, not sell your solution. Once your buyer has created an emotional association, it’s easier to help them see the bigger picture, i.e., what owning this tech feels like.
Remember, emotional impact > cold logic and price-based reasoning.
#3 Underscore zero-party and first-party data, not purchased lead lists.
Google has phased out third-party cookies, and due to the latest security policies, we’re diving into a cookie-less future. Especially if you think of tech buyers, they’re the ones who are more proactive about security. That’s one of the most fundamental hiccups IT marketers must be aware of.
But software such as PETs and reverse-DNS can help brands tap into website visitors without utilizing cookies.
To keep buyers’ trust, marketers will have to dig into the first-party data because users are consenting to it beforehand. It’s just the question of whether you understand those patterns from your website and lead gen forms. And even implement lead magnets to expand your data collection.
The significant aspect is to also entail a consent management form, allowing users to access and manage the data they’ve provided. You’re attributing a chunk of control to the buyer, making them feel that they are in safe hands.
This way, you’re building trust not just for the marketing message to get through. But to also facilitate secure and informed adoption.
#4 Transform the internal phrasing for consistent messaging all across.
Messages across different channels can be diverse, but then it’ll topple your brand perception. The way the market is shifting, there’s one thing that must remain constant. And that’s your brand.
Just as the market is shifting from MQLs to IQLs, your content and messaging should reflect the same. Often, IT marketers are so lost in the product features that they overlook the messaging and value they’re actually delivering through marketing campaigns.
While one campaign follows all the recent trends and follows a modern playbook, the other leverages conventional data. It ultimately portrays your brand in a negative light. You’re marketing an IT solution that focuses on modern capabilities and digital transformation.
But what about the content? At the top of the funnel, this is what the focus should be. Innovating not just your solutions, but the messages and communications your prospect is going to interact with.
As an IT marketer, you blend all aspects- from marketing storytelling to the complexity of IT solutions. And unify all of it in an agile but innovative lead generation strategy-
One that speaks to the non-technical and technical stakeholders. And posits the value to resonate with the diverse buying committee.
Lead Generation for IT Companies: An Emotionally-Charged Strategy?
The thing is, it’s easy to filter lead generation into a list of specific techniques and label them proven. But with the changing environment, so many marketing and sales teams are frustrated with low-quality leads. And interactions that go nowhere.
From SaaS to fintech to IT, each industry faces this quagmire.
But each domain also entails its own complexities. There’s no point in copy-pasting the same framework. They might work for the short-term, but for the long game, you’re missing out on key accounts. It’s because you’re busy attempting to engage buyers who have no connection to you.
IT companies require lead gen strategies that work for IT buying committees, from the CFO to the CEO. But it’s the marketing comms segment that takes a hit. The message doesn’t resonate with all of them, and you lose the deal. Even the tiniest account matters. So, where do you start?
You start with instilling reliability, not just trust. In the IT industry, reliability is scarce. But if they trust your message, they trust your solutions. And that’s what matters- linking the buyer to the value.
Only the value isn’t your flashy messaging, but in instilling an emotional response. Especially in a segment where emotions are often countered with cold, straightforward logic.
