New Portal of B2B Marketing Resources Provides Other Case Studies, Free Guides to Assist Science, Engineering, and Technology Companies in Integrated Marketing

AUSTIN, Texas – March 26, 2013 – Silex Technology America, Inc., a leading embedded technology company specializing in network and wireless technology, today announced it selected TREW Marketing as its marketing partner for brand positioning, messaging and marketing communications activity planning. Silex Technology provides hardware, software, embedded modules, and turnkey connectivity products to device manufacturers and partners with leading suppliers including Green Hills Software, Freescale, QNX, and Qualcomm Atheros. The company chose TREW Marketing because of the agency’s distinct experience in marketing to engineers and proven success leading a co-marketing campaign that drove a 320 percent increase in new leads for Silex Technology.

Building on Proven Results

TREW Marketing led the efforts for Silex Technology’s 2012 co-marketing campaign with Freescale, promoting Silex Technology as the exclusive provider of Wi-Fi connectivity technology for Freescale’s i.MX 6 platform. Through this launch, Silex Technology sought to:

• Build awareness of its Wi-Fi solutions among i.MX 6 customers
• Drive traffic to the website
• Generate leads and create new opportunities for its embedded Wi-Fi sales team

To achieve these goals, TREW Marketing developed a product launch and co-marketing plan centered on web and content marketing. A new campaign on the Silex Technology website educated design engineers about the company’s wireless connectivity solutions for Freescale’s i.MX 6 platform. TREW Marketing led the creation of product collateral, a news release, videos, and an online co-marketing event that all drove traffic to this dedicated web portal. A white paper download and multi-touch e-mail campaign also engaged visitors to learn more. And, Freescale featured the Wi-Fi solutions in its Design News customer e-newsletter and Product News sales e-newsletter to build awareness with design engineers and the Freescale sales force.

In the first two months of the launch, web traffic grew by 30 percent, and monthly leads grew by 320 percent with a nearly 25 percent lead-conversion rate. This in turn created new opportunities for the Silex Technology embedded Wi-Fi dedicated sales team.

“TREW Marketing’s integrated approach and diligent execution of the co-marketing campaign with Freescale delivered record results for Silex Technology,” said Keith Sugawara, vice president of business development at Silex Technology America. “The agency’s further insight on our company positioning and marketing activity planning will set us up for even more success as a leading network technology company.”

TREW Marketing Resources: Free B2B Marketing Guides for Scientists and Engineers

TREW Marketing also released TREW Marketing Resources, a portal of B2B marketing resources that can help science, engineering, and technology companies begin to see success like Silex Technology realized with an integrated marketing approach.

The new portal houses a compilation of free case studies, videos, and marketing guides that contain best practices, industry data, and practical how-to’s on a variety of topics specifically for marketing to technical audiences. TREW Marketing Resources includes guides like Smart Marketing for Engineers, an e-book that helps technical business leaders build and execute an efficient and effective marketing program.

About Silex Technology America

Silex Technology America, Inc. is a subsidiary of Silex Technology Inc., a 35-year developer and leading network technology company specializing in network and wireless technology, providing hardware, software, embedded modules and turnkey connectivity products. Silex Technology has regional offices for sales, marketing and development in Japan, United States and Germany. Silex Technology is integrated vertically to support customers from design to production, maintaining the highest quality standards. For more information, please visit www.silexamerica.com.

About TREW Marketing

TREW Marketing, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a full-service marketing firm uniquely serving leading companies and organizations in the engineering and science markets. TREW Marketing uses decades of specialized technical marketing experience to create strategies and plans, and execute services such as research, positioning and messaging, product launch planning, media outreach, website strategy and design, and search marketing for clients. To learn more about TREW Marketing, readers can visit http://www.trewmarketing.com.

Related blog posts

Crank Software Selects TREW Marketing for Embedded Industry Outreach

ERP Integrator Selects TREW Marketing for Brand and Marketing Communications

TREW News: National Defense Solutions Provider Selects TREW Marketing

TREW Marketing now offers a free webcast discussing how engineers and professionals in B2B technology seek information and use different media sources, and what companies must do to market to these technical audiences.

