By Steve Fodor
“You only have one chance to make a first impression.” I don’t know who originally said that, but it’s one of my favorite quotes because it’s true in life…and in marketing. Especially when marketing highly technical products.
As a marketing communications and public relations firm specializing in business-to-business message and content development, we work with clients who make and market highly technical products. Sometimes we have to “push back” a little when our clients get too wrapped up in their own products’ technological features. Will technological features alone really capture the attention of an engineer or buyer of technological products?
It is true that engineers will use three-or four-word long tail phrases when searching online for a product solution. Engineers (as a breed, if you will) are information junkies. They usually have a precise set of criteria in mind when they conduct a search. But, just because engineers are information junkies doesn’t mean they’re not people, too, with emotions like humor, empathy and intrigue. The temptation when creating content for marketing technical products is to create content that reads like a technical “white paper.” That may make you, the marketer, “feel good,” but not necessarily the buyer. Your first impression on a potential buyer is what they will remember and be captivated by, be it content presented in a blog, an online ad, online video or via social media. If you don’t captivate your audience with a memorable and interesting message presentation, all that technical data you’ve worked to create in the “technical library section” of your Web site may not even get seen by the engineering audience you’re trying to reach and motivate.
Even though the mediums for marketing communications have dramatically evolved and changed, the classic selling model for business-to-business marketing still holds true: interest from a buyer leads to a quest for more information, ultimately resulting in a feeling of trust which leads to a sale. Unfortunately, far too many marketers overlook that first and most critical step: create interest. If you don’t make an interesting and memorable first impression on your Web site or in any of your other content development and marketing communications strategies, you may never get to that second step with a buyer: the quest for more information. You do only have one chance to make a first impression when marketing technical products to engineers. Make it an interesting and memorable one.
Flickr PhotoCredit:cliff1066
Posts
