Category: Branding & Marketing Insights

How to scale a tech start-up that grows exponentially using the DAC system

The question remains. How to scale a tech start-up? Time and time again, a strong brand has been the difference between success and failure for tech start-ups and SMEs. To ensure that your tech start-up reaches your audience, and engages with the products and services that your tech brand offer, you need to strengthen your Brand DNA and upscale your business to grow.

At 3 Colours Rule, the DAC system is a framework we created and use to grow our client’s brands and scale a tech start-up. We also use it for strategy and effective implementation through marketing and branding purposes, by identifying and assessing your brand’s strengths and weaknesses.

This article will focus on how to scale a tech start-up, case studies, and the impact of the DAC system on a tech start-up.

Our brand DNA to scale a tech start-up

Screenshot 2022-01-03 at 10.51.18

To upscale your tech startup, you need to know what your brand is, and what you can bring to your audience. For this, to work you need to strengthen your Brand DNA. A Brand DNA sets the tone of your business and is the heart of the brand. It contains all the traits that describe the brand and distinguishes it from others.

Vision & Mission

A vision should be where you want to take your company and your ambition for the business. You need to think and understand how you want your target audience to perceive the brand. Your mission would come after, where you identify what your tech brand’s purpose is. Your tech brand mission helps make decisions that will help you achieve the aims you have set for your company.

Core Purpose

The core purpose of a  is not the same as vision, mission, or values.  It’s an instinctive and emotional connection to why you’re doing what you’re doing. The difference you’re going to make to customers, your staff, and the market.

Values

A company’s values are what they find most important to them and what they believe in. Aims and objectives can be influenced by a brand’s values.

Products, Services & Benefits

A brand’s products or services are what they sell to their audience.

Most brands have their products or services that come with benefits, which entice their audience to buy from them over competitors. These benefits could come in the form of a particular function only your product can do or an aspect of a service you can provide.

Positioning

Positioning is the process of deciding where to place your brand or product in the market. Who is your audience? Does the brand or your product match the market you want to sell into?

Your tech start-up has to be positioned in the correct market so that your product and message are delivered to the right audience. If your brand is positioned incorrectly, you’ll be promoting your brand, product, or service to the wrong people.

Personality

It’s a structure that helps a brand influence the way people feel about its product, service, or mission. It can produce an emotional response from your target audience, to gain positive actions that would benefit the brand.

There are 5 main types of brand personality; excitement, sincerity, ruggedness, competence, and sophistication. Customers are more likely to purchase a brand if its personality is similar to their own.

The DAC System to scale a tech start-up

The DAC system has 3 phases, and for the system to work correctly, they have to be done in the correct order.

A brand strategy that works, the correct brand identity to attract your audience, and the marketing techniques to sell your brand to your audience – that is the DAC system.

Case Studies on how to scale a tech start-up

Apple – Distinguish

Apple’s brand strategy focuses on the emotions and how the product makes you feel. The Apple brand personality is about lifestyle; innovation; passion; hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

The Apple brand personality is also about simplicity and the removal of problems from people’s lives; people-driven product design; and being a humanistic company with a heartfelt connection with its customers.

Apple Brand strategy - Scale a tech start-up
Monzo brand design identity - Scale a tech start-up

Monzo – Attract

Monzo needed to have stand out visuals for its brand. Colours are important to a brand identity. The pink, salmon colour of the Monzo card helps it stand out against other cards that could be in a person’s wallet, and is one of the most significant ways you can build awareness and recognition for your company.

The Monzo logo is both simple, and evocative. With a range of colours intended to draw the eye and create focus, the smooth and friendly font also suggests that the company is more informal than any bank.

PlayStation – Convert

PlayStation’s slogans for the brand “Play has no limits” emphasize its positioning as a core gaming product. A few of their slogans which have been used by Sony include, “The Ultimate Just Got Power”, “It only does everything”, “Move into the action”.

PlayStation also shows its upcoming products and games in many exhibitions across the globe. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, which is the largest gathering of gaming events also hosts PlayStation products every year. Such events help Sony feature and advertise their products to the larger crowd and focus their products on the prospective buyers, i.e. gamers.