We’ve found that more than 50 percent of technical companies plan to increase marketing budgets in the next 1 to 3 years, and this new webcast gives insight as to how companies can best maximize their marketing spending to reach a technical audience.

Our data for the webcast came from a recent survey targeting engineers, scientists and technologists and addresses marketing media topics ranging from web search habits to use of industry publications and social media. We surveyed more than 100 engineers and professionals in the B2B technology market to gain insight on marketing to technical audiences, media choices, news, the latest communication platforms and industry trends.

In the webcast, we share information about respondents’ use of web sites to gather information, search habits, and social media preferences. The webcast, along with a downloadable white paper on the topic, is freely available on demand and has three parts:

• Part 1: How Engineers Stay Informed
• Part 2: Search Marketing for Engineers
• Part 3: Social Media – Relevant or Not?

Watch the 3 Must-Do’s When Marketing to Technical Audiences webcast now!

Related Posts:

Smart Marketing for Engineers – a Free Guidebook

The TREW Approach- Goals and Smart Planning

Looking for additional insight? Check out our guide: Smart Marketing for Engineers

Want to create professional-looking recordings of product demos or customer testimonials, but don’t have a high-end budget to produce them? Start by creating a company account on YouTube – a search-friendly social media channel for sharing user-created videos. Then follow these simple do-it-yourself (DIY) guidelines to produce an effective and cost-efficient video for spreading company awareness and communicating with your audience.

Figure 1. This video of customer testimonials was shot at a tradeshow and edited with Apple iMovie.

Video Objectives and Content

Before you get started, establish the goals of the film to determine if the video is worth the time and effort of producing.

• What is the point of the video? Are you selling or training?
  • Note: A sales pitch video should be much shorter (only 1 to 2 minutes) and have less detail than a tutorial video in order to keep the viewer’s attention.
• Who is the audience?
• What is your goal and how will you know if the video is successful?

Using these objectives, create a rough outline of the video’s content. For example, if the video is a product demo, the story may unfold as such:

• Act 1: a short introduction that gives a hook of why the viewer should care
• Act 2: the meat of the presentation that shows why the product is impressive via a short demo
• Act 3: an explanation of the wonderful benefits of using this product and the next steps to take

To make the recording session as productive as possible, use the outline to map out a storyboard of the necessary shots, as well as a matching script for the narrator. Choose a dynamic and exciting speaker, and consider adding a little humor if appropriate.

Equipment List

Next, you will need to have the following tools at your disposal:

• Digital video-recording device, such as a Kodak minicamcorder or smartphone
• Tripod
• External microphone
• Video-editing software, such as the free Window Movie Maker or Apple iMovie
• Screen recording software for software demos (optional)
• Audio recording and editing software, such as the free Audacity software (optional)

Nowadays, smartphones are a lot more accessible than handheld camcorders. However, to produce higher quality videos on a budget, it may be worthwhile to invest in a dedicated recording device with extra capabilities. Key features to look for include an external microphone jack, ability to mount on a tripod, and high definition (HD) quality video output.

Recording Setup

On the day of the recording, set aside extra time beforehand to prepare the environment.

• For good sound quality, choose a conference room or other quiet setting. Using an external microphone is highly recommended. For wired microphones, snake the device up through the bottom of the speaker’s shirt and pin it on the collar. If you only have an internal microphone, make sure the speaker is close enough to the video recorder and do some sound checks beforehand.
• For lighting, make sure the subject is well lit and properly color balanced (so that white actually looks like white on the video). This can be accomplished by choosing a location with good natural lighting, bringing in additional lamps for artificial lighting, or adjusting digital settings on your camera or video-editing software.
• Practice the rule of thirds. Position the main subject of your video on the intersecting thirds lines, instead of centered in the middle of the screen.

Figure 2. This Microsoft technology video uses the rule of thirds to create an interesting and well-balanced shot.

