4 Goals of Technical Content Marketing

Understanding how to effectively execute a content marketing strategy can make or break a business's online presence. Whether you're aiming to build brand awareness, generate leads, establish thought leadership, or educate your audience, the right content can transform casual readers into loyal customers.

At SyntaxPen, we specialize in helping businesses create technical content that resonates with developers, ensuring that your message reaches the right people at the right time. Let’s dive into the key strategies for each type of content marketing and how they can work for your brand.

Writing for Brand Awareness

Sometimes, you just want to tell people what your business is and how it can help them. Publishing useful and unique content that resonates with potential customers helps them trust you. A reader might not even notice what site they're on the first time they read an article of yours, but as they keep finding answers to their questions on your website, the trust they have in your brand will grow.

When writing for brand awareness, keep in mind that a given piece of content is likely to be the first time a reader interacts with your brand. Put your best foot forward!

Brand awareness should appeal to a broad audience, which means it should be broadly useful.

Brand awareness is one of the primary reasons we write about creating technical content on this site! SyntaxPen helps businesses make content that developers love. We help our customers write better technical content so of course we want people searching for ways to improve their developer-focused content to have awareness of our brand.

Writing for Lead Generation

Another goal of content marketing is lead generation. If your content meaningfully helps a reader, your paid products and services might be a good fit for them.

Writing for lead generation requires careful content planning so the time and money invested in creating content has the best pay-off. If the ideal customer from your product is a backend software engineer, publishing gardening walkthroughs won't convert readers into leads. No matter how great your articles are, you won't find customers focusing on the wrong subject. Marketing to developers requires different topics than marketing to sales executives.

Planning technical content for lead generation requires understanding where you'll be finding a buyer in their journey. Here are some questions you should ask yourself when writing for lead generation:

Does my reader already know they want to buy a product like mine?
Has my reader decided to buy a product and is just deciding which one?
Is my reader fully convinced their problem is one they're ready to pay to solve?
What kind of customer am I going to have the highest conversion with?
How can I follow up with interested readers?

An important part of lead generation content is to actually turn those readers into leads! Some brands will keep their most helpful content behind contact info forms as a form of lead magnets. Consider whether you want to deliver your value up-front and ask for contact information, or turn the interaction around and ask for contact information in exchange for content. In most cases, a mix of both is important. Promising a customer something of value without showing that you have something valuable to give is rarely effective.

Writing for Thought Leadership

If you're writing to turn readers into customers, then one of your goals is to establish the writer and your brand as expert voices in the industry. Writing for thought leadership is about passing valuable insights to your readers in exchange for their trust. This article is an example of writing for thought leadership! We're writing this as one of SyntaxPen's technical writing resources so that you can write better content for technical audiences, and so you trust we can help.

Thought leadership articles often contain more opinions than other types of content marketing, which makes them especially tricky to write. If your writer isn't an expert in the field with unique opinions and insights, thought leadership can have the opposite effect. If you're seeking to establish trust as a thought leader in software engineering or engineering leadership, you should look for a technical content marketing team that has more niche expertise than traditional content marketing teams.

Writing for Education

Technical content that truly educates readers is the hardest to produce, but also the most engaging type of technical writing. Programming tutorials, how-to guides, and detailed walkthroughs are among the most-loved types of content you can produce. However, creating such content requires the writer to be an excellent programmer, teacher, and writer. It's not just about knowing the material; it's about being able to explain it clearly, concisely, and in a way that resonates with your audience.

Effective educational content needs step-by-step instructions, practical examples, and maybe even real-world applications. It's important to anticipate potential questions or misunderstandings your readers might have and address them proactively. This means breaking down complex concepts into manageable pieces, using visuals like diagrams or code snippets to illustrate points, and providing supplementary resources for further learning.

If you can do it well, educational content is likely to rank high in search results and even get shared with peers. SEO benefits are significant because search engines prioritize content that provides genuine value and answers queries effectively. Additionally, high-quality educational content can lead to increased time on site, lower bounce rates, and higher engagement metrics, all of which contribute to better search rankings.

Showing the reader how to do something they need to be able to do is the ultimate brand awareness. When your content helps someone solve a problem or learn a new skill, they remember your brand as a valuable resource. Over time, this builds trust and loyalty, making it more likely that they'll return to your site, recommend your content to others, and consider your products or services when they need them.

Moreover, educational content can position your brand as a thought leader in your industry. By consistently providing high-quality, informative content, you demonstrate your expertise and commitment to helping your audience succeed. This can differentiate your brand from competitors and establish you as a go-to source for reliable information and insights.

Conclusion

Crafting the right type of content for your business goals requires a deep understanding of your audience and a strategic approach. Whether you're building brand awareness, generating leads, establishing thought leadership, or providing education, each piece of content plays a crucial role in your overall marketing strategy.