MSPs have so much on their plates; Marketing is probably not even an amuse-bouche. But it is necessary for growth and relevance. That said, it can be daunting. Not to worry, though; Gradient has your back.
Recently, Kelly Myers, Gradient's VP of Marketing, delivered a presentation at Build IT on Marketing Your MSP that contained some very useful insights. Throughout September, we will share key parts of that presentation to help our MSP partners get the most from their Marketing efforts.
How to achieve growth in a rapidly changing landscape
Staying relevant and successful in the hypergrowth and highly competitive world of MSPs means knowing your audience, taking risks, and being ready to pivot at a moment’s notice. Oh, and buckle up because the pace of change in the marketing world will give you whiplash!
A good marketing plan needs a good strategy. You need to know your why, your how, and your what.
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.”
The quote above is from Simon Sinek, founder of the Golden Circle theory. According to the theory, successfully communicating the passion behind your business 'why' is a way to communicate with the listener's limbic brain (the part of the brain that processes feelings like loyalty, decision making, and, most importantly—trust)—communicating your why taps into the part of the listener's brain that influences behaviour.
Who knew that Marketing involved so much psychology😉?
Ask yourself this question, why does your company exist? Before you answer, take a look at Gradient’s why. "To create an ecosystem of opportunity so that everyone can succeed in the IT channel". Pretty good, right?” Now, if you can answer that question for your company, congratulations, you’ve found your value proposition. If you can successfully communicate your why to your target audience, you can inspire them to act.
And now for the how. How do you deliver the why? For Gradient, our how is through an automated billing reconciliation solution to help MSPs recover profit. How do you do it?
To help you get to your how you will need a good marketing strategy. Consider establishing an ORK business model to help you set your goals.
For those of you who are new to OKRs, it stands for objectives and key results.
Businesses like Intel, Google, and many others have been propelled to great success using this strategy. OKRs were developed by tech legend Andy Grove of Intel.
OKRs force you to look in the mirror. They have superpowers that can help your business:
- Focus and commit to priorities
- Align and connect for teamwork
- Track for accountability, and
- Stretch for amazing
Establishing your MSP’s OKRs and achieving them is rooted in strong and stable leadership (something Gradient is fortunate to have in abundance), which sets the stage for solid and steady growth.
Check back for part two, where we will focus more on OKRs as well as take a look at the importance of digital health to your overall marketing strategy.
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