It’s a competitive market out there, especially for IT companies, with every business striving to stand out from their competitors with innovative products and services. This means that the quality of marketing campaigns is going to be all the more competitive, too.
A few companies and brands in particular are doing a better job than others.
What makes a good marketing campaign?
How IT, tech and software companies are approaching their marketing campaigns is changing and evolving with technology itself, and the marketing methods available to each company. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on who’s doing the best job – from the big names, to the smaller companies.
Let’s take a look at a few of the ‘magic ingredients’ which go into creating a successful marketing campaign.
Project Management
Marketing campaigns, whether online, offline, through emails, or at events, all require project management. Time, attention, planning, organization, are all vital. Make sure the right roles are assigned to the right people, dedicate resources to researching your target market and how to appeal to them through the campaign, and create a strategy which fulfils all of these touchpoints.
KPIs
All marketing campaigns need to reap rewards in some shape or form. Define what the success of your marketing campaign will look like. Increased revenue? A boost in followers? More requests for product demos? Once you can visualize the outcome, it will be easier to create the campaign which will achieve it.
Testimonials
Where appropriate, try to include testimonials and real-life stories in your campaigns. How have other people benefited from your brand or product? This will boost your relevancy, credentials, and solidify your status as a thought leader in your field. It will also add positivity and color to your marketing efforts.
Creativity
Marketing requires creativity and creative content. After all, you can’t expect to sell something without engaging, educating, and entertaining your target audience. Think about the problem your product or service is solving, and how you can capture the imagination of audiences by appealing to their need for this.
The 4 Best IT marketing campaigns
Some IT companies in particular are nailing their marketing, by ticking all the boxes listed above. Let’s take a look at a few of their tactics!
IBM
Let’s start with the obvious leader in the field! IBM have provided us with some great examples of marketing campaigns over the years. They’ve been around for a long time, and their marketing campaigns are part of the secret to their success.
Our favourite example is their Smarter Planet initiative. This large marketing campaign aimed to promote technology and data interconnection throughout the world, and shows how technology can help people.
This marketing campaign was also smart and business-savvy because it focused on nine industries where companies can benefit from using technology, including cities, education, energy, food, government, healthcare, media, oil, and retail. This variety leaves plenty of scope for content creation and audience building.
The campaign featured high quality content, too, which ranged from IBM’s ‘Wild Ducks’ podcast, speeches, interviews, op-eds, and case studies. The initiative has been running since 2008.
So – why was this campaign successful? Because it was inclusive, far-reaching, interesting, and focused on the benefits of IBM’s products to customers.
Zapier
Zapier’s marketing strategy is simple: it revolves around the effective concept of content marketing. Why does it work? Because they’re consistent with their content creation, and each published article shows customers how to make the most of the software. Their blog articles also deal with niche topics, and are always helpful.
Want to know how to run successful email drip campaigns? Interested in learning about automation techniques which will improve efficiency at work? Not only will Zapier tell and show you how, but they’ll provide the tools to do it.
Don’t want to buy the tool? You still get access to the information! This builds brand loyalty and trust, which is crucial to converting in the long run.
Microsoft
Bill Gates was one of the first to say “Content is king.”
Microsoft, like IBM, have released their fair share of marketing campaigns. A great example is the company’s global integrated campaign to promote Microsoft Cloud.
The marketing collateral was spread across TV, digital, email, print and video content, and more. The truly created a content hub around it, including stories about how the cloud empowers businesses and sharing impactful, customer-focused stories. These snippets are inspiring and mission-based, and highlight the best features of their technology.
Why does it work? It humanizes the technology and the Microsoft brand. This is an ingenious way of selling software which may be complicated to those not sell versed in technology!
Mint
Mint is an example of how a small company, relatively unknown among its competitors, can speed ahead of the game through creative and innovative content marketing and online marketing strategy. Similar to Zapier, it has proved its thought leadership by posting endless content, guides, tips, and informative infographics.
Mint is a financial tracking tool, and as this puts them in the financial services sector, it means they have fierce competition when it comes to marketing campaigns. They’ve successfully grown their brand, audience, and product offerings by producing organised and targeted content, filtered according to interests and user needs. For example, their “How to” series is perfect for quick reads, while more dedicated sections concentrate on Saving, Credit, Consumer IQ, and Trends.
How are they nailing their online content marketing campaigns? Because they invest time and money and research into this content, and, more importantly, know exactly what articles their target market want to read.
Now it’s your turn!
Just getting started on our first marketing campaign? Struggling to come up with ideas, or just not sure where to start? Well, we aren’t called The Content Factory for nothing. Marketing works when your marketing factory machine works. Discover how we can help you nail your own marketing campaigns.