Best Practices for Recording

Keep in mind these tips and tricks when creating the storyboard and on the day of recording.

• When using amateur recording equipment, avoid moving, panning, zooming, or even touching the camera during takes to prevent shaky camera syndrome. Instead, get static shots from varying angles, as well as a mix of wide and close shots, which can be smoothly connected during the editing process.
• Get at least 5 seconds of extra video before and after each shot for editing purposes.
• Record supplemental B-roll footage to cut away from the main shot, keep things interesting, and hide any problem areas. For example, you can insert close-ups of the demo while the narrator is speaking, instead of just showing the speaker the whole time.
• Rather than fitting everything into one shot, record multiple takes if needed so you’ll have many options to choose from during the editing process.

Post-Production

Once you have obtained the necessary footage, upload the files onto the computer with the editing software and follow these guidelines. Once completed, embed the video on your website and upload it on the company’s YouTube account with the appropriate description and search tags.

• Shorten the film as much as possible to maintain the audience’s attention. Do not use any fancy transitions between shots; cut and fade are sufficient for most videos.
• Keep the visuals interesting by using shots from different angles, inserting unexpected images or B-roll footage, and moving static pictures.
• Do not use any music or graphics unless they are royalty-free or you have the explicit permission from the creator.
• The audio quality must be clear enough to understand, so re-record the audio or add subtitles as necessary.
• Insert a title page that can include the video title and speaker’s name and title. Insert an end page that can include the company logo and next steps, such as a website address or contact information.

Figure 3. Create an end page to provide viewers with concrete next steps to take.

Looking for additional insight? Check out our guide: Smart Marketing for Engineers

Related Links:
5 Fast, Compelling Videos to Create Now
A How-To Guide for Creating Webcasts

Summary:

See how an IT company with an emerging product in an undefined space used a number of different PR tactics to improve a key performance indicator – feature article coverage – by more than 125%, and achieve record web traffic and target media engagements.

Challenge:

The company wanted to create awareness of a new product in a quickly evolving, noisy, and undefined IT/networking space with aggressive competitors.

Goal:

The goal of the product launch was to create product awareness, garner media coverage, and begin to build relationships with key editors and analysts in the industry.

This was the most successful product launch in the client’s company history. As a result of this launch and ongoing outreach, the company now has a strategic and measured PR program, it’s visibility and coverage have increased,  and it is gaining on its competitors.

Campaign:

TREW Marketing sought to create a PR program for this IT company that would quickly address their known challenges – their product was emerging in an undefined market, the market is fragmented and crowded with many tools providers, and their primary competitor was aggressive in its messaging. To achieve success and address these challenges, TREW created a tiered media list of publications and editors, drafted targeted high-quality content, reached out to prioritized media, executed a major product launch, and now continues to build on the newly-established relationships and company awareness.

Step 1: Develop a Targeted and Tiered Outreach List

TREW sought to develop a strategic media list for the IT company. Developing the list involved extensive research including tracking competitor coverage, searching for new publications, categorizing journalist beats, and identifying the data and articles that had been the most influential for the IT industry. This research resulted in a list of more than 25 media contacts who write for an audience relevant to the IT company’s existing product offerings and soon-to-be-launched ground-breaking new product.

To prioritize efforts with journalists, TREW ranked journalists as high, medium and low priority, and established interaction goals with each group of journalists. TREW, with the help of the IT company, then executed both proactive and reactive outreach  based on occurring events such as new articles, blog posts, and company and industry news, and introduced the IT company to the journalist when the company and its expertise could be helpful.

Step 2: Plan and Create Quality Content

For the major product launch, TREW created several pieces of targeted content, starting with the news release. Based on TREW research and several launch messaging meetings, the release focused on the product’s unique benefits for the market and application-leading specifications that factually ensured the product would stand out prominently over aggressive competitors who had a larger voice in the market, yet a technically inferior product. In addition, TREW created a one-page flyer that highlighted specific pain points of potential customers and used diagrams and explanations to show how the new product saved time, cost, and set customers up for future success.