Playstation marketing campaign - Scale a tech start-up

The impact of not following the DAC system

If you don’t follow the order of the DAC system, it could limit your business’s potential for future growth.

  • Low conversion

Having a low conversion rate shows there is a low interest in your product and customers are not purchasing it. This is bad for the company because there is no source of income and no profit is being made and the company could face being closed down.

  • High cost of acquisition

The cost of acquisition is defined by the expense a company makes in acquiring a new client or purchasing an asset. If a brand’s acquisition costs are too high, then they will struggle to buy any resources that they may need for the company in the future.

  • High bounce rate

A high bounce rate is a cause for concern as it means that a customer has entered the site and left immediately without making a purchase. This is a problem because it shows that either your brand hasn’t been seen by your target audience, or there isn’t any interest in your brand.

  • Attracting the wrong audience

By promoting your brand to the wrong audience your audience won’t see you, so you would lose customers and waste a lot of your marketing budget while also not making any profit from the products that come from your brand.

  • Low community engagement

If your community were to lose trust in your brand, they may stop taking an interest, so you would lose customers and free promotion. As people stop talking about your product, sales could decrease till people stop buying your product, losing you profit.

  • Poor brand valuation

Brand value is how much your brand is worth should you decide to sell your company. If your tech start-up had a poor brand valuation it could prevent the opportunity of merging with another company that would want to continue to use your brand.

Conclusion

Using the DAC system you should find it easier to build a brand strategy, brand identity, and marketing campaign focusing on how to scale your tech start-up and future business growth.

About us
3 Colours Rule is a branding and marketing agency specialising in growing tech companies and start-ups grow. Beyond our brand strategy, design and marketing services; we also have a podcast: Tech Brains Talk where our founder has conversations with experts and entrepreneurs in tech. We also have a branding and marketing academy to support marketers expand their skills and entrepreneurs too. We also run our non-profit organisation, TLA Black Women In Tech, one of the fastest-growing communities for black female professionals and entrepreneurs in tech.  

Love this blog post?

Subscribe to our newsletter

The thinker statue wearing a VR headset

    Maintaining focus and direction within your company

    Steering a whole company towards one goal is not an easy task. Having all employees directed and focussed is something the top managers have to ensure.

    To know where you are heading towards, you need to set a strategic direction.

    What is a strategic direction?

    According to Wellers, a strategic direction is a plan that needs to be followed and implemented for a business to move forward to achieve its vision and fulfil its goals. Owners and the management of the organisation can communicate the significance of employees work and their contribution to achieving business goals.

     

    Steps how to achieve focus within the company:

     

    Setting a strategic direction

    An entrepreneur is always a person who tries to turn his/her/their idea into a commercially viable business. This means creating a new or different product or service and releasing it to a particular market. It is a matter of innovating, testing and developing to better satisfy the needs and wants of customers. This is actually not a strategy but the establishment of the business. Once the concept of the business is starting to make money, it is time to move into the next phase in the business lifecycle. It is important to develop a plan for how sales will grow and how you can scale operations to meet the demands of customers of clients.

    With growth, you can be able to protect your market share from your competitors and are more competitive. You need to know your strategic direction and that requires properly thought out action ideas, careful planning and a good amount of time. Developing a strategy is not something everyone in the company should get involved in. It has to be done either by the managing director, founder or from a small number of employees such as the executive team members. It can be democratically if people compromise and appease.

     

    While developing a strategy there are three questions you should be asking.

    1. What is the vision and mission of your business? And why are you in business? What is your purpose?
    2. What level of growth and sales do you want to achieve in the next 5 or more years?
    3. Will you change, implement, and do something to achieve your desired growth?

    The last question is important as it involved what you need to achieve your goal. The resource requirements will get more clear.

     

    Hire the right people and get along with them

    Employees are the backbone of every business. Without them, the company actions will be put to a halt. Therefore, taking on and managing the right people is vital for business success. Once you get it right, your employees will want to grow intrinsically. The reason t focus on employees is as your organisation develops you will become more reliant on them to:

    • Manage customer relationships and drive sales
    • Make sure that the core functions of the business run smoothly
    • Have creative and innovative ideas to develop your organisation as well as your service or product offerings

    Your employees are the ones making your strategy work and sometimes for a lifetime. Therefore, it is vital to bring the right people on boards to achieve your vision. It is also important to mention that you should retain your best staff and help them develop. Workshops, training and every course in your as well as in their interest is the way to go.

