While operating in a highly competitive environment, technology manufacturers and distributors must also work with a complex, prolonged sales process. Buyers are savvy, well-informed and operate by committee; the average time from needs assessment to acquisition and renewal is about two years.
Elevation Marketing creates well-researched, crisp and effective messaging that takes into consideration the needs and preferences of a variety of stakeholders, as well as the customer journey in the long sales cycle.
Technology buyers and decision-makers are often cast as quality-obsessed research hounds who value committee and peer input as much as their own findings. Frankly, this is only one small piece of the targeted buyer profile. Given that the search for a hardware partner involves several people, the Elevation team employs a proprietary research process to evaluate the wider range of decision-makers inside the committee, as well as the influencers outside of it.
We also study the competitive environment to see how your product measures up, and whether it stands out. We can then align your value proposition to the buying committee’s habits, preferences and business rhythms, enabling you to target content to the right stakeholders at the right time on their decision-making journey.
Traditionally, hardware technology vendors sold themselves as the vessel that carried the software performing all the magic. Today, marketing efforts for hardware companies must strike a more meaningful chord, carefully balancing service (particularly for Hardware-as-a-Service providers) with features such as reliability, easy integration, efficiency—and the human story behind the tech.
Hardware drives data center processes, enables AI and machine learning in devices millions of people use, and plays a hand in moving society forward. These are valuable images and messages for buyers and the broader population to see, especially with millennials being a greater part of the workforce and today’s technology decision-maker committees.
A sound, optimized digital strategy can help acquire leads, but complementing it with traditional initiatives like PR, advertising and event sponsorships, among others, serves the brand, too. Social and PR campaigns can be pathways for success stories and testimonials, while gated content used for lead nurturing, such as case studies and white papers, can live on your website, in your email campaigns and even with direct sale environments.
Many of our clients are surprised to learn that a sound marketing strategy embraces a wide range of tactics—some old, some new—to propel sales.
With more than two decades of B2B experience in hardware and other technology sectors, Elevation Marketing has helped brands develop and fine-tune messaging to strategically target the right decision-makers and nurture long-term relationships. We are a full-service B2B marketing agency with proven research processes that inform strategic thinking, effective messaging and inspired creative design. Our agency offers:
