What does it take to be an effective marketer in the fast-paced technology sector? Content Marketing Institute’s latest report offers us insight into what the most effective technology marketers are doing - and doing well - to achieve great marketing results using content.
Let's have a look at how to use Content Marketing to promote your technology solutions.
How to Use Content Marketing to be an Effective Technology Marketer
1. Plan and Document your Content Marketing Strategy
I highlighted this point as the single biggest mistake I have made with inbound marketing. Failing to plan and document your content marketing strategy has a knock-on effect to all aspects of content marketing. The study found that 62% of technology marketers who have a documented content marketing strategy were more successful and faced fewer challenges than their non-documenting peers.
While they are still challenged with a lack of time, the technology marketers who document their strategy did not struggle as much with creating the necessary volume and variety of engaging content as those without a documented strategy.
Before launching any content marketing campaign, map out the overall strategy – aligned with the business objectives – and document it. This will help tremendously when it comes to executing content marketing and, as proven, will help you achieve better results.
2. Understand Your Buyer Personas
Nurturing a lead into a customer is like growing a new relationship, and as any relationship course will tell you, the key lies in excellent communication.
But, communication can only begin once you understand each other. That’s where your buyer personas come in.
A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer/s. Our blog has lots of resources on constructing buyer personas, but the key takeaway is that they allow you to understand your customers' wants and needs. It’s all focused on them, and not you. Only once you know this, can you begin communicating effectively in their language.
3. Tell Customers a Story
It's time to capture your audience and, like any medium, you'll do this by telling a story.
Prospects want to be wooed and engaged with your offering, not simply have your service plan thrown in their face. Storytelling builds trust and rapport, and creates an eager audience. Only once you’ve wooed them by your superb storytelling, should you get straight with them and explain the underlying complexities.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Albert Einstein
Approach it in the same way that a writer would approach a short story:
- Keep it short and sweet. Simplicity and minimalism are your best friend in storytelling, so be concise. The fine details are best left to the imagination when you’re telling a short story.
- Have a beginning, middle, and end. It might sound too easy to be true, but that’s one secret to a good story – a good structure. You want to have a short beginning that hooks your reader, reveal the bulk of the information in the middle, and then wrap it up in the end with a hanging thought that leads them to want more. You can learn more about crafting your story here.
- When in doubt, use analogies. Help prospects along the way by comparing your service to concepts that they already understand. For example, if you’re selling a Cloud backup security service, then compare their need for security to something they already know. They likely live in a house, and probably have an alarm system or a guard dog to protect themselves, their information and their belongings. Explain to them that their need for Cloud security is the same, except that they won’t ever see the thieves coming. These are invisible thieves who slip in through the back door, and that’s why they need someone like you, to be their alarm system.
4. Focus on Thought Leadership
While the usual suspects in terms of marketing objectives - brand awareness, lead generation, customer acquisition, website traffic, et al - all feature on the effective technology marketers’ goal lists, they rate thought leadership as a higher priority than peers that aren’t as efficient.
This makes sense. When you establish your brand, company or people as thought leaders in your particular industry, the content you publish is automatically considered as credible and noteworthy. This stature naturally translates in the other more tangible goals being met.
Seek to establish online authority by producing content that positions your business as thought leaders in your industry. There is no quick route to becoming an expert but your content can help speed up the ‘process’ (if we can even call it a process?) by serving the needs of your prospective buyer.
5. Visualise the Story
Most of today’s customers want to be visually stimulated.
The chances of prospects understanding your tech offering are much higher when you visualise it. In fact, prospects are 80% more willing to read and engage when presented with visuals. There are a number of tools out there for this, but if the design skills aren’t found in your office, then outsource it. Think about using full infographics, or simple icons that represent concepts within your text, or even a short video that can explain your offering in a minute or two. If in doubt, read up more on how to visualise your content.
6. Use a Variety of Content Formats
Technology marketers that are effective at content marketing produce content in a number of formats. Their overall adoption and usage of several content marketing tactics is higher than the average but most especially:
- Articles on other websites (87% vs. 75%)
- Online presentations (79% vs. 69%)
- Infographics (71% vs. 58%)
- Research reports (63% vs. 51%)
- eBooks (60% vs. 45%)
Create content in a variety of formats that allows for the widest reach via numerous channels. Get to know which content formats work best for your buyer persona and be smart about repurposing or repackaging content to meet their needs.
7. Be Serious About Social Media
Effectual technology marketers are not only more active on more social media platforms than their lower performing peers; they also rate the channel as more effective. LinkedIn is by far the most adopted social media platform for content distribution (97% of all technology marketers use LinkedIn) but the top marketers are also more inclined to use the following platforms more frequently too:
- Twitter (effective technology marketers cite Twitter is the most effective platform)
- YouTube
- Google+
- SlideShare
Don’t dismiss the impact that social media can have on your overall marketing results. Social media platforms are the perfect distribution channel for content as they provide the biggest opportunity for extended reach via sharing. Focus on the platforms your ideal customer is most likely to be found and draw up a social media strategy that supports the content marketing strategy.
8. Prove Your Offering
Perhaps the easiest way that I’ve experienced understanding a business offering is by seeing how they've helped someone else.
Case studies and testimonials are your best friends. They put the reader at ease by instilling a sense of trust with your company, and then explain your service in the words of their own “colleagues”. Nothing is simpler than that.
How do you rate your content marketing effectiveness? Do you apply any of the above tactics? Any tips you are going to apply? Share with me in the comments.