    When you are hiring people, the right attitude, fit and aptitude are the stuff you should look closely into. If someone has the mindset you like and the personality traits that would be a great fit for your organisation don’t hesitate to hire them. Don’t forget, skills can be developed for most roles through training. This is also a reason why a couple of businesses hire people around cultural fit instead of education.

     

    Build a business structure that works without you

    Your aim should be to develop an executive team that can perform important tasks in a limited timeframe without you. The organisation should not depend on you fully. Instead, it should run without your absence at a normal pace as well.

    For example, if you eventually decide to sell, a potential buyer will normally query how well the process works when you depart. Sadly, it is very likely that you will get the hiring side of things wrong and will have to learn lessons. This shows how important it is to have a strategic direction.

     

    Always remember, to remind your team of your vision and how your business is developing towards it.  Keeping your team motivated and inspired is the key. To achieve this constant communication with your employees is needed. Be there for them if they have any issues and show them how it is still possible to achieve the common goal. Challenges are a part of the progress too.

     

    Monitor your cashflow

    Keep your cash and money monitored. Know where you have expenses and where you can reduce costs. Having a grasp of your finances will help you develop long term strategies towards reducing costs and scaling your business.

     

    In a nutshell

    To be focused on one goal makes it essential to have staff that is motivated and inspired by the organisation as a whole. Even if the leader is not there, the business must carry on with what they are good at. To develop long term strategies it is important to invest and finance the right things. This needs you to be careful with the monetisation.

     

     

     

    Liked this article? Why not read “Why branding your SaaS company is important”
    If you would like to receive a complimentary brand assessment call with the 3 Colours Rule agency

    Would you like to find out what is preventing your brand from achieving your business goals? What if during a 30min call with us we could identify the areas of your brand that need improvement so that you can attract the right clients? We will use our D.A.C. (Distinguish, Attract & Convert) growth system to swiftly evaluate your brand strengths and weaknesses. We will provide you with directives and your brand score so you can measure your progression. 3 Colours Rule will help you find your USP that resonates with your audience.

     

     

    Contact us today!

     

    Why branding your SaaS company is important

    Did you know that it is ten times faster to build a software company today than it was in the past? With the increasing number of deployable infrastructures such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and readymade website developers, everyone can easily start a business within a day or even less. Find out why branding your SaaS company is important.

    If you do not believe us here are some numbers. Priceintelligently surveyed SaaS founders and found out that companies that started in 2011 faced an average of 2.6 competitors in their first year of business. This number increased to 4.8 in 2013. 3 years later a business in its first year had 9.7 competitors.

    Branding agency

    The increasing level of competition leads to higher expectations of customers. The quality of products and features hereby are the main players.

    SaaS is birthing more SaaS. This is caused by people starting their own SaaS products. Many engineers quit their job at startups and start their own companies. This is not an uncommon event.

    There is a lot of information about SaaS businesses online. A lot of people who founded, funded, work or worked at a SaaS company like to share their experience and tell people how to start their own software company, run and grow it. This is usually done through blogs.

    You should always keep in mind: increasing competition affects each and every area of your business.

     

    So let us speak about the importance of branding in a highly competitive market.

    You may wonder how can even branding help my company to succeed? Building a strong brand alone for your Software as a Service helps you to set your business apart from competitors.  It may seem too difficult to measure the effectiveness of a solid branding related marketing strategy, it is worth it. Keeping your brand at the top of the mind of current or potential customers always has its benefits. Your brand name becoming recognised in your niche will help you to be known as a dominant player in your market.

    Branding may sound easy but it definitely is not. Especially when you are better at leading your SaaS company. Many businesses in that market hire branding and marketing agencies such as 3 Colours Rule to create an iconic brand.

    When your Software as a Service is branded correctly, customers will know the importance of it. Clients want and demand a practical and remarkable experience from software. By branding it, you will show how valuable your service actually is.

