Sustainable marketing is a great way to promote the eco-friendly aspects of your company, as long as you get it right

It’s natural for a business to use all of its genetic makeup to promote itself and stand out in its market. For example, SMEs frequently use grassroots beginnings or a local focus to give them a unique tone of voice, while larger companies pride themselves on winning industry awards. Another strategy that is becoming more popular for companies looking to make their mark is sustainable marketing. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming a more common brand value, with the most recent Conference of Parties (COP) highlighting its 2023 objectives as: Reducing emissions Helping countries adapt Climate finance Responsibility for the climate crisis is shared by governments, businesses, and individual consumers. So sharing your eco credentials could help you win more business accounts or increase customer loyalty, depending on your goals. However, it…

Actionable steps across the pillars of digital marketing from our recent report

Digital marketing today is complex and it’s inevitable it will get more complex in the future as new technologies and platforms emerge. Take the huge adoption and interest in Open AI ChatGPT, as an example. Marketers also have to contend with the complexity of the many channels we need to track in our analytics such as organic and paid search, social media, display, and email marketing.

March 2024 update

Here we'll update readers on the latest developments in digital marketing relevant to marketers.

The best AI tools for marketers?

At the end of the article, I recommend different Generative AI tools beyond ChatGPT and show how widely they have been adopted. I have recently written a new update asking Which are the best Generative AI tools for writing marketing plans and strategies? It's shocking how widely Gen AI is being used for…

Make your brand identity the central organizing principle for everyone and everything in a company rather than just the products, services, logos and imagery

Brands are assets that create sustainable wealth, both for businesses and wider society. Every successful brand has a clear positioning expressed through its name, logo, and identity. But, more than that, a strong brand identity has the potential to influence all aspects of a brand's omnichannel presence, including its products, services, and staff behaviors. In fact, McKinsey's nine traits of a future-ready company found that employees who say they are “living their purpose” at work are four times more likely to report higher engagement levels at work. People reach further when their energies are channeled toward a purpose. This shows brand leaders can capitalize on brand purpose to enthuse both their customers and employees. Brand positioning and identity are integral components of the overall brand strategy. Having a…

We all know marketing in tech is done differently to other industries, but what makes a great technology company marketing plan?

The IT and High-tech industries are well-known for innovation. But having a great product is only half of the work of a successful go-to-market strategy. Now more than ever, it's crucial for marketers to step up and add value, to help differentiate and stay ahead of the fierce competition in the sector. How do you do that? Read our steps to creating a winning marketing plan for your technology company.

Structure your technology company marketing plan with our RACE Growth System

Insights from LinkedIn's global B2B Technology Buying survey show many decision-makers are active in all stages of a new technology purchase; including problem identification, vendor research, shortlisting, and purchasing. This means technology marketers need to implement an omnichannel approach to planning their tech marketing. After all, your buyer may discover you while…

My example dialogues and use cases show the amazing opportunities for marketers from ChatGPT and other generative AI tools

I’ve been advising on digital marketing and new innovations for over 25 years. Since it was called Internet Marketing… This tends to make you super cynical as to new claims about marketing innovations. Over this time, many of the techniques for digital marketing and approaches to planning digital marketing strategies and campaigns have remained similar. Much Martech now promises to be be ‘AI-powered’ while still relying on manual analysis and customizations. In fact, I’d say that it’s the development of search and social media platforms that have been the main drivers of change. Until now, that is... Having tested ChatGPT, I believe it will spark mainstream adoption of AI amongst marketers, since it will be used as a practical tool to support creative development to help marketers working on search, email and social media…

Mapping the most effective AI technologies for marketing across the customer lifecycle in the coming year

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is a hot topic in marketing at the moment, with the huge interest in ChatGPT (see our articles on using ChatGPT for marketing). But AI is a broad term covering a wide range of different technologies, many of which have been available for some time. We originally wrote this article based on the opportunities for using AI for marketing in 2017 and have updated it since with examples. Artificial intelligence means any technology that seeks to mimic human intelligence, which covers a huge range of capabilities such as voice and image recognition, machine learning techniques and semantic search. That's why, in our AI and Machine Learning briefing for members, we have identified fifteen artificial intelligence techniques that businesses of all sizes can implement, rather than techniques that only major tech giants can devote…

Evaluating technology options for innovation in marketing - do you know your Hype Cycles?

If you're involved in marketing strategy development, you will be constantly making judgments and reviewing with colleagues which digital technology innovations are most relevant to your organization. The Gartner Hype Cycle, which is published each year is a good tool to use to find out about both newly emerging innovations and more established marketing technology that could be relevant. In this article, we compare different examples of the well-established Gartner Hype Cycle tools which serve to highlight the adoption of new technology services within marketing technology. Gartner publishes many different hype cycles reviewing the adoption curves for different types of technologies, but as a digital strategist, I am most interested in those focusing on digital marketing technologies. A summary of the report with the infographic is published annually and I have been monitoring them and sharing them for over…

Drive the direction of your technology business' growth next year with an integrated approach to marketing strategy and planning

What is the secret of marketing for tech companies? As a popular topic amongst marketers of all backgrounds - this growing sector merits its own discussion, helping us answer questions such as: How do you budget marketing for IT/technology companies? What are the most reliable growth hacks for startups? How can IT and technology marketers stand out to win more high-value customers in an increasingly saturated digital landscape? The global technology market is expected to rise to $3,168.13 million by 2027. This evolving international digital landscape affects us all, and as marketers, it is crucial to react and adapt to stay relevant to our customers. At Smart Insights we encourage members to use OSA to structure their marketing planning. The macro-environment for tech marketers opens up new opportunities which fuel strategies and…

Our financial services social strategy recommendations and best-practice case studies put you in the driving seat to accelerate your financial services' ROI from digital marketing in 2024

Over the past few years, financial service organizations have embraced social selling programs and employee advocacy. Those integrating the data they have generated by their financial services social media strategies into a single source of customer truth are flourishing. Financial organizations are effectively engaging with digital customers, differentiating with real-time communication via social channels. There has been a clear shift from pre-review to post-review with the industry treating social media posts as interactive communication rather than static advertising. Companies are recognizing that social media provides a wealth of value, enabling differentiation through human communication. They are driving value by integrating this with their CRM systems, tracking ROI, and ensuring compliance. To drive such value, organizations expect solutions to help them track ROI, integrate with CRM solutions,…

Grow your IT/high-tech business across the 'internet of things' by applying these latest industry strategies for technology product marketing

What is product marketing?

Product marketing describes the management of all processes involved in taking a product to market. This field of marketing involves working with R&D, manufacturing, logistics, comms, and sales. Since your role is so closely tied to the products in your category, product marketers take the role of advocating for the customer when product-related decisions are made (positioning, launch, development, etc). In this blog, we will explore what makes technology product marketing different.

What is technology product marketing?

Technology product marketing refers to product marketing when your products are IT/high tech. Typically sold in a B2B environment, technology product marketing is renowned for extended stakeholder relations and, currently, an increasingly competitive market. Of course, the nature of IT/high tech means many technology products will be software. The growing Software as a Service…