Rebekah Carter
In a world dominated by content, it’s easy to assume the right owned media can catapult your brand to the forefront of your industry. After all, with owned media, you control the message. You get to describe your brand and product however you like – catering to your target audience. The trouble is – owned media isn’t enough for true category leadership – not in this world.
Becoming a “household name” in the technology industry is harder than ever. Not only is it tough to reach your audience, with AI generated search summaries acting as gatekeepers between you and your customers, but earning the trust of buyers is more challenging too.
In the B2B tech landscape, skepticism is the new normal. Every buyer is constantly bombarded by messaging from companies who claim to have the best products, the most revolutionary solutions, and the most world-changing ideas.
To stand out, you need a more sophisticated, multidimensional approach to connecting with your audience, and strengthening your brand’s position. It’s time to go beyond owned media, forging the partnerships and multichannel strategies that will drive you to the top of the tech industry.
Why Go Beyond Owned Media for Category Leadership?
Owned media is great. It’s your content, on your terms, on your turf. From your website to social posts to email newsletters, you control what’s shared and how it’s presented. It’s the simplest way to establish a baseline presence, but its limitations are becoming clearer. Why? Because customers, especially in B2B tech, are increasingly wary of purely branded content.
65% of B2B customers don’t believe that vendors have their best interests at heart. They know that you’re not just focused on solving their problems – you want to earn money. That means they’re always going to be skeptical of the claims you make yourself.
Increasingly, buyers are looking for more objective insights into what brands can really do for them. Studies show that 71% of B2B buyers are more likely to engage with a brand’s content if its shared by someone they know and respect. Going beyond paid media, to experiment with earned media, journalistic endorsements, and partnerships, adds a layer of objectivity to your claims.
Not only that, but going beyond paid media gives you more reach as a technology brand. It gives you new ways to bypass those pesky AI overviews, connect with communities who may not be aware of your brand already, and strengthen your digital visibility. The more channels, social profiles, and platforms your brand is active on, the more your position as a category leader grows.
6 Ways to Achieve Category Leadership
Thriving in today’s complex digital marketing landscape doesn’t mean giving up on owned media entirely. It means building your toolkit for connecting with audiences and generating leads, by partnering with other publications, and developing multichannel assets.
Here are our top strategies for success.
1. Invest in Third-Party Validation
Let’s face it, when you’re shopping for a new product (any new product), whose recommendations are you most likely to trust? Will you instantly believe the claims of countless companies claiming to be the “best”, or would you look for the opinion of an objective third party?
Customers know that the third parties that promote branded products, like influencers, journalists, and analysts aren’t 100% objective – but they have more credibility than brands themselves. These professionals have evaluated countless products connected with multiple brands, and can share real opinions based on true experiences. That’s why 63% of customers trust influencers over brands.
Third parties aren’t blinkered by a focus on selling one company’s products. They can step into the shoes of buyers, and show them what really stands out about your solution in a more unique, captivating way. That’s why so many technology vendors rely on our journalists at Today Digital to bridge the gap between their products and their consumers.
We don’t just publish press releases, we share genuine evaluations of products, and behind-the-scenes insights that help people make better purchasing decisions. To benefit from this, B2B technology companies looking for category leadership need to build genuine relationships with industry influencers, key journalists, and thought leaders.
Don’t just ask them to promote your product, give them a real behind-the-scenes look at the problems you solve, and ask them to share their own opinions. Authentic endorsements from an industry expert will give your business more credibility, and greater reach than any other marketing strategy.
2. Create Category-Defining Content
Going beyond paid media with your category leadership strategy doesn’t mean giving up on content creation. You still need to produce content that helps to position your brand as a thought leader, and drive people to your website or products.
The key to success is learning how to develop category-defining content. In other words, you can’t just regurgitate what other people in your industry are saying, or focus entirely on content that promotes the features of your product. You need to show your customers that you understand their pain points and problems, and are invested in helping them achieve their goals.
Rather than simply broadcasting what you offer, focus on creating content that informs, educates, and inspires. Remember, educational content increases a customer’s likelihood of buying from a brand by 131%. Create content that draws on original research, first-party data, and genuine conversations with customers. Use exclusive insights and industry projections to fuel articles, whitepapers, and reports that position you as an “out of the box” thinker.
Look at IBM for instance, this is a company that constantly shares in-depth research and industry predictions that actively shape conversations in the technology world. They also don’t just leave that content to stagnate on their website. They share snippets with press publications, highlight insights across social channels, and connect with customers through email.
True category leaders develop an authentic, captivating voice, and make sure they broadcast it to their customers all over the web. They don’t just participate in conversations, they create them.
3. Leverage Paid Media to Amplify High-Impact Content
Investing in paid media can be tricky, particularly when you’re trying to maintain control over your marketing budget. However, it’s becoming increasingly important for today’s tech brands. After all, AI overviews and new search algorithms are making it much harder to claim real estate on the first page of Google with organic content alone.