     

    Putting the focus on the value you are delivering to customers is the key.

    How will your SaaS make their life easier? The remarkable experience you will give your customers should be the frontrunner. Focussing on new tactics and marketing channels for SaaS have their place as well to achieve success. However, branding is the one that will help you stand out and get noticed on different social media channels, blogs and websites

    By giving customers a good experience they will help your company to gain credibility, trust and you will become familiar with many more people. Giving your customers this great user experience will also boost loyalty and they will keep returning back to you. However, if this experience is not good, you will lose the great results you could have achieved. Branding is important. “You miss 100% of shots you don’t take”. And branding is one you definitely should take and need to take for your business to be successful.

    Of course, marketing and branding are about building a connection with your target audience on a personal level. Once you have achieved that, you will resonate with them on a much better level and they will become more willing to find out about your products or services. A lot of businesses actually struggle with this brand recognition but once they get it, they are much more successful. Reaching out to people on a mass number is not a problem for them anymore. Once you get this recognition, the focus on interruption marketing can be eased as people will seek you out. They will keep your brand in mind and search for you on Google or even type in your website link to find out more about your offerings.

    The biggest advantage of brand recognition is the trust that is followed by it. Customers will view your company as a trusted source for high-quality products and services and will, as mentioned above, be emotionally connected to your brand. Most of the time, word-of-mouth follows. Customers will tell their friends, family, colleagues and many more people about your brand. This level of recognition is the goal of every business.

     

    Once you establish your brand, consistency is very important.

    Promises that are made have to be kept. If you do not keep them, you will lose the trust of your customers or potential ones. Getting that trust back a second time is nearly impossible.

    It is easy to get caught up with the excitement of running a business and not realise how much it takes to get things up and running well. Most entrepreneurs find it more difficult to attract customers than they anticipated. Here is the easy three-step process that you can use to get more customers, scale up your business, make more money, and attract your dream customers.

     

    Phase 1: Distinguish

    Every company needs to articulate their uniqueness, to distinguish themselves from the competition, and to attract and convert more prospects into clients.

    Phase 2: Attract

    People love to buy brands, when we are faced with too many options we go for what we know.  A great brand can signify quality and inspire confidence.

    Phase 3: Convert 

    People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. When you listen to their problems your prospects will listen, and when you talk about the solutions your prospects will buy. When you get this, it will change your life forever.

    Our agency provides success-proven solutions for every stage of your customer relationship building following our successful brand growth methodology. Contact us today!

     

    Liked this article? Why not read “Why brands fail”

     

     

    If you would like to receive a complimentary brand assessment with the 3 Colours Rule agency

    Would you like to find out what is preventing your brand from achieving your business goals? What if during a 30min call with us we could identify the areas of your brand that need improvement so that you can attract the right clients? We will use our D.A.C. (Distinguish, Attract & Convert) (explained in our YouTube video) growth system to swiftly evaluate your brand strengths and weaknesses. We will provide you with directives and your brand score so you can measure your progression. 3 Colours Rule will help you find your USP that resonates with your audience.

     

    Contact our Branding Agency today!

    Why brands fail

    As a branding and marketing agency for technology companies, we have seen how most businesses failed. Here are the reasons why brands fail.

    7 in 10 businesses fail within 5 years. The reason: Branding.

    So simple yet so difficult for most businesses. Why do brands fail is the question the top management of organisations ask themselves. Most businesses realise their company has failed after they give up the firm. During the process, no one really notices that the brand is not doing well. Let’s have a look at the history of branding provided by Marketing91:

    In the past, the market was product and manufacture driven. With the increasing industrialisation businesses that had good salespeople were the market leaders. The more the market moved the more the importance of marketing and branding was clear.

    Businesses started to point out their uniqueness with their marketing strategies and with that their brand value increased. With the growing value, consumers had more expectations. Whenever a business did not have the right move, it failed.

    The main purpose of a brand was to differentiate organisations from other businesses. A tech company, Intel, was the first one to brand its microprocessors and had huge benefits from it. Microsoft beat IBM due to its marketing potentials, Apple beat Microsoft’s brand image by bringing new products and marketing itself as “Innovative”. Products themselves took the backseat and brands sold the products. The right branding allows you to sell an average product. The success of a business heavily depends on branding. However, when a product does not meet the expectations, then people are quick to blame the branding department.

