A pastor, doctor and engineer were playing a round of golf. They got to the third tee and were delayed by people still playing the hole. The engineer lost his patience,"What's going on? We’ve been here at least 20 minutes!" The doctor nodded in agreement. The pastor saw the green keeper walking by and shouted to him, "How come that group ahead of us are so slow?” The green keeper replied, "Oh, they’re all blind firemen. They all lost their sight pulling school children out of a burning building, so they can play anytime for free.” Everyone was silent for a few seconds. The pastor finally said, "Oh dear. I’ll be sure to pray for them. Well done on such charitable work good fellow." The doctor added,"Yes, well done to you. I’ll make sure they get the best treatment at the eye unit in the hospital too."
The engineer, arms folded, tapping his feet said,"Ok, but if they’re blind then why can’t they play at night?”
If you have been engaged in technical sales for any period of time you have come to understand that Engineers are a different breed. Selling and marketing to them requires a different style, tactic and process as opposed to Commodity Managers or Senior Executives. When a company develops their content marketing materials, website, social media and outbound strategy they need to consider how it will be perceived by the Engineering community.
According to a recent survey conducted by Engineering.com, engineers spend 8.3 hours per week reading or watching engineering resources, with 86 percent of those hours spent on digital content. This audience is accessible if your company has a digital marketing strategy and invests the time to tailor content to their preferences.
What Factors Should You Consider?
There are key factors to take into consideration when you are marketing to engineers.
Accessibility
Engineers will spend time on your website, LinkedIn page or YouTube channel. But keep in mind the content needs to be relevant and not a sales pitch. Is it informative and does the content show how you solved a real-world problem? What process and tools did you use to arrive at the end result? Engineers spend 2.7 hours per week on their mobile devices, so your website needs to be mobile friendly.
Brevity
Engineers want you to cut to the chase and get to the salient points quickly and concisely. The same study from Engineering.com states that 71 percent like short articles. Another 44 percent of respondents reported that they prefer short videos. It you cannot say it in 3 minutes or less the chances are you are going to lose that audience.
Images
Over the years, organizations have so much to say that their PPT presentations are filled with bullet points, sub points and data Ad nauseam. When your presentation is simply page after page of verbiage you are losing an audience that is very visual. Graphs or charts of performance metrics, flowcharts, product comparisons and photos of products drive the message home. Engineers value images because it is one of the best ways to communicate your capability, experience and technology.
References
Satisfied customer testimonials from industry peers impact their decisions. Engineers are risk averse and they want to work with an organization that has been tried and proven. Soliciting testimonials from a satisfied technical customer speaks volumes, but all too often companies resort to self-serving quotes that are more of a sales pitch than a testament to your solving a pain point or technical problem.
The subject matter experts at ATG have been engaged with selling and marketing to Engineers for over 30 years. We understand the need to capture the hearts and minds of the technical community to assist you with Accelerated Tangible Growth. Contact us today to learn more.
