Old-school marketing: revisiting the Three Rs
Considering the cornerstones of successful marketing
In days gone by, schoolteachers referred to the Three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic. Let’s not worry about the fact that only one of them actually starts with an R. They were the cornerstones of education, on which everything else was built.
As the owner of an engineering or tech company, your marketing needs to be built on equally solid foundations. And because we all like to prove how far we’ve come since primary school, I’ve created three real Rs for marketing software, engineering and high-tech businesses.
Introducing the Three Rs of marketing success
In summary, your marketing foundations need to include:
- Resonance – making sure your messages ring true for your customers.
- Reach – focusing your messages to target the right people.
- Reinforcement – building on your messages throughout the buying journey.
Of-course this is easier said than done, so let’s look in a little more detail at the practicalities:
Resonance – marketing messages that ring true
There are whole books devoted to the art and science of creating great marketing messages that resonate with the audience. But the start point is always insight into your customer.
Over the years I’ve worked with some very successful businesses and without exception, those who found marketing most effective and straight-forward are the people who really know their customers. That is, what makes them tick? What worries them? What they are trying to achieve and what is holding them back? And perhaps most tellingly, what are the emotions behind their decisions?
Whether you are planning punchy adverts or in-depth case studies, your marketing needs to make the audience feel that they have come to the right place. To get the message, tone and emotional content just right, your marketing people need to know all about your customers. Your products and service are important, but secondary to customer needs and wants.
As an engineering or technology business there are going to be situations where your capabilities mean you have the edge over your competitors, and others where you are not so strong.
By considering different customer needs in conjunction with your capabilities, you can develop successful marketing strategies and messages which play to your strengths and avoid wasting time on no-win situations. It’s clear that this delivers more long-term benefit than claiming that you’re better for everyone in every way.
Once you are clear about the characteristics of your ideal customers, modern marketing techniques allow you to target audiences not only on the basis of industries, job roles and locations, but also considering previous purchasing behaviours, interests and other factors.
Reach – micro-targeting your ideal customers
Reinforcement – in a business-to-business context
Salespeople used to reckon that it took at least eight ‘touches’ between initial contact and closing a sale. And research from the advertising industry suggests that it’s only on the third viewing of an advert that people take it in fully.
In business-to-business marketing today, buyers tend to be better informed from the outset and they are likely to make multiple visits to your website and/or social media before talking to a salesperson. This means that you need to plan marketing and web content which reinforces your messages and gives people more as they progress in their buying journey.
Of-course prospects sometimes need just a good old-fashioned nudge to remind them that you – and their challenges – are still there. From simple emails to full marketing automation, I find it is best to start simple and work up to more ambitious techniques.
Next steps
Would you like to explore more ideas for your own marketing? Or discuss your business with a marketing specialist who’s focused on tech and software firms?
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