Building a Powerful Tech Brand in India: 4 Key Content Strategies

India’s tech industry is experiencing unprecedented growth, with the country now being the third-largest software startup ecosystem in the world. The Indian market offers immense opportunities for entrepreneurs looking to build a powerful tech brand. However, to succeed in this competitive landscape, there are four key factors that need to be considered.

1. Thought Leadership

One of the main goals of marketing for tech companies is to demonstrate the authority your brand has over the respective industry you’re in. Thought leadership can help you position your brand as an industry expert and gain trust and credibility among your potential customers, partners, investors, and peers. It can also help you attract and retain talent, foster innovation, create thought-provoking content, and engage in meaningful conversations. Let’s break this down:

1. The first step is to define your area of expertise and your target audience. What are the problems you can solve? What are the trends and challenges you can address? Who are you trying to reach and influence? What are their needs, pain points, and interests?
2. The next step is to decide how and where you will share your thought leadership content. You can use various channels such as blogs, whitepapers, industry publications, podcasts, webinars, social media platforms, online forums, etc. You can also choose different formats such as articles, videos, infographics, case studies, interviews, etc. depending on your audience’s preferences and behavior.
3. The most important aspect of thought leadership is to create content that provides value to your audience. Your content should be informative, insightful, relevant, and original. You should avoid self-promotion or sales pitches and focus on providing solutions, perspectives, predictions, or recommendations related to your industry. You should also use data, facts, examples, stories, or testimonials to support your claims and arguments.

For example, the whitepaper below titled “High-Fidelity Transmission Simulation for Hardware-in-the-Loop Applications” was published by Maplesoft. The whitepaper is about using symbolic technologies from Maplesoft for developing efficient code for real-time implementation of transmission models with loss data included.

High-Fidelity Transmission Simulation for Hardware-in-the-Loop Applications

It also covers results from a recent Hardware-in-the-Loop testing project that demonstrate the advantages of the symbolic approach over other modeling approaches with detailed datasets, charts and figures.

2. Influencer Marketing

Marketing for tech companies should leverage influencer marketing to maximize your reach as much as possible. Influencer marketing is a form of tech marketing that involves collaborating with influential people on social media who have a large and loyal following in your niche. By partnering with these influencers, you can showcase your brand’s products or services to their audience and benefit from their authentic recommendations and reviews.

Influencer marketing is especially useful in India, where social media plays a significant role in people’s lives. According to a report by Statista, India had 518 million social media users in 2020, making it the second-largest market in the world. Moreover, Indian consumers trust online reviews and word-of-mouth more than traditional advertising, according to a survey by Nielsen. Therefore, influencer marketing can help you increase your brand awareness, credibility, and conversions in this market.

However, influencer marketing for technology is not as simple as finding a popular person on social media and asking them to promote your brand. You need to follow some steps to ensure that your campaign is successful and delivers the results you want. Here are some of the steps you need to follow for a successful influencer marketing campaign:

1. Identify and research influencers who align with your brand and target audience. Once you have your objectives in mind, you need to find influencers who match your brand values and have a substantial following in your target market. You can use tools like BuzzSumo or Upfluence to search for influencers based on keywords, topics, or categories related to your niche. You can also look at your competitors’ influencer campaigns or ask your existing customers for recommendations.

2. Evaluate influencers based on credibility, engagement rates, and content quality. After you have a list of potential influencers, you need to evaluate them based on various criteria to ensure that they are suitable for your campaign. Some of the criteria are:

• Credibility: How trustworthy and reputable is the influencer in their niche? Do they have relevant expertise and experience? Do they follow ethical practices and disclose their partnerships?
• Engagement Rates: How active and engaged is the influencer’s audience? How many likes, comments, and shares do they get on their posts? How often do they interact with their followers?
• Content Quality: How well does the influencer create content that showcases your brand’s products or services? How consistent and appealing is their tone, style, format, and hashtags?

You can use metrics like reach, impressions, likes, comments, and shares to measure these criteria. You can also look at the influencer’s previous collaborations with other brands and see how they performed.

3. Develop a partnership strategy and establish a relationship with influencers. After you have selected the influencers you want to work with, you need to develop a partnership strategy and establish a relationship with them. You can use platforms like AspireIQ or Grin to manage your influencer relationships and campaigns. Some of the aspects of your partnership strategy are:

• Compensation: How will you compensate the influencer for their work? Will you pay them a fixed fee, a commission, or offer them free products or services?
• Contract: What are the terms and conditions of your partnership? What are the deliverables, deadlines, and expectations from both parties?
• Communication: How will you communicate with the influencer throughout the campaign? What channels and frequency will you use?

You should also make sure that you build a rapport with the influencer and treat them as a partner rather than a vendor. You should respect their creative freedom and input while providing clear creative direction and feedback.

Here are the examples of some of the most professional tech influencers in India:

1. Amit Agarwal: He is the founder of Digital Inspiration, a popular technology blog that covers topics such as software, web applications, gadgets, and personal productivity. He is also a Google Developer Expert for G Suite and Google Apps Script.

