This is going to be a banner year for cloud service providers. Or at least, some of them.
In a recent report about key developments shaping the cloud computing industry in 2017, Forrester claims these services will continue to grow at a rapid pace, driven by business system migrations and customer-focused applications. Forrester predicts revenue from public cloud services could grow more than 60 percent, reaching 146 billion in 2017.
This is all good news for cloud service providers that have taken steps to educate customers as part of an inbound marketing strategy. In a recent article, ZDNet outlined some new trends Forrester is pointing toward as the new year approaches.
Cloud Cost Management
As more enterprises move their services to the cloud, a new market for managing costs is helping them realize the benefits without wasteful spending, like on-demand computing and pre-paid services.
Growth of Lift-And-Shift
Lift-and-shift is growing in popularity, allowing businesses to migrate services to the cloud without re-designing apps. This option has its downsides – the model doesn’t allow the migrated app to get the full benefits of native cloud features – but it still makes a nice option for organizations that are overspending on their own data centers by a two-to-one margin.
Specialization In The Cloud
Cloud providers will continue to develop industry-specific models while businesses look for ways to balance their infrastructure and security needs.
It’s great to have insights from research firms, but we should not forget to listen to our customers. What are the top priorities as they plan for next year? What are their biggest concerns about cloud computing right now? Listening to businesses that have adopted the cloud will help you market to the ones lingering on the sidelines.
Creating An Inbound Marketing Strategy
Before working on an inbound marketing strategy, it’s important to have a very clear and detailed vision of who your target customers are what their informational needs are. In her 5 Rings of Buying Insight, Buyer Persona Institute lays down some specific areas to focus on. I’ve paraphrased them below, but I highly recommend learning about these from the master herself – Adele Rivera.
Buyer Persona Research
Causes for Action. What events or circumstances make an organization want to invest in a service like yours? What differentiates them from businesses that resist investing in a solution?
Vision for Success. What does the buyer hope to achieve by investing in services like yours? These answers should be specific and detailed.
Impediments to Buying Your Solution. You need to find out what criteria could make buyers choose a competitor over your company.
Decision-Making Process. You must get behind the curtain and discover how the decision-making process unfolds. Sellers often wrongly assume their messages should be directed at the CEO of the company. Instead, the most influential person is usually a middle manager who does the research and evaluates the options. The CEO just approves the budget and signs off on the deal.
Deciding Factors. When it’s time for a decision, buyers will choose a solution based on specific criteria and expectations. It’s your job to find out what those are.
This information requires some effort and expense to get – you will need to interview up to a dozen buyers (or hire a research firm to do it for you) and compile the information, looking for patterns that show you what’s truly happening during the decision-making process – but it will help you create a more productive inbound strategy than your competitors are likely to achieve.
Many marketers assume they know how customers make purchase decisions, and it’s shocking how wrong they are. If you are serious about getting the most out of inbound, we highly recommend investing in buyer persona research at some point.
Attract Online Visitors With Informative Content
After making a list of customer questions, set aside the ones that get asked the most. These are usually basic questions people have at the beginning of the research phase, also called “top-of-funnel.” A blog post about the pros and cons of Microsoft Azure would fit this category.
By providing helpful answers to customer questions, you can monitor traffic on your website and use the data to guide your efforts. Remember to keep your content fresh, entertaining, and informative. When you lapse into sales messaging, people will quickly tune you out. Your primary goal with new visitors is to build trust with lots of free, valuable information.
As your website traffic increases, you start to convert visitors into leads and educate them about the types of solutions you provide. This process is called lead nurturing, or helping people through the sales funnel with clear communication, and it continues until you’ve seen enough engagement from a visitor that it’s time to send a personalized sales offer. By then you will have built credibility and trust in the buyer’s mind, and educated them about how your products and services work. It’s time to close the sale and start a beautiful relationship.
But The Internet Is Already Saturated With Cloud Content!
Content saturation is the greatest challenge facing content marketers today. There’s a lot of competition out there now, but the bottom line is you can make a lot of money from inbound marketing, but it comes with a lot of work. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Lead With Your Experience
Eighty percent of companies out there now allocate part of their marketing budget to content creation, and the unsurprising result is there is a lot of saturation online.
So how do you set your company apart? Add something unique to the conversation, even if it’s a unique perspective on an ongoing 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 do the job better.
Reflect on your professional experience and conversations you’ve had with customers. What compelling stories can you share that will add value to your website visitors?
Invest In Video Marketing
Video marketing is still one of the smartest investments you can make in your content strategy. YouTube videos show up in Google search results, and it’s much easier to get them to rank well than blog articles.
Focus on Niche Markets
Ever hear the cliché there are “riches in niches?” One of the best ways to establish authority in a content-saturated industry is by narrowing your focus on a specific category. If your organization specializes in cloud implementations with healthcare providers or financial institutions, try structuring your inbound campaigns around them.
Be Patient And Buckle In
Remember to be patient. It takes months of consistent effort to achieve results with inbound, and it’s easy to lose heart along the way. Save yourself from getting discouraged by setting benchmarks for success along the way. First, you have to generate lots of traffic, then focus on getting clicks on your calls-to-action and, eventually, conversions. Experts are predicting an amazing year for cloud solution providers. Let’s get ready to make it your year.
