A huge gap exists in the managed IT services market, and someone needs to fill it.
More than ever, businesses need a proactive, scalable IT solution to protect them from emerging threats, and yet, most organizations are not even aware of how weak their infrastructures are. The door is wide open for managed service providers to educate the market and find new customers using a strong inbound marketing strategy.
Why Is Content Marketing Important?
Content marketing embraces the way people buy goods and services today. We all know consumers no longer depend on advertising to figure out how to spend their hard earned money. They research their purchases online and reach their own conclusions before talking to a sales person. In fact, most buyers don’t talk to a seller until after they’ve made a decision to buy.
Content marketing helps your business stay in front of potential clients by offering them information they are looking for. You earn their business by answering their questions online.
Attract Visitors By Educating Them About IT Risks.
In the case of managed IT, we know businesses want to avoid technical catastrophes if they can help it. Most of them have no idea how exposed they are to security threats and other technical crises. Here are just a few of the most common mistakes they make:
- They assume application vendors are managing security for more pieces of the infrastructure than they really are.
- Support agreements, software licenses and warranty information are not organized and stored in one place.
- Firmware updates are not documented and monitored from a central console where alerts come in.
The biggest threat facing enterprise is not data loss, security breaches, or hardware failures. The biggest threat is their lack of understanding about the state of their IT. They don’t know where gaps exist or how to hold technicians accountable for their work. Most C-suite executives assume that if networks and hardware are running smoothly, everything is fine.
But everything is probably not fine, and sooner or later they could face a data breach that results in massive regulatory penalties and a ruined reputation.
The market for managed IT services is starved for information, presenting a huge opportunity for IT companies to sell their services by educating customers. Through blogging and video marketing, you can show them how to find vulnerabilities and learn best practices. This is a powerful and honest way to attract the right people to your website. And if your content has enough value, you can move them to the next stage of the buying process.
Convert Website Visitors Into Sales Leads.
Let’s say your company specializes in managing IT for accounting firms, and you roll out a series of videos that compare different software tools for them. Your company pushes the videos out on social media and the company newsletter, and then a few days later you see a little spike in website traffic, and maybe a few comments on Facebook as well.
You are standing at the starting line of an effective inbound marketing strategy – producing content that potential customers are looking for. Now how do you move these visitors closer to a sale? By creating even more valuable content.
After producing several videos or blog posts you may have enough material to write a whole guide about specialized accounting software. You package it all together, add a couple extra chapters of really helpful material, and offer it as a download on your website, which people can access after filling out a form.
This is how website visitors become sales leads. You convert them by offering content they want and need. In return, they are trusting you with their email address, knowing very well that you plan to market your services to them. This is where a lot of marketers blow it by violating that trust.
Delight Your Customers.
The worst thing you can do at this “consideration” stage is bombard people sales messages, trying to rush them into buying your services. Instead, you should continue to send awesome content, demonstrating your expertise on subjects that truly matter to them.
As your relationship builds, you start educating them about specific solutions you provide, explaining why they work without being self-promotional. Eventually, when it’s time, you send them a personalized offer, asking if your company can help them achieve their goals.
See how this works? Instead of trying to take from people (like all spammy sales strategies do), you give and you give and you give to them some more. When they are ready to buy, you will have a well-informed customer who understands your solutions and trusts you to get the job done right.
This is what a successful inbound marketing campaign looks like. It’s not an easy process by any means. The best results from inbound marketing are achieved after many months of consistent effort, but it’s worth it. Businesses won’t buy managed IT until they understand why they need it. It’s up to you to teach them. It could be the start of a beautiful relationship.
