Marketing is essential to the success of any business – and that includes technology companies.
According to The CMO Survey, tech companies spend 15% of their total budget on marketing. Second, to Consumer Packaged Goods industry, the tech sector has one of the highest budget allocations for marketing. In fact, tech giant Samsung is considered the second largest advertising spender worldwide with a total $9.2 billion advertising spending. This underlines the importance of marketing in the technology industry.
When you don’t run an effective marketing campaign, you’re doomed to fail — no matter how impressive your solution is. Unfortunately, a lot of tech companies, especially startups, still fail to recognize this fact. While some technology companies have marketing plans, many of these are ineffective.
We’ve seen a lot of tech companies come and go. And many of those companies that failed didn’t give marketing the right attention it deserves. To these companies, hindsight is an amazing but useless thing!
The good news is that you don’t have to commit the same missteps of these failing (or failed) tech companies. They are avoidable – and you can learn HOW to avoid them.
Here are some do’s and don’ts of running an effective marketing for a technology company.
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DO: Be bold and interesting
When a tech company grows, their marketing strategies tend to stagnate and settle with the ‘usual campaigns’ that may have worked for them in the past. But the problem is that the competition is ever evolving. As such, your marketing strategies need to stay bold, interesting and exciting too.
Always remember that the moment you settle with formulaic marketing techniques, you become less competitive. Don’t wait to become irrelevant. Study your market, know where it’s headed and be ahead of the pack.
DON’T: Set up and just wait for visitors
So you’ve built a website, social media networks and added some content. But it shouldn’t end there. Don’t expect people to find and visit your page. You have to invest in promoting and marketing your online presence. Great content, social media presence and effective SEO for technology companies are vital to connecting with your customers.
DO: Focus on your company instead of customers
Perhaps the cliché, “the customer is always right” also means “the customer is king!” Unfortunately, not all tech companies realize this. Marketing campaigns of many tech companies focus so much on their products or services, but never really about their customers.
But the fact is that customers only care about their problems, needs, and goals. They’d only want to know if you offer a solution to their problem. To engage their interest, talk about how you can help them and in the language they understand. Effective marketing talks about how you can solve a problem, and once you get their interest, you can then brag about your product’s features.
DON’T: Spend too much or too little
For your marketing campaign to be effective, it needs to be funded adequately. According to U.S. Small Business Administration, a company should devote at least 7 to 8 percent of your gross revenues for marketing and advertising. This underlines the importance of marketing. You will spend on various marketing channels, and maintain a good marketing and sales team. Scrimping on your marketing budget can do more harm than good to your tech company.
A 2016 Gartner Survey shows that budget allocations for marketing continue to increase, climbing to 12% of the company budget. The tech industry is a very competitive one and there is a need to keep abreast with competition.
However, this doesn’t mean you can spend all of your revenue on your marketing. You don’t want to pour in your budget on failing or badly-managed marketing techniques. Evaluate each of the marketing strategies you employ and see which one gives you the most ROI. Study your target audience and know how to engage them better.
DO: Delegate to experts
Maybe you’re a great developer or an experienced CEO, but that doesn’t make you a good marketing person or a salesman. This is a common mistake of many tech companies. While you can give your inputs and ideas, you should give your marketing team the flexibility to create an effective marketing campaign. Pick people who have the credentials to run your company’s marketing.
DON’T: Ignore your online presence
A lot of tech companies tend to ignore their website and social media channels soon after launching them. It’s a huge mistake! Launching a website or social channels is not a one-off thing. It needs a sustained marketing effort to get your website work for you. Consider your website as an investment and as a vital part of your marketing strategy. You’ll need the help of agencies providing continuous website development to ensure that your website remains up-to-date, functional and effective. Keep your web presence active and relevant – it’s an important part of your branding.
DO: Focus your marketing efforts
In an effort to get a wide audience, some tech companies create an unclear persona and a scattered, complicated marketing campaign. As a result, they end up wasting their budget. While you want to reach as much audience as possible, launching a marketing campaign without proper targeting can both costly and wasteful. You need a targeted and focused marketing.
Know your product or service and engage a specific market segment, particularly those with the highest chances of conversion. Do your research and discover where your target audience is. Take note that not everyone is a potential customer – focus on channels that bring you the best results. For example, if you are marketing a tech solution for gamers, you will have the best returns if you place your ads on a gamers’ forum instead of a woodworkers’ forum.
DO: Build a strong organic relationship
Nowadays, it’s very easy to buy traffic or page visits from dodgy merchants. But the problem is that these numbers mean nothing to your business. Sadly, this remains one of the most common mistakes of many tech companies. In an attempt to boost their online presence in an instant, some companies resort to devious digital marketing schemes that promise to increase their web presence overnight. This is a major and wasteful misstep you should never do.
Your marketing campaign should focus on building your product. Letting people know what solutions you offer, engaging your audience and building strong organic relationships. Invest your time and efforts into marketing strategies with good returns – and you’re on the right track.
Read More:
- Social Media Marketing role in Technology.
- Importance of Flexibility with Business Technology.
- Securing Mobile App Development with Blockchain Technology.
