Climate Tech - How to be Seen and Heard?
Marketing plays a crucial role in modern climate technology, promoting innovative solutions to address global environmental challenges.
This article explores how engineering marketing can be effectively applied to climate tech products and services, helping companies communicate complex ideas and drive the adoption of sustainable technologies.
In a crowded market, how can you be seen and heard? This is a key challenge - if no one knows you exist, how will you find investment and market traction?
The Funnel
We are all likely familiar with the traditional marketing funnel and the process of a prospect engaging with your content and moving towards ultimately making a buying decision.
Depending on your climate technology solutions, the market readiness, and your business model, buying decisions are rarely linear down the “funnel.”. However, the principles and concepts can provide a simplified framework that we can utilize.
Climate technology marketing requires a holistic approach that integrates technical engineering expertise throughout the entire marketing funnel:
In each of these stages, ‘Climate Tech Engineering Marketing’ plays an indispensable role; it assures and convinces prospects about the high-quality standards of your brand through educational data-driven evidence.
This can form a vital part of the marketing mix and an influential magnet that draws in similar technical minds and decision-makers. Remember this is your target audience who are engaging with, and evaluating multiple competitive options across the market. You need to pull them your way.
Content Always Wins
High-quality content remains king, and even more so when considering the sheer volume of digital content and information available to prospects. High-quality content is essential to cut through the noise, and because it communicates your brand, story and your purpose while demonstrating technical competency.
It is vital to develop content that effectively communicates the technical aspects and benefits of your climate tech solution. Some core formats:
📽️ Explainer videos: Create visual breakdowns of complex climate tech concepts and their applications.
💡SME content - Subject Matter Experts, your in-house technical team - use them, let them educate your audience!
📃 Whitepapers: Produce in-depth, cornerstone research documents on climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies.
🤝 Case studies: Showcase real-world implementations of climate tech solutions and their measurable impact.
High-quality content goes beyond merely providing information - it must provide value; this could be educational, entertaining or simply engaging. Essentially you’re selling the story around your brand and people, alongside your product or solution.
If you deliver valuable insights in an engaging format, prospects will make a connection with your brand and engage more deeply. The more value you provide, the more engagement prospects will return.
To make this work, you have to remember this is about them, not you. How you solve their challenges and make a difference to their business - this is not a data-barrage of brochure technical specifications and product data. Data is included to help the reader align with your conclusion with proof they can see for themselves..
Consistently producing quality content helps position your brand as an industry leader and make a significant impact through:
📈 Increased engagement: Online traffic visits and stays for longer when content is relevant
💚 Enhanced trust and brand reputation: Outstanding content usually translates into a prospect assigning higher credibility to your company
✨ Market enhancement: Higher engagement and endorsement breeds third-party referrals, brand recognition and 'go-to' market status
⏫ Search engine ranking: The algorithms used by Google appreciate fresh, consistent and value-add authoritative content, making it easier for your clients to find you
Leveraging SEO
Despite the onslaught of AI search and ever-changing algorithms, SEO is still very much alive and kicking today.
The highest value for climate technology is for long-term sustainable organic search and presence, as opposed to short-term and potentially campaign-based paid search advertising. It affects everything across your brand's digital footprint, be it the website, social media, and yes, even maximizing the traction of video marketing.
Keyword research
Identify high-intent terms that include industry-specific keywords that prospects might use in searches. The most important part is a decent search volume (100s of searches/month) but low competition
Quality backlinks
Build relationships with authoritative websites to gain high-quality backlinks, enhancing your website’s credibility. This is a business development opportunity
Technical SEO
Ensuring that a website meets the technical requirements of modern search engines, e.g. site indexing, UX, security and speed among other aspects
As an effective strategy used widely, SEO helps drive organic traffic by ranking higher in search results thus improving overall visibility. When executed correctly, it delivers long-term inbound leads that work to grow your business 24/7.
Reviews for Credibility
Online reviews are a must-have in modern business. For climate tech, we are essentially talking about testimonies or case studies, and their power of persuasion cannot be underestimated.
