Many of the current tactics used by tech marketers are falling short of leading to sales. But here’s the thing, there’s often not enough focus on strategy. If you’re finding that your team is great at digital marketing but doesn’t know much about traditional marketing, then you’ve got a problem.
Marketing in today’s world shouldn’t be traditional versus digital. Yes, your marketers need to know about SEO, email marketing, content marketing, etc., but they also need to have a foundation in marketing mix, messaging and the other good stuff that traditional marketing is founded on.
Tech marketing really isn’t that different from marketing for any other company in a different industry. It just takes a little translation to apply it to your business. So, we’ve found seven great strategies to help your team change the way you approach tech marketing, starting with the most fundamental elements of any marketing strategy.
1. Build a strong brand
Branding is one of the most important aspects when it comes to tech marketing. In fact, 60% of brands believe maintaining a strong brand is important when generating leads. It’s crucial for every business out there — your brand is what people will remember most about you. But remember, tech company branding isn’t just about logos and pretty designs; it’s about delivering your company’s mission in a concise way. It’s showing off your personality and telling people you live up to what you promise. With a strong brand, you’ll see a surge in new leads, customers and conversions.
Here’s where to start with renovating your brand:
- Set brand guidelines
- Offer your team a branding masterclass
- Provide branding resources
- Think beyond your website
When correctly implemented, your brand will establish credibility and trust with potential and current customers. Ultimately, a strong brand has a trickle-down effect, boosting your bottom line, employee morale and brand status.
2. Identify your target market
A crucial element to any tech marketing strategy is your audience. You cannot, I repeat, cannot have any marketing strategy, tactic, mission, product … anything without knowing and understanding your target market. Your target market answers fundamental questions that, in turn, influence almost everything you do in your company. Knowing and understanding specifics like what messages resonate with them or what channels will best connect you to them will pave the way for your tech marketing strategy.
Dive deep into the demographics: who your market is (age, ethnicity, gender), where they live, what industries they work in, what they care about, etc. If you don’t know these specifics, nothing else we say from here on out can help. You have to know who you’re creating a product or service for in order for it to work effectively.
As you begin to answer who your target market is, you can then move on to what channels they interact with most and then to what tactics you can use to deliver your message. Getting to know your target market and understanding how your product solves their problems will get you on the right path.
3. Create more effective content
The number of ads a single person may encounter in one day has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. Breaking through that noise to strike a chord with a potential customer can be difficult. And not all of those ads are effective — a lot of them are simply background music that people scroll or swipe past. Sadly enough, 60% of consumers believe that branded content is totally useless. Oof.
Don’t be part of that 60%. Make a point to create more effective content. If you’re not sure whether or not your content is effective, try this simple test we’ve put together.
If you find that your content isn’t as effective as you hoped or assumed, or if you’re just wanting to learn more about how brand templating can help you grow your business, check out our free eBook: Brand templating: How creating more effective content gets results.
4. Host or attend live events
Because audiences are inundated with digital marketing and ads, it’s more important than ever to include face-to-face interactions. Many tech buyers want to get to know you personally in a way that only IRL interaction can provide, and hosting a live event can help. Additionally, integrating live events into your tech marketing efforts can do the following:
- Heighten brand awareness. Sometimes, the biggest challenge when you’re starting out is simply getting noticed. Live events help you showcase the “wow” factor of your product.
- Provide leads. If you’re a more seasoned business, generating leads face to face can be critical for you. Before attending the event, make sure to reach out to key prospects to drive attendance.
- Strengthen customer engagement. Live events can provide an informal, low-pressure environment where you meet and greet current customers. This strengthens your relationships with them, leading to customer loyalty and retention.
- Educate. Educational content and workshops are some of the most effective live event marketing solutions. Workshops can draw in current and potential customers.
Promote the event heavily on social media and stay active and engaged on your social platforms before and after the event.
5. Enable automation
To stay on top of contacting potential leads for your tech marketers, you’ll want to invest in tech marketing automation tools. Automated systems can collect leads, build a marketing pipeline, segment contacts, and market to them on a consistent basis. Marketing automation can help you nurture, qualify, and pass leads from your tech marketing team over to sales when they’re ready. This is an essential tool since pre-sales and sales cycles can last anywhere from weeks to months. Finding the right automation tool will depend on the size of your company, along with the target buyer and the nature of your product.
A few tools you can check out to get you started are ActiveCampaign, Marketo, Pardot, Oracle Eloqua or Mautic.
6. Include influencer marketing
A recent turn in digital marketing is the reliance on influencers to help promote services and products. Business leaders and decision makers are starting to turn to experts in their fields as they evaluate new technologies. A partnership with an influencer or two can help up your credibility and your social media reach.
If you’re like me, you can see the benefits of reaching out to an influencer to help market your product or service. I follow experts and sometimes non-experts to help me when it comes to buying just about anything these days. I’d rather not spend the time doing the research. So if someone else already has done it, then you bet I’m going to take their word for it and invest or buy whatever they’re promoting. My Amazon account can prove it.
Decision makers are beginning to rely more and more on others they trust (or just simply admire) to share their experiences with a solution, platform, product or service before they invest in it. This creates an incredible opportunity for you to leverage influences who already have a loyal following to help market to your target market.
7. Harness video content
Video content has become an extremely prevalent marketing tool for tech companies. Some people just don’t have the time to go through a product datasheet, but we all have a minute or two to watch an engaging, entertaining video about a valuable solution. Here are some areas to focus on when producing original content:
- Great stories. Focus on telling a compelling story. Walk your viewers through how you specifically helped a customer get from point A to point B. Make sure to keep things as simple as possible. You can get into specifics during a sales call later.
- Fun concepts. We know you’re in the tech industry, but that doesn’t mean your videos have to be technical too. Creating humorous videos will help you stand out from the crowd.
- Useful content. As you strive to be funny, don’t forget that your video should also be useful or educational. Your video could be anything from a tutorial or product demo to industry best practices.
- Testimonials. Client testimonials are a powerful tool in marketing. They give potential customers a moment to see a business similar to theirs finding a solution. “If it worked for them, maybe it’ll work for us,” is the mentality.
Whether you choose to implement one or all of these strategies, we know you’ll start to see a shift in your marketing approach overall, along with lead generation. Although simple, these strategies could equal that secret sauce you’ve been needing to change your tech marketing from meh to wow!
And don’t forget to grab our free, mini-ebook Brand Templating: How creating more effective content gets results.
