Published on September 13th, 2020 | by Sunit Nandi

Startup Marketing: 6 Effective Ways to Market Your Tech Company

As a technology company, you’re placed on 2 different fast-moving conveyor belts. There’s one for rapidly evolving marketing strategies and you’re always trying to catch up. And then there’s one for technology development—probably moving even faster.

So what can you do?

You need to find a way to maximize your investment in marketing initiatives. For this, look for strategies and actions that have the most potential.

What does this mean?

You need to find efficient tactics that will provide a substantial ROI. Usually, the effectiveness of a strategy is determined after a few test trials. But, in this article, we’ll show you a couple of tactics that you can try—and we’ll talk about their effectiveness.

Technology Marketing Strategies

A. Make Use of Video Content

Video content is versatile and can be used in many ways. Here are a few:

1. Tell the story of your company

This is a great opportunity to show your audience that you’re interested in more than just sales. You have a mission, a vision, and some values that you believe in.

People are drawn in by great stories. Thus, it’s a great idea to show the concept behind your business. What’s your purpose? It could be to educate people, to make life easier, or anything for which you feel enthusiasm and passion.

Video source: What Most Schools Don’t Teach — Code.org.

Let’s take this video by Code.org for example. They took a bunch of celebrities and filmed them talking about how important they think it is to learn to code. What is fascinating about this is that the name of the company appears only briefly at the end of the video.

Was this efficient?

Yes. The movie itself is motivational. It’s aimed toward people that fear learning something new. And the fact that it showcased people from very different backgrounds and domains just tells the viewer that anything is possible.

Efficiency rating: 8/10.

2. Have some fun!

Why be serious all the time? If you can mix entertainment with promoting your business, you should hop on the train as soon as possible. We don’t have to take ourselves so seriously all the time.

The idea here is to humanize your business. Share some struggles that you have in your work. Or just present a normal day in the life of your employees.

Lift the curtain and show your audience that you’re more than just a tech company. You’re a team of people that work together toward common goals.

Video source: The whole working-from-home thing — Apple

A great example of this is the video from Apple about working from home. In a humorous way, they show the struggles of working from home.

But that’s not all! They subtly show how their devices have features meant to help you with your tasks while still at home. During the video, the team is working around tight deadlines for a project. And they’re using Apple products to get things done.

Was this efficient?

Somehow. This type of video isn’t aimed at selling a certain product. It’s more for raising the popularity of certain devices and the brand itself. It offers the audience a sneak-peek of how their employees struggle with working from home. Basically, the video puts a human face on the Apple projects.

Efficiency rating: 6/10.

3. Educational content

Something that goes hand in hand with tech companies is promoting educational content. Whether you’ve developed a new technique that you want to teach people about, or simply help people be more tech-savvy, it’s a nice way to showcase your expertise.

You can also create tutorials for your products or services. And even reviews, too. This will help your customers and potential clients see you as more open and trustworthy.

Another great way to develop both ongoing relationships as well as potential relationships is to research and provide answers and solutions to challenging problems your audience may be facing in the industry.

For example, Microsoft has a whole dedicated section for education. They talk about the technologies they use and how you could use it too. But they also promote their own services and teach people how to make use of them.

Was this efficient?

Yes. Engaging with your community and making people’s lives easier can take you a long way. Just make sure that you have something really important to share.

Another surprising side-effect of this is you’re informing and educating soon-to-be and prospective employees. Basically, you’re telling people what they need to learn in order to be qualified to work for you.

Efficiency rating: 8/10. This isn’t a 10 just because it also takes a lot of resources and time on your part—if you want to provide high-quality content.

4. Client testimonials

What’s better than having satisfied customers talk about how they liked working with you?

People react better to customers talking about their experience with your service as compared to you talking about yourself. Having successful client testimonials conveys important meaning to your prospective customers.

Firstly, it means that your client was happy with your product since he was willing to go to the trouble of reviewing your product or service. Secondly, it demonstrates that you care about how your customers feel; you care about the quality of their experience as well as quality in products or service.

Video source: MazeMap Client Testimonial: University of Twente by MazeMap

A great example is this video from MazeMap. During this short film, this client is telling people the reasons why his company chose this service over others. He explains how the product is helping this university and why other people should try it too.

Was it efficient?

Oh, yes. The effort from your part is minimal, both when it comes to resources and time allotted. But it goes a long way for affirming your trustworthiness and your commitment to your company-client relationship.

Efficiency rating: 10/10.

5. LinkedIn Live

This is a service provided by LinkedIn that helps companies get in touch with their audience in real-time. While you’ll use some resources—equipment, a good internet connection, and employees’ time, it’s a good thing that you should do.

First, choose a relevant topic to talk about. It could be your new product, news of upcoming projects, or new technology. If you need some ideas, LinkedIn has a monthly blog series specifically on trending content.

You’ll need to submit an application if you want to use this service. After you’ve gained access, you will be walked through all the steps you need to take to get things going.

Is this efficient?

Yes! There’s almost nothing better than a company engaging live with its audience. It’s even better than live events because it’s open to everyone. This is a great opportunity to get to know your customers on a personal level.

Listen to their suggestions, ask for their opinions. You can even use this method to test their reactions to upcoming projects. The opportunities are endless.

Efficiency rating: 9/10.

B. Create Written Content

Yes, video content is easier to digest and more user-friendly. But with written content, you can go more in-depth with important subjects. Having a blog that you keep regularly updated is a big plus.

