4 Tips to Help MSPs Become Lead Generation Experts

Lead generation is an incredible marketing method for stimulating and capturing interest in your products and services to help develop your sales pipeline. For MSPs, lead generation can be a tough process because many shops lack the time and resources to dedicate to sales and marketing efforts. However, a strong lead generation strategy can have a tremendous impact on an MSP’s ability to bring in a steady flow of prospective customers. To help streamline the process, check out the tips below to make lead generation a simple undertaking for your MSP shop.

• Inbound marketing: A tried-and-true method for generating quality leads is to offer gated content such as eBooks, webinars and videos. These require a user to fill out a form with their contact information to access the resources, allowing you to capture a lead while simultaneously gaining intelligence about the user. For example, people who show interest in attending a webinar about accounting best practices for small businesses may also be interested in purchasing small-business accounting software. For inbound marketing to be effective, you must offer relevant and informative content that builds a meaningful relationship with your audience.
• Outbound marketing: Compared to inbound, think about outbound marketing as the other side of the coin. Outbound marketing uses external, paid channels to deliver a message to an audience. Examples include email blasts to purchased lead lists, trade show sponsorships, radio advertisements and television commercials. Outbound marketing is all about pushing content and messaging out to a wider audience.
• Email marketing: In a recent MarketingSherpa survey, 81% of respondents said email was the most efficient channel for communicating with potential customers. Many email marketing campaigns take a newsletter approach. For MSPs, email newsletters can include new services or technology, customer testimonials, blog posts, industry events, or recaps from past events.
• Social media marketing: Similar to email marketing, social media is an effective tool for engaging with customers. In fact, 72% of Twitter users are more likely to make a purchase after engaging with a brand on the platform. Sharing your content on popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can drive readers to your website, boost traffic and bring in new, quality leads.

These are just some of the best practices that drive lead generation. In the eBook: Lead Generation Made MSPeasy, you can find more tips on crafting a thorough lead generation plan and dive into various aspects of marketing, such as SEO optimization and lead qualification. Head over to Datto.com today to download the free eBook. For even more tips for MSPs, join Datto for an upcoming webinar featuring a panel of top IT service providers who will share their secrets to help you grow your business in 2017.

Rob Rae is Vice President of Business Development, Datto.

Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of MSPmentor’s annual platinum sponsorship.