Marketing  Thoughts  for  the  Offsite  Storage  Business  

Introduction  In  order  to  ratchet  up  business  success,  most  offsite  storage  companies  could  benefit  from  stronger  marketing  efforts.  Current  marketing  work  by  many  offsite  storage  firms  is  far  less  effective  than  current  techniques  in  other  industries  such  as  smart  phones,  tablets  and  firewall  technologies.  The  good  news:  because  so  many  companies  in  offsite  storage  have  weak  marketing,  you  will  be  gaining  extra  benefit  by  improving  your  marketing  skill  sets.    First  steps  Here  are  some  of  the  key  elements  in  improving  your  marketing  efforts:    

1. Better  technology  for  your  comparative  marketing  data.  Studies  show  that  clients  often  complete  50-­‐60%  of  their  research  before  you  learn  that  they  are  open  to  new  products  and  service  providers.      

If  60%  of  a  prospect’s  effective  opinion  is  formed  about  your  company  before  you  have  a  chance  to  add  critical  elements,  you  need  to  understand  what  their  take-­‐away  is  from  your  current  marketing  (web  site,  newsletters,  advertising  and  brochures)  and  what  elements  you  can  add  at  the  last  moment  to  close  the  deal.  Naturally,  this  means  that  you  must  upgrade  your  ability  to  understand,  collection  and  organization  of  essential  data.  

 A  compelling  argument  on  your  web  site.  You  must  define  your  value  proposition  Immediately,  clearly  and  compellingly  on  the  home  page  of  your  site.  This  should  be  one  of  the  first  steps  you  take  in  improving  your  marketing  profile.  (TCO,  BER,  and  Failsafe  History  over  three  decades  for  offsite  media  vaulting  of  tape  back-­‐ups.) A  stampede  model  for  the  site.  When  the  site  is  properly  set  to  convey  your  essential  message,  you  must  create  a  program  to  get  visitors  there.  Developing  a  stampede  model  to  drive  interested  participants  to  your  web  site  is  critical  to  your  success.  

 1. Search  Engine  Optimization.  That  critical  compelling  argument  is  weakened  if  you  do  

not  have  a  search  optimization  program  in  place.  Google  and  others  make  this  difficult  by  continually  changing  the  rules.  They  may  force  you  to  use  “pay-­‐per-­‐click”  and  their  consulting  services  to  improve  your  prospects  –  which  can  be  a  temporary  fix  as  they  will  simply  change  the  rules  in  the  next  quarter.  This  is  exhausting,  and  it’s  complicated  by  the  fact  that  in  some  cases  pay-­‐per-­‐click  really  can  be  a  part  of  a  successful  marketing  plan.  Developing  a  volume  of  intellectual  papers  within  your  site  can  overcome  this  disadvantage.  

 Content  and  message  Many  other  elements  define  a  successful  marketing  program,  but  these  are  essential  in  getting  started.  It’s  also  fundamental  to  make  sure  that  your  site  is  providing  substantive,  valued  content.  A  web  site  with  real  educational  value  will  perform  in  the  long  run  and  also  educate  visitors  to  your  seriousness  and  experience.  Wiki  sites  have  dominated  simply  due  to  their  

valued  content  on  certain  selected  topics.  Would  you  say  your  site  offers  this  quality  of  support?  If  not,  you’ll  need  to  revamp  and  improve  your  content.    If  you  evaluate  your  web  site  honestly,  what  is  revealed  as  the  take-­‐away  impact,  your  top-­‐of-­‐mind  brand  or  message  identity?  What  is  the  brand  you  hope  to  achieve?  What  are  the  features,  benefits  and  advantages  that  characterize  the  brand?  Organizations  spend  years  promulgating  a  message  that  becomes  their  corporate  identity,  only  to  find  that  the  message  is  vague  when  coupled  with  actual  reputation  and  performance.      You  must  also  indoctrinate  your  staff  with  this  baseline  message.  If  they  don’t  believe  it,  they  won’t  support  it  in  face-­‐to-­‐face  calls.  It  is  important  that  everyone  have  the  same  sheet  music.    Remember  also  that  In  the  technology  world,  your  partners  influence  your  brand  and  your  success.  Your  peers  not  only  influence  the  markets’  opinion  of  your  company  but  these  same  vendors  can  effectively  drive  new  clients  to  your  web  site,  your  product  and  your  brand.  (e.g.,  FIRELOCK.com,  through  its  directory,  forwards  over  15,000  searchers  to  its  User  Group.)    Vertical  Marketing/Fulfillment  Marketing    Among  the  overlooked  strategies  for  polishing  your  corporate  identity  is  vertical  marketing.  If  you  succeed  in  garnering  business  from  health  organizations,  pharmaceutical  companies  and  hospitals,  it  says  a  great  deal  about  the  trust  that  the  market  places  in  your  product.  

