What should a marketing agency’s collaboration with IT companies look like?

Choosing the right partner to handle your company’s marketing activities can be crucial to its development.

Any company faced with choosing a marketing partner should know best how to select one (especially in a market where there are hundreds of marketing agencies), what to expect from them and how to structure the relationship so that both parties are satisfied. How do you do this well? We already have the answer!

Why is marketing important in IT?

Marketing in the IT industry is a field that focuses on promoting products and services related to IT and new technologies. The aim of marketing in this industry is to reach as many potential customers or employees as possible and to present them with an offer that is most attractive to them.

Talking to managers of software companies, we often hear that they treat marketing as a necessary evil. There are usually two reasons for this attitude – they have been more or less successful without marketing (usually by investing in a lead acquisition channel), or they simply misunderstand the role of marketing in a modern IT business.

Both approaches are wrong – the first is the classic mistake of using only one source of leads. Most often these are referrals, sometimes lead generation processes. However, the market is constantly changing (as we have seen since the pandemic) and very often we hear that the existing source has ‘dried up’, leaving founders with nothing because they have put everything on the line.

In the second case, marketing is very often neglected, mostly due to ignorance or outright denial. Marketing is often reduced to “posting something on Facebook” or organising fruit Thursdays in the company.

Meanwhile, the role of marketing in IT companies is indisputable – the market (especially in Poland) is very competitive and marketing allows, among other things, to find the distinctive features of our company, to reach target groups with our message, to support sales activities or employer branding activities. With the help of marketing automation, we can automate internal processes, support research into customer needs and help recruit new employees.

How does an IT company get started with a marketing agency?

A marketing campaign for IT companies requires marketing agencies not only to analyse the market, but also to understand the needs of potential customers. It is worth conducting research to learn about consumer preferences and expectations, and the role of the IT company as a whole is to provide as much information as possible; every employee should be involved in this process and understand its importance. A proper understanding of the needs and level of demand for specific services allows an effective marketing strategy to be designed.

Once consumer needs have been identified, it is important to establish the areas in which the company needs marketing support. In the case of Polish companies, these are usually areas where potential customers or employees look for information about services. These are usually search engines, websites, social media or industry portals. Marketing agencies should design customer communication to be optimised for these areas.

The next step is to find out what the competition is doing, through audits and analysis. This will allow you to better understand their customer communication strategies and advertising on social channels and search engines. This allows you to develop more informed actions and stay one step ahead of your competitors.

On this basis, a marketing agency can support you with the creation of compelling marketing materials. Its role will be to attract new customers to your business. Remember to create content that they will find attractive and valuable. Research conducted by the Content Marketing Institute in 2013 showed that 99% of software company marketing professionals in North America use content marketing.

Content marketing is not just about creating content, it is also about distributing it. The next step in promoting content is to communicate it to a specific audience in the most effective way. The agency will use various communication channels, such as newsletters, organic posts or advertising campaigns, to reach its target audience.

As digital transformation continues, digital communication trends with customers are becoming increasingly important. Therefore, implementing a content marketing strategy is key to keeping your business competitive.

It is also important that the marketing campaign is a process that lasts longer or shorter, but always progresses and achieves the objectives within a certain timeframe.

Therefore, marketing agencies should prepare a long-term marketing strategy and implement it systematically to achieve the desired goals. The implementation of a marketing campaign requires not only creativity and knowledge, but also patience and a systematic approach.

How do you choose the right marketing agency for your IT business?

Choosing the right agency is crucial to the development of any IT business and requires proper research and comparison of bids from several different agencies. What should you look for in such a process?

• Experience and specialisation – a well-chosen agency should have experience in the IT industry, know the specifics of the market and the needs of IT clients. This will allow you to choose the right communication channels and avoid potential risks.
• References and portfolio – it is worth looking at who a particular agency has worked with and what their clients think of them. It’s worth extending your research and, in addition to reading references on the website, take a look at Clutch or Google reviews, for example. This will give you an idea of the type of projects the agency undertakes, the results they achieve and whether you and your company will work well together.
• Services and tools – see if the agency offers a range of services that will take your IT company’s marketing to the next level.
• Team – find out who works at the agency (you can often check this on their website or LinkedIn) – it is worth looking for a team of experienced professionals as a group of interns may not deliver the right quality.
• Process – find out if the agency has its own transparent process so you know every step of the way, what they are working on and how much it will cost you.
• Communication and flexibility – is the agency always available and quick to respond to your questions and tasks? This will certainly affect the speed and comfort of working together.
• Price – compare prices from different agencies and make sure you are getting the highest quality service at a reasonable price.

