Three key components of a successful tech marketing strategy (PT.1)

The UK’s technology sector continues to grow at a rapid pace, moving ahead of many of its European compatriots in 2018 on the back of renewed venture capital investment in many of Britain’s leading businesses [1].

As a result of this renewed funding – which saw British firms receive more venture capital investment in 2017 than Germany, France and Sweden combined – UK businesses continue to deliver outstandingly engineered products that push the boundaries of modern technology.

Despite this growth, there remains one area where many of the leading innovators in the sector fall short – marketing their tech solutions. Unfortunately, companies are still failing to devote the same attention to detail to their marketing strategy as they do their products. According to the Content Marketing Institute, only 36% of technology marketers say they have a documented content marketing strategy, whilst 62% of B2B tech marketers say producing engaging content remains their greatest content marketing challenge[2].

In this blog, we pinpoint three fundamental elements that tech companies should include in their marketing strategies to ensure success.

Know your audience

Understanding your audience, and exactly what they are looking for, should be the first step in developing any marketing strategy. This is especially true when marketing technology in a highly competitive marketplace. Before beginning to implement any marketing activities, therefore, you must answer some simple questions:

  • Who is your target audience?

  • What is important to your audience/s?

  • How knowledgeable are your audience/s about your technology?

  • Will your audience/s understand sector-specific jargon?

  • What does your audience/s want to gain from choosing your technology?

  • Do your target audience/s know about your company/brand? Or do you need to educate them?

By answering these simple questions, you can gain a greater understanding of your target audience/s, their requirements and how you can best position your technology solution to ensure maximum impact, and ultimately make sales. Which brings us to our next tip, tailoring your marketing messages.

Tailor your messages

When it comes to marketing tech solutions, it can be easy to get bogged down in the technical specification of your products.

This often results in marketing messages awash with industry-specific jargon, technical specification details and buzzwords, most of which won’t be understood by anybody outside of your industry.

Your target audience wants to hear about what’s in it for them, so an emphasis should be placed on what the technical capabilities of your product/s will mean to your customers and what benefits they stand to gain from choosing your solution over a competitor’s, rather than just blinding them with science.

Technical information, of course, has its place in any technology marketing strategy, but it is often best left to datasheets and white papers rather than PR, social media or content.

Marketing messages also need to be carefully tailored to specific target audiences to ensure they understand the value you will bring to them. A facilities manager, for instance, may be seeking energy savings, whilst an engineer is likely to be looking for performance-related benefits. Think carefully about what each audience is seeking and use your marketing messages to promote your product in a way that best appeals to each specific individual.

Look out for part two next week…

[1] https://technation.io/news/uk-tech-extends-lead-over-europe/

[2] https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016_TechnologyReport_FINAL.pdf

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