Top 11 Marketing Tips for Technology Businesses

A down economy and slow summer season make it one of the best times to re-evaluate your company's marketing strategy. Here are some marketing tips which work successfully for technology product or services companies.

1) Create a Marketing Rulebook. When starting your company or launching a new product line, make sure you are consistent in everything you do. From the president of the company to the receptionist, all should have the same idea of what your company is, and how you present it to the outside world. Your marketing rulebook should have both internal and external positioning. You should have defined target audience(s). Although you would think that the more groups of people you target the better, it will be much simpler if you target only one specific group. Pin point the best fit for your company -this may not be the group with the highest short-term revenue potential, but the one with the best long-term prospects.

Another important aspect that fits into your marketing rulebook is to be consistent in your form and style. This might seem like the simplest of all the rules, but it is one of the most important. Your target audience should see your logo, or blog, or URL in everything you do. It should be in press releases, articles, blog syndication websites, and client's websites, and then your target audiences will become familiar with your company.

2) Research your marketplace before spending. It's amazing how many companies spend marketing dollars unnecessarily. This is why it is important to research your marketplace before you spend money on a service or campaign. There are many internet tools that help you determine the wants and needs of your target audience. For example, SurveyMonkey.com and Zoomerang.com are both online survey tools, which can help you get a feel for what your target audience needs. These services can range from a limit of 10 questions for a free account or an unlimited amount of questions for only twenty dollars. However, the more intricate your survey becomes the more expensive it will be. Nevertheless, this can be a worthwhile investment, because the more you spend on the survey the less you will unknowingly spend on useless campaigns. It is also important to check out your competitors online. This can be as simple as entering what a prospective client would type to find your service in a search engine. When generating a list of competitors, you should see what they have done to become successful and see how you can learn from this.

Also, you should determine your ideal prospect profile. You can use a more pricey service like Hoover, which generates a complete list of all the companies you might want to target. However, there are also other free options, such as ReferenceUSA.com. In order to access this business database you first need to create an account with your local library, and in turn they will allow you access to multiple databases, including ReferenceUSAcom. InfoUSA databases are also usually available for free through a library service. There is always something that can be done when it comes to researching your marketplace.

3) Establish a marketing budget. Once you have researched your market, establish a 12-month marketing budget. I advise companies to create a gold, silver and bronze budget in terms of budget amount and then you will be ready if you have to slash or increase budgets throughout the year. For more on the ways to establish the correct amount for your marketing budget, see http://www.clarityqst.com/pdf/marketing_budget.pdf.

4) Make sure your brand is clear. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to figure out what a brand is all about, and finding out in the end that the product or service is not the one you wanted. In addition to being precise in what you are selling and to whom, is important to capture your target audience's attention.
As a technology company, your branding should also align with your current and future product/services roadmaps.

5) Clearly articulate your technology products or services. In order for your clients and prospective clients to understand what you are truly selling, then you must be clear in your presentation. This is especially important for technical services.

Harry Beckwith, author of Selling the Invisible, writes that services are not like a tangible product that you see before you pay. Thus, it is important to let your clients know the details of what you will be providing, in order to satisfy their questions. Beckwith talks about six positioning questions that should be answered.
a. Who are you? (Your company's official name)
b. What business are you in?
c. For whom%u2026what companies/users do you serve?
d. What need%u2026what are the special needs of the company you serve?
e. Against whom%u2026with whom are you competing?
f. What's different%u2026what makes you different than the competition?
g. Unique benefits%u2026what are the unique benefits a client derives from your services?
These seven questions work equally well for products. By answering these questions, your customers and prospective customers should be able to get a better understanding of what you will provide for them.

6) Get testimonials and endorsements. In order for potential clients to validate your offerings it is imperative to have your customers vouch for you through testimonials. It is very simple and sometimes overlooked. Testimonials are easily accessible and all it takes is a simple quote. Online video testimonials are now easy to produce and even more effective than written quotes. The testimonials should be posted on your company's website, but can also be used in other documents and advertisements.

7) Use word-of- mouth technique. Whenever you see a movie you like or try a new restaurant that was amazing, you usually pass this information on to a friend or acquaintance - why not tailor this technique to marketing your products? Word-of-mouth marketing is a not a new technique but it is one that has been overlooked by many marketing professionals. There are many websites that can help you identify what word-of-mouth is and how to use it to the best of your advantage. For example WOMMA.com is a website that helps business owners network within their industry. They state that, "Word of mouth marketing empowers people to share their experiences. It's harnessing the voice of the customer for the good of the brand. And it's acknowledging that the unsatisfied customer is equally powerful." WOMMA also shares the 5 basic elements to word of mouth marketing: 1) Educate people about your products and/or services 2) Identify people most likely to share their opinions 3) Provide tools that make it simpler to share information 4) Study how, where, and when opinions are being shared 5) Listen and respond to supporters, detractors, and neutrals. Urefer.com is an interesting online referral engine coming out in the fall of 2008. You can see a screenshot of the system at http://urefer.com/splash/images/urefer_homepage.png.

8) Use pay-per-click. The Internet is an efficient and inexpensive way to reach your audience. Tradeshows and print ads can be expensive and are aimed at passive buyers - people that are simply browsing with no intention of using your services. For example, a full-page advertisement in a trade magazine can cost between four to five thousand dollars, compared to pay-per-click (PPC) campaign that costs about $500-$1,000. In addition, by using the web you can reach your targeted audience and your target audience can reach you. For example, if someone searches "marketing firms in Southeast Michigan" then they are more than likely actively searching for just that. This makes it more likely that they will see your webpage and possibly use your company. Try using exact keyword matching instead of broad match for even bigger bang for your buck. Once you have mastered exact keyword match campaigns, Google Adwords' embedded match is an exciting alternative for ad targeting. For a great training video on embedded match techniques, see http://www.stompernet.net/goingnatural3/vid1_adwords_triangulation_method.

9) Ask for Referrals. If you know your customer is satisfied, which hopefully they always are, then you should ask if any of their friends, colleagues or partner companies need your services. Referrals are also very simple because all it takes is one simple question to your client. Although this sounds simple, many companies do not do this, and lose potential business. This goes along with word-of-mouth marketing simply because you are promoting it by basically asking for it. This is a very useful marketing technique because your clients can be the best persuaders for others, because they know your work first hand. There are several firms out there that automate referral reminders and gifting.

10) Cross promote your product or service. To cross promote means using two or more companies or organizations combine forces to advertise a product or service (think an OEM and reseller). Each company or organization helps promote the other's product or service. By teaming up with synergistic companies you will save time and money. It will allow you to gather more information than you could on your own, for example lead lists. Also, other companies have different techniques, thus learning from them can be of great advantage to your company. In addition, the cost of advertising and renting booth space at a trade show can be very expensive; by teaming up with another company you can save money.

11) Integrated Marketing. Diversification is a key to more than just stock portfolio success. To reach your target audience you must use many different marketing techniques at once. You should be using different forms of marketing in parallel such as Internet marketing, public relations and advertising.

The time to re-assess your marketing department is now.