    Tata Nano is a good example of this. The car was disliked by many people as for them a car is a luxury and Nano’s looks and performance were not as good as it was branded to be. So when the car failed to be a hit, Tata blamed themselves and said the marketing of the car was not done in the right manner.

    A couple of reasons why brands fail: 
    • The poor product that does not meet the expectations of the audience
    • Brand recall value drops: Customers slowly move to another brand because they cannot recall a business’ brand
    • Too much expansion with fewer resources: Example Samsung – the company does fairly well and leads in the market however the demand for their cameras and air conditioners has failed
    • False marketing: A brand is a promise and if that promise breaks, you don’t have a brand
    • Over marketing makes your brand come across as too common
    • Your brand might seem irrelevant and one aspect is technology. Having a look at Nokia you can tell it became irrelevant because it did not want to offer the newest technology to its consumers. Android was ahead of the game at that time.
    • Increase in competition
    • If your service and post-sales customer experience is not good it will affect your brand and might cause it to fail

    Another major reason is digital transformation. Many customers gather information online from social media, blogs and so on. B2B businesses have a hard time thriving with their social media presence.

     

    Mistakes B2B businesses make:

    #1 Not having a clear strategy

    Most B2B businesses use social media because their competition does. They do not have a clear strategy and just try to be active because someone else is doing it too. This approach may seem good in the short term, but in the long run, it never works out. If you post only to be active on socials, how are you able to find out if it is benefitting your business? The way to find out how social media is meeting your business goals is to have a proper strategy.

    Your strategy should include:

    • Goals you want to achieve
    • How to achieve those goals
    • Track your performance with KPI’s (Key Performance Indicator)
    • How will the goals impact your overall business goals
    • Identify resources and tools that will help to achieve your goals

     

    #2 Authenticity and transparency

    Being able to offer connections between brands and customers is what makes social media powerful. In the B2B market, consumers always expect the truth. In a world with a lot of fake news and privacy issues, customers turn their back to brands if they fail to be authentic and transparent. According to Sprout Social’s Social media and the evolution of transparency report, 86% of people are likely to take the competitors product if the transparency of a business is lacking on social media. 81% of the customers think it is the responsibility of the business to be transparent.

     

    #3 Targeting the same audience on every social media channel

    Posting the same content on different channels is a common mistake business make. Every social media channel has different demographics such as age.

    • LinkedIn: 36% are ages 18-29, 34% are 30-49, 28% are 50-64
    • Twitter: 36% are ages 18-29, 23% are 30-49, 21% are 50-64
    • Facebook: 88% are ages 18-29, 84% are 30-49, 72% are 50-64
    • Instagram: 59% are ages 18-29, 33% are 30-49, 13% are 50-64
    • Pinterest: 36% are ages 18-29, 34% are 30-49, 28% are 50-64

     

    #4 Talking about yourself only

    Social media is about being social. You are supposed to build a relationship with your audience. If you fail to focus on your customer and focus on yourself only your social media strategy will fail. Obviously, pushing your content is marketing, however, this might backfire on your social channels. Customers expect more value than just hearing about your achievements.

     

    #5 Not understanding the ROI of social media

    In fact, this is what experts struggle at too. Social Media does not directly relate to sales. It is similar to online shopping. People check products on the websites but not necessarily purchase them. It is also important to note that you need quality content. This could be videos, animations and pictures. Understanding the ROI of social media will surely put you on the right track.

     

    #6 Failing to invest time and effort

    Social Media strategies take time to work. If you have someone working 25 hours a week to post on your social media channels and expect him/her/them to make you go viral you are wrong. It is a long-term strategy that takes time to unfold its true potential.

     

    #7 Not evolving

    Businesses tend to be slow with catching up on trends. Social media is very quick to change the topics people talk about. The flexibility of a brand is important to be up-to-date with topics relevant to the business.

    Last but not least, pointing out the difference between marketing and branding can be helpful for some businesses. These two get confused most of the time. They are the same but different. Both go hand in hand, however, they follow different goals.

    branding Agency

     

    We build strategies for technology companies and help them become the leader in their market. We hate seeing brands fail due to simple reasons!

