Welcome to Ramble number 2. Today we’re going to talk about marketing.
Marketing comes up in at least half of the conversations I have with MSPs in my travels. Questions like: How do I get more leads? How can I find more clients? What are you doing with social media? Do you do SEO? Have you tried this program, that program, or some other program?
It seems like many MSPs are looking for the holy grail of marketing. Do this one thing and you’ll have all the leads you ever wanted. Even better if you can automate it.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Marketing is a lot like ogres. And we know that ogres have layers, just like onions. In other words, you need to do several things to yield good marketing results. The good thing is that it’s not really that complicated.
Before we get to the layers I do want to mention that there are a few Sales and Marketing terms that may be helpful for us to be on the same page. Here’s a link to some terms that may be helpful.
I’ll cover the first few layers now and I’ll make sure to come back to this topic in future rambles. So, let’s cover my top three layers for marketing success:
- Layer 1: Your website CAN’T suck! Make sure any prospects that stumble into your website know what you do, the services you provide, and ASK them to contact you (and make it easy)!
- Layer 2: Talk to real life people. Meet other business owners. Grow your professional network. Humans buy from humans they trust. Especially in a service industry. Find opportunities to connect with people.
- Layer 3: Ask for targeted referrals. Don’t just ask people if they have anyone they would refer to you. That’s too broad. Ask to be introduced to their CPA, their lawyer, their vet, or do some Linked In “research” and ask for a direct introduction to a specific person. Make it as easy as possible for them to have a name pop in their head.
That’s a good start to this topic. I promise I’ll circle back to marketing soon.