Growth-minded MSPs have one thing in common: they focus on maximizing the performance of their marketing to cut through the competition’s noise.
Many new MSPs popped up in response to the rise in demand for cloud technology during the pandemic. To stand out in the crowd, your MSP marketing needs to be at the top of its game. There are five tools that will help you build a high performing marketing and sales machine:
1. A Robust CRM
Having the right CRM (customer relationship management) system in place is essential to effectively executing MSP marketing. You’re likely using your CRM every day to manage all interactions and relationships with both existing customers and potential customers – so a robust yet user-friendly platform is key.
Hubspot is one such platform – it puts all the tools you need for inbound marketing in one place and manages everything from lead nurturing to data analytics. (As a Hubspot platinum partner, the Mojenta team holds more than 80 HubSpot certifications and counting.) You may have also heard of other platforms, like ActiveCampaign – which may seem like money savers on the outside, but don’t have the same robust features as HubSpot.
2. Email Automation
If you’re appropriately segmenting your prospect lists by buyer persona, you’re on the right track! But without email automation in place, the work of actually sending the right messages to the correct targets is daunting (if not impossible). Email automation simplifies everything from A/B testing to sending out drip campaigns, while saving you valuable time:
- Stay in front of your disparate audiences and build out different emails and/or sequences that are highly targeted.
- Take segmentation to the next level and categorize your users based on a number of contact properties – geographical region, job title, etc. – and customize your email to each audience.
- Leverage automation to send event follow up sequences. Lists can be divided into hot event leads, work event leads, and any other category that makes sense for your campaign.
- Use an email autoresponder function for tasks like meeting confirmations. You can set an expectation for follow up and ensure your message goes out in a timely manner.
- Automation can be used for customer journey sequences – different emails can go out to marketing qualified leads (MQL) versus sales qualified leads (SQL) that are further down the funnel.
3. A Website Built for Lead Gen
Your website is the digital face of your business. If yours lacks sales copy and trust builders, has outdated design, or has no clear conversion path for customers (or all of the above), it’s time for a refresh. Take time to evaluate your current site and see if it meets your MSP marketing needs – if it doesn’t, make updating it a priority. We make it easy to see how your website stacks up with our website grader.
4. Local SEO
You might be the clear choice for your product, service, or solution for your local community’s market – but that won’t make a difference for your sales if your customers aren’t finding you in search. Google searches with phrases like “near me” or “close by” grew by 900% between 2016 and 2018. The majority of people looking for solutions are looking for them locally – these prospects are low-hanging fruit that MSPs would be smart to harvest! Even if you serve a national or global audience, ignoring easy opportunities in your own backyard can mean you’re leaving money on the table. To improve your website’s rankings (and your overall visibility) for searches related to your specific geographic area, you need to prioritize local SEO efforts.
5. Social Media Management
Social media is a key component of any MSP marketing strategy. Participating in social media means you’re joining bigger conversations in the industry. Resharing posts from credible industry publications adds to your MSP’s credibility, and can possibly lead to your own content being shared as well.
You can leverage both organic and paid social media to get your message to a highly segmented audience. Strategically used hashtags get your content to exactly the audience that’s looking for your solution, and can also be used to build brand awareness. You can leverage paid social ads to target users with a specific user profile, giving you an opportunity to really drive your message home and generate inbound leads.
You can stay on top of social media using an automation tool (Hubspot has one), but you also have to be purposeful with what you choose to share. Videos – a form of content preferred by 54% of your customers – are great to share on social. Leverage social to showcase your thought leadership, promote events, and reshare stellar content you’ve created.
Your MSP Marketing Ecosystem Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts
The five tools we’ve described can be used together as the working parts of your larger marketing ecosystem. When used in tandem, you can leverage these elements to create a truly effective marketing strategy that helps build brand awareness and generate leads.
Now that you know the five key tools you need to add to your MSP marketing arsenal, it’s time to put them to work! If you need expert guidance giving your marketing a boost to help you cut through the noise of the competition, we’ve got the experience and know-how to help. Schedule a call with us today.
