How well do you understand your tech buyers? When do you know they are ready to buy? More significantly where can you find them? Our guide to Making Demand Generation Work in the Technology Industry has been designed and customised significantly to answer the questions that are important to you. Discover the latest insights and analysis on the biggest issues impeding your revenue streams and identify the key players you need to know to get in on the action.

1. Demand Generation
Making it work in the
Technology Industry
Marketing to technology buyers
in the enterprise and mid-market.

2. 2
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
But as the world
becomes more
tech savvy and IT
departments need to
become more agile,
so does the decision
making process.
9/10 business buyers say when they are ready to buy they will find you1
. Add the word
technology in between business and buyers and you can make that 10/10! While the technology
revolution takes hold and IT become responsible for some serious buying decisions, we tech
marketers know that it’s getting tougher and tougher to talk to technology decision makers.
Traditionally C-Level IT held the purse strings and
kept them close. But as the world becomes more
tech savvy and IT departments need to become
more agile, so does the decision making process.
This has opened up a new world of IT decision
makers and influencers in enterprise and
mid-market organisations. They have different
purchase drivers and use less traditional channels
to research solutions and vendors.
1
Source: DemandGen Reports, 2012
Introduction
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3. 3
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
Add this to the fact that, within
this global technology revolution,
most people around the business
consider themselves to be tech
experts. They put demands on
IT to deliver projects that will
push boundaries. And this
creates a very different landscape
and audience if you want to
market technology solutions in
the 21st century.
IT is no longer just a support
function. It can drive a business
to the top of their market or leave
them lagging behind their
competitors. As a result the IT
roadmap is more valuable than
ever but equally it is at risk of
becoming chaotic – so today it’s
not easy to be at the helm of an
IT department.
Cloud technology has changed
everything, don’t pretend that it
hasn’t. Those IT buyers that have
resisted cloud until now will
be overruled or ignored in 2014
and beyond.
Gartner has claimed that 80%
of organisations intend to use
cloud services in some form
within 12 months, including
55% of the organisations not
doing so today2
.
2
Source: Gartner, 2013
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4. 4
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
Marketing to tech buyers has changed, there’s no doubt
about that, but it hasn’t changed as quickly as the audience
mind-set. There are some great marketing examples from
challenger and start-up brands where they are really buyer
focused as well as some big vendors moving quickly to
position themselves alongside the less corporate brands and
ride the crest of the start-up wave.
In this guide we talk about the broad personas within IT,
how their purchase drivers are changing and how to get
them to listen to you through the rest of the noise.
2014 is the year that
will sort the wheat
from the chaff as more
IT buyers embrace
cloud and vendor loyalty
becomes less important
than the business benefits
offered by challengers in
the marketplace.
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5. 5
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
In a world where your
competitors are telling
everyone that change is
great, the CTO needs to
see your brand as one
that understands their
challenge.
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6. 6
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
These days if what you’re
offering is not on their
immediate radar you will
struggle to cut through and
get their attention, no
matter how quirky your
high value DM is!
The CIO has been the target
for Enterprise IT vendors for
too long. With their area of the
business moving to the forefront
of business change in recent
years they have had to devolve
decision making power for the
majority of the buyer journey to
IT Directors and Managers.
Does this mean you shouldn’t
talk to them? No, they are still
responsible for the roadmap
and prioritising what tech
developments are important to
the business but messaging to
CIOs needs to be very focused.
So start by raising awareness
with the CIO, get your brand in
front of them through creating
comms and content that talks
about the bigger picture and adds
value to their long-term strategy.
From there you can get them
engaged in your brand and build
a profile of them for some really
targeted follow-up that will cut
through the noise.
Talking to the
CIO
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7. 7
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
The CTO has a problem:
change. Their business wants
to move forward quickly and
not be left behind in the
technology revolution, but legacy
infrastructure is so entrenched in
the organisation that this leaves
the CTO and their team with a
big job to do and fast. The CTO
needs to be seen as a facilitator
of new technology and the
benefits it brings to the
organisation not a blocker so
the key is to help them do that.
