For each type of tech company, a different approach to marketing exists. Regarding the IoT sector, the intertwining of stakeholders stresses the need for developing a specific, yet concomitant, strategy.

1/ Why is being an IoT company different in terms of marketing?

As the new CEO of Sigfox said, “a common mistake is to consider that IoT is one market. It is in reality a patchwork of very segmented markets with different uses and technologies”. Parralelly, being in the IoT economy means, intrinsically, being connected to other actors of the market. Compatibility and interoperability are the keys.

It is necessary to bear both these concepts in mind while preparing your marketing plan.

Being a proactive actor in a deeply interconnected chain

In the IoT business, you are a part of the ecosystem. To be usable, your product has to be compatible within the chain (connectivity, data, other devices). This condition will directly impact your communication deliverables as it should reflect this interoperability:

• case study with a client
• podcast with a supplier
• white papers with your partners

But that’s not all. Being involved in the decision making process is important. By that, we mean joining the professional federations, normative groups and associations (non-exhaustive list in the annex).

A well-grounded approach

Most of your content published should focus on illustrating and proving your USP: case studies, video and blog post tutorials, client testimonials. The IoT market is huge and growing exponentially, like the number of companies in it. Why you, not someone else?

Our client Lotus Microsystems, which is producing state-of-the-art miniaturized power supply for IoT devices, is showcasing the benefits of their tech instead of the tech itself. Particular animated graphics make us understand what they do — and why — straight from the website header.

A necessary differentiation on the emotional level: B2B is NOT boring!

In a pure marketing approach, you need to think about non-plainly technical elements to make the difference on the market. For your product colour as an easy example, you are not selling something just red or grey, but gloss red or gunmetal grey. This applies to B2B.

2/ Who are you talking to?

Obviously, you are talking to your clients. But when working in B2B, you need to identify different entry keys within your client organisation. Alternatively, your communication will reach as high as the C level directly, or a product manager, or a technician. Each of these targeted positions belong to the same company, but are receptive to different types of content.

The technician

The technician is of crucial importance, less to gain new clients, but to retain the current ones. He’s the one who will report the fact if your solution is reliable, easy to use and concretely brings value in the field. Gaining his confidence and loyalty is key in order to install your solution on the market, whether your final client is B2B or B2C.

How ?

• crystal clear technical documentation
• properly translated when needed
• + reachable hotline with properly trained agents

The product manager

The product manager will be a number one recipient of your content strategy. He’s the one within your prospect organisation who is in charge of bringing the IoT solution to the market. He understands the globality of an IoT architecture and wants to quickly grasp how your product will bring value to his solution.

How ?

• video tutorials
• one-to-one demo
• detailed sales brochure
• + clear pricing policy

The C level

This target is less likely to read your content in person (blog, videos). You need to create conditions to meet them face to face during dedicated IoT conferences or professional federation meetings. During the mentioned events, ideally, you may want to be on stage. In a professional federation, preferably, you may want to play an active role.

How?

• produce enough content (blog, white papers, books, videos) to be recognized as an expert and be on stage during IoT events
• join profesional IoT federations (list in the annex) by filling their membership criterias (and pay the annual fee), and aim to be in the board of one of the thematic workshops

3/ What kind of deliverable do you need to produce?

Beyond the basics (sales brochure, website, event materials like roll-up), you should specifically focus on three types of content.

Case studies: demonstrating how you create value

A case study can be a very powerful piece of content at several levels. It demonstrates your know-how, the way you are solving problems. It reinforces the link with your clients by having a specific time interrogating them, and also valorizing them in your case study.

It’s more concrete than a simple reference (logo) or vague testimonial on your website.

Your prospect can recognize themselves in it and get some value out of it, even before the first contact with your sales team.

Opt for long case studies, wordy (2000+ words) and do not hesitate to also expose different challenges and difficulties you have encountered.If you don’t know how to structure it, we propose you this simple framework:

1. Context: what your client’s problem was
2. Objectives: what your client’s objectives were
3. Method: (only at this point you talk about you) how you made the client problem yours and proposed the best way to solve it using your products/services
4. Solution: focus on one or several of your products, particularly matching the problem solution
5. Why it succeed: why the client problem could be solved and the objectives reached thanks to you (not your competitors)

Detailed FAQ and videos tutorials: how easy it actually is to use your solution

IoT is at the crossroads of engineering, telecomms, data analysis … and it’s very likely that people using your solutions are specialists in only one domain. You need to help them understand how the overall solution works, especially when it comes to both hardware/software solutions.

