10 Low-Cost, High-Powered Marketing Tips

If there's one channel fact, it's that solution providers aren't good marketers. Across the board, most solution providers--particularly small and midsize--rate marketing at the bottom of their priority lists for driving and growing their businesses. What they do put a lot of faith in--and say they get results from--is establishing and managing goals, management focus on sales and establishing formal sales plans. Marketing, however, is one of the top performance indicators for profitability, according to CMP Technology's Institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED).

If the disconnect isn't obvious to you, you're not alone. Too often, solution providers think of marketing as simply advertising, product spec sheets, logo-embroidered T-shirts and pens, trade-show exhibits and a high-priced marketing staff to manage it all. The truth is, marketing is those things, as well as the execution of a well-rounded plan that helps a company achieve its business, sales, revenue and growth goals. Think of marketing as an enabler, not an ancillary component of sales.

By branding your company, you're distinguishing your message and value from the competition. By creating brand awareness and reinforcing the message to your targets, you generate leads, which you hope will turn into new business. Unfortunately, most solution providers don't have marketing resources. According to IPED, only 38 percent of solution providers employ a marketing person, and most of them are at the administrative level. In effect, roughly 1 in 10 solution providers have the ability to pull off a marketing effort.

Marketing doesn't have to be difficult--or expensive. The following 10 marketing tips are relatively easy, inexpensive (if not free) and proven to produce positive results for solution providers.

1. LOOK IN THE MIRROR: The first and most important step is to define who you are. You can't get other people to buy into your marketing until you do. And buy-in must be ubiquitous; everyone from the owner/CEO to the receptionist must understand, accept and live the marketing message. Understanding your company's purpose and value proposition shouldn't take a rendition of "War and Peace." Being able to articulate your message clearly and concisely is critical. If you can, develop a tagline or 30-second elevator pitch that reflects your specialty--the clients and markets you serve and the results you deliver.

2. DRINK YOUR OWN KOOL-AID: Many solution providers are selling business software ranging from office productivity (such as Microsoft Office) to customer relationship management (CRM) packages. However, a large number--particularly small shops--will operate their businesses on Excel spreadsheets rather than investing in a CRM package such as Act, GoldMine or Microsoft CRM. These tools are invaluable in maintaining contacts, leads and relationships. Marketing is about maintaining contact with your customers. These applications make that job easier.

3. MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS: To get other solution providers and vendor field reps working on your behalf, join a network group with the goal of getting the larger IT channel community to understand what you do and be your ambassadors. If you can, try to identify firms that have complementary business models and technology sets, or ones that call upon the same vertical markets. Alternatively, look at trade associations as a means of getting in front of business owners with the hope of beginning a dialogue around your services or solutions. Speaking at events--your local Rotary Club or large industry conferences--opens unlikely opportunities; if the audience likes what they hear, they'll seek your counsel on the spot.

4. BUILD ALLIANCES: Not every solution provider can grow business on its own. Partnering with other solution providers with complementary technologies, skillsets and geographic locations extends your opportunities. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to make these connections--forums such as CMP's XChange and Ingram Micro's Venture Tech Network--give solution providers the opportunity to meet peers and explore joint ventures. These meetings are also a chance to hone your marketing message, and if it doesn't work on your peers, it probably won't work in the market.

5. USE WORD-OF-MOUTH: Referrals. No solution provider has enough of them. What better way to get someone working on your behalf than to ask your clients, vendors and fellow solution providers? Word-of-mouth is like gold. Ask your partners, vendors and customers for referrals to prospects that could use your services. You might also try offering incentives for referrals to help stimulate your clients. A solid referral is like a passkey--it gets you in the door with the trust of the prospect's relationship to your partner or customer.

6. DON'T BE STINGY. GIVE BACK: Whether you're a large systems integrator or a Main Street VAR, make community service part of your organizational culture. Sponsor community events, participate in fund drives, donate excess equipment to schools, and volunteer for community-building projects such as park cleanup. What you put out in life will come back to you many times over. Don't go into it looking for returns, however. Embrace something that has meaning to you and you'll have success making the world a better place. People like to do business with people and companies they know and feel are vested in the same ecosystem they are.

7. BE PROUD, SAY IT ALOUD: Public relations isn't reserved for the VARBusiness 500 class. An effective PR campaign involves outreach to the media (local, regional and trade) and constituencies that deliver your company's value-proposition message and promote your brand. Best of all, PR is (or can be) free. A single press release about a customer win, new vendor partnership or solution availability can get an article in the newspaper or recognition in the trade press. At the very least, press releases serve as good collateral material for sales kits; they show customers and prospects that your business is growing, vibrant and healthy. One reason PR works is implied third-party endorsements of your business activity. Most newspapers or magazines won't explicitly endorse a business activity, but the coverage by an objective source is often perceived by the audience as validation. PR doesn't have to be expensive; practically anyone can write a press release; and developing relationships with the media that serve your market is as simple as picking up the phone. For more sophisticated PR operations, agencies often have sliding retainer scales for small businesses. Vendor MDFs can often cover some of the cost of the PR effort, and several distributors, including Ingram Micro, are providing PR assistance to their solution providers.

8. FREE (OR NEARLY FREE) LABOR: Writing press releases, designing flyers, correlating media kits and reaching out to the press may have little direct cost, but it does take time, and time and bodies to fulfill these tasks is something most solution providers don't have. Interns--either unpaid or modestly compensated--could provide you with a rich marketing resource. Marketing and public-relations students are sufficiently knowledgeable to effectively execute on the required marketing needs. With a little coaching, they can prepare marketing materials and write the case studies that arm your sales team with examples of your company's value. Many colleges require students to complete a certain number of internship hours, making your local institution for higher learning an ample labor pool. The downside of interns, however, is that they do need coaching and nurturing. While they may bring enthusiasm to the job, not all interns are plug-and-play.

9. LEAN ON THE PROS: Marketing isn't always easy, but there are ample resources available from your vendors and distributors. Everyone knows vendor MDFs are available for everything from printing brochures to covering the expenses of attending industry conferences. Vendors also provide PR assistance, customizable marketing materials around their products, access to outbound call centers for generating leads and funds for cooperative advertising. Vendors and distributors want to help because the success of resellers means more business for them. Your vendor's field rep will most likely know what resources are available and whether you qualify to use them.

10. WASH, RINSE, REPEAT: Hardly anyone is such an impulsive shopper that they rush out to buy something immediately after hearing about it for the first time. In fact, studies have shown that prospects don't even register the message until it's been repeated three times or more. In the past election season, political campaigns estimated they needed at least 12 media impressions to establish a solid connection with a voter--and that's not even aiming toward favorable or unfavorable. Effective marketing requires following the instructions on every shampoo bottle: wash, rinse, repeat. Launch a marketing campaign, follow through to fruition, and start over.

Unfortunately, not every marketing effort produces an immediate hit; nor are all of these tips necessary for success. As the owner or manager of your solution-provider business, you need to experiment with marketing techniques, find the ones that work best for you, and execute on them consistently. If done effectively, even the most modest marketing campaigns have proven to increase sales and revenue.

Brian Okun is regional sales director for New York and Long Island at Prevalent Networks, a Warren, N.J.-based provider of information security products and services.