Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Thanks Paul.

In response to your suggestions:

1) Indirect targeting of C-level: We've had articles published in the local Business Journal. We are also considering partnering with charities to donate computing supplies. What else can we do?

2) Since we provide such an all-encompassing solution, IT people just don't like us. Unless they're under the gun or have a vested interested in the company, they prefer not to relinquish control - which they're quite wary of. My approach has been to research whether they have an in-house IT person and target those that do not. Any suggestions?

Sorry Aaron, I did not fully grasp your offering when I read your message earlier. Indeed, the approach I suggested is not the right one.

As far as I can tell, there are only a limited number of reasons why companies would look at your services:
- They have SLA issues with thier in-house IT department;
- Their IT department lacks the processes or knowledge to move the IT environment in line with the business strategy;
- They want to cut costs;
- They want to refocus their efforts (and their strategic spending) to their core business and get rid of all supportive functions (which would include IT, facilities, finance, legal, etc);
- And you know many more I assume.

This to me sounds indeed as an approach to the C-level directly. I do have some experience targeting the C-level, although not in the area of outsourcing, but in the area of high-level/business consulting related to IT solutions.

What I have done back then was a two-pronged approach, but a three-pronged might be better.

1. I made sure I was visible in the media that were read by the C-level (in your case that might be CIO/CFO)
2. I had research done by a research company that also had a community of C-level members. They were my target respondents for a custom-made research project.
3. Make sure you are visible on the web sites that are read by your audience. Not necessarily with banner ads, but possibly with white paper offerings.

So no need to donate PC's, unless you feel it is a nice lead-in for some free publicity (although, what's the news value in that these days).

What I did with the visibility in the media they read: I just bought a two-pager in a yearly special magazine and positioned the company and our services. The piece was partly addressing the issues these quys were facing and partly a fairly high-level step-by-step plan to come to the solution.

At the same time I had a white-paper ready (high-level again) that could be used as follow-up material.

The research results were published in a research paper (16 pages, with all kinds of result graphs, text written by a freelance journalist). We promoted this paper on various web sites, including our own and people could request it by leaving their details. We also published the report into the community that actually was our research target. There too, they could leave their details and get the report.

We then hosted a few round tables, having the researcher present the results and have one of our clients describe the solution. We could fill several round-tables with 6 to 8 people, invited through the report request details and invited by our sales force. From there on, it was sales' responsibility to move forward with each of the attendees.

Thanks for your input. A few follow-up questions if I may:

Paul,

You're exactly right when it comes to why companies would look at our services.

I was hoping you could help me with a few concerns I have with implementing your three-pronged approach.

1. C-level media PR: As Randall alluded, we market to many industry verticals. As such, each prospect we target will have a different interest. (I don't know if I mentioned that at this point we only target our geographical metro area)


2. C-level Research: This sounds great. Any suggestions on how to get started?

3. Whitepapers: Also alluded to by Randall was the fact that our target - C-level execs - do not to this point have much interest/familiarity/comfort level with IT-related decisions. As such, I'm not sure how to compile a whitepaper offering that would catch their specific interest.

Yes, PC donation would be for some free publicity, PLUS to add credibility and perhaps catch the interests of the influential board members of the charity.

As far as your round tables suggestions, we DO have a annual client advisory get-together. What we could do is offer for them to invite their associates/friends.

Randall,

Our IT outsourcing solution is actually a form of "utility computing" created in the same model of a utility in which the client no longer is required to expend capital in IT expenditures. Everything is delivered on an as-needed basis.

What might you suggest for PR strategy? As mentioned, one of the PR ideas was to partner with a charity to donate computers. (It actually ties into our service offerings in that with our solution, companies no longer need servers, and other costly IT equipment.

Thank you both for your help, and I look forward to your responses.

For business-level whitepapers, you might want to check out the CIO.com site. Many free white-papers there. They might help you get your right thinking cap on.

Then for research. Possibly hook up with IDC or other IT analysts and see if they can do this for you or if you can hike some questions onto their existing research (that would be a lesser strategy though). Find the business analysts that are big in sourcing. They might be able to help set up and execute the custom research.

Note however, that you need to be very clear about your positioning. Especially in the current sourcing market you need to have a clear, discernable position. And research must re-inforce that position.

Paul,

We don't deal with many CIO's. Mostly CEO, COO, CFO. What's a reasonable costs/course to take for market research?

Thanks.

Hi Aaron,

Even if your target is CEO/CFO/COO, the cio.com site might actually provide some angles that CIO's need to take towards their board and hence the site might still be of value.

I had a package deal of 30KUSD for four research papers throughout the year, which included access to the members of this CxO community.

Also, what might you suggest for PR stories and events?

Thanks.

We basically took the resulting research paper, made press release out of it and shared the most important findings (bullet points) and the most important graph with journalists. When the research paper was in final draft, we gave an exclusive to the journalist that we needed most for that particular subject.

So what sort of research would you recommend for IT outsourcing company like us?

Aaron, I do not have a clue. What are the strong points/competitive values that you have? Those would be the focus of the research. The way we apprpached is than was to ask ourselves that question, then figure out what the research needed to show and only then start to design the research focus and the questions that were needed to highlight those points.