With 2023 coming to an end, I want to share a few tips and tricks I’ve learned over the last year as I worked with MSP partners on their marketing efforts. I encourage you to review the below and see if any of these can be implemented into your 2024 marketing strategy. With the business landscape constantly evolving, your marketing techniques should too. It is important to stay up to date on the latest and greatest.
Don’t underestimate the power of your website
Believe it or not, an important factor to consider for your website is how fast your site is on mobile and desktop. In 2010, Google began to consider page speed as a factor in search results. By 2018, page speed was added as a factor for mobile rankings. This means that if your page is slow or unresponsive, you will have a lower Google ranking. This creates a more difficult journey for prospects and customers to find you, leaving open the possibility for them to abandon their search altogether or lead them to discover a competitor of yours.
The good news is that Google has made a free Page Speed Insights tool that will provide you with a report on your webpage for both mobile and desktop. Review the results of the insights tool and take steps to ensure your site is loading as quickly as possible.
Embrace SEO to boost your reach
Does your company currently have a Google Business profile? If it doesn’t, this is an important and FREE resource you need to set up for your company today. This is one of the first places customers will look for up-to-date company information. Entering your information into your profile will help improve your SEO ranking, as Google will now be able to accurately showcase your company to people who are searching in your local area for your specific products and services. A few benefits of having a Google My Business listing include:
- Google map integration, making it easier for customers to locate you.
- Customer reviews are displayed under your profile which provides credibility to new prospects looking at your company.
- First impressions are everything, and this profile can provide essential information upfront, so your customers know who you are as a company.
Social media is for everyone
On average, 2.5 hours are spent on social media per day per person, so it is important to consistently post across the three main channels (LinkedIn, YouTube/Vimeo, Twitter/X) at least once a week to stay top of mind to your customers and prospects. Bonus points if the post is a video! It is helpful to use a social media automation platform like HubSpot, Hootsuite, or Sprout Social, to help manage all your accounts. These platforms will keep you on schedule with your postings, as you can plan and preschedule posts ahead of time. It is also important that when a customer takes time to comment on one of your posts, you respond within 24 hours (or sooner if possible) to build up that relationship.
As a Partner Marketing Specialist, I’ve worked with partners to create social content that can be repurposed. These social media templates are based on a wide variety of topics and products. It can be very useful to have templates to work off of as we know MSPs are busy.
Networking never goes out of style
Events are a great way to get face-to-face time with customers and prospects. However, it is important to execute events effectively and efficiently to get the most out of them. By far the most important element going into an event is having a solid game plan. That includes the messaging, call to action, lead capture, and follow-up plan. This will ensure no leads are left behind. It is also important, regardless of event type, to swag, collateral, and an activity that will entice the audience to want to learn more about you.
Finally, if the event involves a presentation, ensure your slides are informative, yet interactive. This may include adding poll questions or a survey to your audience. Now, let’s talk about the call-to-action (CTA). I have seen MSPs use ‘schedule a demo’ or ‘call me’ as their CTA. These are fine CTAs, but unless the audience hears what they need or want from you, they will most likely not want to act on these CTAs. Consider using CTAs that can provide your audience with a glimpse into what you can offer them. For instance, a free cyber health check-up or a free cyberthreat scan. The word ‘free’ can often work wonders for your audience’s mindset.
Look to your vendor partners for support
With 2024 just around the corner, I challenge you to rethink your marketing strategies, leverage some of the tips and tricks above, and see which one of these you can add to your marketing activities in 2024. And don’t forget to reach out to your vendor partners and see what they can help you with. For Barracuda MSP partners, reach out to the Partner Marketing team. We can assist you with building out your 2024 marketing strategies.
Photo: 1st footage / Shutterstock