Alongside the news release and one-page overview, TREW helped develop the slide content, flow, and messaging that positioned the company and introduced the product. In addition TREW created article abstracts that company experts could write for publications. The IT company presented the slides in run-throughs of the presentation, each time making changes and adjustments so that their messages were clearly and accurately conveyed.

Step 3: Reach out to the Media

A few weeks before the launch of the product, TREW began to contact journalists it had begun developing relationships with since Step 1. TREW introduced the product and invited journalists to meet with the company leadership and technology experts to learn more about the product and how it would meet the needs of the journalists’ audiences.

Since the PR launch process began with researching the best contacts and building relationships, as outlined in Step 1, TREW already had a start on raising the company’s visibility with key journalists which helped ensure they would more easily accept the invitation to hear about the new product at the time of announcement.

Step 4: Launch the Product

The week of the launch, the news release was distributed via wire and the IT company met with journalists across the country. They presented slides, answered questions, pitched article abstracts or offered assistance with other articles where applicable, and TREW continued to watch the targeted publications for places the new product could be included.

Step 5: Sustain the Media Relations Program

With a successful launch underway, TREW continues to build relationships with key media for the IT company. By consistently staying in touch with top media and making valuable offers of expert spokespeople, new content, and company news, overall engagements (i.e., journalist responses) are growing. As TREW and the IT company look to build on this success into 2012, a key focus is on additional compelling content and ideas to strengthen relationships with editors and grow the IT company’s image as a leader in the markets they serve.

Results:

With the PR program development and strategic product launch, the IT company secured 125% more coverage than prior launches. Throughout the launch, the company received:

• Six times more feature article coverage than their top competitor in the launch month
• Strong feature article headlines and product messaging
• Industry analyst quotes in multiple top-tier publications
• Feature coverage in four of the targeted publications
• Article headlines that included key messages promoted through the presentations, news release, and additional information materials

Your brand is your company’s control center, or what we like at TREW to call “the brain”. It is the collective set of experiences over many years that shape who your company is and its unique value proposition. In marketing terms, your brand is personified both visually – through your company logo and branding styleguide – and contextually – through words, such as your mission, vision, and positioning statements; core company and product-level messaging; and company and campaign taglines.

With a smart, creative approach, TREW Marketing brings years of experience helping companies shape their brand and identity with a service we call the Branding Brain. Below are elements illustrating our approach and Branding Brain success with three client examples – The Hogg Foundation, Starmount Systems, and Alfamation.

To Develop the Brain, First Know the Heart

To position a company, both visually and contextually, it’s important to first know about the company’s heart. What is the company and its team uniquely passionate about and capable of delivering that no other company can? This requires a lot of listening – in person, via research, and persistent studying.

For The Hogg Foundation, TREW conducted an in-depth market research project, focused on internal leadership and staff, as well as external groups of stakeholders and consumers.

Market research included:

• 21 hours of qualitative in-person interviews with all staff
• Over 800 external quantitative online surveys
• Research analysis and findings

Following this market research, TREW Marketing gained honest stakeholder insights that led to recommendations for branding, messaging, and communications.

Starmount, a retail software solutions provider was undergoing an entire brand redesign, and partnered with TREW to develop core branding elements, including mission, vision and positioning statements; tagline concepts; and company and product-level core messaging. The TREW team worked closely with company business, technical and marketing leadership and conducted qualitative competitive analysis over several months to understand Starmount’s unique value proposition in a highly competitive retail software marketplace.

Alfamation, a test and measurement solutions provider, selected TREW to manage their rebranding efforts by crafting their “brain,” including company logo and brand guidelines; product logo creation; creative guidance for software, hardware packaging; core company and product level positioning and messaging; and mission statement and tagline. TREW began this process by interviewing company business and sales leaders and key partners as well as studying the competitive landscape and market opportunities.