Add to this the difficulty of distress
projects when networks and
infrastructure are on the verge
of falling over and you’ve got a
tough job on your hands to get
this person to even find time to
look at anything you put in front
of them.
In a world where your competitors
are telling everyone that change is
great, the CTO needs to see your
brand as one that understands
their challenge.
Talking to the
CTO
Empathy with the issues
around speed of change
will set you apart in your
market and support their
case to the board for
answering the question
‘can we make this work
with our existing
infrastructure?’
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8. 8
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
At C-Level, specific security
issues such as network and
data security as well as the
newer world of mobile device
security and risk assessment
metrics are increasingly
measured along with other
analysis such as customer
satisfaction and financial
impact as part of the wider
business continuity strategy.
This means that today’s CSO is
seen as a more integral part of
the wider business than simply a
technical role as they have
been historically.
Their business drivers have
changed from being just
technical to more of a focus on
business impact. The pressure
has always been on to not let
information security fall down but
the scope is wider than ever and
the risks continue to increase.
Unlike the CTO this role is
comfortable not to be a facilitator
when the risks seem too high.
To talk their language
you need to show you
understand the top issues
on their agenda such as
reputational risk and economic
impact of IS breaches.
If you can position yourself as
a brand that is aware of the
growing responsibility they have,
you will jump over the heads of
your competitors’ messages that
are still focused on purely
technical solutions.
Talking to the
CSO
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9. 9
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
8/10 of the clients we
talk to say they want to
be seen as thought
leaders in their space as
this approach works to
engage decision makers
at the top of the funnel.
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10. 10
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
Their power is increasing all the
time. For enterprise solutions the
power is being devolved, certainly
at the earlier stages of the buyer
journey. The IT Director is more
likely to be the one to research
new solutions that are on the
company’s roadmap and explore
new vendors than ever before.
The IT Director is dealing more
and more with the pressure of
developing the roadmap across
the business in an increasingly
fast-paced environment, dealing
with distress projects when IT
stops or is about to stop working
and taking on a project director
role for new technology roll-outs.
They are also fairly indifferent to
sales messages having been
targeted endlessly with irrelevant
content by vendors who don’t
understand how to talk to them.
At the start of the tech
buyer journey, these are the
most important people so
treat them with respect and
understanding otherwise you risk
turning them off you very quickly.
How much power does
the IT Director have?
They also tend to be quite
vendor loyal so trying to show
them there is a better way is
not easy. They will wait until their
existing vendor offers something
similar to your solution than add
another vendor into the mix.
To get this audience into your
marketing/sales pipeline and
talking to you, you need to give
them strong and compelling
reasons to change or add a new
vendor to their portfolio. Timing is
everything and giving the positive
messages about your brand and
what you can offer them is all
important until they are ready to
talk to you. And they will let you
know when they are ready!
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11. 11
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
With the onset of collaborative networks and cloud,
this persona has certain challenges in common regardless
of their sector or geographical location:
n Infrastructure within the organisation needs to be flexible
and agile to accommodate change but remain stable and be
more secure than ever
n Maintaining a long-term roadmap; a truly collaborative network
across a multi-site or multi-national organisation and staying up-to-
date with the latest possibilities in order to refine the roadmap
So it’s not difficult to see where you can add value if you are trying to
talk and sell to this persona. Make it easy for them to achieve their
strategic goals, keep them up-to-date on the latest functionality
available but make your content easy to digest – they won’t have time
for whitepapers until they are a long way through the buyer journey.
Infrastructure and networks
Make it easy for
them to achieve their
strategic goals, keep
them up-to-date on the
latest functionality available
but make your content easy
to digest.
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12. 12
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
The ICT Director has seen innovation and change in their field for
some time now and is used to seeing the new kids on the block with
innovative solutions, which sometimes last and sometimes don’t, as
well as the big ICT vendors that have risen to the challenge. They
have been the target of many a marketing campaign over recent
years so are probably the most hardened to sales messages.