     

     

    Liked this article? Why not read “Importance of diversity”

     

     

    If you would like to receive a complimentary brand assessment with the 3 Colours Rule agency

    Would you like to find out what is preventing your brand from achieving your business goals? What if during a 30min call with us we could identify the areas of your brand that need improvement so that you can attract the right clients? We will use our D.A.C. (Distinguish, Attract & Convert) (explained in our YouTube video) growth system to swiftly evaluate your brand strengths and weaknesses. We will provide you with directives and your brand score so you can measure your progression. 3 Colours Rule will help you find your USP that resonates with your audience.

     

    Contact us today!

    Importance of diversity in advertisement and marketing teams

    In the current digital landscape, advertising is not just about running an ad rather it’s about how your consumer relates his value to your product. It becomes more crucial when it can help you build your brand advocacy. An important aspect that can benefit your advertisement and marketing teams is diversity.

    An influential aspect of diversity can enhance psychological attributes in your advertising. It facilitates the personality, values, and effectiveness of your message. From an organisation perspective, it can lend a hand to intensify creative ideas, better work culture, and company values.

    The impact of diversity can help change the permanent mindset of the consumer resulting in better brand recognition. However, one should be mindful that efforts should be persistent to incite an attitude change in people.

     

    Key questions you can ask yourself
    • How diverse is your marketing team?
    • How much are your campaigns aligned from a multicultural perspective?

     

     

    Why diversity in marketing teams?

    The technology industry is growing almost 3 times faster than the whole economy and is contributing around £200 billion a year to the economy. Diversity and inclusion contribute towards targeting new customers and increasing response rate with messages to which the audience can relate.

    Analyse competitors.

    Yes! Divert your attention and monitor closely the trends and companies, which economically advance diversity in their teams. Studies supported the fact that the more diverse their organisation is the more diverse the business. Nevertheless, as an organisation, you should also focus on developing D&I (Diverse and inclusion) strategy. In the past companies like Deloitte and Apple clearly depict their support to diversity.

     

    Deloitte used the videoMany voices, one song” to deliver the power of unity their company culture supports and that’s how they deliver solutions to their clients. The video shows single voices from different gender, ages, races, ethnicity and later combines as one to be the voice of the company.

    Whether it is solving a problem, making a prediction or coming up with creative ideas the diverse team tends to work better. Why? The team consists of a diverse range of values and experiences and facilitates creativity.

    Ethnic benefit

    Often marketing campaigns miss influencing the ethnic groups. The inclusion of ethnicity in marketing teams will add flexibility to comprehend the behaviour of ethnic minorities.

    Age benefit

    Having a mixture of age groups in a marketing team can benefit your organisation. Such as different sets of generations will be more likely to have different perspectives on important issues. For example, the older people in marketing teams have fixed opinions about an issue, whereas Gen Z is more open to the ideas as they haven’t experienced something like this in the past and can make the marketing campaign more creative by excluding cultural faux pas.

    The takeaway is millennials, Gen X and Gen Z each group can contribute a different voice. If managed well, it can give your marketing team some creative edge over your competitors.

    Improved hiring

    Word spread when people get to know about the culture and inclusivity the company supports. Everyone wants to be a part of it. As seen in a survey conducted by Glassdoor shows almost 67 percent of job seekers consider a diverse workforce as an important factor.

     

    Why diversity in advertisement really matters

    Amplification in brand reputation – During a marketing campaign, the inclusion of diversity is not confined to generating some awareness only, OKAY! Initially, it can be but the lasting effect holds the power to leave an impression and do something more than just a product purchase.

    Whenever a brand steps up to support diversity and inclusion it stands for something which can potentially impact a certain group. Furthermore, in the digital space with social media, it becomes nearly easy for the audience to reflect on the campaign. However, when done correctly the support from the audience is evident. At that point in time, it’s easy to comprehend the value of your brand from a customer’s perspective.

    Example

    A great example is Airbnb “The acceptance ring” campaign. Acceptance and belonging are at the heart of Airbnb as they say. Their initiative to support marriage equality and LGBT.

