Kickstart your content marketing strategy

Author: Maddie Metheny

There’s no doubt that every managed service provider (MSP) can benefit from marketing. But oftentimes, marketing is at the end of the list for MSPs because of everything else they’re juggling daily. While marketing has many benefits, the leads that it generates to increase sales usually take precedence.

The good news is marketing doesn’t have to be complicated and the best place to start is with content. Content marketing is the creation and distribution of content aimed to inform and educate your audience. It’s one of the most inexpensive ways to produce marketing-qualified leads (MQLs). With 82% of businesses leveraging content marketing, it’s the perfect place for you to begin.

The benefits of content marketing are unmatched. Creating content helps establish your credibility with your clients. It is also a great way to increase website traffic, drive lead generation, as well as build brand awareness and loyalty.

What is content?

Content is a general term for information and messages shared across different mediums, often in the forms of text, audio, video, or image. In short, content is anything your audience can consume using their senses.

Types of content include, but are not limited to:

• Blogs
• Infographics
• Social media posts
• Emails
• Videos
• Whitepapers
• Case studies
• eBooks
• Podcasts
• Reports

How does it work?

Chances are you already create content. If you’ve sent an email to a prospect, posted on social media, or shared your thoughts on your website, that’s content!

Creating content is easier than you think. Start with using your knowledge of the industry you target, write down your thoughts that would bring value to your clients, then turn them into one of the deliverables listed above.

Once you start creating content, the next step is to repurpose or reuse the content in a new form or medium. For example, if you created a blog post on your website, you could repurpose that content into an infographic to share on social media. This allows you to create multiple pieces of content from your thoughts that can be used in different channels. It’s that simple!

Where do you start?

If you’re new to marketing your business, content is an inexpensive way to kickstart your efforts to start producing leads. In fact, it’s 62% less expensive than traditional marketing.

You can start by creating a content marketing strategy that will outline what content your business will use to engage your audience and achieve your business goals. A useful way to break down your content marketing strategy is by focusing on the following:

• Positioning: Who are you targeting? What makes you different from other IT service providers? What is the focus of your brand?
• Goals: What do you want your content to accomplish? Is your content going to be used for brand awareness or to drive demand?
• Production: How often will you create and share content?
• Metrics: How will you evaluate how your content is performing? What analytics or metrics will you track?
• Distribution plan: What is your action plan for sharing your content? How will it enable your business to grow?

As you begin or continue to create content, your content marketing strategy should serve as a guide, not the rule. You will learn what works for your brand as you go about it and you can pivot as needed. From producing and distributing two or 10 pieces of content a month, to creating a strategy that achieves your goals, content marketing will take your business to new heights.