Fill the Funnel: New Lead Gen Strategies for MSPs and VARs

MSPs and VARs sometimes become focused on the same way of doing things when it comes to generating leads for their businesses. It does make sense if what you’re doing is working. Keep in mind, what’s working now may not bring in leads next year or even a few months from now. Lead generation for MSPs and VARs is changing rapidly, and it’s time to take steps to ensure your offers are getting in front of the right people in the right places. Bottom line: Smart MSPs and VARs diversify their lead gen options.

In this article, we’ll take a look at what’s already working and then propose a few ideas to help you add new lead generation tools to your current mix.

We’ve seen most MSPs and VARs depend on a handful of lead gen tools to bring in new clients:

• Cold Calling
• Self-Hosted Events
• Referrals
• Event Sponsorships

While these are great and shouldn’t be scrapped any time soon, recent information suggests business owners are increasingly buying in a different manner, especially line-of-business buyers who may not be familiar with the technology involved in the solutions they need.

As you move forward in your business, one of the key factors is diversification; that includes your mix of clients, your product offerings, your vendor partnerships, and certifications, as well as the type of ways you promote your company.

Marketing diversification for MSPs and VARs involves a shift in mindset, especially as you embrace digital marketing for your business. Lead acquisition can be low-cost and high-reward if you’re consistent, focused, and follow a proven strategy for results.

Let’s take a look at the ways you can diversify your lead generation methods:

• Consider podcasts: Many technology buyers have integrated podcasts into their daily routines. Most people listen:
  

   

  • while they’re working out,
  • during their commute,
  • on their way to meetings,
  • when they have downtime in between meetings and at events.

Edison Research predicts 48 million people in the U.S. will listen to a podcast this year. That’s up six million from their 2017 projections. (See more podcast stats here.)

Potential and existing customers use them as a key source of information they can depend on if and when they’re looking for solutions. Even if you’re not a regular podcast listener, most likely the people who will buy your solutions are regular listeners. When you simplify the process of buying through this medium, you’ll get the results you’re looking for: more sales leads.

How this brings in sales: Podcasts elevate the profile of your business and help you position yourself above and beyond the firms that are looking to attract the same type of customers you are. Producing a podcast is no small task, and you will need help with it. As with any marketing method, podcasting success depends on the fundamentals of marketing: know your audience, identify their problems, provide solutions to those problems, remain consistent and up-to-date on what concerns your ideal customer the most. 

If you follow that structure, the technical aspects of podcasting become something simple you can outsource or assign to a team member with experience in that area.

• Try out webinars: Webinars are a darling of the IT channel with several major players partnering with MSPs and VARs to highlight technology and share leads. B2B marketers (37%) rated webinars a top revenue driver in a recent survey by DemandWave. You don’t need to partner with others to make your webinar a success, but it is quite helpful in promoting and producing the webinar.
  • How webinars bring in sales leads: Partnering with a media organization or vendor is a great way to bring in leads while showcasing your knowledge in a particular area of technology. For instance, if you have a security solution for healthcare providers looking to avoid ransomware, partnering with your favorite security vendor to conduct a webinar on this topic makes perfect sense.
    
• Leverage an interactive quiz: People don’t always enjoy taking tests but they love getting high scores – on just about anything, including professional quizzes and knowledge tests. Everyone wants to test their knowledge and find out how they measure up. You can quiz potential buyers on a number of things including:
  • Assessment of their security vulnerabilities 
    Use questions such as: Do you have a BYOB policy? Are you using MDM to manage employee devices?
  • Understanding of compliance issues
    (Multiple choice: If your firm experiences a ransomware attack, the first thing you should do is: a. contact the police; b. reach out to your disaster recovery vendor; c. explore ways of quietly paying the ransom)

  Any interactive quiz vendor worth its salt will be able to help with scoring the quiz so the best answers get the highest scores.

  How interactive quizzes bring in sales leads: A solid test of knowledge or quiz can be just as dynamic as a blog post. The only difference is you can program a quiz so that the participant doesn’t get the quiz result unless they give their contact information (hence generating a lead).

Next Steps in Lead Generation for MSPs and VARs

Building out your lead generation efforts and expanding beyond what you’ve always done doesn’t have to be a difficult process. With the right partner, you can make new ways of lead generation a success. Let’s face it, the way customers are buying technology is changing rapidly. In fact, the people within organizations who buy solutions is changing as well. By diversifying the way you fill your sales funnel, you’ll ensure you’re reaching out to an array of potential leads, creating streams of income from as many sources as possible. Let’s continue the conversation. Presh Marketing Solutions is here to help you move forward with your digital marketing strategy to bring in more qualified leads and grow your MSP or VAR business.