How to Promote Your Managed Services Milestones
Alas, many managed service providers are tech-centric companies that don’t understand marketing and PR. But instead of rehashing this age-old weakness, let’s focus on the positive: There are some easy ways for managed service providers to generate positive press and media coverage about their companies. Here’s the simplest tip of all.
Focus on company milestones. Keep track of those milestones. And promote those milestones like crazy.
For instance, steal a page from Avalara, a software as a service company that focuses on tax automation solutions. The Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based company today announced that 1,000 businesses are using its services. It’s an easy-to-remember number connected with a key business milestone.
The announcement caught MSPmentor’s ear, and it will certainly help Avalara to win over additional customers who might otherwise be skeptical about the SaaS business model.
Other milestones MSPs need to announce:
Employee milestones: When you reach 25, 50, 100, etc.
Certifications: “Acme now has 10 Cisco Certified yada, yada, yada”
Partnerships: Tell the world which platforms you’re using and which solutions you’re promoting — but be sure you lead with your own brand rather than the partner’s brand
Years in Business: Celebrate your 5th, 10th and future major anniversaries in business
Global Reach: Whether you open a second office in a neighboring town, or a regional office on another continent, tell the world
Return on Investment: Tell the world how many pieces of spam you’ve successfully blocked from customer sites. Promote the fact that your customers have reduced their help desk calls by 50 percent, etc.
Professional PR help is a worthwhile investment. But if you’re not quite ready to open your wallet for PR assistance, it’s simple for you to post a brief news flash on your web site — a few paragraphs will do.
Even better, start your own corporate blog (here’s how).
Generally speaking, blog platforms are aggressively indexed by Google and other search engines. Use consistent keywords in your blog entries (such as your full company name and full company tagline), and you’ll find information about your business — and its key milestones — popping up in search engines across the web.
As you announce each new milestone, you’ll essentially create a timeline highlighting your business success — which could be a valuable record of achievement if and when you’re ready to put your business up for sale.
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