2. Ashish Sinha: He is the founder and editor of NextBigWhat, a platform that showcases the latest trends and insights in the Indian startup ecosystem. He also hosts a podcast called The NextBigWhat Show, where he interviews entrepreneurs, investors and experts from various domains.

3. Nandagopal Rajan: He is the editor of Indian Express Online and writes about technology, gadgets, social media, and digital trends. He also hosts a weekly video show called Tech Talk, where he reviews new products and services in the market.

4. Shruti Shekar: She is the founder and CEO of Edyst, an online learning platform that offers courses and mentorship for aspiring software developers. She is also a mentor at Google Launchpad Accelerator and a speaker at various tech events and conferences.

5. Pranay Parab: He is the host and producer of Orbital, a weekly podcast by Gadgets 360 that covers topics such as smartphones, laptops, gaming, apps and more. He also writes reviews, features and opinion pieces for Gadgets 360 website and magazine.

3. Tutorial Videos

Marketing for tech companies requires a great understanding of the customer journey and how to influence their decision-making process at each stage. Tutorial videos are a very powerful tool for promoting your tech products, and they can significantly increase engagement on your digital and social channels. By creating tutorial videos, you can educate your audience, improve your SEO, and ultimately boost conversions and sales. In fact, according to Statista, you’ll be happy to know that audiences spend an average of 19 hours a week watching videos online, making video an excellent medium for increasing engagement with your target audience.

A simple but effective method to come up with content marketing ideas for this type of content is to use the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How framework to answer common questions in your industry. Here’s how you can create engaging tutorial videos for your viewers:

1. Let’s start with the importance of a brief introduction and breaking down complex tasks. When creating your tutorial video, remember to capture the attention of your viewers right from the start. Your introduction should clearly explain what the video is about and what they will learn from it. Breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps is essential. This way, your viewers can easily follow along and remember each step without feeling overwhelmed.
2. To ensure that your tutorial videos are accessible to a wide range of viewers, it’s important to use simple language and avoid jargon in your script. Remember, not everyone may be familiar with technical terms or acronyms, so using plain and clear language is crucial. If there are any concepts or terms that might be confusing or unfamiliar to your audience, take the time to explain them in a way that they can easily understand.
3. Now, let’s talk about experimenting with different video formats. To keep your viewers interested and entertained, you can try various video formats for your tutorial videos. For example, you can create how-to videos that demonstrate tasks like setting up an email account. Alternatively, you can use screencasts to show your audience how to use a software application effectively. Webinars are another option, allowing you to teach skills such as creating a marketing plan. You could even try live streams for activities like assembling a PC or Q&A sessions where you address common questions such as how to choose a laptop.
4. Engagement is key when it comes to tutorial videos, and incorporating interactive elements can help achieve that. Consider adding interactive elements to your videos, such as quizzes, polls, surveys, or even games. These elements can test your viewers’ knowledge, collect their feedback, and reward them for participating. Additionally, you can use buttons, links, or forms to direct your viewers to your website or landing page, encouraging them to take further action.
5. Finally, it’s essential to include a summary and a clear call to action at the end of your tutorial videos. The summary should briefly recap the main points covered in the video and emphasize the key takeaways for your viewers. This helps reinforce the information and ensures that your audience remembers the essential aspects. Your call to action is crucial as it guides your viewers on what to do next. Whether it’s visiting your website, signing up for a free trial, or subscribing to your channel, make sure to clearly communicate the desired action to your viewers.

For example, you can look at the tutorial video (below) from Dropbox. This video provides a tutorial on how to save files and folders using the Dropbox desktop app, as well as on mobile devices.

It emphasizes the simplicity of dragging and dropping files into the app or the Dropbox folder. The tutorial highlights different platforms and devices, showcasing various methods for saving and uploading files. And it ends with a reminder to sign in to Dropbox.com for additional options.

4. Video Advertising

Video advertising is a powerful tool for your tech brand to increase brand visibility and reach a wider audience. However, creating effective video ads requires more than just producing a video and uploading it online. Here are some tips and best practices to help you create video ads that drive results:

1. Serve your video ads across platforms and devices to maximize exposure. Your video ads can be delivered on various platforms, such as social media, websites, apps, or streaming services. Each platform has its own specifications and requirements for video ads, so it’s important to optimize your video for each platform and device.

For example, in Facebook, Instagram & Meta’s audience networks, you can choose different video formats, such as Stories, In-Stream, Video Feeds, and Marketplace. For YouTube and other Google you can choose video formats like Skippable in-stream ads, Non-skippable in-stream ads, Video discovery ads, Bumper ads, and Outstream ads. Amazon’s Ads are more product centric. Their Sponsored Brands video ads allow you to showcase your products and brand in desktop and mobile shopping results on Amazon.

In the article ‘The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing’, Alicia Collins and Megan Conley conclude that marketers predominantly choose YouTube as the default video marketing platform across the globe. You should take a look at it.