Listen Actively and Patiently

Choosing words in branding statements is a slow, methodical, creative and patient process. For the Hogg Foundation, through our deliberate process, a key vision crystallized – to move from speaking about mental illness or recovery, to the more progressive, all-encompassing term, mental wellness. It was also important to emphasize their mission’s focus in the state of Texas, while being mindful of their strong awareness and influence nationally.

Through much research and group discussions, TREW developed the following mission and vision statements for the foundation:

Mission: The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health advances mental wellness of the people of Texas as an impactful grantmaker and catalyst for change

Vision: The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health will invest our knowledge and resources to move Texas forward in achieving mental wellness

Although Starmount serves a completely different market place of retail Chief Information Officers (CIO) and Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) at large retailers such as Urban Outfitters or Home Depot, getting to their unique value proposition and company positioning followed a similar process: rolling up our sleeves, listening and asking many, many questions, to ultimately get to the Starmount heart.

Out of this process and a collective understanding of Starmount’s unique software products and services and very talented and experienced team of retail software developers, we were then able to develop the brain, including the following mission and vision statements:

Mission: “Starmount software brings the power of online retail to create relevant, engaging in-store shopping experiences”

Vision: “To transform the in-person shopping experience and make retail stores relevant”

For Alfamation, the TREW team sought to capture their passion and scientific knowledge for creating out-of-the-box products and services for design, test, and manufacturing engineers and managers in the automotive, consumer electronics, telecom, and medical industries. It was important for the mission, tagline, and logo to convey their innovative culture and present the company’s broad family of software and hardware products to customers globally. Through our same deliberative process, we developed their brain, including these elements:

Mission: “We leverage our scientific passion and knowledge to imagine and create new ways to engineer functional test systems”

Tagline: “Imagine a better test solution”

Live Your Brand – Everyday. Everyway.

Building off the core ”brain” elements, The Hogg Foundation and TREW created and prioritized organizational goals, core values, and made their branding elements visible at all touch points in the organization through activities that included:

• 4 organizational goals and detailed recommendations
• Re-designed website with robust content management system and clear navigation
• E-newsletter template extending the web design brand experience
• Established core values embraced by The Hogg Foundation’s internal and external audiences

Starmount’s “brain” came to life with a custom, integrated 12 –month marketing strategy and activity plan, resulting in:

• Communications Brain used as messaging guide for primary company and product communication
• Consistency and efficiency gains by using Brain vs. reinventing messaging with each new activity
• Scalable and integrated mix of low- and high-cost media investments to generate demand

Once Alfamation’s core elements of the “brain” were developed, TREW integrated their branding across all marketing disciplines with a 12-month marketing plan, including:

• Website re-design which resulted in 100% increase of pages viewed from previous site

• Leveraging the company and product level positioning and messaging “brain” with the design and production of Alfamation’s booth at NI Week; developing their promotional strategy; and creating technical product brochures

• Compelling email marketing campaign that extended their trade show success, and generated a response rate 2.6 times greater than the industry average

In technical B2B markets, oftentimes through manufacturer and industry conferences, there are associated technical paper contests that recognize outstanding applications in a variety of categories. Participating in these technical contests are great opportunities with potential to bring strong awareness to your company and solution, including onsite and web promotion, opportunities to present your work, and visibility with technical trade editors, who are always looking for new and interesting applications to share with their readers.

In addition to all these benefits, another is the very low-cost. Many paper contests are free to participate in. Your only costs really are your and/or your staff’s time to work with your customer to write and edit drafts, and any costs associated with related images. These may be screen shots that cost nothing other than time for touch-up; in some cases, it may require a professional photographer to capture photos of the system or application area, which does raise your costs. However, this is a good investment because you can re-use these application shots throughout the rest of your marketing, including on the web, in sales presentations, at events, and with the press.

In addition to paper contests, there are also many opportunities to present technical presentations at industry trade shows and company user conferences. Examples include company events such as SolidWorks World or industry-wide conferences such as Embedded Systems Conference, with events held around the world throughout the year. One that was just held just last week in Austin, Texas, the Graphical System Design Achievement Awards at NIWeek, included categories such as Mechatronics, Robotics and Control; Embedded Design; and Communications and Wireless.

