This is going to be a banner year for cloud service providers. Or at least, some of them.
Forrester says the market for public cloud services will grow to $178 billion in 2018, an increase of 22 percent over last year. This is obviously good news for cloud service providers, but with rapid growth comes intense competition.
CSPs that have taken steps to generate leads on their websites will be poised for success.
How to Create An Inbound Marketing Strategy
Before working on an inbound marketing strategy, it’s critical to have a very clear understanding of who your buyer personas are, and how they research and buy the services you provide.
Start By Creating An “Ideal Buyer” Profile
Your company may have hundreds, or even thousands, of customers, but not all of them are a perfect fit. Think about the characteristics of a company that you love to connect with, the ones that you earn the highest margins and greatest satisfaction from. Some of these attributes might include:
- Company size
- Industry
- Location
- Annual Revenue
- Service Offerings
Once you have a “buyer profile” finalized, you need to explore the individuals that drive the research and decision making process at these companies.
Buyer Persona Research
Useful buyer persona research requires some effort to get, but it will help you create a more effective strategy.
The operative word here is “useful.”
Most businesses think they know what their buyers are thinking and doing when they are “in the market,” and it leads to them making assumptions that are often wrong.
If you want a competitive edge in your marketing, investing in buyer persona research is one of the smartest things you can do.
By interviewing up 8-12 buyers (or hiring a marketing agency to do it for you), and looking for patterns that show you what’s truly happening during the decision-making process – you will gain the insights needed to build a strong foundation for your content.
Map Your Content Strategy
There are three main stages of the buyer’s journey we focus on in the planning phase: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.
During the awareness stage, a person is searching for basic information about a problem.
At the consideration stage, he or she has given a name to this challenge, and is looking for solutions that might take care of it. Upon reaching the decision stage, the prospect has decided on a course of action, and is researching vendors who can make it happen.
These “lifecycle stages” represent different informational needs your prospect will have throughout the process. As you brainstorm topics, you will map your content strategy across the buyer’s journey.
Create Better Content
Brands cannot afford to make content that doesn’t resonate with their customers.
There’s too much content out there and not enough time for people to consume it, especially when it comes to blogs. If your company blog is not getting traffic or converting leads, it may be time to readjust your strategy. Here are a few questions to ask:
Are we writing about topics that are relevant to customers?
A lot of cloud providers using their blogs to promote their own unique BI or PaaS solution. You might be creating revolutionary products, but here’s the rub: Buyers only care about their pain, not what you are making. Try reframing the topics about them, and save the sales pitch until after they’ve entered your sales funnel.
Do your titles communicate value?
Creativity is a precious thing, but not at the expense of the message.
Take a close look at your blog and video titles. Would a potential customer understand exactly what it’s about? Does the title immediately communicate the value he/she will get? Don’t let your titles become an afterthought. Spend a few minutes experimenting with your phrasing until you’ve got a compelling, clear, and concise title. Limit the length to 60 characters, including spaces, and don’t forget to work at least one target keyword your customers use to search for information.
Are your blog articles “scannable”?
Your customers are busy – just like you are – and if you are lucky enough to attract their interest to one of your articles, you must do everything you can to keep them there!
Give them the option of scanning your article to pick out bits of information that interest them (just like you probably did when you started reading this post). Use subheaders and images to break up the text. Nothing is less compelling than a mountain of text on a computer screen.
Most importantly — be consistent!
No matter what content type you choose to focus your energy on, produce it on a consistent basis. A blog that’s updated once a month is a dead blog. Instead, make it once or twice a week.
Producing one video isn’t going to do much for you either. Create a schedule, and stick to it. Try not to get too hung up on making an Emmy-award winning production, as well. Make it look nice, but GET IT DONE.
As your website traffic increases, you will turn visitors into leads, enabling you to educate them about how you can solve their problems. By the end of the lead nurturing process, you will have built credibility and trust in the buyer’s mind, and shown them about how your products and services work. Then it’s time to close the sale and start a beautiful relationship.
But The Web Is Saturated With Cloud Content!
Eighty percent of companies out there now using content marketing budget to generate leads, and the unsurprising result is there is a lot of content saturation online. There are ways to overcome that, though. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Lead With Your Experience
Add something unique to the conversation, even if it’s a new perspective on an aging topic. Instead of writing another bland, redundant article about how the cloud improves efficiency and reduces costs, try sharing a story about a particular lesson you learned about cloud adoption and how businesses can prepare for migrations better.
Reflect on your professional experience and conversations you’ve had with customers. What compelling stories can you share that customers will find value in?
Make Your Content “Shareable”
Sharing is the social currency of our time. People share content because it fits in with their self-identity. Just like the car they drive, the food they eat, or the hairstyle they have — every consumer choice we make represents who we are as individuals, and they includes the content we like and share.
Keep an eye on the top influencers in the cloud computing space and try to learn from their success. Which of their posts get the greatest viral lift, and how can you put those insights to use in your own strategy? Networking and collaborating with influencers on co-branded content can give you a huge boost, as well.
Focus on Niche Industries
Ever hear the cliché there are “riches in niches?” One of the best ways to establish authority in a competitive industry is by narrowing your marketing focus on a specific category. If your organization specializes in cloud implementations with healthcare providers or financial institutions, try structuring your inbound campaigns around those verticals.
Summary
Creating amazing content gets you a seat at the table with customers today, but if you want to eat, you have to be different than your competitors.
Personalization is the name of the game. Make your content feel intimate to the businesses you serve. Show them you understand their needs better than anyone else.
When you reach this level of understanding with an audience, magical things start to happen.
{{cta(‘0ac491b1-b36c-4107-b043-3e54bbb4bcba’)}}
