Small-Medium Businesses Guide To Widespread Market Adoption
All business grow from an idea to solve a problem and experience scale when the idea catches the attention of customers and the public. We love small-medium businesses (SMBs) because we love problem solvers. At Forestlyn, we understand the challenges you are facing because we have had to overcome the same difficulties of growth ourselves. You might be surprised to know that 20% of small businesses fail in their first year, 30% in their second year, 50% after five years, and 70% in their 10th year of business (Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Business Employment Dynamics). SMBs usually gain initial traction through referrals from their existing networks. However, once these referrals dry up, cracks start to appear.
THE CULPRITS OF SMB FAILURE
Being an SMB in the emerging tech industry is incredibly rewarding, yet also very challenging. By bringing new innovations to the market, you are essentially forging a never-before-seen category. SMBs in other industries have the advantage of their products and services already being understood by their target audience, whereas in the emerging tech industry there is still a widespread lack of knowledge about the industry. Many tech founders have incredible ideas and offerings, but fail to get it out to market. Key challenges that are facing SMBs in the emerging tech industry include:
Lack of brand awareness
The emerging tech industry is laden with jargon and complexity that doesn’t translate well to the wider market. The core of a brand is the pivotal point from which all other communication and engagement emanate. Failing to take time with your marketing strategy to create a strong brand image will lead to poor engagement both internally and externally, ultimately halting growth.Increasing trust and credibility
Longstanding companies have been tried and tested to gain the trust of their audiences. However, many SMBs haven’t had the same level of exposure to establish themselves so firmly within the industry. That’s why strong marketing and brand awareness is essential to building credibility and gaining trust. A key part of this as an SMB is creating valuable content and heightening industry presence through your website and other marketing channels and capitalising the founder’s expertise and experience as a subject matter expert within the industry.
Rigid mindset and culture of digital laggard industries
The epitome of the emerging technology industry is its cutting-edge nature and the excitement of reaching new heights in efficiency and productivity. However, longstanding industries such as aged care, manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, and hospitality (to name a few) are typically entrenched in traditional methodologies. Getting these technology laggard industries to take up new tech and digital offerings face the barrier of rigid mindsets. Overcoming this requires a strong focus on education and building the knowledge of target audience groups to be able to facilitate change of mindset and culture.
Connecting with the right people
All companies require a number of people both internally and externally to be successful. The internal team is, of course, critical, but so are the external connections that enable the product/service to gain traction. Collaborating and partnering with other businesses is a strategic way of gaining attention on the market, which is imperative as an SMB in the innovation tech space. LinkedIn is where people are forging these important relationships with both partners, clients, prospects and collaborators. Recent statistics show it has 630 million users with a new user signing up every two seconds and 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn, making it a lucrative platform. For SMBs, LinkedIn is highly valuable as a low-cost marketing channel. Business-to-client connections can be made through reaching out to influencers, whilst business-to-business connections can be made directly to companies to collaborate with.
WE KNOW HOW IT IS
At Forestlyn, we understand what you’re going through in trying to forge a completely new market category because that’s exactly what we’ve had to do ourselves. Innovation marketing is an emerging niche that understands the unique set of challenges that face emerging tech start-ups. Whilst traditional marketing consultancies lack the skills and knowledge to take new tech products/services out to market, many tech companies still seek out these consultancies. Why? Because they are tried and tested agencies with existing relationships and credibility. SMBs may be unaware of how innovation marketing can benefit their business or may simply be adverse to the risk of trying a new marketing methodology.
To bridge this gap, Forestlyn creates educational material so that our audience can begin to understand what innovation marketing is and how it can help them. Producing valuable educational content in the form of webinars, white papers, blogs, brochures, training materials, and videos builds trust by establishing credibility. Education is a crucial step in enabling new and emerging products/services to be adopted by the wider market. Like you, we have been pushing against the traditional orthodoxy of an existing industry with a new way of doing things. Here’s how we can help you do the same.
SUCCESS SECRETS FOR SMBs IN EMERGING TECH
While being an SMB in the emerging tech space has its fair share of challenges, with the right marketing strategy and well-delivered implementation these can be overcome to build credibility and trust. At Forestlyn, we help SMBs create a strong marketing strategy for long term growth. We can help you with:
1. Strategic Communications
Switch on the right communication channels and create consistent and relevant content to increase brand awareness and reach target audiences.
2. Thought Leadership
Build trust and credibility by positioning your company and founder as industry leaders and demonstrating and showcasing industry expertise through specific thought leadership initiatives.
3. Change, Educate, Convince
Increase understanding and education of your products/services to communicate and convince the value and benefits of your products and services that are relevant for your target audiences.
4. LinkedIn Outreach
Use the Forestlyn customised product offering and LinkedIn to make relevant industry connections. Eliminate tediousness with the automated connection request and automated messaging function so that your company can achieve optimal outreach with minimal effort. Creating engaging content to post on LinkedIn is also imperative for building thought leadership, brand awareness, trust, credibility and education through reaching out to potential partners and clients.
Breaking into such a competitive market as an emerging tech business can be tough. At Forestlyn, we are marketing experts with a passion for innovative technology. Whether you are a small-medium size business, a large corporation or an agency, we can help you transform your marketing strategy and ensure effective implementation for guaranteed success. Let us come on board as your collaborative partner all the way as you grow. In the emerging tech industry, there are new products and services coming onto the scene every minute. Make sure you are the first out to market by contacting us today for a free consultation here.
HOW FORESTLYN CAN HELP YOU
We are technology marketing experts with a passion for innovation. With a deep understanding of the emerging technologies space, we create your marketing strategies and de-jargon your communications to help you bridge the gap between the early adopters and the mainstream audience. Whether you are a corporate organisation, small-medium size business or startup, we formulate high growth tactics for outsourced marketing, strategic direction, marketing implementation and educational workshops.
Talk to us today to find out more about how we can help you. Book a consultation here.