How to write a winning technology solution brief

As a tech business leader, your business's success depends on your products and services' ability to solve problems quickly and efficiently. More importantly, it relies on conveying that message to your target customers.

One way to do that is by creating a technology solution brief, a document outlining and explaining how your products and services are the solutions customers are looking for.

What is a technology solution brief?

A technology solution brief is a high-level summary of a product or service's features and benefits. It's designed to help non-technical decision-makers evaluate the solution's potential fit for their business.

A well-crafted brief is informative, engaging, and persuasive, demonstrating why your technology is the best solution for a specific business problem. It should avoid technical jargon, provide real-world examples and stats, and clearly articulate the solution's value proposition.

It's a hugely effective marketing tool that communicates the benefits of a tech company's products or services to potential clients. And it's an extremely useful document to help companies make informed, confident decisions that deliver results and solve problems.

Why write a company solution brief?

The success of a brief depends on the quality of the content, its relevance to the target audience, and how well you promote the brief.

Get all this right and you'll have a highly impactful piece of marketing content for generating leads and driving business growth.

There's no better time to start writing and promoting your own technology solution briefs. More than half of all businesses and organisations are planning to increase their IT budgets in 2023, while only 6% say they'll be cutting tech spending over the next 12 months. In other words, thousands of business owners and senior decision-makers are now researching, comparing, and preparing to buy tech solutions.

And many of these high-value targets and leads will be looking for tech solutions content to inform their decisions. A study by the Content Marketing Institute found that content focusing on tech solutions and industry pain points is the most popular form of content for senior decision-makers. The study found that more than 7 out of 10 (71%) senior decision-makers look for this type of content and marketing material during the first stages of their purchasing journey.

Best-in-class technology solutions briefs

All of the biggest and most successful tech companies write technology solution briefs to communicate the benefits of their products and services, establish themselves as thought leaders, and differentiate themselves from competitors.

Here are a few examples:

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IBM: IBM created a five-page technology solution brief for its IBM Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps. This AI-powered automation platform aggregates and analyses IT data, helping companies minimise service outages and fix issues faster. The brief explains the problem and impacts of IT outages, highlights how businesses will benefit from reducing cases, then describes how IBM's platform is the ideal solution.

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‍Dell: Dell and Rubrik put together a technology brief to promote the Rubrik Cloud Data Management (RCDM) software for Dell PowerEdge server platforms. It's a single platform for managing data in the cloud that delivers near-zero recovery times, accelerates application development, and unlocks actionable insights.  

The brief is just two pages and no more than a few hundred words long. Features and benefits are laid out in short and highly digestible bullet points that use clear and concise language. This isn't a brief that needs to be read. Instead, you simply scan it. With a brief like this, it takes the readers less than a few minutes to realize that this product solves their problem. 

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‍Nvidia: Software company Nvidia used a technology solutions brief to promote its NVIDIA AI Enterprise suite. The brief starts with a discussion of the broader implication of AI adoption and innovation, then outlines the challenges businesses face when integrating AI platforms. This primes the reader, putting them in a frame of mind where they're open to potential solutions. The brief then switches to the specific benefits, features, and advantages of NVIDIA's AI Enterprise suite, finishing with a simple and direct call to action. This classic problem, action, solution format is a highly effective technique for crafting sales-focused content that converts readers into buyers.

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How to write an effective technology solution brief

Here's your step-by-step guide to writing engaging and persuasive technology solution briefs that convert readers into customers.

Step one: Identify the pain points

Identify the problem(s) your target audience faces and are trying to solve. Remind them of how these issues affect their operations, highlighting their pain points to prime them for your solutions.

Step two: Present your solution

Explain, in simple language, how your product and service fix your customer's biggest operational issues. Talk about product and service specs, but the main focus should always be on the benefits. For example, what does your product/service do for the customer? What problems do they solve? How will they make their lives and jobs easier? Focus on things like improved productivity, increased efficiency, or cost savings. This is what persuades and convinces people to buy.

Step three: Provide social proof

Include real-life examples of companies that faced similar problems and how they solved them with your product and service. This kind of social proof is key to persuading people to buy. Add case studies, quotes from satisfied customers, and evidence of how other businesses have benefited from implementing your solutions.

Step four: Prove it

Show and prove that your solutions are effective by backing up your copy with relevant statistics. Provide credibility to the article. Use reputable sources to provide statistical data, and include charts or graphs to help illustrate your points. Charts and graphs can also help reinforce the importance of the problem and emphasize the need for a solution, especially for more visual thinkers and learners.

Step five: Stand out from the competition

Highlight how your product is the best solution and how it differs from other solutions available in the market. This is an opportunity to explain the unique features and benefits of your product and how it is superior to other options on the market. Use testimonials or case studies to provide evidence of how your product has helped other businesses overcome similar challenges.

Step six: Ask for the business

Include a call to action (CTA) to encourage the audience to take the next step. This can be as simple as directing them to your website to learn more about your product or encouraging them to sign up for a free trial or consultation. Make the call to action clear and actionable so your readers know what to do next. The best CTAs are simple, direct, risk-free, and offer real value. For example, "Click here to sign up for a free trial. No obligation. No credit card details required."

Best practices: a summary

●   Start with a clear and concise summary of the problem your solutions can solve.

●   Use statistics, case studies, and examples to illustrate the impact of the problem and the value of your solution.

●   Explain how the solution works, focusing on its benefits to your target audience.

●   Highlight your product's unique features and benefits, focusing on how it differentiates from other solutions in the market.

●   Use plain language, avoid technical jargon wherever possible, and make your brief accessible to a broader audience.

●   Get straight to the point. A great technology solutions brief is no more than a few pages long.

●   Keep readers engaged by guiding them through the brief with clear headings and subheadings. Keep paragraphs short to make the text more scannable.

●   Encourage readers to take the next step with a call to action at the end of the brief. Ask them to schedule a demo, sign up for a free trial, or book a consultation.

●   Use diagrams, charts, or images to illustrate the key points.

●   Proofread and edit. The proofread and edit again. Do it one time, then once more after that. Then publish. This ensures your brief is error-free, presenting an authoritative and professional image.

A technology solution brief showcases the unique value proposition of your tech business. By following the best practices outlined in this blog, you can effectively identify industry problems, explain the solution, highlight your product, and encourage your target audience to make a purchasing decision.

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Let AXD help

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We are a B2B copywriting and content marketing agency based in Manchester. Our technologists, business leaders, and copywriters have experience in various technology industries — from early-stage startups to scale-ups and Fortune 500 companies. Whether you're a startup or a global brand, our international experts will give your content the edge, enabling you to open conversations, build relationships, & drive customer loyalty.

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We create content that illustrates precisely what you do and why you do it better than anyone else. It's simple. More clicks, more leads, and more sales.

To find out more, book your free discovery call today.

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