Great news – you’ve just received your investment sum, or are literally on the verge of securing it, which means all those weeks and months of hard work, negotiations and evidencing your credentials have finally paid off.
Now, it’s just a case of allocating the funds in accordance with your company priorities, which range from investing in future research and development, to perfecting your current systems. But what about marketing? Will any of the investment span to your marketing activity?
While R&D spend is a common area of expenditure for technology and science companies, and quite rightly so, spending some of your funds on your marketing strategy is an incredibly worthwhile tactic too.
Because having a dedicated marketing budget behind will enable you to develop and deliver a more robust go-to-market strategy. As much as it may be another investment to have to make, investing in your marketing will better position your company for immediate and long-term success that can be built upon year-on-year.
But how do you make sure your marketing strategy is set up in a way that guarantees your go-to-market strategy is spot on? That you achieve a competitive advantage, not just from the outset, but on an ongoing basis?
Take a look at these dos and don’ts, which are designed to make sure you get the best return on investment from your go-to-market strategy, with the help of marketing:
DO –Focus On Understanding Your Audience
This is an important factor to consider, not just when your product is ready to go to market, but in the early research and development phases, to ensure it caters for the needs of your target market. Honing in on your target audience will also help you to articulate your vision to future investors.
Make sure you are clear about what you’re marketing, as whilst you think you know your businesses and its offerings inside out, is this clear to investors? You could have the greatest bit of technology available but if you can’t distil the customer benefits, you won’t sell any. Focus on who you should be aiming your marketing campaigns at, answering the key questions: Who? What? Why? Where? Find out more about the details you need to go into here.
We can help you define who your ideal customers are and through the creation of Ideal Customer Personas, we can help shape your brand from its design to its messaging and marketing.
This clarity allows you to drive customer action. If you want to learn more about this, get in touch with us on the contact details below.
DON’T – Leave Marketing until the End
We know how busy things can get, particularly in the lead up to entering the market, but that’s no excuse for overlooking or leaving your marketing to the 11th hour. As obvious as this may sound, it’s essential your product(s) or service(s) are strategically launched to market, which can be achieved with a dedicated marketing strategy and a clear brand vision. (Coating technology company, OnS, revamped their brand identity so they would better resonate with their target audience. See how they did it and the results it achieved right here).
DO – Generate Awareness around Your Product(s) And/or Service(s)
This follows on from understanding your audience, as once you know who to target you can then get into conversations with the right people. Find out where your audience hangs out and establish your social media presence. For example if they are more active on Twitter, over Facebook, and then spend more time on this platform. Engage with them, participate in discussions, listen to their thoughts on the market and ask your own questions that can help you streamline your marketing efforts.
In doing so, you’ll generate valuable feedback, as well as create a buzz about your product and company that will get you noticed by investors and lead to them potentially fighting over you (fingers crossed).
DON’T – Start Off with Expensive Marketing Ads
We know you want to get your product out there, but it really does pay to take the time to get to know your audience first, and then gradually target them. This targeted approach will help generate more relevant leads and secure more relevant enquiries, not to mention sales along the way.
DO – Create Animations
Have you developed a particularly technical or extremely niche product or service that takes a bit of explaining to get people to understand its aim and how it works? If so, you may want to consider using animations or graphics to get your point across to your target audience, as well as future investors. (It’s precisely what early stage technology company, Pireta, did when they wanted to lift the lid on how their technology works. For more details, check out this case study).
DON’T – Focus On Only One Method of Marketing
For instance, don’t just embark on social media and leave it at that. This type of limited approach will leave you with nothing but limited results. Where possible, and if your marketing budget permits, implement multiple marketing tactics, ranging from content and digital marketing, to search marketing, and more…
Marketing and sales go hand in hand. The time and money investment you put into marketing needs to be balanced with a dedicated sales process in place. Without this balance, the efforts you put into marketing will only get you to a certain point, but to go-to-market, will that be enough?
Got any queries or want to discuss your marketing strategy or digital marketing strategy requirements with us? Contact us on [email protected] or 0121 399 0065.
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