How to market to a technical audience
As a marketer, you might not always be marketing to a familiar audience. This can prove to be a learning curve – to understand the ins and outs of your target audience. In this session, we’ll cover how to approach a technical audience to ensure your messaging resonates, what channels to experiment with, and the strategies that will move the needle.
In this week’s game-changing session, Oana, the CEO of Sequel.io, hosted Iryna Zhuravel, Altium’s VP of Marketing. The insightful dialogue predominantly revolved around the complexities and techniques of marketing to a rather unique audience—the technical professionals.
Iryna, with expertise rooted in political science, data, and statistics, underscored the importance of understanding the psyche of this specific demographic. Highlighting their daily struggles, their motivations, and more significantly, their professional anxieties, she conveyed how these insights could drive an impactful marketing strategy. She emphasized that the technical audience, often faced with colossal pressures to build functional products and tackle pricey design defects, are looking for reliability, high-quality processes, speed, and team consistency.
Central to Iryna’s argument was the concept that the marketing focus for this audience should not center on flashy messaging but rather present straightforward and pragmatic information. This shift gears towards equipping this audience with solutions that impact their productivity positively and improve the professional journey.
On the same note, insightful tidbits reiterated that technical audiences, which usually comprise of engineers and developers, show a distinct preference for practical and educational content. Utilizing formats like webinars, long-form content, and even YouTube-centric content can not only engage this audience but also successfully convert them into potential customers, she observed.
Iryna also emphasized targeted experimentation in marketing. She shared her experiences of experimenting with different messaging on paid display banners to identify what truly resonates with customers—a practice that ended up yielding successful outcomes.
With sweeping changes to third-party cookie tracking on the horizon, Iryna offered her anticipation about the industry’s response. In her view, marketers might need to pay more attention to their own channels and website content, marking a shift from detailed tracking to a more holistic understanding of audience engagement. Modeling what works for the brand, she believes, will serve as a robust marketing strategy.
In summary, the art of marketing to a technical audience hinges upon a deep understanding of their unique mindset, struggles, and preferences. Pivotal marketing approaches include presenting uncomplicated, practical information, engaging content, focused experimentation, and a broader perspective on audience engagement. As the marketing landscape evolves, these strategies promise to be a lighthouse for those navigating the tumultuous seas of technical audience marketing.
