Hey there!

Here’s several small steps you can take today to boost sales tomorrow — but all it takes is one.

We’ve gathered several specific, actionable MSP sales tips and techniques into one quick read. Because we know Marketing can feel like an endless list of chores.

This month we touch on PPC advertising, thought leadership, and how to have honest conversations with clients about Security risks.

See if you can you put one tip into action right away. The flood of endorphins you get from checking off a task won’t be your only benefit.

Is It Time to Invest in PPC for Your Content?

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/06/invest-ppc-content/

Pay-per-click (PPC) and content marketing may seem like opposite strategies, but the two can work hand in glove. After all, effective content marketing and PPC campaigns are both rooted in well-defined buyer personas. Used in tandem, PPC can drive visitors to your site, while the blog posts and web pages they find can build trust in your company.

Content marketing takes time and ongoing investment to generate results, but it’s the real engine that drives conversions. 67% of Americans say they spend more when they trust a brand. Buyers look to web and blog content to assess a brand’s credibility and see if they have the knowledge and expertise to solve their problems.

But how will they find that content in the first place? That’s where PPC comes in. It enables you to get in front of your ideal customers through laser-targeted, data-driven campaigns that have the potential to deliver quick ROI.

TPM’s Take

Cloud, hosting, and tech companies can establish themselves as thought leaders with a smart mix of content and PPC — without breaking the budget. When you publish content of value — whether it’s a blog post, press release, email campaign, or social media update — you can promote it with strategic PPC spend.

In our article, 7 Simple Marketing Strategies for Tech Companies on a Budget, we weigh the pros and cons of two specific PPC strategies: Google AdWords retargeting and paid Facebook ads. Check out the article now to learn how the right combination of content marketing and PPC can help you turn more prospects into customers.

5 Best Practices For MSP Cloud Success

https://www.bsminfo.com/doc/best-practices-for-msp-cloud-success-0001

MSPs aren’t just in the business of selling products. They are increasingly looked to by customers (and potential customers) to be providers of knowledge and support. Do you know your products and services inside and out and how they can be applied to your customers’ problems? Is your sales team versed in the newest technology and actively using it on the job?

Sometimes MSPs think they can just sell by handing over a spec sheet, but that simply doesn’t work as buyers become more knowledgeable about cloud products and services. You want your customers to see you as their first choice for knowledge and support, so you need to find ways to make that readily available to them.

TPM’s Take

A successful MSP organization can be made or broken depending on how well they build relationships and share knowledge, and the same could be said for Marketing Strategies. In order to be seen as that one-stop-shop for knowledge and support you need to open channels of communication with your customers that make it easy for them to access information.

The great part about putting these communication channels in place with your current customers is that you can use similar channels and content to attract new customers as well. The best part? Sharing your knowledge is one of the most affordable forms of marketing you can use.

To learn more about how you can open up channels of communication and be a thought leader in the MSP space, visit our blog post 7 Simple Marketing Strategies for Tech Companies on a Budget.

6 Ways to Talk to Your Clients about Ransomware

http://mspmentor.net/blog/6-ways-talk-your-clients-about-ransomware

Some MSP sales teams struggle to sell security packages, in part because prospects don’t often see the ROI of security solutions as visible as that of virtualization or mobility and the like. Chris Crellin of Intronis has a few suggestions to overcome this and and open conversations about security practices.

His suggestions include:

• Open the conversation with a question to gauge clients’ understanding of security risks instead of using statistics meant to build fear
• Note that oftentimes new IT is just added to a system without questioning whether the security in place will protect the whole environment and offering advice on what to look for
• Explain how your security solution works differently from — and better than — the systems used by recently hacked companies
• Educate customers about how to recognize phishing attacks
• Run a free scan of their system and remediate any malware you find, explaining why they don’t want it in their system
• Let them know that there are costs involved that go much deeper than just paying a ransom — there are the costs of brand damage, downtime, and system repairs

TPM’s Take

Symantec reported that so far this year, global ransomware attacks have increased by 36% over the past year. And although religiously installing software updates can mitigate some potential security issues, there’s more that you, as an MSP, can do to help your customers.

• Remain current with emerging threats, and pass new information along to your customers
• If they’re doing their own backups, suggest off-network backups so that the data and system can be restored quickly with no need to pay the ransom
• Help them create a written security plan, and work with them to train employees to follow it
• Conduct a security audit of the company and point out vulnerabilities that could be remedied

All of this could help you sell additional services, but importantly, it highlights to your customers how invested you are in their business and how willing you are to go the extra mile for their benefit.

Want to learn more? Take a look at The Growing Importance of Cloud Access Security Brokers who provide ways to reduce the risk of customer-instigated cloud security failures.

The post TPM’s Take: July 2017 appeared first on Total Product Marketing.