    Airbnb advertising message: The incomplete ring symbolizes the gap in marriage equality that we need to close. This initiative built brand advocacy for Airbnb and left the viewers with warm positive emotion.

    The takeaway here is that it’s important to realise the minority groups also hold the power to spend.

    Likewise, Admiral insurance welcomes the female character in their advertising campaign. Jon Elsom, group executive creative director, McCann Bristol, added “She’s a real part of the community.” It’s full of quirky Britishness with a handcrafted feel. We’ve created a bright, optimistic and colourful town the brand can inhabit for years to come.”

    Therefore, as a brand first you need to formalise a brand messaging strategy before moving to marketing. Often companies miss this point.

     

    Conclusion

    For a different output in your marketing campaigns, a different approach is needed. That’s why diversity matters in the creative process. Audiences around the globe are diverse.Therefore in order to connect them with your advertising, you need to first form a brand personality and then gradually evolve from there.

     

     

    Liked this article? Why not read “Most successful tech business growth strategies”

     

     

    If you would like to receive a complimentary brand assessment with the 3 Colours Rule agency

    Would you like to find out what is preventing your brand from achieving your business goals? What if during a 30min call with us we could identify the areas of your brand that need improvement so that you can attract the right clients? We will use our D.A.C. (Distinguish, Attract & Convert) (explained in our YouTube video) growth system to swiftly evaluate your brand strengths and weaknesses. We will provide you with directives and your brand score so you can measure your progression. 3 Colours Rule will help you find your USP that resonates with your audience.

     

    Contact us today!

    The most successful tech business growth strategies

    Before jumping to any conclusions and the growth strategies, lets see what actions lead towards a tech business failing. Although many factors can contribute towards this, few fundamental pointers can be listed such as lack of product differentiation, consumer perception, price war, place and time utility.

     

    Building your growth strategy

    The world is increasingly digital. So the most fundamental question for business leaders is “how will digital technology deliver growth”?

    Everyone has a different idea of what a growth strategy is and there are many ways to succeed.

    There are typically 4 types of strategies that are used for a growth strategy which are:

    • Product development
    • Market penetration
    • Market development
    • Diversification

    We are going to see how you can apply those growth strategies to your tech business.

     

     

    • Product development: New products in existing markets

    Product development is a growth strategy that describes how the company is developing new products for your current market. It can include adding new features, changing the presentation, combining it with another product, or creating a new product entirely. In addition providing a better personalization that would match customer expectations and satisfaction can be a product development as well.

    You can use as an example Apple’s product development strategy, as they keep launching a brand new iPhone every few years.

    By listening to customers’ suggestions, you will learn from your target. To analyze people’s wants and needs you can make surveys or interviews for example.

    Have a look at Slack, it is a simple product solving a simple, well-defined, and well-understood problem for a user who has specific needs.

    So you can have two situations:

    • The product evolution: when, as a tech company, you want to modify a product according to the new needs of a current market. This situation is usually used by companies that have the vision of how a product can evolve over time or by companies that only want to survive in a competitive marketplace.
    • The creation of a new product: when you develop a new product by going outside of your existing model. It’s a call for new opportunities.

     

     

    • Market penetration: Existing products in existing markets

    The market penetration strategy aims to offer the lowest prices rates, the best deals, or discounts to build loyalty.

    If we take the example of Flexire LED, they are giving their clients 30 days to try their lights. If the colour temperature, brightness, or size does not work for their project, they can return the lights back to them. This is a great idea to build loyalty and a trust relationship!

    Providing customers with a more personalized experience can increase your customer loyalty. You can do this by creating catchy content such as blogs, commercials, and social media posts that attract your target customers.

    Think of the smartphone market. Most people already own smartphones and are quite loyal to their particular brands.

    As you must know, Apple engages in a market penetration strategy via the effective application of marketing strategy.

    In conclusion, you can apply the market penetration strategy in various ways such as:

    • Decreasing prices to attract existing or new customers
    • Increasing promotion and distribution efforts
    • Acquiring a competitor in the same marketplace

     

    • Market development: Existing products in new markets

    Market development is a growth strategy that consists of trying to market your existing products or services to a new market which is a great potential for new customers.

