Generating leads for your new business: 5 things to keep top of mind

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By Vinay Hiralall, general manager, demand generation, Tarsus On Demand

An effective lead generation process guarantees the continuity of your start-up. There are many ways to get leads or opportunities, but what is most important is to focus on the fundamental principles of marketing – the strategies and tactics you can use to promote your solutions to customers.

Tarsus On Demand has a marketing-as-a-service offering for partners that helps bring a professional brand to businesses that have not been able to do so due to limited resources. This includes assessing a start-up’s digital presence and conducting surveys and workshops to determine core business offerings, value propositions, future customers, and more – all in the interest of working towards the development of a holistic marketing campaign that generates leads.

However, five fundamental marketing practices can initiate early interest in the solutions your business offers.

 

1. Research, research, and more research

Product-market fit happens when a start-up has successfully identified a target customer and the problem they are experiencing and is serving them with a solution that meets the customer’s needs well.

What problem does your solution solve? When developing their new business, many independent software vendors (ISVs) aren’t sufficiently rigorous in defining the problems they’re attempting to solve and articulating why those concerns are important. Without that rigour, it’s easy to pursue initiatives that have no market. Without product-market fit, your business is unlikely to take off.

It is important to ensure that your solution is solving a current problem and that people are willing to pay for that service. Many mobile applications are made available free and amass a large number of users, but how do the developers monetise these apps? Are customers ready to pay for the service on offer? That is a fundamental question.

 

2. Optimise your digital presence

COVID-19 is driving customers online, placing new emphasis on online channels. People are seeking digital alternatives for many different aspects of their lives.

To communicate effectively with your customers during this period, you’ll need to have a robust digital presence. Think about how your customers will find you — digital presence includes a business’s website and social media profiles, but also content that you don’t control, such as online reviews. Keeping customers top of mind, it is important to ensure that you find ways to make the business stand apart from its competitors.

 

3. Put customer advocacy at the heart of your marketing

Customer advocacy marketing helps to improve customer acquisition and retention and is also the best source of leads for a new business.

By motivating satisfied customers to speak positively about your offering to others, and creating referral programmes, you can develop a powerful sales force for your business. Ask happy customers to do a case study with you, or provide testimonials, for example. Customers are the best source of quality leads, especially for channel businesses.

 

4.Get your business noticed

A key element of lead generation is to create a marketing plan that gets your business noticed by your intended market.

A digital presence is one thing, but what’s also required is a marketing strategy that supports and expands your digital presence. How will you leverage the new, digital brand that you have created to reach your customers? What platforms will you use?

 

5. Contribute to the community

To grab the attention of allied communities, start by meeting their needs. Globally, hackathons are proving to be a great first step in a successful start-up community building exercise.

Try to imagine it this way: taking part in a hackathon will mean that people see your bright idea and may even help to find potential backers for it. Contributing to problem-solving in customers communities can create brand awareness and generate loyalty. Imagine sharing the expertise you have developed in creating a security solution, for example, with a group that is concerned about cyber-attacks.

People will begin to see you as a problem solver and a thought leader. It’s all about sowing the seeds for future business opportunities.

 

A final word

An overarching consideration for ISVs is the need to embrace digital transformation and involve a partner who can orchestrate the migration seamlessly. Many ISVs believe they have a digital business because they have developed an app that is based in the cloud. However, all their sales and marketing efforts are centred on “physical” activities such as conventions or online events.

Now, more than ever, ISVs must turn their attention to converting their businesses into full-blown digital initiatives to survive in a new world. This requires partners with advanced technology skills, industry specialisations, and customer success capabilities.

 

About Tarsus On Demand

Tarsus On Demand, a division of Tarsus Technology Group, enables managed service providers, independent software vendors, and technology resellers to smoothly transition their businesses to the cloud and software-as-a-service. The dynamic team works closely with channel partners to help their customers architect and deploy cloud solutions that support growth, efficiency, agility, and innovation.

Tarsus On Demand offers channel partners access to aggregated offerings from leading cloud service providers as well as to tools that enable them to provide customers with seamless access to cloud products and services. Partners can accelerate their move to the cloud by tapping into the company’s established skills base and direct vendor relationships.

Recognised As the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) of the Year award winner for 2018 and 2019, Tarsus On Demand has established itself as a leading cloud enablement partner for resellers looking to provide clients with business solutions based on Azure, Office 365 and other Microsoft cloud solutions.

Partner with us at Tarsus On Demand

Tarsus On Demand offers a range of benefits to its partners, such as technical support, access to best-of-breed cloud technologies, and a platform that simplifies cloud management and billing. By partnering with Tarsus On Demand, you can leverage our technical, marketing, and sales expertise, relationships, and resources to grow your cloud business and deliver value to your customers.