Tech Start-Ups are in vogue!
Seeing Monday’s Google Doodle celebrating what would have been Robert Noyce’s 84th birthday was, for many people, the first time the name would have registered in their consciousness. But as “Bob” Noyce had a profound impact upon personal computing and consumer electronics, there aren’t many people whose lives haven’t been touched in some way by his work.
In fact, the Washington Post goes as far to say that Silicon Valley’s innovative spirit simply would not exist were it not for Noyce – affectionately dubbed as he was, “the mayor of Silicon Valley”.
Which of course brings to mind our own area of high-tech industry in East London, the so-called Silicon Roundabout, as coined by Matt Biddulph, CTO of Dopplr.com – one of the roundabout’s debutants. There can be no doubt that it is a thriving area of technological innovation, home to some of the biggest names in technology. Even Google – hardly a company to make spur-of-the-moment investments – bought office space there in September of this year and is planning to open in early to mid 2012.
But perhaps the most exciting side of the roundabout (so to speak) is the hundreds of new companies that have sprung up in the past two years, employing thousands of people and “generating a sense of community and excitement that we haven’t seen in the UK computer scene since the days of Sinclair and the BBC Micro”. Hundreds of new B2C and B2B technology products and services are being devised, created, tested and launched in a way and with a speed that simply was not feasible even five years ago.
The immediate requirements of these start-ups will naturally include office space, infrastructure, legal and financial support and of course investment – and organisations such as TechHub and TechMeetups are providing or enabling much of this. But what must not be forgotten is the dedicated and individual marketing support that a burgeoning technology company requires. Typically lacking extensive advertising budget, start-ups can often struggle to make a substantial enough noise to make the jump from innovative tool used by the brave few, to becoming the mainstream essential that it may well deserve to be. And as a result, they fall away, joining the thousands of start-ups that never quite made it.
While it may sound self-promotional and biased, we firmly believe that PR is the most cost-effective way for a start-up technology business to make a sufficiently loud noise to challenge for the market’s attention. Coverage in relevant trade publications and nationals can shine a far brighter light on a remarkable new proposition than a small advertising budget can.
And that PR content and coverage is inherently more versatile. Put simply, advertisements are unlikely to be effective when repurposed for the sales team, made available on the website, tweeted about or used in marketing communications – but PR material and press coverage is.
As luck would have it(!), we are currently putting together a white paper on the marketing approach a start-up technology company should be taking, and will be releasing it in early 2012. To sign up for an advance copy of ITPR’s Marketing Plan for B2B Technology Start-Ups and to receive it before general release, just fill in the form here and we’ll be sure to send it to you.
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