Every business owner has an opinion about marketing IT services — right or wrong.
The problem is, many are just that – opinions. They’re NOT based on extensive research or testing, only founded on limited personal experience.
Operating on a hunch rather than data limits your marketing success and exhausts resources. To get real traction with marketing your IT services, you need to debunk a few harmful myths.
Myths That Are Killing Your IT Services Marketing Success
As an MSP consultant, I’ve developed marketing strategies for more than 8,000 IT services firms. Here are the top myths of marketing IT services that hold business owners back from new business:
1. Blaming the medium for a campaign’s failure
Say you send out flyers to your contacts and don’t get any responses. You might think the direct mail approach is ineffective. I constantly hear owners of IT services firms say certain marketing tactics don’t work.
The most common ones include:
- Direct mail
- Yellow Pages ads
- Google AdWords
- Newsletters
Just because someone hasn’t figured out how to make direct mail work doesn’t mean it doesn’t work period. Right now, some of my clients are making thousands of dollars using direct mail, Google AdWords, newsletters and, yes, even Yellow Pages ads.
If you try something once (like direct mail) and get poor results, don’t let one experience stop you from capitalizing on that medium.
There are two critical pieces to any marketing campaign you must consistently test:
- The delivery medium: For example, you could deliver your message via postal mail, email, in person, an online ad, newspaper, etc.
- The copy or message: What you communicate influences the action your audience will take — or lack thereof.
It’s easy to blame the medium instead of analyzing and testing copy. But many factors influence the success or failure of an IT marketing campaign.
For instance:
- The communication could be boring or off-target.
- It could lack a compelling offer, testimonials, headlines and other critical elements you need for a direct marketing campaign to work.
2. Selling is about slick answers and fast-talking
The objective of marketing is to sell your IT services. But effective selling doesn’t happen by forcing your opinion on someone else. Sales is about listening, even studying, your clients. I can usually stump a business owner about his or her clients within 5 minutes of consulting with them.
If you don’t know your clients’ beliefs, fears, frustrations and daily work habits, you will fail. Marketing IT services isn’t just about fancy brochures and funny slogans. It’s about delivering a message so compelling and so ON TARGET that your customer instantly wants in.
If your IT marketing campaigns aren’t getting these responses, the messaging is probably boring, off-target and doesn’t show that you understand the audiences’ situation and business.
3. IT marketing and sales ability is something you’re born with
I’m insulted when business owners say, “Of course selling comes natural to you, Robin…you’re a born speaker/salesperson/marketer.” That’s like saying Tiger Woods is “lucky” to be born with such natural talent.
No one excels at anything without hours, days, weeks and YEARS of careful study and practice. Everyone has to learn – the only difference is how much you apply yourself to the process that matters.
For most owners of IT services firms, spending time learning how to develop compelling marketing messages isn’t worthwhile. You should delegate to people with a successful marketing track record or purchase IT marketing campaigns proven to attract new clients.
4. You only need to market your IT services once referrals run dry
Every IT services business needs to market itself and acquire new clients. IT services firms fail when owners sit on their butt waiting for business to float their way. Taking a little action, like mailing out one or two flyers, is only barely better than doing nothing.
The goal of marketing IT services is to get new clients — AND serve your existing ones to EARN repeat business, loyalty and referrals. It’s also about creating a steady flow of IT services leads so you don’t have to cling to bad clients, slow-payers and whiners.
Are Excuses Hindering Your Ability To Market IT Services?
Most of the IT marketing myths listed above are founded on excuses.
It’s much easier to believe these myths because they take the responsibility off the owner. If direct mail doesn’t work, you don’t have to learn HOW to make this marketing tactic work for YOU.
There’s never a perfect time to start marketing your IT services. And the longer you wait, the more time you give competitors to inch ahead and steal market share.
Taking the first step is the hardest part. But it doesn’t have to be.
The Technology Marketing Toolkit removes the risk of marketing IT services because the medium and messages have consistently earned IT services firms more leads and business. You gain a library of ready-to-go marketing campaigns and resources that you can implement today to see results.
Don’t let these marketing myths keep you from new business. Get started with The Technology Marketing Toolkit here.
