1. Internal analysis
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The internal analysis of a company is the first phase of a marketing plan. To introspect about your own business, you should ask yourself why your technology was born, what makes it unique and what audience it can reach with the resources you have available, following these two key steps:
1.1. Know the WHY of your business
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Are you familiar with Simon Sinek’s “golden circle”? With this concept, the English populariser states that most businesses are clear about WHAT they do and HOW they work to perfect their processes and methodology. However, there are few companies that have the same certainty about WHY they do it, or what their mission is, which, in the end, is one of the most powerful questions in marketing.
And if you think about it, all technology companies aim to sell their technology. They may even be competing with the same product or service. So how can you differentiate yourself? With that WHY that allows you to configure your own corporate identity, that is to say, that helps you to generate a unique company profile.
Bear in mind that consumer trends have changed drastically, especially at this time in our lives, and that buyers today need more than just quality products: they need to see themselves reflected in the company’s identity, in its values. That is why, in order to attract buyers to your business, you need to answer the following questions:
The following questions must be answered
- What is the reason that led you to create your technology company? What is the mission you want to achieve by providing technology solutions to your customers?
- What is your mission?
- Why do you think your service or product can better satisfy your customer? What do you offer that other tech companies don’t?
- What do you offer that other tech companies don’t?
- What do you offer?
- What are your company’s differentiating values? What makes you special? Which leads us to:
1.2. Make your technology product stand out from the competition
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But have you ever stopped to think why companies like, say, Coca Cola, Nike or Camper stand out from the crowd? Yes, Coca Cola has the magic formula, but both it and Nike or Camper are unique. Do you know what the secret is? They transmit passion. Behind each one of them there is a personal story…
Nike does not transmit passion.
Nike does not transmit to its customers the quality of its sports shoes, if they are sewn with a special fabric or if the sole, which hides an inner tube, is made of an unbreakable material. What Nike conveys is that if you wear them, you will feel unique. Nike and the big brands, the ones that have really invested astronomical amounts in traditional marketing, convey passion.
If you focus on the Nike brand, you will feel unique.
If we focus on the big tech brands, their ads also focus on touching the heart. Look at this Nokia advert – remember it?
What’s the point?
It’s clear that each of the sequences is designed to reach deep into our feelings.
It’s clear that each of the sequences is designed to reach deep into our feelings.
Another example of a leading technology company: Google’s doodles. This is the most popular graphic element of its search engine. As you may know, it periodically changes or modifies its logo to commemorate an event. They are so popular that there is even a page where you can find the latest doodles. And techniques like these are part of a company’s marketing plan? Of course they are.
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Innovation is what distinguishes leading companies from the rest.
Innovation is what distinguishes leading companies from the rest.
In conclusion, in order to make yourself known, you must first define yourself and then differentiate yourself. In this way, even your employees will understand and be able to correctly convey your company’s identity and the message you want to get across to your target audience.
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1.3. Find your target audience
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One of the reasons we put so much emphasis on defining and differentiating yourself is because no company can cater to every type of consumer. Google doesn’t do it, Apple doesn’t do it. For this reason, it is essential to find those consumers who can align with your brand values, i.e. find those buyer profiles most likely to appreciate and consume your products or services.
That’s why it’s essential to find the kind of consumers who can align with your brand values, i.e. find those buyer profiles most likely to appreciate and consume your products or services.
Think that only in this way you will be making your marketing efforts profitable, that is, you will be improving the chances of converting your online visitors into contacts and potential buyers because, for starters, you will be attracting the right users. To do this, it is necessary to create buyer profiles known as buyer personas, which will be differentiated according to the technology you use:
- B2B: a technology company whose product or service is aimed at another company should take into account the idiosyncrasies of each sector it is targeting and the particularities and needs of the buyer (the person who carries out the research into the product or service) as the beneficiary is the company. Since the person is the one who will have to justify the expenditure and the suitability of this investment in terms of the needs and challenges of the company in which he/she works, his/her position within the company must be taken into account, but also how much he/she knows about the technology he/she is acquiring and the type of research he/she has carried out.
- B2C: a technology company that sells to end consumers should carry out a detailed x-ray of their socioeconomic traits such as gender, age, place of residence, where they live, who they live with, family income, what studies and work they have, what their online and offline consumption habits are, their hobbies, concerns, motivations, challenges… It is also advisable to establish segmentation by other variables, such as whether they have bought or used the same technology repeatedly, or by their behaviour in the online environment: how they consume content and whether they share information, etc.
If your company does not work with CRM tools that facilitate the management of contact data, it might be the right time for you to consider implementing this software to collect, analyse and segment all the information you will be getting about your buyer personas.
2. Current affairs study
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The second step in this marketing plan will involve carrying out a study that contextualises your situation in the present time, beginning with an assessment of the market in which your company competes, i.e. both the sector in general and those companies that can be considered competitors or possible allies.
