With the era of content-driven marketing at its peak, keywords are the core of any content strategy while Likes and Shares have become the drivers of marketing communication campaigns. Marketers are faced with the challenge of making their content appealing and engaging for potential customers, and it requires that the content tell a story that inspires. The proliferation of software products on the global IT market puts even more pressure on marketing specialists for finding sophisticated and effective visibility methods. Moreover, the global competition requires quick adjustments of marketing strategy and tactics to continuously changing game rules.
Despite the fact that today’s marketers experiment a lot, it is a proven fact that a successful lead-generation campaign results from staying focused and thinking strategically. Unsuccessful campaigns usually lack story-telling content, targeted audience and effective communication — the critical pieces of the puzzle that make it work.
In technology marketing projects, there is a particular piece that is often overlooked — the close cooperation between cross-functional departments. It helps create a collaborative environment for effective marketing and ensures critical knowledge sharing and leveraging innovation within the company united by a common goal. The primary challenge for marketing specialists is making this synergy work.
Story-telling content
In our time of digitalization, the best story is the one that can be visualized, be engaging and, perhaps, somewhat provoking. Since no one likes to read long pages of content anymore, the best solution for marketers is a short video. This is the time when efforts of designers, product owners and the video production team need to be joined. The story requires a key concept, i.e., the main message marketing wants to deliver to the target audience.
This message will also keep them focused on the core value their product brings to the table. After all, no one cares why your product is good; they care what it does for them in a way better than your competitors. For instance, if you are promoting technology services to digital agencies, tell them about a digital experience you create for them.
Integrated communications
When the story is ready and wrapped up in a cool dynamic video, it is time to launch the campaign based on the concept of integrated marketing communications. This concept combines the usage of all available communication channels that help reach the target market and let your customers interact with you.
Most importantly, understanding who your customer is helps in choosing the most effective channels. If the target audience is digital technology companies, then printed media might be a wrong choice. Instead, marketers need to focus on social media and specialized digital online communities where the audience can be effectively engaged.
If your main promotional tool is the video, then the YouTube channel is where marketers should start. Other types of channels like industry events, webinars, email campaigns and articles published in specialized online resources should not be underestimated. However, the channels that are involved in the marketing campaign should be relevant to the targeted audience.
It is critical to remember that any information about the product must not be a direct sales pitch; instead it should educate first. No one likes to be sold to; instead, we love to be entertained. Also, do not forget about a call to action.
Innovation
For technology-focused companies, applying in-house innovations in promoting products or services can be the key to successful marketing campaigns. Everything that is trendy and relevant to the targeted audience will create enough buzz around the product. As an example, showcasing how Google Glass technology can digitalize a real-life sport game and integrating it with social media may easily receive lots of visibility just being shared over social media channels by third parties. This approach grants innovation a special role in marketing projects. Marketers should look closely at the possibilities of collaboration with their research and development teams that can help apply innovations effectively.
Experience shows that even the most incredible and innovative products require a complex approach to their promotion. Marketers tend to invest even more resources in their marketing campaigns if they lack a collaborative environment while struggling to attract the potential customer. Therefore, it is simply critical to ensure synergy both inside and outside of marketing— the synergy that turns marketing from expenses to revenue.
Lyuba Lazarenko is the head of marketing at ELEKS, an innovative global provider of software engineering and quality assurance services with focus on data science, mobility and digital production as well as financial solutions. With nearly a decade of industry experience and passion for digital and event marketing, Lyuba leads the company’s marketing activities and ensures development and implementation of winning strategies. She can be reached at Lyuba.Lazarenko@eleks.com.