However their challenges haven’t changed:
n They still lack the talent and resources within their team to keep
up-to-date with the fast-paced and ever-changing possibilities
that collaborative working presents to their organisation
n Their expectations are high of a vendor as they know there
are plenty of others waiting at the door to take your place if
you can’t deliver what they want
ICT
They expect research and
thought leadership content that
will support them in their role,
they’ve had access to this from
ICT vendors for a long time.
So give them something nobody
else is giving them, content that
goes one step further and they
can actually use instead of just
refer to. Make them see you as
a brand that doesn’t mind sharing
and collaborating with them and
they will be happier to talk to
you and share their pains.
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13. 13
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
In 2014 it’s all about
mobile
mobile
mobilefor the apps team.
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14. 14
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
In 2014 it’s all about mobile, mobile, mobile for the apps team.
Industry experts are predicting an explosion in mobile workplace
functionality; we will see the term ‘mobile-as-a-service’ thrown
around a lot this year. This persona will always be targeted to enable
the workforce to do more and more away from the office but the
drain on budget and resource to manage the security risks has been
restrictive, this is changing:
n The application layer of IT infrastructure is perceived as higher risk
than the networking layer, and with the explosion of mobile device
usage, security is still a big issue for apps. They want to focus
more on innovation than security and management
n They need to bring more scalability and availability to their portfolio
of apps to allow for speedier develop, test and deploy processes
Applications
Staying ahead of the
competition for supporting
innovation in the enterprise
apps team will be key for
any marketing strategy
that targets this persona.
Don’t underestimate their
need for creativity and a
brand that understands
their challenges.
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15. 15
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
Finding the IT Directors and C-Levels of the future is where the value can be found at Manager
level. Don’t underestimate some of these people as key influencers. Those that are high flyers of
the future will be looking to bring new ideas to the table and make a name for themselves.
The young, dynamic IT Manager will want to
bring fresh thinking to the business and push
the boundaries of the old-school legacy that they
feel weigh-down many enterprise organisations.
If you get the messages and tone right they are
more likely to read what you have to say and
put it in front of their boss.
Having said that, don’t think that they are your
only route in. They don’t hold much sway in the
organisation and are unlikely to have visibility of
the long-term roadmap in its entirety. Getting your
brand in front of IT Managers that are clearly very
vocal professionally is just another string to your
bow when selling to enterprise tech.
Where does
the IT Manager
sit in all this?
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16. 16
MARKETING TO TECHNOLOGY BUYERS IN THE ENTERPRISE AND MID-MARKET
There is a theme emerging in tech marketing…thought leadership.
We’ve all heard the term being thrown around a lot lately.
The bottom line is not everyone can be a thought
leader and this approach will get tired very soon.
Particularly among tech buyers who are usually the
first to get hit with any new approach in marketing.
What tech buyers really want is you, as a vendor,
to prove you can add value. Add value to their
strategy and planning as well as deliver a solution
to their problem that is robust and, ultimately,
makes them look good.
So when you say you want to be a thought leader,
be really clear about what you want your business
to be known for and what value that adds to your
buyers. Make sure your content and comms add
value every step of the way, that’s what we
mean by being a thought leader.
Everyone wants to
be ‘thought leaders’
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17. You may
also enjoy
reading:
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Enablement
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Journey
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About Ledger Bennett DGA
We are a B2B Demand Generation agency that uses
sales and marketing know-how to help customers
increase revenue by deploying Inbound Marketing,
Content Marketing and Marketing Automation
strategies. Our highly focused Demand Generation
programmes drive our customers’ business
performance, helping them to:
n Generate more opportunity
n Convert that opportunity into sales
n Retain customers and grow their value
Using more measurable and cost effective
techniques than traditional full service marketing
agencies we are able to maximise business revenue
in the modern world where the internet has
fundamentally changed the behaviour of the buyer.
www.LBDGA.com
Telephone: +44 (0)8458 383883
Email: info@LBDGA.com
Milton Keynes:
Ledger Bennett DGA
Tungsten House, Warren Road
Little Horwood, Milton Keynes
MK17 0NR
London:
Ledger Bennett DGA
1st Floor Centric House
390-391 Strand, London
WC2R 0LT
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