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How talking less about your business means more business

Richard King

King Copywriting | Technology Copywriting | IT background | Simplifying the complex world

It’s easy to get in the trap of talking about how great your business is and what it’s achieved.

And although it may be the best thing since sliced bread, the truth is people don’t have much interest in your business or how proud you are of it.  They only care about how you can help them.

Marketing strategies for technology companies involve preparing carefully thought out content that resonates with a target audience.  According to HubSpot’s Customer Experience Statistics, 76% of customers expect companies to understand their needs.

Let’s look at some of the ways you can focus more on your prospects and less on your business.

Use ‘you’ instead of ‘we’

It may sound trivial, but by simply using ‘you’ or ‘your’ instead of ‘we’ and ‘our’ automatically places the attention on your prospects.

This doesn’t just apply to sales heavy content pieces either –  writing in the second person on blogs, social media and websites is the best approach to connect with your audience.

But on some occasions, it’s almost impossible to use anything other than ‘we’ and ‘our’.  This is particularly the case when talking about the services or products you offer, and on the About page of your website.  But even in these areas, the overall focus should be on the benefits your clients or prospects will gain.

It’s a good idea not to go overboard with the ‘you’ use though, especially if it’s going to be out of context, not backed up by benefits or for certain marketing pieces, such as press releases.  Overusing ‘you’ in a single sentence can come across as too salesy.

Focus more on peoples pain points, benefits and results

Instead of talking about your company, focus more on showing your target audience you understand and care about their pain points (problems and challenges they’re having which you can solve for them).

Often companies will skip explicitly detailing pain points when marketing tech products, instead choosing to go straight to the benefits, or worse – only talking about the company.

However, I’m a fan of adding these at the very beginning of the sales copy.  This approach takes the reader on an emotional journey, from realising you understand their problem, to how you can fix it, and finally how they’ll feel once it’s been resolved.

Let your previous clients sell for you

Would you sit in a restaurant if no one was in it, or would you pick the bustling one with just a few tables to spare?

This is called social proof, where the actions or opinions of others influence your own decisions.  According to HubSpot, 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as personal recommendations.  So if someone has left you a glowing testimonial about your business, and you have their permission — use it!

A few more points about using testimonials

Instead of chucking all your testimonials onto a single page of your website, a better idea is to strategically place them throughout your website.

By placing a relevant testimonial next to a service or product, your prospect will be able to establish very quickly that this is the product or service for them.

Another common mistake I see is companies doing is adding the full-length testimonial to the website.

With limited attention spans, people only want to see parts of the testimonial that are benefit or results-driven, and ideally relevant to their pain point.  If you’re looking at how to market new technology, a powerful piece of social proof can go a long way.

Place yourself in your prospect’s head

To be able to market your business successfully to your target audience you need to put yourself in their shoes.  What motives them?  What drives them every day?  And most importantly, what challenges do they face?

If you’re coming up with marketing ideas for IT companies, imagine yourself as your ideal client.  If what you’re creating doesn’t resonate with the prospects pain-points, challenges, interests and goals — then you may need to make some revisions!

Are you looking for a tech content writer?  Contact me today.

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