One of the major challenges faced by PR practitioners is representing technology clients. This is due to the distinctive character of the technology practice that requires quick action and fast-changing information. Imagine, only a few weeks after ran innovative product is launched, another product can come, offering more complete, sophisticated features and more competitive price!
It is not necessary to be a gadget addict to successfully serve this industry. Based on our decades of experience serving the technology industry, the main requirements our consultants must have include the ‘hunger’ of challenge and progress in building very dynamic engagement as well as the courage to think positively and creatively at all time.
Tech industry brings tremendous challenge to engage stakeholders and continuously attract them to be provoked, think, write, read and at the end become our loyalists and use our products. We need to explain how a cell phone works in the most attractive way, highlighting all the benefits of our products in the middle of very tight competition, connecting them to stakeholders’ needs and wants. Expressing technological terms in easily understood terms is the biggest challenge to achieve this purpose.
The following are some tips to successfully build a solid and credible communication team in the technology practice, based on our experience.
1. The passion for new technology
We believe that success comes from loving our job field. So, having a team that loves the excitement and dynamic brought by new technology is a priority for us. Although the job seems demanding, we never feel tired because we do it every day as a hobby.
Technology communication practitioners never give up and consider technology complicated, because there are a lot of unique, exciting and interesting things that can be learned out of this complexity. When working with passionate heart, it is not surprising when success comes easily again and again. The success of brand development in the industry, among others, is the fruit of passion of the communication practitioners behind it.
2. Always keep Updated
In the technology practice, every second can cause major changes that could change the world. Therefore, technology communication team should feel the hunger to get the latest tech information updates, as well as the latest insights from stakeholders that relate to the brands.
Always understand the psychographics of your stakeholders, listen to their conversation through social media, their aspirations and frustration at any given time, and learn how the newest features of the tech brand can answer their questions.
Build the connection that matter with this understanding. Always be ready for competitors’ story, and learn how our stories can be unique, our offering different, to strengthen our positioning in the market. A real time online digital listening tool is a crucial tool for this purpose.
This will be a strong foundation in building technology brands. We have proved this point ourselves since the beginning, and up to now the results have never been disappointing.
3. Be disciplined in story telling
This is important because the news development in the technology industry is very dynamic, and can be easily outdated so that technology communication practitioners have to be very agile in managing issues, create fresh stories and clever in presenting them to the public. In order to that, always understand what your audience needs and wants at any given time, and understand how your brand can answer their challenges and aspiration. Tell stories that emotionally engage stakeholders and add values to their lives. Build the discipline to tell stories that connect, relate and touch.
4. Be alert and “in-time”
Technology communication practitioners should always emphasize on the speed in filtering information that is relevant to the stories of the brand. Build high sensitivity in capturing the stories considered important for stakeholders.
Engaging the stakeholders by telling the right story, at the right time in the right way is the key success factor in the very dynamic, rapidly changing tech market. The “alert attitude” and sensitivity will enable the tech communication team to build the speed required to stay ahead of competition.
