5 secrets of tech marketing

5 Secrets of

Tech Marketing

(shh.)

About Me

@aremoose

Likes: Infographics, Dogs, Traveling

Dislikes: Ghouls. Cold Calling,

Moving on September 1st

About Oomph

Oomph is a full service digital design and

engineering firm assisting premium brands

and media companies with large-scale

content engagement solutions.

● Open source: mostly WP and Drupal

● Full-service = design, dev, consulting,

strategy, support…

● Enterprise-level clients including:

NBC, NESN, BlueCross BlueShield,

Getty Images...

About You

I hope that you are a…

● WordPress user

● Business owner

● Freelance developer or designer

● B2B agency

● Small development shop

● Start-up

● Anything

(If not, get out.)

Do you ever feel like…?

“Ahhh, I’m a marketer, how do I make it in tech?”

or

“Ahhh, I’m a geek, how do I make it in marketing?”

About This Talk

Goals:

● Give you a better, basic understanding of marketing

● Give you usable tips and strategies to start using immediately

● Help branch the creative vs. technical gap

● Give information that is applicable to everyone here, no matter your size

Ready?

I hate marketers.

We ruin everything.

-Gary Vaynerchuk

So in this increasingly over-accessed world,

how do you reach people?

5 Secrets

of Tech Marketing

Secret #1

Sit with the developers.

If you are a creative, sit with the developers.

● Learn what is popular and use it

● (semi) Painlessly make industry contacts

If you are a developer, sit with fellow

developers.

Today

● Pick up a linkbait-worthy topic at WordCamp

● Make some industry contacts at WordCamp and have a follow-up plan

● Find 3 groups to join on Meetup.com

● Move your desk

● Post a recent, popular blog post to Reddit (or start writing)

Secret #2

Remember the everyman.

Meaning...

Balance content like:

Script_Debug in WordPress

with posts like:

10 Ways WordPress is the Best CMS

● 90% of information transmitted

to the brain is visual, and

visuals are processed 60,000X

faster in the brain than text.

(Sources: 3M Corporation and

Zabisco)

● Posts with videos attract 3

times more inbound links than

plain text posts. (Source:

SEOmoz)

● Viewers are 85% more likely

to purchase a product after

watching a product video.

(Source: Internet Retailer)

● Make a video tutorial of a bug fix

● Make a an infographic explaining

the differences between CMS

platforms

● Create a diagram or animated

instructional video

● Create video case studies of your

clients telling their stories

● Put a full-sized photo in your

Facebook posts

● Hold a photo contest on social

media

Why How

Today

● Consider visual social media: Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, even Snapchat.

● Find ways to incorporate images or video into everything you do.

● Find a trade-for-services partner, or think about who to hire, for infographics,

animations, and other visual content design.

● Think about ways to reach a lot of people with your knowledge. A weekly Twitter

chat? A podcast?

● What are some recent news topics that could translate to an everyman blog

audience? Web security? A new WP release?

Secret #3

Know yourself.

What makes you different from everyone else?

Are you…

● The most educated?

● The most experienced?

● The most adaptable?

● The cheapest?

● The most fun to work with?

● The most convenient?

● The most organized?

● Who/What/Why statement for companies

o Be truthful and brief.

● Past/Present/Future statement for individuals

o Bring out your personal story.

Who am I?

You are a __________

that does __________

because __________.

How do your clients know that?

Where can you incorporate branding?

= Everywhere.

● Social media

● Fonts

● Colors

● Website

● Logos

● Business cards

● Powerpoints

● Stationary

Today

● Start to ask Who/What/Why and Past/Present/Future questions

● Make sure you’re telling the truth

● Think about what channels you have available.

● Incorporate your story into your website.

Secret #4

Rely on ROI.

ROI = Return on Investment

● CEOs always ask marketers:

What is the ROI? aka What is

the actual, monetary value of

the things you’re doing?

● Keep marketing efforts and

platform alliances in check

● Specialized tools ($$$)

● Google Analytics (complicated)

● Social Media tracking tools (limited)

● Promo codes (not 100% thorough)

How to Measure ROI

Mind the Funnel

● Top: Get as many people in as possible

● Middle: Qualified lead that needs coaxing

● Bottom: Buying from you, need them to come back.

For every effort: What funnel cycle is this for?

Helpful to take a step back and get organized

Today

● Think about your usual funnel

● Come up with (3) marketing efforts for each stage

● Think about which way to measure ROI works best for you

● Implement analytics tools and plugins as needed

● Analyze current efforts in terms of leads

● What is a conversion for you? A web form? A call?

Secret #5

good marketing = people

(So be a people.)

The ‘Golden Circle’

People do not buy what you do, they

buy why you do it.

- Simon Sinek

Mac vs. PC

American Idol Syndrome

o Talent isn’t enough.

o You need to be a single

parent/veteran/have a serious

illness/etc.

Keep your marketing authentic.

What do you like?

● Social media ads?

● Email newsletters?

● Podcasts?

● Blog posts?

● eBooks and eResources?

● Local tech events?

Help, Not Annoy.

● At the end of the day, good marketing is about people. So do what appeals

to people, not what annoys people.

● Help them through content.

● Do not push sales, just offer answers.

Today

● WHY do you do what you do?

● Take a step back: What works (& doesn’t) on you?

o If you’re using FB ads to market yourself, you should notice yourself paying

attention to them when you’re just playing around on the site. If they really

annoy you and you make a point to never click on them---that’s a problem.

● Think about common questions people ask you, or even a question you had until

recently. How can you turn this into answers for others?

● Enable content downloads on your site to make it easy to be a resource.

To Summarize:

1. Sit with the developers.

2. Remember the everyman.

3. Know yourself.

4. Rely on ROI.

5. Marketing = People

Thank you!

Questions?