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The low spark of high tech marketing

Written by: Jay Lipe

Article Overview: Today, many tech companies enjoy a reputation, deservedly so, for being on the cutting edge. Faced with a cutthroat market, they excel at inventing and rolling out new technologies and products. Yet when it comes to marketing, they take a decidedly low-tech approach.

The low spark of high tech marketing

Today, many tech companies enjoy a reputation, deservedly so, for being on the cutting edge. Faced with a cutthroat market, they excel at inventing and rolling out new technologies and products. Yet when it comes to marketing, they take a decidedly low-tech approach.

From too much techno-speak in brochures, to vague positioning, to the doomed view that marketing just spends money, these high-fliers run the risk of disappearing as fast as they appeared.

Some reasons
Why has this happened? I think there are several reasons. To begin with, many leaders of high-tech firms come from the ranks of technology, not marketing. Yet, these are two distinctly different disciplines, with little crossover. A technician who ventures into marketing issues is almost as dangerous as a marketer who fancies himself a technician.

Also, many high-tech leaders place the technology ahead of the market. I routinely field calls from company leaders who are positively breathless about a new technology their company has invented. But when I ask “What’s the market for this product?”, I’m met with silence. Good high-tech marketing starts with the market, not the technology.

I also think that the 90’s rapid growth masked the need for marketing. The bonanza of Y2K expenditures, coupled with the dot-com bubble, focused leadership on selling and servicing—often to the exclusion of marketing. Few made time to strategically think about their company’s marketing.

And now, the chickens have come home to roost.

What can be done?
First of all, hire known marketers. If you or your company’s leadership lacks proven experience in marketing, find it somewhere. We’ve all seen a company’s home-grown brochure and it makes us wince, doesn’t it? Well, what can be done if this company’s prospects are wincing too? Nothing; it’s too late. Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Focused positioning
In my book The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses, I suggest small and mid-sized companies try to boil their positioning down to one word—one word. In contrast, I’ve read positioning statements that went on for pages and seemed to borrow from the Bill of Rights. Length confuses, brevity produces. See if you can’t boil down your positioning to one word like fast, cheap, personal, high-quality, convenient, broad, strong or around-the-clock. In short, what’s your business really about?

Make the Net it…
In a recent Forbes.com poll of 286 CEOs, CFOs and CIOs, executives were asked how they found out about new products. The Internet led the way with 73%, followed by Magazines 57% and Newspapers 29%. Television and radio brought up the rear at 20% and 8% respectively*. Your website should be an engine for your marketing, not the caboose. If yours isn’t, you’re like the four-cylinder car climbing a mountain pass—in the slow lane, getting passed.
* Source: Marketing News Oct 14, 2002

Speed up the process
Last year in September, our firm got the go-ahead from a high-tech client to develop several new sell sheets. Work began promptly. Yet it’s now February— five months later—and we don’t have a single thing to show. Why? Too many chiefs in the process. There are now seven people directly involved with developing the content. I ask you—when was the last time you got seven people to agree on anything?

Contrast that with another of our clients, where only three people are involved. During that same time, we’ve launched a 16-page brochure, a 140-page catalog, several direct mail newsletters and completed an award nomination packet of 100 pages. The lesson? Keep your marketing teams small—then trust them to get the work done.

Proof sells
Today, I’d alter P.T. Barnum’s adage to read “There’s a skeptic born every minute.” We’ve experienced everything from Watergate to President Clinton’s Zippergate and I for one put up a defensive shield whenever a company talks about itself. That’s why more and more companies are using customer testimonials, case studies and user conferences. These are marketing vehicles that highlight others’ comments about your company and encourage conversations behind your back.

A new 401K
Many companies today view marketing as an expense. It is. But it’s also an investment in the long-term financial health of your business—sort of like a 401K program for your brand. This annual investment in awareness, competitive advantage and lead generation doesn’t happen overnight, nor does it happen on its own. But for those companies today who embrace this notion, and routinely invest in their marketing (Dell and Verizon spring to mind), a huge payoff awaits.

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