Technology marketing can appear daunting and far outside the comfort zone for many scientists, researchers and technology experts. We’ve compiled this guide to walk you through the process of promoting your product to a science-minded target audience through a variety of channels to drive sales, leads and enquiries.
How you promote your product will be vital to determining its commercial success.
Step 1: Research and understand your target market
Understanding how and why potential customers would use your product is absolutely critical in determining the strategy for the promotion of said product. Target market research must go far beyond simply looking at demographics factors such as age, gender and location. You will need to understand the needs, wants, interests and challenges of your desired customers. When it comes to the specific decision of choosing which channels to use to promote your product, there are a few extra considerations to think about regarding your customers, namely;
How do your customers consume media? What do your customers read, watch and listen to?
Knowing how your desired customers consume media will stand you in good stead to analyse suitable marketing channels to pursue when promoting your product. Marketing thrives off of defined target markets and audiences. The clearer your understanding of your audience, the more successful your marketing campaigns will be.
Step 2: Decide how to reach your target customers
Once you have a detailed understanding of your customer, consider whether to pursue a print, digital or hybrid marketing strategy for your new and novel product.
Print Marketing:
A marketing approach that utilises physically printed media such as science magazines, journals and newspapers to reach a broad audience.
Pros of Print Marketing:
- As a result of stringent editorial standards and regulations, print content is often viewed more favourably in terms of credibility and trustworthiness, key considerations especially for scientific products
- Breadth and diversity of potential audience, print marketing offers the possibility to reach potential customers you never would have thought to directly target
Cons of Print Marketing:
- Static adverts do not grab the attention as effectively as engaging digital content
- The established and traditional reputation of print marketing can be at odds with certain dynamic and innovative new novel products
- It can prove difficult to accurately measure the return on ad spend and investment from print marketing
Digital Marketing:
Use of online channels to target, reach, engage and analyse interactions with potential customers.
Pros of Digital Marketing:
- Digital campaigns can be turned on and off with the switch of a button, allowing digital marketing campaigns to offer unlimited agility and finetuning capabilities
- Every minute detail of a digital marketing campaign can be analysed, giving you a comprehensive, holistic understanding of your campaigns
- The digital marketing industry is constantly evolving, offering new opportunities to promote your new product through new channels and opportunities
- Global platforms with international readerships allow you to promote your brand around the world to specific audiences, such as those interested in science and technology
Cons of Digital Marketing:
- Digital adverts are often seen as more invasive than their print counterparts, so can generate more hostile or negative public reactions
- The attention span of your audience will be at its lowest when they are scrolling on their social media or favorite websites
For most products, a hybrid marketing approach consisting of both print and digital marketing will provide the greatest opportunity to reach and engage your target audience.
Step 3: Set a consistent message and tone
Once you have identified your audience and how you are going to reach them, you will need to sculpt your brand message.
Your brand message will revolve around differentiation.
- What makes your product different?
- Importantly, what makes your product desirable to your target audience?
- Does your product do something better than the competition?
- Does it solve a well-known issue in a way that nothing else can?
- Or is your product so revolutionary that your future customers are currently unaware as to why they need to use your new creation?
Understanding these key nuances will help you decide whether you need to focus upon educating and informing, or whether your focus should be upon the persuading and converting of an audience into a customer base.
Not only will you need to decide upon the content of your message, establishing your brand tone of voice will also be a key consideration to how your brand is perceived and understood. Whether you want your product to be seen as an established market leader through authoritative matter-of-fact dialect, or interpreted as the up-and-coming market disruptor through edgy humour, consistency will be key to delivering a consistent product promotion.
Step 4: Create content that will attract and interest your target audience
The scientific and technology community are typified by their inquisitive and analytical characteristics. Cater to this by providing interesting and thought-provoking content relating to your novel product or development. Content doesn’t just have to refer to adverts; promotional content can extend to press releases, blogs, articles, videos and social media posts. Choosing which content to create will depend on your intentions and goals for this stage of the publicity campaign. For novel ideas that need detailed explanation, the longer forms of content such as guest posts, articles and press releases should be prioritised.
Step 5: Distribute your Content
Once you have laid the foundations for your promotional marketing campaign, it is time to go live! Depending on your strategies influenced by the steps listed above, there are a variety of ways to distribute your content to the scientific community, including but not limited to;
- Niche-relevant News, Article and Blog websites
- Cost-per-click advertising and SEO
- Social Media Advertising
- PR Press Releases
Once you have chosen the channels for distributing your content, you will need to select the right partners who will be suitable for publishing your content. Seeking specialized content partners that offer expertise in your chosen niche will help to assert credibility for your technological innovation and scientific advancement.
If you are looking to introduce your product to a large, international audience of avid science and technology-minded readers, Technology.org is the place for you!
We focus upon publishing the latest science and technology news from authoritative sources from around the world. Our editorial team gladly reviews submissions of guest articles relating to original ideas, products and press releases.
The content submissions should be fully prepared for publication. To introduce your product to our global community of science and technology enthusiasts and experts, please explore our Submission Opportunities.