Marketing for technology companies and engineering firms

Home / Marketing for technology companies and engineering firms

Technology marketing: Educate the audience to the benefits of the technology

Techno-heads, like petrol heads with cars, will be interested in the engine of a technology product. The majority of the market will buy primarily because it comes from a trusted brand or because the product offer clear benefits.

A new technology product requires an educational component in your marketing plan, which may come in the form of pre-launch PR or guidance at the point-of-interest or point-of-sale.

The way technology companies market themselves is evolving

In the face of increased competition for attention on digital channels, technology companies in the B2B sector can struggle to reach the right decision makers on the right channels to increase their sales funnel.

The ability to connect with decision makers about an important issue or challenge to their business has a dramatic impact on the success of a technology organisation.

To maximise their investment in marketing, technology organisations should look for strategies and sales tools that have the most potential to engage decision makers by proving that they understand the challenges faced in specific industry sectors.

We have learned from experience at Allround Creative that when marketing for technology, engineering-led companies and industrial manufacturers, we have to be authentic both to the motivation of the manufacturer and to the interests of the buyer.

Engineers, scientists and technologists are naturally ‘spin’ averse

It always comes as a surprise that while technology customers frequently raise large budgets for R&D and production, there is scepticism about budgets for branding and promotion.

Two things seem to come into play: they've been oversold by marketers in the past; or a built-in conservatism stems from a fundamental belief that either it works or it doesn't work, and issues such as differentiation don't get on the radar.

The inventor OMB in tech firms is happier to describe functions

The closer you get to the inventor or the maker of a product the more likely you are to hear them describe what their product does and how it works.

From a marketing and buyer's perspective, it can seem strange that the most interesting part of the story is often omitted, which is why.

A technology team described to us a clever microphone array it had invented to measure the noise and vibration on the aircraft skins of the Airbus. The invention sounded brilliant, but we wanted to know the context, the why, and it was never mentioned. Was the array built to create competitive advantage through better customer experience, increase flight efficiency, or to reduce maintenance costs?

Educating the market about techology begins by explaining ‘why’

From brand building, publicity and promotional perspectives, it is the why that has affects people’s buying decisions. In most cases the why is about people; the product makers and the users of the product, the maker's vision for the technology and the technology users' gains.

The manufacturers, engineers and science-based companies we work with at Allround Creative enjoy the gains of specialist design programmes, strategic promotion and publicity. Our customers can compete less on function and price and more on brand and value. Our customers become comfortable with a higher market profile and a degree of fame!

Beware technology marketing blind spots

We were briefed extensively by the Chairman of a defence product manufacturer about his company's heritage and its product range.

Regrettably, he was angered by our question about why his company exists. It was plain to us that the company's existence depended on specific conditions, namely the prevalence of threat in the world and the fact that the Chairman had not mentioned this fact was revealing. The company’s niche technology products required context and would have no purpose otherwise. There would be no need for then in a peaceful world.

View your products through the market’s eyes

It is critical to see products through the market's eyes. Perhaps an engineer considers it a bit noseyto try to understand their customers' motivation (how they make purchase decisions and why they buy one product rather than another)?

In order to tell stories (promote sales and capability) that resonate with prospects and users, our job is to overcome the engineer's mistrust of claims for the intangible and, occasionally, their embarrassment about showing off!

If you are associated with a technology or engineering firm and are interested to learn how authentic marketing (as opposed to glossy promotion), sector-specific design and publicity can help you to improve leads, enquiries and sales, or to reach new markets, we ca help.