MSPs are masters of technology, but did you also know that they can be successful at marketing? The Intronis MSP Marketing Masters Award honorees for 2016 – A Leap Ahead IT, CloudTech 1, EnKompas Technology Solutions, Results Technology, OXEN Technology and Techvera – are proof that MSPs can plan and carry out effective marketing campaigns that result in lead generation, improved brand awareness, and sales growth.
Each of these MSPs is a great example of how using creativity, planning, and execution can have a positive impact on an MSP business. They also provide ideas and principles you can apply to mastering marketing for your own MSP.
Host an Event to Educate – And Learn From – Your Target Audience
A Leap Ahead IT, CloudTech 1, and EnKompas Technology Solutions all received recognition for holding outstanding events. Events are good opportunities to educate the market or industry you serve on technology topics, to increase brand awareness, and to meet and build relationships with customers and prospects face-to-face. Events are also a prime opportunity for you to learn about your market. Listen to their feedback to identify their pain points and market trends. This “insider information” will help you gain a deep understanding of the market’s needs, and that can help you stand out from the competition.
A Leap Ahead IT showed us how to make this work with their Marketing Masters-winning entry. They planned an event that presented examples of local organizations that experienced catastrophic data loss because they used rotating hard drives or tape cradles. Because they could identify with the examples, the presentation resonated with the SMBs attending the event. For A Leap Ahead IT, the results were so positive that the company is now planning to hold a similar event each quarter.
Communicate With Your Clients Regularly
Our Marketing Masters are also proof that successful marketing takes consistency and time. EnKompas Technology Solutions demonstrated this with a yearlong campaign that had a different theme each month centered on educating their clients and ultimately trying to match the right solutions with their business’ unique needs. The theme for October, for example, was offsite backup and security, and they offered a detailed backup review for their clients that month. Successful marketing isn’t just sending emails at varying intervals on random topics. It’s regularly communicating a carefully crafted message targeting a specific audience.
Use Creativity to Get Prospects’ Attention
Marketing Masters also use creativity in their marketing campaigns to capture clients’ and prospects’ attention. For example, Results Technology conducted an integrated email, direct mail, and social media campaign with prospects titled “5 Reasons You Do NOT Need Results Technology,” an unexpected approach that proved to be very effective at drawing customers in to learn more.
There is a lot of advice on how to get a prospect’s attention with titles and subject lines, but in this campaign, Results Technology added their own creative spin to make their messages stand out — and to get prospects to read them.
Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Another common characteristic these successful marketers share is that they approach marketing strategically. They set SMART marketing goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. They track the performance of each part of a campaign and make sure they are reaching those goals. If performance falls short, they adjust, test, and optimize until they see the return they need.
These Marketing Masters are also characterized by the desire to make marketing work for their companies — not settle for mediocre results by just churning out the same old activities. To Marketing Masters, marketing not only fills the sales pipeline with prospects, it positions their companies as leaders and innovators while elevating their brands.
Marketing Masters also recognize that marketing doesn’t have to be a burdensome chore — it can be an enjoyable part of business. Furthermore, when it is done with a bit of thought, creativity, and personality, good marketing can produce outsized results for any MSP business.
Richard Delahaye is senior director of marketing for Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda. Read more Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda blogs here.
