I recently attended Tech Show London (TSL) 2024, one of the UK's most significant technology events. TSL brings together an array of innovators, disruptors, and pioneers from across the IT landscape and beyond. From excellent keynotes, the first of which came from Professor Brian Cox, to interesting fireside chats, it is a must-visit for anyone interested in the tech that keeps the world ticking.
Made up of 5 individual shows: Cloud Expo Europe, DevOps Live, Cloud & Cyber Security, Big Data & AI World, and Data Centre World, there is an awful amount of networking and steps to get through if you can manage to avert your eyes from the show floor theatrics. My highlight was seeing two Back to the Future DeLoreans from two separate organisations - which must have driven each marketing team mad.
The challenge:
While moving from vendor to vendor, I was reminded of the challenge facing communications professionals in the tech space: how can we ensure our comms efforts stand out from the crowd?
The answer:
Whether battling against the seemingly limitless budgets of tech giants like IBM or Google or competitors constantly producing innovative products, it's never been more important to drive a strategic and holistic communications programme.
So what does this programme look like? While there are many avenues to venture down, the most important focuses are public relations, analyst relations, content, inbound, and social media marketing.
Public Relations: Securing high-impact coverage and thought leadership placements (guest articles) in national and top-tier technology publications is imperative to cut through the noise. A single piece of well-placed coverage can quickly position your organisation as an innovative market leader. One of the best ways to achieve this is by mastering the art of newsjacking. This secret weapon will allow you to inject your company into timely news cycles.
Analyst Relations: Effective comms programmes must leverage analyst relationships to showcase innovation and drive adoption among influential advisory firms. Engage with outfits like Gartner, Forrester, and Everest Group to boost market awareness and validation and get your products shortlisted ahead of the other innovative solutions in the field.
Content: Within your programme, you must create binge-able, snackable content optimised for search and shares. This includes developing branded and ghostwritten long-form articles, blogs, infographics, and more to tell stories that guide prospects along the customer journey.
Inbound: Maximise your SEO, email marketing, lead generation campaigns, and marketing automation to ensure you're breaking through with innovative material. Effective inbound implementation will increase site traffic, generate leads, and accelerate pipeline growth.
Social Media: Establish a consistent and compelling brand voice and visual identity that cuts through the noise across all channels. Leverage intriguing visuals, immersive storytelling, and engaging videos to captivate your audience's attention. Implement social listening to actively join relevant conversations and identify influential partners to amplify your reach. Continuously analyse performance metrics, adapting your approach to double down on top-performing content, while staying agile and experimenting with emerging features and trends.
Embrace the all-encompassing:
By embracing a multi-faceted communications strategy that harmonises PR, analyst relations, content, inbound, and social media marketing, you can amplify your brand's visibility and break through to your future prospects.