Thought Leadership:
CTRM Marketing Techniques
To effectively market and sell a Commodity Trading and Risk Management (CTRM) system, vendors consider various strategies and approaches to marketing. The marketing strategy will usually encompass multiple go-to-market approaches that are designed to promote their brand, value proposition and of course, software. This article highlights some of the common approaches used by many vendors in the industry.
Beware some are not quite as they seem and the last one may shock you!
Content Marketing
Vendors develop targeted content such as blog posts, whitepapers, case studies, podcasts, webinars and e-magazines that showcase their expertise in the commodity trading industry along with their capabilities. So called ‘thought leadership’ articles about generic issues in the CTRM industry helps to showcase their expertise but case studies and user recommendations are the holy grail of this type of marketing as they are perceived to be peer-to-peer as opposed to vendor-produced content.
Public Relations
Some vendors will also work with PR firms to help develop branding, brand promise attributes and promotion of messages via especially written press announcements that are distributed using wire services. Other vendors will do this themselves. The issue here is that there is historical reticence on the part of customers to participate in press announcements.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Vendors will try to optimize their website and content for relevant keywords related to CTRM solutions. This will help improve their visibility in search engine results and attract organic traffic to their site. Paying to be placed higher in Google results based on words/phase in the search is common.
Social Media Marketing
Vendors will use platforms like LinkedIn to engage with potential clients, share updates about their CTRM system, and participate in relevant conversations within the industry. In fact, they will promote their activities, content pieces, videos. Podcasts and so on, on these platforms. Other platforms like X and Facebook are considered less important than LinkedIn yet vendors will still promote content via these channels.
Email Marketing
Vendors will build an email list of prospects and existing clients to share product updates, industry news, and relevant content via regular newsletters. In fact, this used to be far more popular in the days prior to issues like GDPR, which literally decimated marketing email lists. People must now opt in to these lists to receive notifications from the vendor and since fewer people do opt in, this form of marketing and communication has declined.
Partnerships and Collaborations
Vendors will often form partnerships of various types with industry associations or complementary technology providers to expand their reach and credibility within the market. This approach is also hoped to add a sales channel in that the partner may sell the other vendor in to add value at a customer site.
Exhibitions and Trade Shows
Vendors can sponsor on-line or in-person events and pay for an exhibition stand at the venue. There are hundreds if not thousands of such events in the industry and all are partially paid for using vendor participation like this for a fee. Vendors therefore usually prioritise their participation at a small number of shows that are in relevant geographies and niches for their products and expertise.
Advertising
Vendors can place an advert within publications, such as CTRM Centre where you may have seen an Amphora advertisement. Google advertising is also often used.
Amphora have also recently sponsored and contributed to a book currently available on Amazon, CTRM Software – An Analyst View of a Dynamic Software Market.
Word of Mouth
The most sought-after marketing tactic is word of mouth, and this is why press announcements of new customers and case studies are prized by vendors – it effectively is word of mouth marketing. However, vendors have little control over real word of mouth which is created by discussion of the vendor and its services/products between users who are either happy or unhappy. Vendors will talk about referencability to try to facilitate the word-of-mouth effect.
Awards
Vendors will often participate in various awards and promote any awards recently “won”. These are often awards which the vendor usually must pay to win. It goes without saying that Amphora has never, and will never, pay to win any award.
Summary
By implementing a comprehensive marketing strategy that combines these strategies and tactics, vendors can effectively promote their CTRM system and attract potential clients in the competitive commodity trading industry.
Initially, the purpose of spending money on marketing efforts is to raise brand awareness and to make sure that potential buyers have heard of them and their software and will include them in their selection process. By clearly communicating the unique selling points of their CTRM software, they try to highlight how they can streamline trading operations, manage risk, improve decision-making, and enhance overall efficiency. The hope is also that they will clearly differentiate themselves in the buyer’s mind.
If you are reading this... maybe… just maybe… it may have worked? 😊
Real time commodity trading and risk management software