The world has been continually becoming a more competitive place to carry out business. This will only continue to be so as the world gets more connected and technology advances. It is therefore important for every business to ensure it leverages all the avenues it can exploit efficiently for marketing. In a bid to create a strong brand and increase sales and profits, businesses are leveraging multiple channels, strategies and techniques.
However, this presents both an opportunity and a challenge. You have many avenues to reach your customers but so do your competitors. It can be challenging to decide which avenues to use and to justify the cost of those you choose initially. For high tech companies, the challenges and opportunities are even more due to some unique characteristics of the companies. This makes it even more important that you get high tech marketing right due to more risks and higher rewards.
What differentiates high tech marketing from other types of marketing
High tech marketing is different from other types of marketing. For one, high tech companies start from supply-side markets to demand-side markets. Most companies high tech companies being entrepreneurial by nature have to first create a market for their products.
Another factor is lack of data by both the high tech companies and their potential customers. The companies do not actually serve historically important customer desires and need but rather target a presumptive need. Potential customers have no data to rely on as the product is new and there are few reliable and unbiased sources of data on the product.
Given the risks and huge investments required for high tech products, the potential customers can be quite reluctant when it comes to adopting new technologies and products. High tech marketing has to address such concerns unique to high tech companies while also catering to more conventional marketing concerns.
Quick tips for high tech marketing success
Given the additional unique challenges that high tech companies face, it is important to ensure it is approached in the right way. It is important when marketing that you know the buyer stages of marketing a product from supply-side markets to demand-side markets. The stages are:
• The buyers are unaware of the problem
• The buyer understands the problem
• The buyer seeks a solution to the perceived problem
• The buyer considers the various options open to them
• The buyer chooses the vendor
• The buyer refers the vendor
For each stage, there is the proper way to engage potential buyers and tools to do so. In the first stage, the potential client doesn’t know a problem exists. You therefore have to let them know you and how the problem you are solving relates to them. Tools to leverage include social media, blogs, print media especially industry magazines and newsletters.
In the second stage, potential customers are starting to understand the problem and how it may relate to them. At this stage, the goal of high tech marketing should be being established as a credible source. This can be achieved via problem-solving guides, whitepapers, demo videos and ebooks.
In the third stage and fourth stage, they are seeking solutions and considering options. The way to engage the buyers is through product brochures, catalogs and FAQs. This avails your offer to the customers for consideration. You should also use feature comparisons and ROI calculations to show why you offer it the best for them.
It is critical to understand where and how to engage your customers. It can mean the difference between success and failure of high-tech promotion and marketing efforts
