As a successful MSP, you look to your peers for validation of a vendor, specific technology, or a new service model. Your customers do the same, and when they’re happy, business is good—and your marketing should be even better!
There are a number of best practices for integrating happy customers into your marketing program and using their voices and experience to more effectively market and sell your services. Here are a handful of our clients’ top picks:
- Success stories. Talk to a happy customer about how they’re benefiting from your services. Document how your company has enabled their success by solving business challenges and addressing their needs head on. Detail as much ROI as you can and ask them what they value most about your relationship and services. Have a writer turn this information into a short one- to two-page marketing slick you can post on your website or use as a leave-behind when you meet with prospective customers.
- Customer quotes. In some cases, customers may not be willing or able to participate in a success story. As an alternative, ask them for a short quote. No crazy detail needed. All you’re looking for is a quick statement capturing the essence of the customer’s experience in their own words.
- Video testimonials. Video is becoming an increasingly powerful tool in marketing with many social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram now offering support for short videos. Similar to a written success story or quote, your customer can talk about why they chose to work with your company, how you solved their business challenges, and any important outcomes worth noting. If there’s no budget to hire and produce a great video, look to your local colleges for film students who need the practice, or leverage the technology and apps available within today’s smartphones or Mac machines.
- Creative collaboration. Next time you host an event, ask a customer to co-present with you or offer up a live case study to attendees that focuses on common business challenges. Look for opportunities to teach the community and your clients about current trends, topics, challenges, and opportunities they should know about. Put together a webcast or podcast with your favorite customer and discuss a major challenge they overcame using your services or a new technology or service they’re using to grow their business.
Don’t forget to incorporate these assets in other aspects of your marketing program. Get creative with your customer quotes by integrating them into a graphic that can then be posted to Twitter and Facebook. And, video testimonials aren’t just for social—you can post them to your website or company blog, or use them in presentations to prospective customers. Testimonials are powerful tools no matter what format they’re in, so make the most of them.
Photo: Black Salmon / Shutterstock.
