Technology Marketing Strategies

"We all sell the same thing... there's no difference between what one company offers compared to another." Those are the words a manager of a large, but struggling technology solution provider revealed to me.

Here's why that view is a problem...

When you see yourself as marketing essentially the same technology products and services your competitors sell, you immediately become a "victim" to brutal price competition. You are reduced to a commodity where the company with the lowest price wins.

Winning the lowest price war is the least profitable way to build a business. Lowest price attracts the most disloyal group of buyers in any market. I call them "the cheapskates".

Second, your competitors can easily cut your legs out from under you, by beating your price. 'Winning' comes down to who's willing to earn less. Even maybe taking a loss.

That's why communicating a competitive advantage that makes you the only logical choice is critical.

If you can't see and articulate a clear competitive advantage, how much less will your potential client see a reason to choose you over someone else?

There is a smart technology marketing solution to fierce competitive markets. Cutting your managed service contract rates isn't the way to go. There are more profitable ways to win the lion's share of the market without dropping your price. How? Well, here are just a few ideas:

For starters, become a celebrity within your industry. Become the high-price leader who only deals with a certain caliber of clients.

Differentiate your company by the way you market services to clients.

In every industry there are marketing strategies that are accepted as "the right way" to build a business. Unfortunately when you do what everyone else is doing, you sound and look like everyone else. You become a commodity.

Instead of becoming an 'also ran', borrow strategies from other industries.

Using marketing techniques uncommon to your technology industry instantly makes you distinct. You sound unique because no one else sounds like you. And if anyone tries to copy you, they instantly sound like a copy cat. A "me too" loser.

This is an easier process when you have a list to work from. If you need some ideas, go to my list of articles at www.andrebell.com/articles/ and grab the report of 101 ways to market your company.

Besides differentiating yourself by selecting from over 100 different marketing strategies you can:

- position yourself as first in some category or accomplishment or activity

- be contrarian in your marketing approach or service

- set yourself apart by being exclusive in the type of client you will accept or the types of services you deliver

Another step is to take a non-traditional approach to marketing. Traditional marketing involves paying more and more money in ads or worse, cold calling people who don't want to hear from you.

A non-traditional marketing approach focuses on what you're already doing (or should be doing) and making it more responsive and more predictable without sounding like everyone else.

This is critical because in today's global marketplace differentiating yourself in the mind of clients and potential clients is the key to a company's survival. Failure to differentiate is the number one reason I believe companies struggle unnecessarily.

It's the reason clients fail to see you as anything other than a commodity.

--- You may publish this article in your newsletter, on your website, or other online or offline publication as long as the article content is not altered. Online the resource box MUST include an active link.

Andre Bell is an author and marketing advisor. He runs an informational website that provides technology marketing tips and recommendations for Solution Providers, Computer Consultants, and Small VARs. Visit his official site at http://www.AndreBell.com

Dusting Off Your Mortgage Marketing
More than likely, you have a drawer full of great mortgage marketing ideas. Some of them youve used, some of them you havent ...

Your Strategic Thinking Coach Shares Six Smart Marketing Strategies For Professional Service Firms
Over the past 35 years, I have observed many professional service firms struggle with their marketing efforts. Time after ti...

The Most Important Mortgage Broker Tool for Loan Officers
Are you keeping up with technology, or are you just letting it pass you by? If you want to make more loan commissions in les...

Basics in Marketing WHAT are the FOUR Ps ?
Marketing is defined in many terms. But the most accepted definition is marketing is the process by which a product or a serv...

7 Rarely Applied Marketing Strategies To Generate Huge Profits
Marketing Strategy #1: Meet your prospects before you even start your r business/promotion. Knowing your prospects before you...

When Selling Used Servers And Technology Assets - Avoid These Costly Mistakes
Selling used servers and technology assets is an excellent way to raise cash and free upr storage space. However, many compa...

Trucking Industry and Technology
The Trucking Industry is a great place to start when talking about new propulsion techniques and technologies because the eco...

The Fax Marketing Alternative We Have- HAVE YOU?
Fax marketing is an alternative means of effectively communicating to customers any last-minute company offerings. It is also...

How To Get Your Customers To Speak For You
Are they talking about you? They should be.I'm talking about your clients.One of the most powerful tools in marketing is the ...

5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Business with Teleseminars
There are tens of thousands of ways to grow your business, right from hiring a marketing expert to running expensive advertis...

How to Design a Successful Custom Shirt Strategy for Trade Shows
True or False?Using promotional shirts and apparels as your trade shows giveaway will always yield positive results for your ...

How to Create a Marketing Plan that Delivers Results
When taking a road trip to a new destination, smart travelers invest preparation time to identify the best route, make note o...

Attracting Potential Buyers
The leveraging method Im about to share with you is more indirect than most sales activities and can be difficult to quantify...

Strategic Principles of Marketing - 7 Essential Principles of Strategic Marketing for Success
Marketing promotes your business and all that your business offers to your customers, brings customers to your business, and ...

Retail Marketing Services
Retailing has seen a sudden boom in the market in the recent past. Several companies offer their retailing expertise to vario...

Five Steps to Successful Marketing
If you feel as though you are meeting yourself coming and going; if de ja vu is happening to your sales and marketing efforts...

Small Business Marketing Strategies for Tackling Big Competitors
One of the great challenges facing small business owners is that they must often battle for customers against larger competit...

How Meal Planning Saved My Marketing
What do I make for supper tonight? Ah, the eternal, daily question. Its so discouraging to have to wake up in the morning and...

Promotional Pen- A Highly Effective and Low Cost Advertising Strategy
Are you interested in an advertising strategy that can reach your target market anywhere with multiple exposures per day for ...

Business & Profits: The Importance of Clarity
Fancy words are what some clients expect writers have stocked in their mental inventory, and in some cases they are the reaso...