Why you need to market your company before your product.
Did you know that wolves will howl together as they prepare for a hunt? They’re signaling to each other that it’s time to focus and get ready to move. Company marketing gives a similar signal to a buyer.
I’ve seen companies ranging from large chemical giants to start-up synbio and climate tech organizations move straight to product marketing without taking any time to tell their company story. We’re always so excited to talk about our new products: features and benefits, how they work, impressive statistics, etc. Most of the time, we get ready to do this outreach (or “launch”, as we called it in my big chemical days. I always picture products getting flung into the air…) without stopping to think about what else we’ve been saying to the customer. Instead, too often I see companies reach out to the market trying to generate demand for a specific product, and then they’re surprised that people don’t move quickly to reach out and learn more.
Whether you’ve been around for 150 years or are just starting out, talking about your organization in a no-buying-pressure situation is a fundamental first step of demand generation. The thing is, it takes our buyers time to think about us before they’re really ready to consider our product. It’s pretty rare that our new product launch - no matter how cool the chemistry or timeline the development is - is going to meet a buyer’s precise needs at that moment. If they already have a positive feeling toward you, though, they’re going to be more likely to at least consider your product-based messaging.
Asking a prospect to get to know your company and your product at the same time puts too much informational burden on them. You have only a few precious seconds of their attention, and if you try to squeeze in 5 different messages about your mission and vision, your location, AND two product value propositions? Total cognitive dissonance.
You want your prospect to have the subconscious recognition of, “oh yeah, I’ve heard of these guys” or “oh yeah, I like that company” when they see a product advertisement from you. That way they can actually consider your deeper marketing message instead of processing lots of disparate information at once.
But Christina, you say, I need to get my product to market fast! Good thing you can quickly put together an “about us” campaign. Here’s what you already have on-hand to tell your story:
Company or division’s work: Quite simply, what is it that you do? What do you make? Simple messages with your company’s name and general technology
Facts and figures: Think about the things your buyers find important in a supplier. Do they need a lot of R&D support? You can share information about how many scientists you employ or how state-of-the art your lab capabilities are. Are buyers very concerned about on-time deliveries? Talk about your transportation network and your on-time rate.
Customer testimonials: Have you collected any feedback from customers? You can share simple quotes that underscore your company’s best qualities.
Your people: Ultimately, your buyers are doing business with people! So, show them off. Share a picture and a quote, or even a short video that shows the employee sharing the company’s purpose or what they like about working there.
The best part is you can start these steps as early as day 1 of creating a marketing function, or in as little as one month prior to kicking off formal demand generation for a product. There is little cost to generating and disseminating company content, and you can do it quickly while you focus on the other fundamentals of gaining customer insight and building your messaging.
In my experience, we’re very eager to get our chemistry and technology out there. So often we rush out the product and its features before a customer is ready for them. We don’t want them to be asking, “who is this company?”, “do they even make that technology?” or the dreaded, “why am I seeing this product advertisement?”.
Using your company’s story to generate content is a powerful lever that you can put together very quickly. You’ll buy yourself time by gaining space in your customer’s head while you put in the good marketing work of gathering insights, perfecting your messaging, and readying your product-specific content.
By then, it’ll be time for the main act and customers will be ready to hear you.