Recognizable industry social proof to validate your product or service quality will resonate well with technically savvy audiences.
You can leverage these even at the very earliest of development stages in different formats as well - don't just think of post-transaction clients. This strategy often influences decision-making processes – credibility over your competitors and positioning as a future or current industry leader is your ultimate goal.
Collectively, high-quality content production, SEO, and credible peer reviews form part of a baseline marketing strategy that aims to explode your brand awareness.
Establishing Thought Leadership
How do you establish your brand as an authoritative voice? We all want to be 'thought leaders', but how are you going to win the trust of your audience and achieve it?
A good starting place is to focus on creating content that establishes your expert status, rather than pushing generic sales and brochure content. The goal is to answer questions that the target audience is asking. Let's take a look at a few options;
Written Content:
Technical Articles: Sharing articles on industry advancements, analysis or how-to guides on topics about your field increases visibility and credibility. It proves you’re not only up-to-date but leading the charge
Case Studies: These tangible proofs of concept highlight your competence in handling real-world projects. They provide impactful narratives about your capabilities
E-books: Comprehensive guides offering solutions or insights are invaluable resources for professionals in the sector. Publishing e-books ensures your knowledge is available during extensive decision-making processes
Sponsored Content:
Focusing on your target demographic is always valuable. Sponsored content allows you to tell your brand story on recognized platforms that align with the audience with the additional benefit of third-party credibility via its editorial positioning. When effectively implemented, sponsored content can build awareness, foster trust, and attract quality leads.
Partner with publishers who serve your target market, while remembering to create unique content that your audience and the host platform will identify with. Look to subtly enhance interest towards your brand through informative and insightful pieces which reflect current trends, challenges or future insights.
Visual and Audience Engagement
Video marketing is an essential part of your marketing toolkit. It's high impact, quick to deliver and can generate additional content through repurposing. For example, a video interview with a prospect or industry peer could generate:
➡️ Master 1-hour video interview
⬇️ Multiple short video clips for social media
⬇️ Multiple text social posts
⬇️ Multiple carousel visuals
⬇️ Longer form blog articles
Software and AI tools available make it easier than ever to develop great video content, and it doesn't have to be polished and perfect - authentic 'real life' content resonates more than over-produced 'corporate' content.
📢 Webinar - a time-tested way to attend a virtual technical presentation.
🔁 Q&A - via online sessions, in person or surveys - open dialogue, learning sessions and real-time feedback builds trust and respect
💬 Forums - typically for later-stage larger organizations, but can also work in small niche groups for product testing, SaaS MVP development etc.
🎙️Video Interviews or Podcast - referenced earlier, the basis of a great content pyramid - still one of the hottest formats globally
📹 Behind-the-scenes video content - what better way to see the company grow, from first facility to global scale
Your brand’s long-term sustainability depends upon cultivating loyalty among your audience. This means you need to create impactful strategies to reach and resonate with your target audience.
Small steps can lead to big results over time – start by delivering engaging content, backed by credible solutions, that solve the audience's problems. Do that with consistency and you have a baseline strategy that will deliver.
You don't magically become a 'thought leader' overnight, but if you put the right building blocks in place, with a multi-discipline content approach, you can build towards it as your climate technology solution develops and looks to scale.
Climate Tech Engineering Marketing
Climate tech solutions are constantly evolving in line with environmental and market needs. Therefore marketing best practices will need to continue to evolve in response to changing technological landscapes, market dynamics, and buyer behaviors - and marketers must be adept at keeping pace with this relentless change.
The future may look challenging, but remember - it also holds immense potential for those willing to adapt their strategies and keep learning!
About the Author
Adam Kimmel
Adam is an engineering SME, business development leader, and strategic growth partner - working with technical companies to uncover what they should do, help them plan what they will do, and share what they did with the market - no matter how technical. Discovering new business segments, client partners, and product opportunities using 20 years of engineering NPD experience and degrees in Chemical and Mechanical Engineering.
You can follow Adam on LinkedIn here;
Adam Kimmel
Adam Kimmel - LinkedIn
And more about his services here;
Adam Kimmel - ASK Consulting Solutions