The  key  to  winning  these  vertical  markets  is  fulfillment  marketing.  That  is,  providing  value  to  these  verticals  so  they  become  a  concentration  for  you.  This  accelerates  your  overall  marketing  work,  as  the  experience  you  gain  from  winning  one  account  quickly  helps  your  sales  staff  walk  the  walk  and  talk  the  talk  as  they  focus  on  a  similar  organization.  Properly  managed,  this  leads  to  word-­‐of-­‐mouth  referrals.  In  these  high-­‐value  markets,  this  is  a  critical  asset.  These  specialists  rely  on  peers  for  their  decision  making.  

Case  Study:  Fulfillment  Marketing:    FIRELOCK  provides  its  Offsite  Media  Vaulting  User  Group  (FAN  Club)  an  array  of  marketing  tools  to  assist  the  group  in  increasing  its  lead  closure  rate.  By  providing  vault  brochures,  white  papers  for  web  sites,  banners  that  define  the  vault  features  and  cut  sheets,  the  new  vault  entrant  speeds  their  market  penetration.  The  lead  forwarding  from  FIRELOCK.com  was  yet  another  component  of  this  Fulfillment  Marketing.    While  it  may  be  obvious  to  assist  vault  users  in  marketing  the  vault  to  potential  clients,  Fulfillment  Marketing  can  be  carried  over  to  other  Vertical  Markets.  For  example,  medical  clients  use  the  marketing  materials  to  demonstrate  to  regulators  the  security  of  their  records  program.    In  an  age  of  HIPAA  violations,  this  is  worthwhile.  

The  same  was  true  to  Law  Firms,  E-­‐Discovery  costs  have  exploded  and  law  firms  recognize  the  value  in  demonstrating  to  their  clients  that  proper  vaulting,  Data  Mapping  and  specialty  

tracking  software  can  greatly  reduce  Discovery  and  Review  costs.  This  helps  insulate  their  clients  and  in  the  competitive  world  of  winning  litigation   clients,  this  is  a  feature  they  can  use  to  sell  their  firm.    By  focusing  on  a  vertical,  your  sales  staff  become  experts.  They  develop  special  knowledge  that  leads  to  confidence  and  they  become  trusted  consultants  in  their  market  concentrations.  

These  sales  people  develop  new  pride  in  your  organization  and  this  also  helps  build  your  brand.  You  differentiate  yourself  from  the  jack-­‐of-­‐all-­‐trades  marketplace  that  wants  to  win  clients  but  brings  nothing  to  the  table.  This  kind  of  marketing  demands  knowledge  sets,  self-­‐confidence  and  superior  products.  

Maintaining  the  customer  base  In  the  offsite  storage  industry,  the  largest  players  continually  buy  up  the  smaller  service  providers  –  but  over  time  lose  these  same  purchased  accounts  to  new  vendors  who  arrive  and  deliver  what  the  market  really  wants:    

1) Excellent  service  2) Honest  pricing  3) Continuity  of  contact  4) High  security  

The  independent  who  can  honestly  display  a  fair  pricing  model  and  demonstrate  what  the  client  can  expect  for  that  price  will  eventually  win  the  client.  They’ll  win  even  against  certain  industry  Goliaths,  because  some  of  the  largest  players,  in  their  arrogance,  do  not  feel  they  owe  the  marketplace  that  kind  of  value.  Their  own  sales  people  know  that  their  contracts  specifically  exclude  true  representations  of  vital  records  security  from  the  contracted  relationship.  

True  professionals  rely  on  transparency  and  sincerity  in  their  message  and  their  service  offering.  It’s  a  solid-­‐gold  advantage.  But  claiming  to  offer  transparency  and  sincerity  and  then  failing  to  deliver  tells  the  client  exactly  who  you  are  and  this  blunts  future  marketing  attempts.  

