When you’ve thought of great innovation, you want to share it with the world. You want to share it to solve the problem you set out to fix, but also to ensure that your business is successful. So you turn to tech marketing.

But be warned: not all tech marketing is the same.
When marketing an innovative new tech product, marketers face a unique challenge. You can’t rely on traditional marketing techniques because you’re not merely marketing a product, you’re carving out a new space and need for your product. Your job is to convince people that changing the way they’ve always done things to use your tech is worth it.

Convincing people to change old habits and switch up the “way it’s always been done” is not an easy task. However, it is possible to do if you follow some simple guidelines.

Articulate the need for your innovation

When you’ve got a revolutionary product, you need to imagine all the potential uses for the product. How will people use this product? What are the consumer needs that you’re fulfilling?

Discovering what needs your product meets should be the starting point for the rest of your marketing campaign and research. You invented your tech to solve a problem or fulfill a need. So in many cases, it could be a need that most people don’t realize is there.

Your task is to articulate that need and effectively communicate how your product will fulfill it. The Harvard Business Review has a fantastic rundown of several brands that did not successfully articulate the demands that their tech satisfied.

Defining how your innovations will have a direct impact on your target audience’s lives and demonstrating exactly how it can be used is the first and most crucial step towards a successful tech marketing strategy.

Market research is vital

As with any tech marketing campaign, performing market research before you develop your strategy is vitally important.

Once you’ve successfully articulated which needs your product fulfills, you’ll need to start performing market research to discover the mechanics of how to reach your target audience and the best placement for your ads.

• General market trends – Study general market trends for the field your product will be in, whether it’s a new gaming device, a household product, or a new system to increase business productivity. Know the market, what products are currently out there, and how your new tech will transform the current landscape.
• Customer use & testing – Perform testing with real customers. Perform market research with consumers and solicit feedback, focusing on how customers perceive the product, how it’s actually used, etc. This will help you better define your tech’s place and help you better your marketing strategy. Plus, having testimonials and reviews from real customers is a huge bonus in marketing.
• Team up with tertiary markets – Find out which products your innovation is likely to be used in conjunction with. For example, you could market a new on-the-go water filtration system to both fitness gurus and parents. Don’t limit the possibilities of your potential audiences.
• Identify key decision makers – One of the best examples cited in the Harvard Business Review article linked above is the case of Google Glass. Their fatal flaw was not connecting to the right audiences and decision makers. When you’re designing your tech marketing strategy, make sure you get your innovation in front of the right people.

Rigorous, thorough market research is a vital step in creating and articulating the precise need that your innovation fills. But that’s not all you need for a successful tech marketing strategy.

Connect emotionally to your audience

One of the most overlooked aspects in tech marketing is the emotional connection with audiences. It can be tempting to focus your marketing language around the technicalities of your invention. But that isn’t what will convince your audience that they need your product.

Customers are far more likely to try a new innovative product if they can see how it connects to their everyday life. You’ve got to captivate your audience. This doesn’t mean that you need Sarah McLachlan singing and videos of puppies to get your point across – but it does mean you need to showcase the human application of your tech.

The guidelines above will help you match your innovation to market needs. Learning to articulate those needs and making human, real-life connections will help ensure that your tech marketing strategy is successful.