A big congratulations goes out to TREW customer Cal-Bay Systems of San Rafael, California, for taking first place in the Production Automated Test Equipment (ATE) category. Their paper, Building a Reconfigurable Motor Life Test System for Medical Device Test Powered by FPGA, details their work for a leading medical device manufacturer to test  “the heart of an insulin pump product – the motor.”

Next time you introduce a new product or secure a customer win, leverage that hard work by turning that success into an educational (non-salesy) presentation, with sufficient technical facts, technology trends, and helpful hints. And be sure to plan ahead – often the call for papers closes months in advance of the event.

Need help creating a paper contest entry?  Call on TREW Marketing to project manage, edit, and promote your outstanding technical application.

Last week, we held a poll to see what others believe are the most important ways to market to engineers from TREW’s top five list, including:

1. Search Engine Marketing (natural and paid)

2. Webcasts

3. Timely, accurate technical content

4. Strong visual content

5. Customer testimonials and case studies

And the votes are in and interesting. The winners – Technical content and case studies. The “not-winner” – strong visual content.

First, to the winners. Technical content and case studies were the clear winners in readers’ preferences. We were happy to see this as we know from years of marketing to technical audiences that, at the end of the day, engineers and scientists want to scrutinize performance charts, compare specs, study white papers that detail new technologies or trends that can help them meet the demands of their designs, and continually read how others are solving similar problems.

For the “not-winner” – visual content – it was a lonely poll performer with no votes coming in. However, I am not calling it the loser and here’s why. This sad voter turnout for photos and video says to me that, in list of priority, you must first have strong technical content and a variety of means for people to learn, such as webcasts. This is the “meat on the bone”  if you will.  If you don’t have this, then compelling videos and informative product shots will not be enough to convince an engineer to research your product or service more.

With that said, I believe if all you have is tables of specs and long, dry white papers without interesting images, screen shots, photos, and video, you’re missing a big opportunity to educate people in multiple formats and increase your chance of capturing their interest.

In the middle ranked webinars and search engine marketing. This is reinforced by the techinsights team (they manage EE Times and Embedded Systems Design among others) who said when we met with them this week that webinars are one of the most effective means their customers are finding to generate quality leads and get a return on marketing dollars. This was in addition to targeted live events, such as ECS Boston, which is coming up in September and has a strong medical focus.

Thanks to all those who voted and shared your opinions. To read our thoughts on marketing, view and download our trew-marketing-best-practices-white-paper

With one of the most popular trade show and conferences in the science and engineering space, NIWeek, coming up next week here in Austin, we at TREW Marketing put together a list of five proven methods for marketing to a technical audience. With all those leads you’re going to get from the show, you now have to make sure you are set up to work them.

This is by no means an end-all, be-all list, but in our view, the “must-haves” in any technical marketing program.

1. Engineers + Google = Love

2. Webcasts – a win-win for all

3. Timely, accurate technical content

4. Engineers like pictures too

5. Your customers say it all

After you read the post, be sure to VOTE on the type of marketing you’ve found most effective to reaching engineers and scientists.

1. Engineers + Google = Love. Numerous studies from trade journals and engineering-centric companies how shown time and again that they primary way engineers find information and seek answers to problems is through search engines. Engineers rely heavily upon search engines because they are the fastest and most convenient ways to seek specific information. From learning about a new standard affecting their design to seeking possible system-level component solutions, engineers are using search engines throughout the development process to find the information and products they need. So, what can you do to ensure your products and services are easily and precisely found on search engines?

• Create a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan.  Set goals for your presence on search engines and identify keywords you want to own.
• Optimize your website for search.  This includes organizing your site around the desired search terms, programmatic changes such as page titles and metatagging, and “look at me” submissions to major search engines.
• Purchase targeted, uncrowded search terms (e.g., Google Adwords). Start with Google, which owns a commanding 65% of search market share, and Yahoo, which is strong in areas such as local search, but pay attention to the active search engine industry battles, such as Microsoft’s new Bing engine that is taking Google head-on.
• Monitor your results frequently — your competition might be quick to respond and before you know it, your rank or ad placement may have weakened.

