A recent Pittsburgh Business Times article shows the growing need for technology companies’ products and services among energy firms. Executives from several of Pittsburgh’s largest energy firms laid out the technology and innovation challenges they face. These prospects have pain points that your product or service can help them solve. How are you ensuring that they’re aware of your product/service and its benefits over the competition? Here are several ideas to include in your strategic marketing plan. 
First, consider the trade publications these executives use to gain valuable information about their industry. Identify these publications — some of them may relate to the entire industry, while others may focus on more specific areas. If your product/service has a niche market, the more targeted you can get in selecting trade publications to share your message, the better return you’ll see. To make the best use of your time, try a tool like Cision, which has a worldwide database of publications and reporters. Here you can help out the reporters by putting the information you want to share right under their nose.
There are, however, the executives who do their own research to find a solution to their pain point. When this happens you want to make sure you’re prepared. Consider search engine optimization when putting together your strategic marketing plan. One of the most difficult pieces of an SEO strategy is determining what your ideal buyer is searching for on the web. Articles like the one in the Business Times can help you with your keyword research.
Once you have completed your research and determined a list of relevant keywords, consider incorporating them into a thought leadership campaign. Develop a consistent set of blog posts that address the pain points and how your product or service can ease the pain.
You will want to ensure your blogs are tied to a broader inbound marketing campaign. Once someone reads your blog post, where should they go from there? Consider creating a white paper or e-book that offers more information about the issue at hand in which the reader would need to fill out a form to receive it.
Remember not everyone will be ready to purchase your product or service just from reading one blog post or offer. A lead nurturing campaign is an effective way to work a prospect through your sales funnel. By delivering the right content at the right time, you’re helping the lead make the informed decisions he or she needs to move through the process.
Social media is another important component to any strategic marketing plan. It can be a great avenue to demonstrate that you’re aware and paying attention to the information happening around your ideal buyer’s industry. It also serves as a channel for distributing information to those ideal buyers. Do research early on in the process to determine which network will be most valuable for your efforts. Since there are only so many hours in the day to dedicate to our marketing efforts, it’s important to be as efficient and effective as possible.
Most importantly, be sure you’re communicating your Story in each of the areas outlined above. You’ve demonstrated your experience and expertise, but it’s your Story that will help differentiate your business from your competitors. Your Story helps to validate the true value in your product or service.
A strategic marketing plan has many components that when working together can ensure the executives searching for relief from their pain points find you and the solutions you offer.
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Emma Walter is a senior account executive for WordWrite Communications. You can find her on Twitter @emmasreallytall.