Even standing on social media is harder, as platforms continue to deprioritize brand stories and news, focusing instead on highlighting influencers and thought leaders.
Paid media gives you a more effective and reliable way to amplify your reach and connect with your audience. The trick is in learning how to use it effectively. Your paid campaigns shouldn’t replace your most valuable content, they should amplify it.
You don’t have to create new ads from scratch to stand out in today’s digital marketplace. Instead, use the impactful resources you already have. Selectively promote your best articles, reports, case studies, and endorsements, and help them reach a broader audience.
Additionally, make sure you’re choosing the right platforms for amplification. In the B2B tech landscape, promoting articles, videos, and insights on LinkedIn makes a lot of sense. Paying for sponsored positions in tech-led publications can help you connect with a broader audience too.
When you promote your high-value content focus on sending a valuable message or sharing useful information. Customers don’t want to see ads – they want to see answers to their problems.
4. Cultivate a Community Around Your Insights
Connecting with customers on an emotional level has always been important for B2B technology companies. Now, it’s becoming even more crucial, as more factors emerge to create roadblocks between companies and consumers. Already, AI-summarized search results have caused some companies to lose up to 70% of their organic traffic.
Additionally, B2B buyers are becoming more risk averse, and less open to exploring new solutions and vendors. Around 92% of B2B buyers say they already have a shortlist of vendors to work with in mind before they start looking for a product.
This makes developing, investing in, and activating your community critical. Remember, tech buyers aren’t just looking for a product, they’re looking for a partner, an experience, and a solution that helps them to achieve their goals and overcome common issues.
Cultivating a community around your brand’s unique knowledge fosters loyalty and positions you as the industry’s pulse. Building a community is about more than likes and follows—it’s about creating a space for your audience to interact, share ideas, and solve problems together.
Find ways to constantly connect with your audience. Create your own digital forum (like Adobe did with the Creative Cloud Community), where you can share insights and deep-dive knowledge on the latest industry trends and challenges. Host webinars and virtual events that encourage interaction with your brand’s content, and spark community conversations.
Host polls and quizzes to source insights from your audience, and respond to their feedback. Investing in your community not only helps you maintain more ownership over your audience, but it can also help to boost your category leadership through advocacy.
5. Highlight Success Stories and Customer Testimonials in Earned Media
Want to one thing that will always be more impactful for your audience than even the slickest marketing campaign? It’s a story told by a satisfied customer. Any company can claim to sell a revolutionary product. What really makes a difference is when they can show clear evidence that their solution has actually addressed a genuine problem.
So, speak to your customers, and make them a partner in your journey towards category leadership. You can even engage in conversations and transcribe them with AI, giving you the tools you need to create in-depth customer success stories and reviews.
Once you’ve cultivated your success stories, don’t just share them on your website. Reference them in articles published on other platforms. Draw attention to them on social media – or ask your clients to share the case study on their own platforms and channels.
Use your partnerships with industry publications and journalists here too. Leading journalists are more likely to cover a story about real world success than they are to simply promote your product. Remember, publications want to inspire, engage, and delight customers. They can do that more effectively if they have some positive news to share.
Publishing your success stories on other, respected channels also gives them more credibility, and power. It shows customers that more than just a couple of people recognize the impact of your product or solution.
6. Use Data as Your Secret Weapon
Finally, in the B2B industry, data will always speak leader than words. Opinions are great, but when they’re backed by real, authentic statistics and discoveries, they make a bigger difference. Data isn’t just convincing – it’s definitive – giving you a clear way to demonstrate your impact.
Brands that leverage their own data to create exclusive reports, survey insights, or market trends excel at category leadership, attracting serious attention from not just customers, but analysts, journalists, and partners that can help their company grow.
The key to success here is to invest in gathering and analyzing data that others don’t have, then sharing it strategically. Publish your findings in the form of industry reports, infographics, or even video roundtables. Share your data in a multitude of different ways and formats, to ensure it can connect with as many different consumers as possible.
Remember, data can also be an excellent way to strengthen your relationship with leading journalists. Every leader in the tech industry publication space wants to be the one that has the “exclusive scoop” on a company’s findings or discoveries. Offering exclusive interviews to journalists can give you an excellent way to earn their attention and loyalty.
That means whenever you need to tap into this journalist’s network again, they’re more likely to help you tell your brand story.
Don’t Just Participate; Dominate
Achieving category leadership in tech is not about simply keeping up; it’s about setting the pace. Owned media is a good start, but relying on it alone will stifle your company’s voice. By strategically leveraging earned and paid media, fostering authentic connections with journalists, and creating thought-provoking, category-leading content, you give your brand an edge.
With the strategies above, you can stop just “participating” in industry conversations, and start dominating the landscape. The technology world waits for no-one, and building a brand that stands the test of time means constantly investing in enhancing your position.
Push beyond paid media, and secure your place as a trusted, go-to name in your category. For more insights, check out our latest blogs on B2B tech marketing domination, or reach out to the Today Digital team today.
