Remember the movie City Slickers?
It was a comedy made back in 1991 with Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, and Jack Palance.
It’s a story about a vacationing businessman who takes on the adventure of driving cattle. In the middle of the movie, the main character Mitch, (played by Billy Crystal) meets a rough-around-the-edges cowhand named Curly, played by Jack Palance.
Curly tells Mitch that the secret to a great life is only one thing.
Curly even emphasizes his point by holding one finger and saying, “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shit.”
Mitch asks, “What is that one thing?”
Curly replies, “That’s what you gotta figure out.”
The key to sales & marketing success is this one thing
Consistency.
If you’re like many MSP owners, when it comes to sales and marketing, “consistency” has a limit and it’s usually around the six-month mark.
After that, everyone wants to pull out the big guns – video content, marketing content that’s YOU centric instead of your prospect, and unhelpful rambling sessions.
And you wonder why they don’t buy…
Your ideal buyers are sick of low-quality email campaigns and words that don’t help THEM make informed buying decisions.
Your prospects don’t want random words sprayed on them from some boring, lame campaign.
They deeply desire sales and marketing content that’s designed to help them, give them hope, and build trust.
They want a trusted guide to teach them, accept them despite their messed-up IT infrastructure, and someone who’s going to be there for them when there’s a problem.
That ONLY happens with consistency.
There are a million IT channel sales and marketing vendors to choose from that will sell you sales and marketing services that are sexy, exciting, and invigorating.
Much like a shiny object.
But the consistency card is rarely talked about because it’s boring. Consistency takes time, effort, hard work, and cash.
The number one reason that marketing succeeds, or completely bombs, is consistency.
“The key to success is consistency.” – Jim Collins
Find the right marketing tactics for your audience
Email Marketing
Okay, anybody that knows me knows that I LOVE EMAIL MARKETING.
My team rolls their eyes every time I get the chance to pontificate on this passion.
MSP owners need to support the right marketing tactics for their audience and right now, for most MSPs, that tactic IS email marketing.
Here’s why it’s SUCH a great sales and marketing tactic, when done right:
- There are four billion daily email users. (HubSpot)
- 37% of B2B brands are increasing their email budget. (MarketingProfs)
- Subscriber segmentation and personalized content is the MOST effective email marketing campaign strategy based on data and research. (HubSpot)
- 77% of B2B marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months. (Social Media Marketing World)
- Smartphone users prefer to receive brand communications via email.
- Email marketing revenue will reach almost $11 billion dollars by the end of 2023. (Statista, 2021)
Do you know what makes email marketing EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE?
You guessed it, C-O-N-S-I-S-T-E-N-C-Y.
Consistent, positive marketing results start with an email marketing strategy.
Here’s the secret sauce to how we do it.
First, you need a list capture plan. Meaning, you have to get email addresses from somewhere. You can source and buy them from ZoomInfo, networking events, or even get them from your chamber of commerce(s). Costs vary but just like growth, as your business grows so should your contact lists and email lists sizes.
Second, you need a regular cadence of communication through emails. Start with a newsletter, then move to quarterly campaigns where you send a series of five to seven emails, then use email marketing in sales follow-up. THIS is where project management is CRITICAL and where planning pays off. Rinse and repeat each month and each quarter.
Other impactful marketing tactics, include…
Website
Think of your website like a hub and spoke model.
Your website should be the best sales tool you use to grow your brand.
But everything on your website needs to be clear and not clever. This is where MOST IT firms fail.
Your message is the most important impression you leave with prospects on your website. Your messaging needs to clearly state what you offer, what you do for them, what life is like AFTER a business works with your IT firm, and where they go to buy.
Websites need a refresh and overhaul every couple of years, unless you’re updating content on a regular basis.
Blogs
Your website needs to have blogs.
Why?
Because a blog should TEACH your ideal buyer something they didn’t know before, AND your blog needs to give them information that helps them make the BEST decisions for their IT environment.
PLUS, a blog is the BEST way to get a better ranking for SEO terms and phrases that you’re currently NOT ranking for.
Social media – LinkedIn and GBP
The ONLY types of social media content you should be posting are content for LinkedIn and content posted to Google Business Profile (GBP).
Why?
Because that’s where most B2B buyers of your IT services hang out. As much as I like to *think* that attorneys, healthcare practice managers, architects, or non-profit directors spend time researching buying IT services on TikTok, Facebook, or Twitter, they just don’t. And the data supports it.
If you’re into the B2B space, LinkedIn should be your go-to social media network. With more than 830 million members, LinkedIn is a platform for professional networking and lead generation. This has earned LinkedIn the reputation of being one of the most trusted social media platforms for B2B IT firms. 40% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn is the most efficient tool for generating high-quality leads.
Webinars & Associations
Webinars to captive audiences are the low-hanging fruit of lead generation, especially through building relationships with associations.
Association examples are state and regional Bar Associations where attorneys and their legal administrators hang out, healthcare associations, and manufacturing associations.
Now, there IS a cost to being a part of these associations BUT the value you’ll get from being a “premier member” is well worth the expense. PLUS, we can show you how you can get most of these expenses covered by MDF funds through different technology vendors. (HINT: Something that no other sales and marketing consultants can do for you).
Align your sales and marketing for best results
Marketing is the Porsche and sales is the gas.
If you only buy the Porsche and don’t spend on gas, you’ve got a gorgeous car that NO ONE will see because it’s stuck in your driveway.
You need sales to drive the Porsche that draws the people to you.
Here’s where you come in, MSP owner – YOU need to make it a priority to align your sales and marketing. It’s mandatory that your sales team works with your marketing team, even if it’s not always peaceful.
You need both working together to get the results that you’re after, like a dog going for that bone. Without alignment, you won’t get the results you’re expecting.
WITH alignment, the heavens will open up and sing to you.
How does one align these two different teams? We’ve got a process that we’ll take you through that will align them both and ensure that both teams are working efficiently for the benefit of your scalability.
Got Marketing Questions? We can help.
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