March 22, 2021
March 22, 2021
Contributor: Ashutosh Gupta
Reorient your overall messaging and differentiation strategies to address the business priorities of multiple buying teams.
See the latest:Tech CEOs: Grow and Expand Your Business
In short:
The current disruptive environment is creating uncertainties as well as opportunities for technology companies. With disruption being the “new normal,” tech CEOs need to forecast and set targets for the upcoming fiscal year, realign their operational, product and marketing strategy, and create more focused messaging to address business priorities of buyers.
In the Gartner Technology Service Provider (TSP) Strategic Planning Survey of Tech CEOs (of small or medium technology businesses), 50% of respondents indicated that in 2020, they made a minor shift in their differentiation strategy; 29% stated they made a major shift. Eighty-one percent of respondents expect an increase in demand for their solutions in 2021 compared to 2020.
Given the expected increase in demand from existing and new customers, be prepared to change your messaging and differentiation strategies for three reasons:
Besides lending attention to digital initiatives that improve productivity and reduce costs, emphasize new digital revenue sources and engage more closely with clients and prospects. Your product and service positioning should be purpose-driven, targeting initiatives such as:
Your differentiation and messaging strategies should not start with technology, which is just a means to an end. Instead, define a strategy connected to business priorities and then meticulously align your product/service messaging with the “why” behind those priorities.
Download now: Gartner Priorities Navigator™ for Tech CEOs
Buying teams are a group of personas frequently teamed to drive business or technology initiatives. The grouping is categorized by use cases, industries, operational departments and/or technology domains that can be addressed by multiple products and/or services in the portfolio. The definition and composition of the buying teams are specific to the tech CEOs and their existing portfolio.
Buyers from different parts of the organization have distinct preferences and needs in the buying journey. For example, those representing business functions tend to be more focused on industry context and outcomes and are less aware of IT buying risks than their IT counterparts.
Your client segmentation must take into account the type of outcome clients seek, not their understanding of technologies. The Gartner Industry Line of Business Buying Survey shows that the two core buying teams in most enterprises are:
Traditionally, marketing teams position technologies focusing solely on the CIO or other technology leaders. The emergence of cloud-based applications, however, has empowered organizations to adopt new technology solutions independent of IT. Therefore, your strategic messaging must support more immediate needs that create a business-relative narrative.
Your broad set of target audiences can include LOB leaders, sales, marketing, finance and HR, and the messaging for each of these buyers can vary.
Join the leading technology and service provider peers to get an update on accelerating tech growth in a new era of transformation and technology trends.
Recommended resources for Gartner clients*:
Tech CEOs Should Reorient Messaging to Business Priorities and Multiple Buying Teams
Create Effective Messaging by Separating Internal and External Digitization as a Tech CEO
Tech Go-to-Market: Create B2B Personas in the Context of the Extended Buying Team
*Note that some documents may not be available to all Gartner clients.