If done thoughtfully and monitored regularly, natural search engine optimization and paid advertising can be a powerful, efficient lead generator for your business.

2. Webcasts – a win-win.  It is no wonder that webcasts have exploded in popularity among the engineering community over the past decade – companies, trade magazines, and event trade show organizers now offer them as another venue for engineers to gather information.  And it’s obvious why – they are win-win for the end-user and the organizations. For users, webcasts are convenient – engineers can “attend” right from their desk or as a team in a conference room.  They are accessible – engineers just log in and are immediately listening, and void of the burdensome in-person social encounter or phone call with sales departments that some engineers would rather avoid.  And they can be interactive – webcast hosts often offer Q&A opportunities during the event.

For you, the webcast host, the benefits are also many: online events are highly cost effective when compared to physical events, the reach is broader, and while the live webcast is interactive, the session can be archived on your website and used as a lead generator for months to come.  Software demonstrations and videos of hardware/systems (even remote control of systems) can be achieved on any of the major webcast tools available today, reducing the need for costly demo equipment and shipping. Webcasts work best when part of an integrated marketing campaign.  For example, they can be a strong follow up action for people who attended your booth at NIWeek or another trade show, or a dynamic way to “demo” a feature of your product to prospects who’ve shown interest from a previous activity.

3. Timely, accurate technical content. Earlier, we talked about engineers’ preference to seek out their own information, and that search engines are hands-down the primary means they use to find this content. But what are they seeking? Most of the time, engineers and scientists are researching specific product or service types, product features, specifications, how-to articles, etc. (they are also seeking examples from  others who have done their application before, which we talk about in #5 below).

Therefore, it is critical that you provide timely, accurate information about your products and services, including tested and reliable specifications, comparison charts, and visual graphs showing a variety of performance results. Technical content can also focus on trends in certain industries or applications, or can detail tips and techniques for solving certain technical challenges. Here are some nice examples to review and get ideas. By providing this kind of content, you can become a technical resource for your customers and prospects, increasing customer loyalty as well as your chances of converting prospects when they are ready to buy.

As a sidenote, because technical content is very high-quality and of high value to engineers, you can turn this type of content into a lead-generating area of your website as well and have on-hand at your show booth. So you not only provide quality information, but you also help your SEO and generate leads.

4. Engineers like pictures too. I know this comes as a surprise, but engineers and scientists are human too…they like to look at pictures just like the rest of the us. As Dan Roam explains in his book, “Back of the Napkin“, pictures are the best way to communicate and therefore the best for solving problems. As a result, you can greatly improve the readability and comprehension of your technical content by having interesting images accompany your technical content. This can come in the form of photos of application shots, product shots up close or in action, graphs or charts showing performance levels or time-based results, flow charts explaining a system or process (such as the one below showing the process that is followed to wake up in the morning), tables, or even a video.

As I have said before in this blog, and will continue to say, interesting, relevant and high quality images, such as those listed above, can turn everyday content into great content by adding dynamic imagery to help education and explain your topic.

5. Your customers say it all. As with any type of purchase, the opinions and experiences of our friends and colleagues weigh heavily on our own purchase decisions. Except for a small few who want to be first to try the newest thing (the left side of the bell curve image below), most people, and especially engineers and scientists working in critical application areas with very little room for error, prefer products and services that are tried and proven. As Geoffrey Moore outlined in his book, Crossing the Chasm, for the early majority who represent the beginning of the mainstream market, “good references are critical to their buying decisions.”

A good reference can be a simple quote from a well-known company or a detailed case study covering the technical challenges of the application, how it was solved, and the qualitative and quantitative benefits that the new system or service delivered.

By focusing on these five methods of marketing consistently and over the long-term, you will be on your way to building a robust marketing program that engineers and scientists will find valuable, and ultimately, will respond to.