written by Liza Browne, b2b different

To achieve great technology marketing, look no further than the founding principle of great design from the German industrial designer, Dieter Rams; “Less, but Better”. This focus on simplicity, is the key to growing market share for your company.

Seeing through the complexity

We live in an era of complexity, with more ways than ever to create, market and sell your tech product or service. On the one hand this is great, more ways of getting your message out to your target customers. However, the complexity of multiple markets and multiple channels can mean that tech companies miss out on the opportunity to make their product stand out and to become a disrupter in their chosen sectors.

Think of the new tech brands that have emerged over the past number of years, Airbnb, Survey Monkey, Dropbox, OvoEnergy, these companies have changed the way software and technology marketing is viewed. No matter their function or their sector they’re standing out and commanding our attention. Why?-  because they all they possess a single common characteristic: simplicity.

Achieving simplicity

But how do you achieve this simplicity…

This is actually easier than you might think, again we return to Dieter Rams whose principles for good design are perfect for technology marketing. Read through the design principles and ask yourself could you use these descriptors when talking about your company. Is your product or service

• Innovative –imaginative design developed in tandem with improving technology.
• Useful – a product is bought to be used. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could detract from it.
• Aesthetic – the aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being.
• Understandable –the product clearly expresses its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
• Unobtrusive – products fulfilling a purpose are like tools.
• Honest – it doesn’t attempt to manipulate the customer with promises that cannot be kept.
• Long-lasting – it avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.
• Thorough down to the last detail – nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance.
• Environmentally friendly – conserves resources and minimises physical and visual pollution.
• Displaying as little design as possible – Less. but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

By following these 10 principles you will find that marketing your complex product will become a lot easier.