In summary, it is important to choose an agency that has relevant experience and specialisation in the IT industry. Has a good portfolio and references, offers the services and tools you need, is flexible in communication and customisation, and offers reasonable prices.

Good marketing in the IT sector – our case study

From 2019 to 2022, we worked comprehensively for a modern technology company from Krakow, specialising in machine learning and intensive data processing. We provided a strategic and creative service that included integrated activities across digital, BTL and print channels. Our task was to refresh the visual identity, manage social media and implement employer branding activities.

In a short space of time, we were able to familiarise ourselves with advanced technologies and industry terminology, enabling us to communicate with the client in a credible manner. We carried out a brand facelift, introduced a new communication platform and built a website. We managed the social media profiles and supported the content creation process for the blog.

Our client is a turquoise organisation – a company with a flat management model with self-organised teams working in an agile way. Jira has become our common working tool. We coordinated nexocode’s marketing, keeping an eye on deadlines and consistency in all areas of activity.

The challenge for us was to create a bold and competent brand communication. The claim “Challenge Accepted!” not only tells the story of interesting and successful projects, but also signals the willingness of a team of experts and consultants to take on challenging tasks.

As part of the social media management, our role was to provide business content for the brand’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages, highlighting the commitment to projects, the skills of the employees and the sense of community that is typical of a turquoise organisation. We also managed the Clutch platform, which facilitates B2B communication and new customer acquisition. Thanks to regular updates and the expansion of the portfolio, the nexocode profile was awarded the Clutch Leader Award 2020.

The new website is more user-friendly thanks to an audit and new UX solutions. We also optimised it for SEO. We also expanded the team skills section and the business critical sections. We filled the portfolio with illustrated case studies, of which there are more and more. Refreshing the communication, we took the brand aesthetic we had built up and enhanced it with original illustrations, which form an important part of the corporate identity.

As the agency behind Neonshake, we support our client nexocode on an ongoing basis with their day-to-day business needs, such as client meetings, speaking at conferences and meetups, or entering competitions. We design rollups, slide layouts and business presentations for them, as well as providing videos of hackathons and speeches.

As part of their ongoing employer branding and recruitment campaigns, we created an animation for nexocode featuring the company’s employees themselves. We used collages of photos of the team to illustrate the company’s key characteristics and values. The whole animation was kept in an illustrated aesthetic and a cheerful, dynamic form, which perfectly reflects the atmosphere of the company and encourages people to join the team.

In addition, as part of our involvement in supporting nexocode on the business side, we developed a social selling manual to enable the company’s employees to promote their services and build their personal brand. We also organised workshops on trends in B2B communication, industry specifics and the formal nature of the LinkedIn medium.

Executive Summary

Marketing agencies generally have expertise and experience that can be used by IT companies to promote their products and services more effectively. These agencies can help you use new marketing tools and monitor industry trends to better align your activities with customer expectations. Working with marketing agencies allows IT companies to focus on their core business of developing new technologies rather than wasting time on advertising and marketing. In addition, marketing agencies often work with multiple clients, giving them a broad perspective and ideas that can be applied to activities for specific IT companies.

Working with marketing agencies can also help IT companies build a strong employer image through employer branding activities to attract the attention and engagement of potential employees. This in turn can help attract the best professionals in the industry and grow the business. These collaborations can also increase sales and brand awareness with customers.

Today, with the rapid development of digital transformation, it is crucial to use content strategy and digital marketing to keep a company competitive in the IT market. Marketing agencies offer expertise and tools that enable effective and efficient online activities. This enables IT companies to reach a wider customer base and build a strong and recognisable brand, which translates into business growth.