Create a Buzz in the Marketplace
Best-in-class companies are able to create a buzz around themselves in the marketplace. The leading SaaS/Cloud providers are talent magnets attracting the best and brightest college grads and execs. Users beg their leadership to adopt their technology and CIOs quickly embrace as them as the right choice for forward-thinking organizations. They become analyst darlings that are showered with accolades and awards from respected media publications. They don’t need to hire investment bankers to help raise capital, because investors are cold calling them with unsolicited proposals.
A strong brand drives inbound leads, boosts win rates, and leads to a higher valuation.
SaaS Brand Awareness – Key Functions
Success is ensuring that each of the key buyer personas at each of your target accounts knows of your company and has a positive opinion of it. Everyone in the business plays a role in brand development, but marketing takes the leadership role. Marketing shapes perceptions of your company in the market through channels like the media. Marketing influences the influencers like analyst firms that publish rankings of vendors in different markets. Marketing builds awareness with your target market through activities like tradeshow sponsorships. Some of the most popular strategies for building brand awareness include:
Public Relations
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Media Coverage
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Press Releases
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Award Submissions
Analyst Relations
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Vendor Rankings
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Analyst Briefings
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Consulting Engagements
Events & Tradeshows
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Afterparty Sponsorships
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Exhibit Booths
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Speaking Engagements
Brand Identity
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Corporate Website
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Brand Promise & Voice
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Graphic Design
Spotlight
Website Design
An awesome website is one of the most important factors in winning with digital marketing. The definition of “awesome” is subjective, but it shouldn’t be. There’s a well-established set of best practices for SaaS and cloud web design that all the industry leaders follow. However, the challenge for marketing teams is that these best practices are not written down anywhere, and lots of time is wasted trying to determine what they are. We’re going to change that.
Building a Marketing Moat
Most people don’t think about marketing when they think about competitive advantage. Sustainable differentiation typically is associated with areas such as creating unique product features, tapping large distribution channels, or launching innovative business models.
But marketing can be a corporate differentiator as well especially if the organization can establish a high level of brand awareness or a highly efficient demand generation model. Ideally, you want marketing to build a competitive moat around the business that is impenetrable by competitors seeking to attack your leadership position.
Spotlight
Analyst Relations
Tier 1 analysts such as Gartner, Forrester, and IDC remain highly influential over the purchasing decisions of technology buyers. Ignore them at your own peril. For market leaders, favorable placement in the Magic Quadrant, Wave, or Marketscape rankings is table stakes. For startups, getting included on these vendor landscapes can be one of the first big signs “you’ve made it.”
