What sells tech products? A lot of things!
Chief among them, great copywriting and content writing. The common denominator for both is speaking “human”. Unless you sell to other engineers, no one really cares about the specs of your PCB or what programming language your platform was written in.
My agency works with tech companies to help them do just that: create amazing messages that resonate with their buyers, even if those buyers don’t speak tech. Or especially then. Writing tech content and copy is a fine art of balance between showing that you know your stuff and keeping your language extra simple.
Before we dig into the tactics promised, let’s cover the basics: how do you strike that balance?
Tech Copywriting and Content Writing Secrets from People Who Do This for a Living
1. Keep Your Copy Short
As short as possible! A single phrase on your homepage header is enough. In some cases, even three words cut it. The more verbose you are, the more you’ll confuse your visitors.
Can you resume your main selling point in seven words or less? This is an exercise that very few tech company founders can nail from the first try.
And I get why. The products you’ve created mean the world to you. You feel like you’re stealing something from them when you have to cut your word count so much. But trust me! You’re not stealing anything – quite the opposite, as the examples below will show.
2. …and Your Content Long
When you write blog posts, whitepapers, eBooks, or any other type of content, go as in-depth as possible. Make every piece of content the one-stop-shop on that topic. Give no reason for users to bounce back to search results.
This doesn’t mean you should add fluff just to keep your word count high. It means that every piece of content should be:
- Well-researched
- Backed-up by research
- Thorough
Before you hit publish, ask yourself this: is there any question related to this topic that’s been left unanswered? Pro tip: the related searches section on Google will help you answer that.
3. Find the Intersection between Your Audience’s Needs/Interests and Your Business Goals
Don’t publish just for the sake of publishing. Try to identify needs that you can cover.
Some of the most effective pieces of content my agency ever published were how-to guides on how to find the perfect digital marketing agency and how to work with them. This helped us shoot two birds with one stone: we answered a question that a lot of business owners in our target audience have and we got a lot of leads.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s take a look at a few tactics you can “steal” from the pros.
5 Tech Copywriting and Content Writing Tricks You Can Implement Right Now
1. Claim it if You Can Back it!
Mailchimp switched gears and became more than an ESP. It’s a full-fledged marketing automation platform and their copy shows it.
What caught my eye is the fact that they use this prime space to answer a question anyone who’s not familiar with their solution could ask: “What can you do with Mailchimp?” The answer is SO easy and to the point: you can do everything.
2. Beef Up Your Content Library
HubSpot has always bet on content to feed their funnel. In fact, they were one of the first companies to create high-value, in-depth, long-form content. They were doing this long before it was cool.
Today, their resources center is structured to cater to all their potential clients or partners. And their content still rocks! The reports they publish and the in-depth blog posts are a go-to resource for marketers and copywriters worldwide.
Of course, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was HubSpot’s business. Content takes time to work. But as soon as you’ve established yourself as an excellent resource hub for the audience you serve, you’ll start seeing those leads pile up without effort. HubSpot has posts that are 5+ years old, they still rank very high and they still bring in leads.
3. Give Your Main Selling Point a Prime Spot on Your Website
What makes one social media management platform better than the other? Well, there are a ton of features and usability tricks that may make you lean one way or the other (there are tons of such platforms, so choosing isn’t always easy).
What caught my eye more than 6 years ago and what made me stay with Sendible ever since was the ability to manage social media accounts for all our clients.
They’re proud of their feet and they’re not afraid to show it. The moral of the story: if you’ve got it, flaunt it!
4. Set Yourself Apart
If you’re suffering from choice paralysis when it comes to choosing an email client, Superhuman has your back. They have created the “fastest email experience ever made” and they’re not afraid to position themselves against the status quo.
Got something that sets YOU apart? Go back to why you started your business. What did you want to do better than the existing solutions (and managed to do it)? That one thing can be the claim that sets you apart and speak to your target audience best.
5. Create Hyper-Targeted Guides for the Industries You Serve
SyncApps by Cazoomi caters to a lot of industries – everyone is looking for a good iPaaS solution these days! It may sound like a great deal – a huge client pool, but it comes with a communication challenge.
In a world where everyone is niching down, how can you say you can effectively serve so many industries? Well, you can show it! Their in-depth guides aren’t about selling their solution; they’re about showing people how to create effective marketing strategies in the industry they’re in.
I may be biased (full disclosure: Cazoomi is my agency’s client and we helped them create the industry guides), but the numbers aren’t. Just by showing that they know what every industry needs, Cazoomi managed to attract 50% more leads!
Wrapping Things Up
Tech is a very competitive industry. It’s also a very big umbrella. So it’s essential to differentiate yourself from your direct or indirect competitors. You can’t do that by talking about how neat your codebase is organized (your customers probably don’t know what that is, so they don’t care).
You can by spelling out the benefits of using your solution (through copywriting) and by showing that you know your audience and their needs (through content writing).
Need help with either of them? My team of copywriting and content writing experts is just a click away!
