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#SpaceWatchGL Opinion: Importance of Hiring Marketing Experts for the Space Companies

By Omkar Nikam

Importance of Hiring Marketing Experts for the Space Companies

We live in a century where data has more value than oil and gas.  To put it in simple words – One who holds the information, regardless of its value, will master the arts of creating a chain of commercial businesses. And this art of expanding the commercial sphere can be defined in two words – ‘Writing & Communication.’

Space industry, now being at the forefront of commercial technology race, has the potential to direct its information at the target audience to amplify the business opportunities. To achieve these long-term goals, a consistent media presence is of utmost importance, especially in the times where digital acceleration is at its peak. Press releases, on-site reporting and standalone articles are a brief note in the huge digital library of the principal investors. But in a world where every second thousands of articles and press releases are published, how will you position your company in such a competitive digital sphere? The answer is, hire a dedicated media and marketing/communication team of experts, who will not only boost your digital presence but will also help you grab the global business opportunities.

To provide a broader perspective, here are the four reasons why Space companies (Start-Ups, SMEs and Government/Private agencies) should hire Marketing Experts:

  1. Branding: The New Space Start-Ups should consider branding as one of the crucial aspects of engaging with the global commercial industries. Because the New Space technologies are all about grabbing the profitable pie of terrestrial industrial segments by integration satellite communication, navigation, and earth observation applications. And to integrate these applications in the terrestrial segment, your company should have enough clear voice to explain the complex solutions in a simplified manner to the non-space community. And the word that can make it possible is ‘Branding’.
  1. Importance of Visuals: Infographics, photos, and videos are the essential content-driven assets to convey your message to the target audience. But the creation of those engaging assets can be accomplished only with a unique craft of writing and designing. Visuals are crucial in upscaling the capabilities of the Start-Ups. Especially at a very early stage to grab hold of potential investors and partners. For example, your company might be offering one of the most sophisticated satellite network management software. But might fail to compete even in the local market, due to the unclear message send by poor or no visuals in your technical brochure or website. Therefore, visual content holds power to unlock the mind of investors.
  2. Commercial Aspect of Blogs: Writing is a craft developed by years of consistent efforts, and that’s why not everyone can be a writer. To provide a commercial outlook and engage the target customers, a content writer should have a knack to make the readers take a Call-To-Action for the products/services. Considering the global space Start-ups landscape, very few companies have a dedicated blog with a consistent analytical post (2 to 5 posts per week). One of the essential advantages of hosting a dedicated company blog is that your future customers, investors and partners can track your updates uninterruptedly. 
  1. Social Media Marketing and Advertising: The two important public forefront assets of the digital media are social media platforms and the advertising units deployed through these platforms. Social media is a high engagement resource to keep customers well informed about the services and products. Satellite service providers, manufacturing giants and component suppliers, are some of the companies that should utilize social media marketing and advertising for amplifying their global presence. Prior to the deploying the social media channel, it is important that a company conducts a thorough survey on the requirements and benefits out of its target audience. Therefore, to develop, curate and deploy social and advertising channels, a digital marketing expert should be on the team of space companies to expand the global business sphere and create partnerships through social engagements.

 Conclusion

Marketing and communications are the backbone of the 21st century businesses. And with the impact of COVID-19, the space industry has to adopt the digital media as an asset to amplify business opportunities across the world. Simultaneously, as the space industry is rapidly spreading its wing across several commercial verticals, the need of hiring media and marketing experts is also increasing with time. And the use of marketing channels goes beyond expectation of the company, if the experts provide tailored marketing solutions as per the business requirement of the company.

Space industry has a huge product value chain which includes both software and hardware companies. But the lack of tailored marketing solutions keeps these companies away from media limelight. The current global situation might have halted several physical operations in the space industry, but it is also an opportunity to revamp the dedicated marketing units of the company. Therefore, use pandemic as a window of opportunity to restructure the marketing channels as per the future needs of the space industry businesses.

Omkar Nikam; Photo courtesy of him

Omkar Nikam is an independent space and satellite consultant based in Strasbourg, France. As one of the leading satellite experts in the European market, Omkar specializes in providing market research, analysis, and consulting services for several upstream and downstream space/satellite companies. Omkar also manages an online research and analysis portal, Access Hub, providing a critical analysis on the current developments in the space and defence industry.

In his decade long career path, Omkar has spearheaded extensive consulting and market research projects for European and American companies. As an independent professional, he consistently manages upstream satellite communications market studies report for private enterprises with an emphasis on European, Latin American, African, and Asian satellite market. Simultaneously, with a strong foothold in technology and business journalism, Omkar also provides an extensive editorial and communication services for the space and satellite companies. He can be reached at: www.oknikam.eu

 

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