Technology Content Writing & Marketing -Not A Pie For All!
Content marketing has changed forever!
The year 2020 was a year of Go-To-Digital that accelerated the shift from offline to online work mode. With employees working from home, enterprises not only had to make a quick shift to online meetings, but their marketing teams also had to leap forward in the digital space to meet their customers. The focus on digital communication and content-driven online campaigns increased multifold. Today, every tech brand is constantly trying to widen the digital path and connect with the target audience going beyond email marketing, social media posts, banner advertisements, SEO of websites, and now focusing on articles, webinars, blogs, videos, and more. However, the rapid shifts to digital bring in a vast amount of pressure on content generation on a daily basis. And this is hugely true for both B2B & B2C tech brands.A single document, series of social posts, a webpage, or any marketing effort could easily be lost in today’s fast-evolving digital space. This is where the skill of creating quality content comes into the picture that contributes significantly towards attracting traffic for brand building and awareness. But how?
In this blog, we will learn briefly about 2 things- (a) Writing ‘interesting’ Tech Content and (b) Promoting Tech Content i.e., what all goes into content creation and marketing the technology products and services. And the importance of having a team that works behind it. We will also understand how quality content can help technology companies take their products and services closer to their customers.
So, let’s first understand Content marketing. Content Marketing is all about creating and promoting high-quality, informative, and engaging content to your target audience.But with so much content floating on the digital channels, what is it that drives content marketing? It is of course creation of relevant content. The combination of technology, personalised approach, good content writing & presentation skills is what sets apart valuable content from unattractive content.The next obvious objective is to market a technology product, service, or brand in a way that educates, as well as engages the consumers of the content, thereby gaining their attention and trust. This helps in steering the investments made on campaigns like SEO, PPC, SMM to give tangible results. And it also helps in attracting online traffic and opening up new opportunities to connect to your potential customers.
Now, let’s understand how different is ‘technology content marketing and writing’ for the B2B market segment.1. Technology content writing - It is different
The more commonly known content writing involves creating content that you see on social media, websites, festive messages, blogs on any generic topic like cooking, travel, health, parenting, fitness, etc. Then come the detailed tech documents such as case studies or white papers, or social media messages that cater to a specific tech product/service, or content to engage a tech influencer who can vouch for your brand promise. Look at any company that is into developing technology products like IBM, AWS, Akamai, Apple, etc, or those that provide technology services like Infosys, Capgemini, TCS, etc. And then those partnering with the biggies on say cloud computing, telecom, networking, CDN, antivirus, AI, and other technologies. All of these need to constantly update their website with the latest developments happening at their end and inform their audience about their technology products and services. This website content together with social media posts, sales emails, virtual webinar communications, content for audio-video webs series, blogs, product catalogues, case studies, and more are referred to as technology content. And technology content writing is the art of putting together this relevant content.
2. Technology content marketing
The consumer today invests sufficient time in doing online research before buying any product. This is the case for tech B2B companies also. Consumers look forward to blogs, videos, case studies for wiser decision making. Webinars are also popular in attracting prospects, although websites remain the prime focus for conversion. Hence, marketers largely rely on digital channels to drive business growth. Every brand wants to make a special spot for itself in the virtual space. But most technology companies face difficulties in creating impressive marketing content. Let’s take a look at the illustration below to identify some of the commonly faced challenges by the B2B tech organizations in creating & marketing effective content.
Common content marketing challenges faced by B2B tech organisations
Marketing teams are sometimes too busy to plan a good content strategy themselves due to lack of time or lack of right skills in their team. And it is often difficult to find talented candidates who are proficient in technical knowledge, creative thinking and also have a stronghold in written communication. A normal content writer with little or no technology background will not be the right hire. And the in-house technology team may not be the right fit either as they may tend to go with in-depth explanations and use too many technical jargons which won’t appeal well to the audience. Customer behavior is also changing with the availability of multiple devices and digital communication channels. They may send a chat message on phone today and a query on email tomorrow but expect consistency across all channels in their entire sales journey. The start-ups and SMEs also face challenges of tight budgets. Lastly, website management is a task in itself – right from writing content, designing impressive web pages, and regularly updating the website with the latest information.
So, how can you overcome these challenges? Whether you run a business, have a brand, are an entrepreneur, or belong to the marketing team in your organization, you may require support in developing and marketing your content. And this is where the role of technology-content marketeer cum writer comes into the picture.
This is not a pie for all! This role with an ever-changing content landscape calls for a good blend of creativity, sound knowledge of technology, and expert communication skills. Here, although the audience may be technically sound, the communication should be simple, easy to understand, and yet have that technical bend. Technology-content-marketing writers ensure that the content is relevant by putting a lot of thought into market research, strategy, and content structure before penning down the words. Whether it’s an in-house marketing team or an outsourced digital marketing agency, having good technology-content-marketing writers in the team is almost inevitable if you want to establish a brand that in reality sells. They help in building trust and loyalty with readers while also engaging and enlightening them. Good content can boost your brand value, strengthen your customer base and spark off more profits. So, get going and use the power of words and jazzy infographics!