You’ll be able to go into more detail about your products and the way they work. And your blog could be a great place for people to ask you questions or talk about their issues with your product or service.

But there are a few things you need to have in mind before starting your own blog. Your design needs to be on point. Your website should provide great user-experience and aesthetic appeal. You can hire professionals who can deliver great quality or study web designing on your own and build your own team of web designers.

Apart from that, you need to always focus on providing high-quality content. Have all of your stakeholders in mind and create content for each of them. Slow down on the promotional side and step up with adding value to people’s lives.

Be smart about what type of content you should post and when. Define your purpose clearly and decide on the topics you can write about.

Source: Invisia.com

Is this efficient?

Definitely. It’s the best of both worlds. You fine-tune your content to fit your marketing purposes while adding value to your client’s lives. The quality of what you write establishes you as an authoritative source of information. If it helps them, clients will trust you and seek you out to find solutions to their problems.

Efficiency rating: 7/10. This will take a lot of effort from your side, but it will be worth it in the long run.

C. Influencer Marketing

This is a great way of minimizing the company-customer gap. Working with somebody influential in your domain puts a human face on your business. In doing so, you increase your credibility and raise your social media reach at the same time.

Source: Pexels.com – Oladimeji Ajegbile

You need to do some research for this one to work. Identify your target buyers and who they look up to. Find the best-suited industry influencers and come up with a strategy for working with them. Your social credibility will thank you.

Is this efficient?

To some extent, yes. You might not reach or impress all of your audience at once. But for the majority of people, working with someone influential really does equate to your audience perceiving you as a more trustworthy company.

Efficiency rating: 6/10.

D. Get Involved in Live Events

Remember LinkedIn Live? Well, this is the next best thing. It’s a great method to build brand awareness and engage with your customers directly. You can also use this as an opportunity to educate people about what, why, and how you do what you do.

Source: Pixabay.com

It could be any kind of event. Bonus points if it’s for a cause that you support. This is a great chance to show live how your products work. You can demonstrate concepts or ways in which your service will improve the life of your customer.

So what can you do?

1. Initiate Virtual Events

Even if it isn’t face to face, it’s still live. This opens the event up to more people than an actual physical event. It’s a great opportunity to share the latest news about your company. You can also ask for their opinion or reviews for something.

2. Participate in local meetups

Engaging with your local community is a must. They’re your primary target. Therefore, participating in these kinds of events will help you increase your reach. This is your chance to show how your company can improve the community and make everyone’s experience better.

Is this efficient?

Yes, to some extent. You’re reaching only a small portion of your audience directly. Even if the event is broadcast, the effect won’t be the same. But with those people that you actually meet, it’s a great way to impress them.

Efficiency rating: 5/10.

E. Make Use of Interactive Tools or Experiences

This point is all about giving more information to your customer before your product or service is purchased. The more informed they are, the less afraid they will be to work with you and invest in something.

We’re talking about calculators—for overall costs, ROIs, or any metric that is relevant to your product. Or it could be interactive infographics, quizzes, or even solution builders—like offering a free demo.

It’s all about making your website more interactive for your visitors. If your clients have all the data they could possibly need before buying your product, they will be inclined to trust you and come back again.

Is this efficient?

Somehow. Sure, you’d probably have sales without these interactive elements on your website. But would they be the same amount? This is simply about going out of your way to help your customer make an informed decision.

Efficiency rating:4/10.

F. Engage with Your Audience

Yes, everything you do is for your clients. So what is this point all about? There are some methods that might seem old-fashioned—but they still work.

1. Sponsored Email Marketing

This method is especially great if you have a new product that you want people to know about. If you have a customer database (and they signed up for emails from you) this is a great way to let them know about your product.

This is basically a dedicated email for your service and product. You want to inform people about why they should buy it and what extra benefits they would derive. Of course, you need to be careful not to send out emails to the same people every week and overdo it.

Does this work?

Yes, if you do it right. Send your email to a target audience and see how they respond. Do your sales increase? Or are your emails directly sent to spam? You should be careful not to be too insistent and pushy. Your purpose is to promote and inform about your product.

Efficiency rating: 5/10.

2. Cold email and cold calling

These are 2 strategies that work well together. Sure, emails are easier to ignore than calls. But if you follow up your email with a call—things change.

First of all, you send an email presenting your offers and products. You inform the customer briefly about the benefits of working with you. If this works on its own, kudos to you!

After your email, you follow up with a call. Here you are in control of the conversation. You can offer specific benefits to the customer over the phone. You can find out more information about what they need and act accordingly. Just be careful not to be too pushy.

Does this work?

To some extent. There are still some people that respond well to this kind of marketing strategy. Calling your prospective customers can make them feel like they are important to you (and they should be). But there are some that will reject the idea—feeling that their privacy has been invaded or not wanting to take the time on the phone.

Efficiency rating: 4/10.

Key Points to Remember

As a technology company, the opportunity to market your products and services is endless. You always have something new and relevant to talk about. And you have a large range of people you can approach with your actions.

The important thing to remember is that there is no recipe for success. You need to try and test these strategies for yourself and see which ones work best for your company.

Yes, they have an efficiency rating, but you need to remember that you’re targeting people, not machines. Therefore, you can expect each person to react differently. In the process of getting to know your customer base better, you’ll find those positive reactions from customers you’ve put in an effort to earn.

Tags: effective ways, market your tech company, startup

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.