Planning  for  success  The  impact  of  all  this  strategy  is  especially  powerful  in  Vertical  Marketing  and  Fulfillment  Marketing,  as  you  make  specific  promises  to  a  dedicated  market.  Failure  to  perform  can  create  long-­‐lasting  negative  effects.  To  be  effective,  your  website,  your  staff  training  and  your  products’  appeal  must  be  fully  thought  out  in  advance.  And  you  absolutely  must  deliver  on  every  promise.  

This  planning  must  be  carried  across  the  entire  marketing  spectrum.  By  planning  your  marketing  presentation  to  a  vertical,  you  develop  a  strong  understanding  of  the  market’s  needs.  You  then  spread  that  message  into  your  website,  develop  a  “Go  to  Meeting”  

presentation  to  support  the  marketing,  and  create  an  IPad  or  Tablet  marketing  presentation  for  each  vertical.  These  presentations  must  speak  directly  and  specifically  to  the  risk  sets  for  each  client  vertical.  Medical  presentations  will  focus  on  HIPAA,  corporate  programs  on  PII  and  SOX  violations.  Legal  presentations  will  address  risk  management  with  regard  to  data  mapping,  electronic  discovery  and  records  support  for  litigation.  Remember,  each  presentation  strengthens  you  for  other  market  segments.  

While  the  use  of  canned  presentations  is  not  the  best  solution,  the  development  even  of  those  presentations  absolutely  strengthens  the  sales  program.  It  makes  you  consider  all  representations  of  your  marketing  platform  and  develop  an  effective  synergy.  

Self-­‐evaluation  of  the  marketing  effort  Evaluating  your  network  channels  and  strategies  to  recognize  voids  in  your  overall  presentation  and  avoid  unnecessary  overlap  will  make  your  marketing  more  effective.  Consider  these  questions  to  help  you  with  this  important  self-­‐examination.  

1) What  newsletters  do  you  use?  a)      Is  the  message  hurting  you  more  than  helping  you?  Is  an  inside  joke  with  your  sales  force  and  a  few  clients  spread  to  potential  clients  who  don’t  see  value  in  it?  b)      Do  you  try  to  consider  the  value  of  your  website,  based  on  what  visitors  tell  you  about  it?  c)        Does  your  website  merely  repeat  a  message  that  fails  to  support  your  brand?    

2) Do  you  attend  tradeshows?  a) Is  your  message  correct  and  consistent  in  your  displays?  b) Do  you  need  different  messages  for  different  prospects?  c) Is  the  image  you  present  high-­‐tech  enough?  

 3) Do  you  use  YouTube  on  your  website  to  achieve  higher  rankings  and  disseminate  useful  

information?  a) Are  your  videos  high  enough  in  quality  to  help  rather  than  hurt  you?  b) Can  you  borrow  YouTube  content  from  your  vendors,  partners  or  sister  companies?  

 4) Does  your  marketing  program  present  data  protection  from  the  client’s  perspective?  

a) How  do  you  differentiate  yourself  from  competitors?  b) How  do  you  add  value  in  the  field  of  data  protection?  c) Do  you  make  it  a  point  to  ask  clients  questions  that  help  you  understand  their  

perspective?      

5) Do  you  evaluate  your  competitors’  changing  messages?  a) How  are  those  messages  changing?  b) Who  are  the  competitors  targeting?  c) What  segments  do  they  struggle  with?  This  could  be  your  new  market.  

 6) Are  you  taking  advantage  of  partnerships  with  vendors  with  shared  interests  and  similar  

markets?  a) Partnering  with  affiliates  to  approach  high-­‐value  clients  from  multiple  vectors  –  

growth  can  be  factorial  in  combination.  b) Shared  newsletters  or  partnering  on  case  studies  benefit  both  partners.  

 

Hugh  Smith  -­‐-­‐  President  of  FIRELOCK  

The  author  has  spent  three  decades  working  to  secure  some  of  the  World’s  greatest  and  most  valuable  collections.  Protecting  those  artifacts  that  represent  the  lifeblood  vital  records  of  corporations,  the  keystones  of  museum  collections  and  art  that  enriches  the  world  for  coming  generations.  The  FIRELOCK  Carrousel  is  populated  with  creatures  that  represent  art,  music,  entertainment,  commerce,    heritage  and  culture.  The  FIRELOCK  Affinity  Network  (FAN  Club)  has  played   a  huge  part  in   securing  the    vital  media      and   documents  for    World  Commerce  and  we  thank    each  of  our   partners  for   taking    their  clients'    business  continuity  so  seriously  that  they  invested  in   the   ultimate  Media  Vault.