You have three seconds to get my attention…

Noise, noise, everywhere…!

There were great reminders of what it’s like to be a potential buyer or investor sizing up seemingly endless similar options. If I were a potential tech investor looking only at the line up of speakers for either Tech Week I’d already be struggling to distinguish a couple of similar companies from their competitors, or in deciding where I might invest. A few questions from our Tech Week in Cambridge: should I invest in software for intelligence and fraud prevention, graphene (light, flexible and 200 times stronger than steel), in AI, or take a bet on some quantum computers that don’t even exist yet? Even in so-called niches like graphene there are multiple start-ups with similar offers promising to do strikingly similar, great things.

So, it’s vital to keep front-of-mind how you’re going to make your product clear and distinct in the mind of a potential buyer, investor or influencer. As you know, a great solution is rarely enough – for those serious stakeholders doing due diligence on your business, you also need to demonstrate passion, great management, scalability and a strong grasp of your key financial figures. And yes, it’s also absolutely vital that you have a marketing strategy that’s strong, clear and already activated, successfully, in market.

How do you craft a distinct marketing strategy to maximise ROI on marketing investment?

Time and attention have always been the most precious commodities. Investors want to quickly see that you understand and have traction in your market, with prospects and sales on the whiteboard. Buyers will be pleased and relieved that when you do contact them, your communications are relevant and clear: you really get what they need and how you help make their lives easier and it’s clear you’re not simply pushing a product out blindly.

To master your sales funnel, you need a marketing strategy that ensures you’ll stand out to differentiate yourselves from the sheer variety of similar-sounding, similar-behaving competitors there are in your sector. To stay sane while you activate this strategy, and drive results from your marketing investment, you also need to be very targeted with what you say and how you say it, where, when and to whom: channels, timing, demographics and geography and take clear, easy steps towards addressing these.

Ask the right questions to narrow the sales funnel

At KISS our strategy to help with optimising marketing begins with asking carefully honed questions to define what makes you unique in the market, then crafting core messages and go-to-market activation plans that we know will get that all-important attention and emotional reaction from prospects, which is the start of their buying decision. These messages don’t only move prospects down your sales funnel, they make crafting a press release, investor pitch or a staff recruitment drive way easier. We also define some pretty clear marketing KPIs for us to aim at, to prove how you are getting ROI on your marketing spend compared to industry benchmarks, and what steps you could take to improve it.

A marketing strategy that goes beyond conversions

Great marketing won’t get you investors all by itself, but it’s a vital element of your business plan for investors and avoids wasting the time of potential buyers with an irrelevant or wrongly timed offer. It also helps with key stakeholder management and engagement. A high-value potential employee or partner will have other options. When they’re weighing them up, they will want to see that you really know what you’re selling, the strengths and weaknesses in the market, and who really will buy your product or service. People increasingly care about clear values, and how they resonate right through your product, how you make it and how you market it.

A clear marketing strategy isn’t (usually!) a public document but for example, it’s likely to prompt you to state your values prominently, to define and repeat the core messages in it, and use strategic research, including brand personas, to guide you to the right channels, whether that’s digital marketing, content marketing, direct marketing – you must go to wherever your customers are. All this improves the chances that you do snag, and convert, that high-potential buyer, employee or partner.

So, if you find yourself wondering why no one loves you despite a great product, your marketing strategy is quite likely to be part of the answer. If you take one piece of practical advice from this article – apart from asking KISS to help you – attending local sector events like Cambridge or London Tech Week can give you brilliant insights into what will actually differentiate you from your competitors.

Read our blog to learn about how we craft distinct marketing strategies that deliver on your KPIs and ROI!