What’s one of the most significant factors in consumer decisions when making purchases?
This is an important factor to consider when looking at tech marketing. Consumer’s trust in your company and marketing may not seem to be related at first glance, but dig a little deeper, and you’ll see that the two are deeply intertwined.
Customers want to make purchases based on people, products, and brands that they trust. However, in a saturated marketing environment, consumers have become wary of traditional marketing tactics. They are not as likely to make a purchase just because an ad says the company is the best. There need to be many factors to build that trust and show consumers why your company is worthwhile.
And the bigger, more involved the purchase, the more this rings true. For software companies, especially, it’s crucial to build trust with potential customers. You’re not only asking them to purchase your product but to adopt a new system and train their entire company on its use. People or businesses who are going to purchase software want to be sure their investment will be beneficial before taking the leap.
In building trust with your leads and customers, one often overlooked aspect to your overall tech marketing strategy is your employees.
Why employees make the best marketers
When we say your employees make the best marketers, we’re talking about all of your employees, not just those in the marketing department.
Organic employee promotion is one of the best ways to market your software company and build trust with your leads and clients. Consumers trust employees two times more than they trust company leadership – and even more than they trust influencers!
Employee advocacy is one of the best tools you can use in your tech marketing strategy. It has a high ROI and also helps build employee engagement in your company.
Your employees know your product. Regardless of the department they’re in, they work with your product on a daily basis and possess an intimate knowledge of how it works and what it can do. They can reliably answer questions and know the ins and outs of your product. In many ways, they’re the face of your company. That’s why enlisting their help with marketing is so effective.
Engaging your employees
Knowing that your employees make great marketers is one thing – actually engaging them is another. You want to make sure that your employees are sharing your company’s product as natural as possible. Their endorsements and marketing won’t be nearly as effective if it’s forced or insincere.
Here are some ways you can get your employees involved in your tech marketing strategy:
- Develop employee advocacy programs – Advocacy programs help your employees feel heard and give them an opportunity to share their successes and communicate organically. The more engaged your employees are with your company, the more they’ll share about your company and products.
- Showcase achievements and awards – Recognizing employees’ achievements and milestones is a great way to engage your employees. When they feel that they’re involved in the process and know that their hard work is appreciated, they’re more likely to promote your brand and products.
- Create events both online and off – Make sure you’re giving your employees something to talk about and make sharing about your company easy. Consider creating social media hashtags where employees can post their own content and show off their involvement with your company. It’s also a great idea to reward your employees with company or team events when you reach certain milestones. Consider hosting a lunch, bowling, or other activity that rewards your employees’ hard work – and provides them with shareable content.
These are just a few ways that you can engage your employees. Make sure that you’re not only engaging them, but also giving them the tools to share about your product and company. By doing some of the items listed above, you’re helping all of your employees not only feel engaged in your company, but making it easy for them to be involved in your overall tech marketing strategy.
The stats are in: employees are some of your best marketers – especially when they’re genuinely excited about your company and all it has to offer.
