Create winning content for C-suite high flyers

Winning big in industrial technology communications means reaching the upper echelons with clear and actionable insights. Try to summarize the fundamental positioning of your news in three to four keywords. It’s not easy is it? But it is important.

The world of industrial technology is a highly complex one where an outsider can be quickly turned off by complex jargon and scientific terminology.

On the one hand, this is ok – you are in a B2B field after all, where you are predominantly dealing with industry experts. The problem arises when that outsider is a C-suite member who is looking for topline data. C-suite members need to have clear and pointed answers before deciding to use your technology. While these executives will typically have strong general knowledge in a wide range of industrial fields, they may be overwhelmed by overly detailed descriptors and processes, that veer far away from the commercial fundamentals.

They will be asking themselves strategic questions like:

How much money does it cost and what will be the savings?
How simple will it be to implement this into my process and supply chain as a whole?
Which new application areas will open up as a result of using it?

To find the answers they will rely on the information you share via all kinds of channels. The question for you is: “Is my current communications strategy regularly answering these basic questions or are we merely preaching in techno speak to the high tech choir?”

Getting to the essence

Effectively translating highly complex technical concepts and terminology into clear and pointed content without distorting the data itself, is a core contribution of a good communicator. Their role is essentially to extract the commercial benefit and implications of a technology.

Marketeers and communicators are looking to reach executives who are continually being bombarded with messages from all sides and who do not have the time to analyze technical papers in great detail.

The most obvious way to catch a high-flying executive’s attention is getting straight to the commercial heart of the matter. It can be delivered through a blog on your website, a social media post or via a press release shared with the trade media. The disadvantage here is that you will be quite limited in the length. Alternatively, you could create thought leadership content that goes less down the promotional route, but more towards commenting on your industry as a whole. Here the disadvantage is that you may struggle to communicate your message without making it look like a thinly veiled sales pitch.

Other ways to deliver the message

There are other routes to take, however.

White papers present a great platform to focus on a key industry topic in some detail, while maintaining a commercial bird’s eye view. You can go for detail but always keep the C-suite audience central to your positioning. At the same time, you can share an accompanying press release with journalists that provides them with a wealth of resource data for a valuable article that gets to the heart of the matter. Your white paper can be directly shared online or via social media promotions.

Another avenue to take is creating a prepared interview. Here, executives within your company will take up a Q&A opportunity that consists of answering the questions that the C-suite target audience is asking. Creating a peer to peer situation which has a better chance of gaining the right attention. Your executive will be guided in the right direction and encouraged to remain on point. The content can always be filled out with essential technical data following the interview itself, so that the crux is maintained. A real advantage of this form is the naturalness of how it reads.

You can of course go one step further in demonstrating this by taking on a Q&A in video form to present a real human touch to your communications. A fun to read or watch Q&A that is strong on content but supplemented with anecdotes and commercial examples will trigger widespread interest. It will help to position your company as a true innovator within your field with a constant eye on the market.

Helping our customers get to the point

Ensuring that your company’s core positioning and messaging is clear so that decision makers are presented with actionable information takes some experience.

We work with our customers to help define their core positioning, jointly developing a central messaging document around it. We then partner on the creation of comprehensive supporting content around this core message.

Furthermore, we work with our customers on offering C-suite members the directly relevant information required to make key strategic decisions. Additionally, we leverage the knowledge that you have in house by interviewing your specialists and creating valuable and memorable commercial content that is enjoyable to read or watch.

Get in touch with us today and see how we can take your communications strategy up a notch and speak directly to the top C-suite decision makers.