7 Trends From The Focus Technology Marketing Handbook

I started the B2B Marketing Insider blog to share marketing tips and tricks and my view of the marketing landscape from my perspective – someone who’s living and breathing this stuff every day.

Recently Focus released their Technology Marketing Handbook (no registration), a compendium of marketing tips, tricks and trends crowd-sourced from us technology marketers ourselves. It covers the hottest topics being discussed in technology marketing every day and provides some interesting points of view from some of the great minds in our industry.

I was honored to be included in the handbook and will provide an overview of the top 7 trends covered by me and my peers.

The first pleasant surprise in the handbook was to see my SAP colleague Sara Larsen included in the list of “Marketers to Watch in 2012.” Congratulations Sara! Well deserved.

The 7 Trends In Technology Marketing identified in the Technology Marketing Handbook:

• Positioning and Branding
• Social Media
• Content Marketing
• Demand Generation
• Sales and Marketing Alignment
• Research and Planning
• Marketing Technology

Positioning and Branding

“Now more important than ever” and I couldn’t agree more. Some tips included in the handbook: keep it simple, include the brand in the whole customer experience, unleash your brand ambassadors, let the brand create demand, and focus on delivering on your brand promise.

Social Media

While Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn dominate the majority of social traffic, Focus recommends we not forget the “best of the rest.” The Focus community itself and other sites like StumbleUpon, Google+, Tumblr and lately Pinterest all play an important role for various segments and content types.

The technology marketers in the handbook recommend the following tips to avoid a social media backlash where senior executives start to doubt the value of social media: form meaningful conversations, add value for your community, dedicate resources, don’t over-promote and make sure we start with clear sets of goals.

Content Marketing

Focus makes the great point that while many technology marketers are talking about content marketing, the definition of good content differs greatly between marketers and our audiences. Content Marketing tips include knowing your audience (amen!), be brief, use simple language, avoid techno-speak (bits and bytes, speeds and feeds), and use real examples as evidence of value.

Demand Generation

The guide calls this the lifeblood of technology marketing, the biggest priority for CMOs and I do not disagree. It starts with a well-defined process, an understanding of the buyer process, a well-defined content strategy to ensure your content meets buyer needs and a clear nurturing and automation process.

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Sales alignment is one of the greatest challenges for technology marketers in companies of all sizes. Quality vs. quantity of leads, the conversion process and the marketing mix (how many events?) are all challenges that many technology marketers face every day.

Some solutions offered in the handbook include defining leads, “walking a mile” in sales people’s shoes, having regular meetings to brain storm, get senior leadership alignment and make sure that customer needs trump any dead locks.

Research and Planning

I was thrilled to see this listed as a technology marketing trend along with the “return of marketing strategy” and the “renaissance in research and planning.”  Some trends identified for research and planning include a focus on quality over quantity, lean research, DIY research and crowd-sourcing.

Marketing Technology

How could a technology marketing handbook not talk about marketing technology? There has been a rush to marketing automation and automated lead nurturing that has often focused on buying technology and not on defining the best processes and aligning marketing and sales lead definitions. Any technology process needs to include a 360 degree focus on people, process and technology aligned to strategic objectives.

You can download the full Technology Marketing handbook here and thanks to Focus for the opportunity to provide my thoughts.