    But first, do research to ensure that these areas are receptive to your technology and services.

    For example, Freund seeks to raise its global position a step further as a research and development based company that leverages its unique drug formulation technologies to expand its overseas market share over the next several years.

    There are many possible ways of approaching this strategy, including finding new geographic areas or new distribution channels.

    • New geographic areas: the first thing you need to think about is where you want to cultivate new business. You can expand to other regions, nationally, or internationally. Many of the big businesses, including McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot, have exported their operations to other countries.
    • New distribution channels: especially important in the tech industry as more and more traditional products and services are becoming digitized. For example, Ebooks transformed the book industry.

    Market development is a more risky strategy than market penetration because of the targeting of new markets.

     

     

    • Diversification: New products in new markets

    Diversification strategy is about entering new markets with new products that are either related or completely unrelated to a company’s existing offering.

    Here are 2 types of diversification:

    • The first one is concentric diversification which consists of entering a new market with a new product that is related to the company’s existing products. For example, you are a computer company that primarily produces computers and you start manufacturing laptops.
    • Then we have conglomerate diversification which consists of entering a new market with a product that is completely different from the company’s existing offers.  As an example, Samsung’s products vary from computers, phones to refrigerators, chemicals or insurance chains. Or Nokia successfully diversifies from paper products into cell phone manufacturing.

     

    Mergers and Acquisitions

    Many technology companies view Mergers and Acquisitions as a strategic tool for growth and more deals.

    More deals mean expanding the scope, acquiring new capabilities and being able to access new markets.

     

    Before COVID-19: 

    M&A deals have increased between the years of 2013 and 2018.

    Source: Dealogic (included pending deals)

    A shift of deals from scale to scope has been noticed. Companies do not only look out for economies of scale. Moreover they want to gain in their business line and have more capabilities.

     

    Since/after COVID-19:

    2020 for Tech companies was a good year compared to other businesses that suffered a lot from the global pandemic.

    Following the lockdowns, tech companies had an increased revenue and customer base as people were mostly at home using such services.

    Tech companies used the opportunity to grow their business with major M&As during the times of down markets which are considered to be the ideal time to consolidate.

    According to EY’s Global Capital Confidence Barometer, tech executives expect a speedy recovery from the pandemic and are optimistic about M&A.

    M&A in the insurance technology segment will be a key strategy.

    Insurtechs (insurance technology) and fintechs (financial technology companies) have been one of the first to launch products focussed on COVID-19 and are one of the most responsive to consumers.

    Benefits of M&A:

    Economies of Scale

    • Lower costs (because there is a higher volume)
    • Better bargaining power
    • More access to capital

    Economies of Scope

    • Access to data
    • Access to customer base

    Synergies

    • 1+1=3 mentality
    • When two companies merge they will be higher in value than two individual companies

    Opportunistic Value Creation

    Most companies are acquired when they are in a financially bad situation so the company can still exist while the buyer benefits from adding immediate value as a direct consequence of the transaction

    1. Increased market share
    2. Higher levels of competition as the bigger the company the more competitive it is
    3. Access to talent (people with more know-how)
    4. Diversification of risk by having more revenue streams
    5. Faster Strategy Implementation by taking over the strategies of the other business
    6. Tax benefits

    You just need to test different growth strategies to find the one that works best for you. Be creative if you want to grab the attention of new potential customers!

    The Ansoff Matrix is a great framework to structure the options a company has in order to grow. In other words, don’t wait to apply it to your business and start growing.

     

     

    Liked this article? Why not read “Transform your tech into simple marketing messages”

     

     

    If you would like to receive a complimentary brand assessment with the 3 Colours Rule agency

    Would you like to find out what is preventing your brand from achieving your business goals? What if during a 30min call with us we could identify the areas of your brand that need improvement so that you can attract the right clients? We will use our D.A.C. (Distinguish, Attract & Convert) (explained in our YouTube video) growth system to swiftly evaluate your brand strengths and weaknesses. We will provide you with directives and your brand score so you can measure your progression. 3 Colours Rule will help you find your USP that resonates with your audience.

     

    Contact us today!