2.1. Assess the market
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First of all, it is necessary to study the current market situation. What are the latest trends, new developments, what are the new needs of customers, economic data, business volume, etc. The more information you gather, the better your chances of finding opportunities in the market where there is not so much competition.
The more information you gather, the better your chances of finding opportunities in the market where there is not so much competition.
Of course, this information needs to be up to date so that you know you are directing your marketing efforts in the right direction. So regularly spend time keeping track of what’s new in the local market. And if you are a B2B technology company, keep in mind all the necessary updates from the sectors you sell to.
2.2. Analyse the competition
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In a sector as competitive as the technology sector, you must also be aware of what your competitors sell and how they do it. What businesses are direct competitors? What methodology do they use to attract customers? What impact do they have on your area of reach?
What is their impact on your area of reach?
What is their impact on your area of reach?
On the one hand, it is vital to stop and analyse the marketing strategies of other technology companies. Knowing them will help you discover opportunities that they are not taking advantage of, but it will also allow you to differentiate yourself from them.
On the one hand, it is vital to stop and analyse the marketing strategies of other technology companies.
On the other hand, looking at the technology companies in your sector will allow you to see which businesses can be allies because, sometimes, the global solution to a problem presented by your buyers will have more than one perspective. In this case you could consider the possibility of partnerships and for this you should select those technology companies that share your values and that address your buyer persona with solutions that you do not offer, but that are complementary.
2.3. Study your situation
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From all this information you have collected so far, you can perform a SWOT analysis of your company. In other words, define the weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities for your company.
The Weaknesses, Threats, Strengths and Opportunities.
The weaknesses will allow you to detect the internal weaknesses of your company in order to solve them. While threats, even if they are due to external factors (some of which are unpredictable), will allow you to be prepared and adapt your strategy.
On the other hand, you can focus your strategies on making the most of your strengths, especially if they are the ones that differentiate you. As well as the opportunities that you can include in your next marketing plan objectives.
All of these opportunities can be included in your next marketing plan objectives.
3. Defining objectives
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The marketing plan is a tool that allows you to make the most of your resources and to keep a line of work. It is ideal for organising yourself and drawing up a roadmap with specific marketing actions. And that is why, in addition to asking yourself how to make a marketing plan, once you have the bases we have mentioned above, you should ask yourself what you want to achieve with it.
What you want to achieve with it.
Defining SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) should be the next step in creating your marketing plan. In this case it is advisable to organise your objectives according to priority, i.e. short, medium and long term, for which you should dedicate 60%, 30% and 10% of your efforts and resources respectively.
You should never set SMART objectives.
But never forget that marketing objectives must support business objectives, which is why all departments should be aligned. On the other hand, after the estimated time, it will always be necessary to determine whether these objectives have been met, i.e. to evaluate and measure the marketing actions carried out, optimising them, changing them or maintaining them according to their success.
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4. Choice of online strategies
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Another important part of a technology company’s digital marketing plan is choosing the right strategies according to the objectives you want to achieve based on all the contextualised information you have gathered. This means that each company will have an online strategy that is best suited to its current situation and priority objectives.
4.1. Positioning strategy
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If you need to consolidate your position in the market and attract potential customers, you should think about implementing a search engine optimisation strategy. SEO, SEM and content generation are the marketing techniques that can help you achieve your goals. Remember that you don’t want to attract just any consumer, so always keep in mind who your buyer personas are.
4.2. Brand strategy
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You need to improve your brand positioning in the market, or you need to present your new project in the technology sector. This strategy is suitable for companies that need to define and differentiate themselves. In this case, online advertising, content generation on social networks and collaboration with industry experts and/or influencers for your buyer persona can help you achieve your goals.
4.3. Conversion strategies
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As we mentioned earlier, segmentation allows for greater focus of your marketing efforts, and therefore a higher likelihood of conversion. Segmentation and content generation for each stage of your customer’s buying cycle along with the right conversion techniques (chatbots, chats, content offers via CTAs, subscriptions, webinars, demos, free-trials, etc.) will be useful for targeting a specific niche market in its current situation.
4.5. Loyalty strategy.
If your goal is to improve your customer retention and loyalty, this strategy will improve your relationship with your regular customers. In addition, a satisfied customer can become an excellent promoter of your brand. In this case you will need to have your CRM in order, generate relevant content for your customers and use appropriate email marketing techniques such as lead nurturing.
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5. Alignment of all departments.
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Both during the development of the plan and after its completion, you must share your marketing plan with all the professionals who are part of the company, with all departments. The alignment of teams is fundamental to the success of marketing strategies. Marketing does not depend only on the department that carries it out.
Getting all your employees involved in achieving objectives is essential. Make all employees feel engaged and share with them the vision of where you want the company to go. In fact, your employees should also be part of the analysis of the marketing plan: check that all marketing actions are going in the right direction, or even complement the plan with new opportunities that your teams detect.
Now you know the essential steps to create a marketing plan document adapted to your technology. It’s a useful tool that can be adapted to any business opportunity and is sure to help you save time and effort and continue to achieve positive results.
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