When Your Technology Is Great, But Your Messaging Isn’t: Five Steps For Launch Language Success

By Pam Abrahamsson, CEO, PRA Public Relations, delivering global impact for technology, financial services and social good leaders.

Too often, tech innovators rely heavily on uninnovative language to announce the launch of their latest solution. Think phrases like "disrupt," "change" or "innovate," and features designed to dramatically "boost," "enhance" or "totally disrupt the marketplace." The technology may be great, but when you use the same tired phrases the market has heard before, the default response is to tune you and your overused messages out. ​To make your marketing message as inspired as your technology, you need language that grabs people’s attention.

In the age of AI, finding the voice that resonates with your customer has never been easier. Make your public relations relatable by looking for your customers’ pain points. What are the issues hampering their success? ​Identifying these problems gives you the key to the language you’ll need to present your solution and increase your chances for a successful launch.

Here are five tips for effective technology public relations launch language success:

1. Use the preference and priority test to understand what your market audience cares about.

​For your public relations messaging to work, avoid the three C’s: cute (gimmicky for its own sake), catchy (using language flourishes, such as alliteration, with no purpose) and customer concern-free (illustrating you’re in love with your features with no regard for prospective customers’ pain points).

​You can leverage AI models to research prospects’ needs and the best language to address them. Also, conduct some “What do you think?” research with your target audience. Even anecdotal evidence about customers’ needs is better than mere supposition. ​

​These exercises should help you answer some key questions, including:

• Do you need simpler language?

• Are you focusing on the right feature and benefit mix?

• How technical is your audience? Do they prefer fewer acronyms or none at all?

A little bit of research can go a long way toward connecting with your marketplace.

2. Create resonance and market success through good timing.

​A good launch not only depends on strong messaging; it depends on good timing. Although tying a launch to a trade show may be useful, it’s best to look beyond simple event dates when organizing a launch. Consider what’s happening in the industry, the economic outlook and seasonal surges or lulls that could affect your launch. Remember, market success depends both on what you say and when you say it.

3. Prioritize potential partners and investors in your messaging.

​If you want your launch to attract partners or investors to your business, careful messaging that reflects their interests is key. To make an informed decision about your business, people will look for solid results during the launch stage, including beta performance and keen market interest. If potential partners and investors don’t see language that represents their interests, it will be difficult to garner support.

4. Leverage launch data and pivot messaging when needed.

​Launches are a way to share information with the marketplace, but they're also an invaluable way to collect information. You can use your launch to gauge how your solution is perceived and whether the features you offer have generated interest. In fact, smart tech entrepreneurs view launches as the first phase of success and the "canary in the coal mine" of communication, since they provide critical information that aids company success. Listen to the feedback you get from the marketplace during your launch, use it to fine-tune your solution—and how you talk about it—to achieve greater market success.

5. Beat your own drum.

​Oftentimes, tech founders think they’re simply too busy to share their market success. Not only is this harmful, but it can also be the fatal flaw that separates you from organizational growth.

​It’s difficult to grow when you’re not steadily drumming up support for your results, successes, customer wins and expansion. People want to know that your technology is a winner—and communicating success milestones can help satisfy the curiosity that drives conversion. Remember that success stories can boost your profile and elevate you from the interesting newcomer to the trusted technology resource.

​In closing, success consists of three main ingredients: market need, technology innovation and marketing communications. Without the latter, no matter how groundbreaking your technology is and no matter how well you meet market needs, you’ll remain your industry’s best-kept secret.

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