In my work producing content for technology companies, I’m constantly reading content that they produce. Often, my eyes glaze over. I force myself to read on—because my job is to teach myself the technology as well as to thoroughly understand the positioning of my client and its competitors.
As a marketer in a technology company, this should be a major cause for concern. After all, if your technology content is difficult to slog through, how many of your customers will bother?
The question is, what’s wrong with technology copy and how do you fix it?
The Awful Truth
Technology copy often is characterized by two major flaws that make it inaccessible to many customers.
1. It’s too technical and jargon filled
Much content from technology companies is written by technologists for technologists. I’ve even encountered some technologists who don’t even understand the need to talk about their technology to non-technologists.
Copy that’s filled with jargon and goes into a deep dive about the nuts and bolts of technical specifications doesn’t really communicate anything to many of your readers—even if they’re technical, but not expert in your technology.
2. It’s too vague
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to the website of a technology company and have been unable to figure out what the company does. The company will say it’s a “leader” and want to “partner” with you to leverage their “expertise” to create “business solutions.” But what does this mean? What exactly is the solution they produce?
The Solution
The solution is to talk about technology in terms that people can not only understand, but that makes them care. These include how technology:
1. Solves real problems
Technology should solve a real problem for real people. You need to be explicit about what that problem is. For example, no one cares about virtualized servers. What people are interested in is how to save the money they currently pay for unused capacity that they keep to handle the rare peak load.
2. Delivers real benefits
Technology features mean nothing to real people. People want to know how the product helps them. For example, a data-backup server allows you to save a copy of your data to another location. That’s the technology feature. But the benefit is that if a fire or natural disaster destroyed your building, all your data could be restored and running on your laptop in minutes.
3. Furnishes ROI
Another way customers justify technology purchases is by considering ROI. Technology often delivers ROI by cutting costs, increasing profits, mitigating risks, or fulfilling a regulatory requirement. But each technology achieves these objectives in a different manner. You need to tell people how your technology delivers ROI.
4. Improves people’s lives
Technology has the power to transform people’s lives. As a writer, I couldn’t do my job nearly as productively as I do using word processors and the internet for research. Electronic health records improve patient care and prevent the harm of prescriptions scrawled in illegible handwriting. Smartphones and tablets make it easy for people to check email and get work done on the road.
Technology companies that communicate about technology in ways that appeal to other technologists will only alienate the vast majority of customers. To truly engage customers, you need to communicate in ways they understand and care about.
How do you communicate with your technology customers?
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