For most marketers, agility and an awareness of what’s coming next are strong suits. For tech marketers, these are essential, make-or-break survival skills. Marketers in the tech space need to continually think and act dynamically to drive understanding, convert leads, and increase market share.
The challenge is, in many cases, technology is so complex, it can be difficult to distill into easily understood value. Appealing to a range of stakeholders often means cutting through complexity and simply getting to what matters most.
- Demystify technology
- All industries love their acronyms and jargon. Quickly understanding technical concepts and turning them into clear benefits that put customer needs first transforms a technical monologue into empathetic communication—a more effective way to capture mindshare. After all, “Build better surgical robotic applications with high torque density and ultra-low cogging in a low profile and large aperture design” may sound powerful, but “Change someone’s life with surgical robotic solutions powered by precise motion control technology” is straightforward and compelling.
- Here’s the rub: tech audiences are…well, tech-savvy. Marketing fluff, waxing poetic, and telling them what they already know is a sure-fire way to make them tune you out. Add value, not noise…and know who you’re talking to.
- Target messages to specific audiences
- The most effective way for a marketer to make a product resonate is to identify each customer’s unique pain points and provide the info they need to make decisions.
- Sounds easy enough. But, when those decision-makers include stakeholders across an organization—finance, sales, operations, C-suite, R&D—all with varying levels of technical aptitude, those messages can (and should) be drastically different.
- There’s an old marketing tip that says, “Start where your audience is.” Being curious about your audience’s knowledge base is the best way to empower tailor-made messaging.
- Does the product solve a specific industry challenge better than others?
- Are there new regulations that the product addresses?
- Is there a lucrative channel strategy?
- Is the procurement process easier than competitors’?
- Each stakeholder may have distinct challenges, but they all share an interest in the specific reasons they should choose your solution over anything else. How is your product going to make them the hero?
- Bring tech value to life
- As marketers, we know storytelling is a powerful tool, and that applies to even the most complex technologies. Highlighting product benefits in real-world applications and case studies is a relatable way to showcase competitive advantages and, most importantly, build trust.
- It’s OK to piggyback on what’s happening in the industry but adding fresh insights and perspectives will build invaluable thought leadership. If you can talk about why it’s important to a customer’s production line to have an intelligent stepper motor that offers superior torque at low speeds (and you have the thoughtful content to prove it), you’ve already said a lot about why you should have a seat at the table.
- Be where the conversation is happening
- Whether you stand up a 20×20 booth at the big show, deploy a strategic retargeting campaign, or launch an ABM program at pivotal points of your buyer’s journey, identifying how your audience prefers to get their information and where the conversations happen are important components in your campaigns.
- Being in the right place with the right message is especially important as marketers are continually asked to demonstrate how their programs help the business achieve its objectives.
- Be ready to pivot
- Last-minute delays to a product launch. Late-breaking industry news. Changes to OEM partnerships. At some point, we all face the need for “the great marketing pivot.” While this can be important to protect your business, one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how big of a change you really need to make. Analyzing your metrics against your KPIs can help determine if you need to redesign your entire plan or just try out some new tactics.
Make your tech marketing stand out
Tech marketers are a special breed—combining the art and science of marketing with an astute technical understanding to positively impact business objectives. We have that special breed here at The Simon Group…an inquisitive bunch with varied backgrounds in engineering, marketing, and business.
We recognize the importance of selecting the right marketing partner who can understand your world from the get-go. Our goal is to combine your expertise with our experience to tell the unique story of your business’ value.
