CompTIA: More Companies Taking Ownership of Branding, Marketing

IT channel companies are becoming more self-reliant on their own branding, marketing and sales activities, according to a new study by CompTIA.

The increase of in-house marketing and sales activities is chiefly being driven by the rising importance of new services such as cloud computing, changing customer demand and a more varied lineup of competitors, according to the company. CompTIA surveyed 350 IT companies for its fourth annual State of the Channel study, which examined the size, shape and growth factors affecting the channel.

“Many channel firms have learned that they can’t run their business today the way they once did, even in the recent past,” said Carolyn April, senior director, Industry Analysis at CompTIA, in a statement.

Increased social media activity will factor heavily into many channel firms’ increased marketing strategies, with more than 40 percent of respondents saying they plan to accelerate social media activities to reach new audiences and net new business. These companies believe a strong social media campaign will position them as unique providers of technology services as opposed to box-pushers, according to CompTIA. Other important areas of self-growth are expected to revolve around increased mobile application development, increasing services and sales skills, and improving big data expertise.

“Most customers are not knocking on the door to ask what brand of product you’re selling,” April said. “They want to know what expertise you have and why you’re different than the guy down the street.”

CompTIA found the top challenges for companies looking to up their marketing game include:

• Cash flow and finance problems,
• Lack of customer education
• Balancing existing business with new business; and
• Difficulty in hiring skilled staff

There are other challenges as well. Many companies also lack a general confidence in their own sales and marketing effectiveness as the market evolves from hardware sales to a mix of services and solutions.

Among those surveyed, 47 percent said managed and cloud services were increasing their overall sales structure complexity at least somewhat, growing the need for companies to take marketing and branding matters into their own hands. Nearly three-quarters of companies have increased their sales force within the past 12 months and an additional 72 percent have padded their marketing divisions to account for the increasing complexity of sales and marketing structures.

While channel companies continue to increase their marketing and sales efforts, CompTIA reports the number of companies undergoing moderate to high levels of business transformation has actually decreased since last year. While the exact reason for such a decline is uncertain, CompTIA contributes the overall difficulty of business transformation as a key possibility for many companies’ decreased gusto.

An important takeaway from the study is that more companies are willing to take marketing and sales matters into their own hands, rather than relying on traditional methods of promotion. It’s only natural that as the kinds of products and services customers demand continues to evolve, so, too, must the ways in which channel companies market these solutions. And as our modern age of do-it-yourself promotion through social media has proven, it’s increasingly up to the individual to be your business’s main cheerleader.