The company Qoitech, which produces an all-in-one IoT battery optimisation solution, published a massive series of tutorial videos (like this one). You don’t need a budget off the chart, just a basic camera set-up (around 1100€, we list a number of Amazon links at the end of this article) and — overall — solid planning and scripting.

This is the last part (the planning) that most small businesses fail at. They start to jump in it by recording 2 or 3 videos, then they run out of ideas and discontinue.

Outcome-based imagery: cutting down the time to figure out what is your mission

You want to illustrate your solution in the most tangible way possible. It means creating imagery reflecting the outcome more than the product alone. If you produce a fridge door alarm for small shops, you want to have a picture of refrigerated shelves with customers picking up ice cream. When you make a smart meter detecting water leaks, you want to show a relaxed family in their kitchen.

Think about Marketing Pope Seth Godin : “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit. They want a quarter-inch hole.”

4/ So which budget should you allocate to marketing?

You need to differentiate several layers of investment, each of them being interdependent. Each part is relatively flexible (you don’t launch everything at once), depending on your budget, your company’s experience and your strategic priorities.

Planning and supervising

This can be outsourced with a specialized agency, but preferably part of the team. The job is to identify subjects that are most likely to convert into the prospects.

Once this first task is completed, the content production needs to be planned (at least for the next 3 months or more) and attributed through the team or freelance (copywriters, videographers …).

We call this an editorial calendar. You can read this very insightful article about it. An overall idea is to be certain that your content will be done, ready in time and the one that follows an editorial line corresponding to the company’s strategic objectives.

From our experience, the amount of time necessary for the above shouldn’t exceed two days a month with a reliable freelancer.

Copywriting content

This is the foundation of your content strategy, divided in several deliverables:

• Your blog
• Your use cases
• Your “heavier” publications (white papers, books)

As the copywriters’ pricing may vary a lot depending on specialisation, language or location, we will be referring to the minimum amount of words (most of the copywriters charge per word).

- Your blog is targeting mostly SEO, putting you on the map. You want to be careful about the keywords used and preferably go for 1500+ words minimum.

- The use cases are generally dedicated to convert visitors into prospects by bringing proper answers to their questions. We’ve already described the plan to follow in the previous chapter. The length is variable depending on your area. Generally, they are written within the team, between 1500 and 2500 words.

- White papers are often to download by sending an email address (even if this practice is decreasing). These are deliverables which take the most of your internal team time. White papers are generally more technical and can’t be entirely outsourced. They are generally 3000+ words minimum, but it’s best to aim for a solid 4000+ (around 15 pages).

Video / audio content budget

Besides the copy (which we consider to be essential), video tutorials and/or podcasts are necessary. For podcasts, we advise to join an available one as a guest or a sponsor. You can also partner up with another IoT company to divide the costs. The hardware costs are extremely low as you just need two decent mics (like the Yeti). Nevertheless, finding the flow and the voice to produce a proper audio content is in our view less handy than a video channel.

The video tutorials are mostly about illustrating features and particularities of your solution on the field. You can have a voice over, but again it’s better to find the ambassador for your Youtube Channel. The web builder service Webflow did this admirably. Check out some of their videos to see their work.

You can record yourself (check the gear list in the annex below) and outsource the montage, which is in our opinion the best price/time deal.

The hardware investment is around 1000–1500€. Spare 2 days (internal or outsourced) for each video:

• half day scripting
• half day shooting
• half day of montage
• a last half day is dedicated to publishing on the most relevant channels

Special Note : Networking

The last budget to be taken into consideration that cannot be outsourced at all. This is the presence of the CEO or any empowered representative at networking events (conferences, debates, professional federations meetings, normative and public institutions).

Conclusion

Patience and long lasting involvement of the team are crucial more than the budget. No shortcuts are available. Regular and relevant content release, month after month, will generate effective leads. It is common to say that the first meaningful results will appear after 12 to 18 months.

The efforts need to be directed and centralised by a Content Marketing Officer (a role assumed in the small organisation by the Chief Marketing Officer or Manager). The Content Marketing Officer will take care of the content flow, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in the right direction.

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Practical Annex 1

Effective video and sound recording set-up (on a budget):

• Camera + 2 lenses: here
• SD card for the camera : here
• Lighting : here
• Tripod : here
• Audio recorder: here
• Micro-SD card for the audio: here
• Lavalier Mic: here
• Basic but closed Headphone: here
• Cable to link camera and audio recorder: here

Practical Annex 2

IoT profesional federations list (non-exhaustive):

Lora Alliance (if you use Lora connectivity, obviously)

The Things Network

AIOTI (created by the European Commission)

IoT-EPI

NGIoT

IoT Council

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