Surveying from the air by remote control vs marketing in a different light

Surveying from the air by remote control vs marketing in a different light  

By Elaine Ball, CEO of Elaine Ball Technical Marketing (EBTM) Ltd

The latest buz around the surveying industry is drones (UAV or Unmanned aerial vehicles).  What does that mean?  Well, flying machines, which scan the ground from the sky by remote control.  Now, why am I talking about this, and what is the connection between surveying and marketing in a different light?

Drone, UAV, SABRE

Surveying vs marketing – why B2B marketers need to be different

Articles are written about certain things happening within a market but, unfortunately, technology type companies (B2B) really emphasise on the ‘features’ and don’t actually get across the core benefits and why a company should adopt such technology or why they are different to the other guy!

Drones have been around for a while but its only lately they are starting to gain traction due to cost reduction of building these things.  Snazzy features are also being implemented to control the drone from the sky and land without crashing!  Which is costly!

Frank Willis’s latest article in @POBMag is very interesting and highlights strongly the features not the benefits.  I have scanned the market and so far have estimated approx. 20 companies that are promoting drones (ranging from camera companies to laser scanning).  That’s a lot of competition within a tight-nit market sector.  My point to Frank is these companies need to differentiate why their drone is better than anyone else’s?  What are the Unique Selling Points (USPs) and why should I buy over the competition?

Marketing your product in a different light 

What I’m trying to get across here is Technical Marketers (in technical companies – B2B) need to address the marketing in a different light in order to promote their product.  Yes we know about all the regulatory stuff and great features but why is one product better than the rest?

Don’t be the same as everyone else, promote what is great about your product, be it a drone.  Emphases the key benefits and do your research on why you are stronger than the competition!”  Doing this and shouting about it will increase your sales over your competition!  Don’t get drowned by the noise of everyone.  Be different!