Whitepaper 1.0: B2B Marketing for High-Tech Solutions – Part Three

A Holistic Approach

Although there are many different marketing tools, it is important not to view them as separate entities and consider each one as part of an overall strategy. A holistic marketing approach is an integrative marketing paradigm that considers the full scope of the business as opposed to executing separate marketing activities.

Holistic marketing brings together each marketing activity to create a broad, integrated perspective. It encourages the unification of marketing communications and aligns activities. It establishes a clear and unified brand image with each channel promoting the same message. So regardless of which brand touch points a customer may come into contact with, they will always get the same message.

Without a holistic approach, a business runs the risk of firstly not considering the target audience’s needs in the same way and subsequently sharing fragmented messages across different channels. As discussed earlier in the paper, Moore states that a technology company needs to create niche and dominate that segment. A holistic marketing approach ensures all activities are focused on one given goal, increasing the chance of succeeding in a specified market.

Promoting Technology Adoption with a Holistic Marketing Approach

Consistent Message – Consistency in a brand is integral if a company wants to remain relevant in the long term. As mentioned earlier, firms now undergo in-depth research into companies through multiple channels before contacting a sales executive. During this research phase it is crucial to have a consistent message to build trust and provide a seamless experience. When you are marketing complex technology, having a consistent message is even more vital to avoid making something complex even more complicated. It’s important to focus on the benefits rather than the technology itself, so using messaging such as ‘reduce costs’ or ‘increased efficiency’ promotes ideas of improvement to the customers. 

Branding – Customers are now paying just as much attention to a brand as they do to a product, so it’s imperative to have a strong brand image. The holistic approach helps to build a stronger brand by projecting a unified image. Branding is so important for technology companies as it adds a human nature to tech. Unlike many other sectors where there is a lot of human interaction, many technology start-ups exist so much online and many vendors today use the website as their key point of interaction with a brand. In high density markets, a great technology could be replaced by an even better technology tomorrow, but if you have a strong brand it creates loyalty with customers.

Efficiency – When all activities are working towards the same goal and there is a clear alignment it becomes easier to decide on the most effective allocation of resources. In addition, having all activities aligned makes it easier to spot potential opportunities and take advantage of them. New companies have limited resources, so it’s fundamental to make sure every resource is being used effectively.

The Big Picture – When a company is focusing on the overall strategy rather than the smaller details, they can have a bird’s eye view to create a powerful synergy. For many B2B technology companies, they will have sales strategy plans for a minimum of 3 years and their marketing strategy needs to be intertwined with their overall business plan.