Climb is always full of ambition, and drive, and fun, and people! In particular, the tech start-ups are always highly ambitious (I mean the clue is in the word Climb!), which is always fabulous.
However… not to be the party pooper, but it’s important to note that ambition needs to be rooted in the real world. We can aim to conquer the world but if we don’t know what we’re doing next Tuesday we’re never going to get there!
So how can we make this tricky tech commercialisation and marketing a little easier? What can we do more of, or less of, or just better, to make it easier? We can do a lot worse than go back to the fundamentals of designing and building businesses that are fit for purpose in the real world. But what does this mean?
Firstly, don’t fall for the hype. A prime example is AI. This year, every business was an AI business. But were they? And are you? Here’s how to tell. If you are actually delivering AI to your customers, then you’re an AI company. If you are using AI as an underlying enabler for your product or service, then you’re not: you’re in the market you serve, be it medtech, agritech, fintech or whatevertech. Your positioning, what you want to be known for, is about your place in the market you serve, not about the innards of your clever tech. Think of who you serve.
Talking of who you serve, look at your business through the lens of your customers. Are you talking about their problems and how they can be fixed? Do they recognise themselves when they visit your website? Are you using their language? When we are close to our own technology and products, it’s easy to forget that we may be using terminology that is too technical, too complex, or just too ‘internal’. Slower and louder are not your friends if you’re using words customers don’t even understand. Take an outside in perspective, rather than an inside out perspective, and put your customers first.
When you put your customers first, everything comes into focus. Because marketing is simply everything that comes between your business and your customers. So you can begin to answer the right questions.
- Market: are we clear what market we’re serving and what problems we solve?
- Business model: is it clear what we sell, to whom, and do we make it easy for customers to get hold of our products in the way they want to buy?
- Messaging: have we clearly mapped out our messaging to resonate with what customers need to hear.
Nail the fundamentals.
Going back to fundamentals is both as simple and as hard as it sounds. Especially in deeptech and high-tech where getting to market can be lengthy and expensive. Relentlessly focusing on the markets and customers that you serve, only executing the activities that move you forwards and resisting the lure of the shiny shiny, is not for the faint-hearted. But it’s the only way to grow a business that will succeed in the real world.
This is what I do, day in and day out. Helping tech companies get the foundations right. Every ladder we’re climbing needs a stable base! Learn more about my work at Invention Marketing.
If you’re ready to strengthen your base and grow with purpose, reach out to me, Nicky Dibben - I help tech companies turn bold ideas into real-world success.