Business 2 CommunityNew Research On How Visible Experts Impact Firms In Technology Services
The technology services industry is constantly in flux, which has led to a turbulent marketplace and a unique set of challenges for technology firms. In order to understand those challenges and how firms plan to face them, the Hinge Research Institute asked 530 professional services firms about their biggest challenges and marketing priorities and segmented the results by industry.
Previous research showed that firms in the technology services industry identified three top business challenges:
Attracting and Developing New Business (63.8%)
Finding/Keeping Good People (42.6%)
Innovation/New ideas (29.8%)
It’s no surprise that “Attracting and Developing New Business” was the top challenge, since this concern was shared across all professional services industries, but technology firms reported “Innovation/New Ideas” more frequently than any other industry.
So, how exactly do these firms plan to address the need for growth in a changing marketplace? Our research showed the following three marketing initiatives are most common:
Develop a More Compelling Message to Potential Clients (35.9%)
Update/Upgrade Websites (33.3%)
Try to Generate More Referrals (30.8%)
With each of these strategies, increasing the visibility of internal experts can help maximize marketing efforts and drive new business. We know from previous research that firms with high marketplace visibility and a strong reputation are more likely to be sought out by potential buyers.
To determine just how significant of a role Visible Experts play in the success of their firms, we dug deeper into these professionals in the technology services industry. Now, we’ve released these research insights in a new report, Visible Expert Research Study: Technology Services Edition.
How Do Technology Services Visible Experts Impact Their Firms?
High visibility experts bring far-reaching benefits to their firms:
Increased Lead Generation
Since staffing high visibility experts subsequently increases the visibility of your firm, Visible Experts can improve lead generation and encourage your target audience to seek you out.
Better Brand Building
Visible Experts can have a positive effect on your firm’s reputation and visibility in the marketplace, which allows for a stronger presentation of branding.
Closing More Sales
Experts help improve their firm’s authority and credibility, so buyers are more likely to take a chance with their business based on name recognition alone.
Higher Billing Rates
Based on an average professional rate of 100 dollars an hour, we determined that a Level 5 Visible Expert can command nearly 10 times the average rate. However, Visible Experts don’t have to be classified as Level 5 to make a difference in their firm’s billing rates. Even a Level 1 Visible Expert can command an average hourly rate at over 250% of the baseline.
Why Do Buyers Of Technology Services Seek Out Visible Experts?
Our research found that the most common motivator for buyers of technology services seeking Visible Experts was a lack of in-house expertise. Beyond that top reply, buyers also frequently indicated a need for problem solving, brand building and confidence boosting.
How Do Buyers Find Visible Experts?
Nearly one third of respondents reported using online searches to find Visible Experts, which was significantly more popular than more traditional methods, like offline recommendations and publications. However, opportunities that increase visibility—such as publications, appearances and speaking engagements—are still important for personal brand building and recommendations help build an expert’s reputation.
What Are The Best Marketing Tools For Visible Experts In The Technology Industry?
So, what does it take to become a Visible Expert? We asked existing technology experts which marketing tools they found to have the biggest impact on building their personal brand and these were the top five:
Company website
Books
SEO
Personal website
Other speaking engagements
All of these marketing tools ranked at least a six out of 10 on the scale of importance, which only further proves that Visible Experts need to employ a wide range of marketing tools to solidify their expertise and reputation in their field.
To learn more about the positive effects Visible Experts can have on your technology services firm, the report Visible Expert Research Study: Technology Services Edition, is available as a free download here.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: New Research On How Visible Experts Impact Firms In Technology Services
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