Geek2Geek Marketing

Explaining the meaning of Hightech B2B Marketing to non-specialist is quite a challenge. On one hand, the naming seems to tell the story. And the story is about marketing of high-tech products, services, ideas, and solutions from one business to another. For marketing geeks this is like the Captain’s Obviously statement. Hightech B2B Marketing is a very specific area because it is at the intersection of Hightech Marketing and B2B Marketing. Marketing geeks do not need to be additionally explained that since both Hightech Marketing and B2B Marketing are very special types of marketing, so their intersection is even more awesome. It requires special skills, tools, competencies, if compared, say, to FMCG marketing.

But, on the other hand, explaining all of this to non-marketing aliens is like crossing the chasm. High-tech folks are skeptical about marketing. They believe that a good product sells itself. They think that marketing is naive and simple. 
That's why high-tech geeks are rare guests at high-tech marketing forums. Hence high-tech marketers are closed in their own communities, and outsiders rarely bother to join them.

So maybe the High-tech B2B Marketing story is told from the wrong side?


Therefore one fresh morning it occurred to my mind that all of this can be explained by the very naming that drives focus toward the product. By saying "High-tech B2B Marketing" we put high-tech product into the core of the marketing process. And who knows the product better than its developers? What kind of marketing do high-tech geeks need when they have done almost all the job? They developed an excellent high-tech product. They dug through all those sophisticated formulas, schemes, algorithms. So how all those brainless marketers can help? Yes, they just have to complete the easiest part. They have to go and sell the product.

The only obstacle is to find out who in the world needs this product. And this is a turning point. Normal business will never risk buying some hot high-tech staff from some crazy startup. Only other geeks will try to experiment with it in their own wild projects.

This redefines the concept. It turns out that this is not the business of selling promising high-tech product (or service) to thirsty admirers. This is the business of raising attention, interest and desire of other geeks to try your high-tech offer. This is geeks-to-geeks business. This is the business of bridging huge gap between developers and users. And only marketers know how to facilitate it.