2. Employ a mix of retargeting and prospecting strategies to target both your existing and new potential customers. Retargeting is a strategy that involves showing video ads to people who have already interacted with your brand or visited your website. This helps to remind them of your brand and encourage them to take action, such as downloading an app, signing up for a trial, or making a purchase.

Prospecting is a strategy that involves showing video ads to people who have not yet interacted with your brand or visited your website. This helps to introduce your brand and generate awareness and interest among new potential customers. By using both retargeting and prospecting strategies, you can optimize your video ad campaigns for different stages of the customer journey.

3. Engage your users within the first 3-4 seconds to capture their attention and encourage them to watch the full video. With so many video ads competing for your users’ attention online, it is crucial to grab their attention within the first few seconds of your video.

You can do this by using a catchy headline, a compelling hook, a surprising fact, a provocative question, or a captivating visual. The goal is to spark curiosity and interest among your viewers and make them want to watch more of your video. If your video fails to engage users within the first 3-4 seconds, they are likely to skip it or scroll past it. Here are some examples of headlines, hooks, surprising facts or provocative questions:

• Headline: How to Boost Your Productivity by 300% with This Simple Tech Tool
• Hook: Imagine if you could get more done in less time, without sacrificing quality or creativity. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, it’s not. There’s a tech tool that can help you achieve that and more.
• Fact: According to a recent study, using this tech tool can increase your productivity by up to 300%, compared to using conventional methods. That means you can save hours of work every week, and still deliver outstanding results.
• Question: What if you could turn your smartphone into a powerful scanner, printer, and fax machine? Wouldn’t that make your life easier and more convenient? Well, now you can, thanks to this tech tool.

4. Experiment with different storytelling techniques to create compelling and engaging video content. Video advertising is not just about delivering information but also about telling stories that connect with your audience on an emotional level. You can use different storytelling techniques to create video content that is captivating and memorable.

For example, you can use a problem-solution approach, where you present a common problem faced by your target audience and show how your product or service can solve it. You can also use a testimonial or case study approach, where you feature real customers or clients who share their positive experiences and outcomes using your product or service. You can also use a narrative or story arc approach, where you create a plot with characters, conflicts, and resolutions that relate to your product or service.

5. Provide a clear, customized call to action (CTA) to guide your viewers on the desired next steps. Your CTA is a button or text that tells viewers what action they should take after watching your video ad, such as “Download Now,” “Learn More,” “Sign Up,” or “Buy Now.” Your CTA should be clear, concise, and relevant to the goal of your video ad campaign. It should also be placed at an appropriate time and location in the video, such as at the end of the video or on the bottom-right corner of the screen.

FAQs:

1. Why is thought leadership important for building a tech brand in India?

Thought leadership establishes your brand as an industry expert, fostering trust and credibility among your audience, potential customers, and partners. By addressing industry challenges and trends, you can engage in meaningful conversations, attract talent, and drive innovation. Through valuable content creation and dissemination via blogs, whitepapers, podcasts, and social media, you can position your brand effectively in the competitive Indian tech landscape.

2. How can influencer marketing benefit tech companies in India?

Influencer marketing in India, with its vast social media user base, allows tech brands to amplify their reach and credibility. By identifying credible influencers aligned with your brand values, you can leverage their authentic recommendations to increase brand awareness and conversions. Engaging influencers requires meticulous evaluation, a well-defined partnership strategy, and respectful collaboration, ensuring a successful campaign tailored to the Indian market’s nuances.

3. Why are tutorial videos essential for marketing tech products in India?

Tutorial videos play a pivotal role in engaging the Indian audience by simplifying complex tech concepts. By employing clear language and interactive elements like quizzes and polls, these videos educate viewers effectively. Experimenting with diverse formats, such as how-to guides, screencasts, webinars, and live streams, ensures audience engagement. Including a concise summary and a compelling call to action reinforces the tutorial’s impact, making it an invaluable tool for tech product promotion.

4. How can video advertising drive results for tech brands in India?

Video advertising across various platforms and devices maximizes brand visibility, utilizing tailored formats like Stories, In-Stream, and Video Discovery ads. Employing retargeting and prospecting strategies optimizes campaigns for existing and potential customers. Capturing viewers’ attention within the first few seconds is crucial; compelling headlines, hooks, or surprising facts achieve this. Effective storytelling techniques, such as problem-solution approaches and testimonials, create emotional connections. Clear, customized calls to action guide viewers on the desired next steps, enhancing the impact of video advertisements for tech brands in the Indian market.

In Conclusion

Marketing for tech companies should adapt to the changing trends and technologies in the market and constantly innovate and experiment with new ideas and approaches. By effectively applying these best practices, entrepreneurs can build a powerful tech brand in India that stands out in the competitive tech industry. However, tech content marketing is not a static strategy, but a dynamic one that adapts to the changing needs and preferences of your audience and the market.

We at Passionbits offer comprehensive content creation services catering to each customer journey stage. We have the talent solutions – experts, writers, anchors, and a complete team of professionals to produce content in any format across all channels and mediums. Curious to know more? Let’s connect today!