You’re Losing Business to Better Writers
Written by J.P. Roe, Marketing Director at Your Sales Energy, and Tom Watson, VP of MSP Best Practices at Axcient
Yes, you read that headline correctly.
In our latest episode of MSP Ignition! Episode 21: Marketing Messaging – Break Through the Noise and Be Heard!, we discussed the importance of defining your message to make an impact. In this follow up blog post we are going to dig a little deeper to provide a set of guidelines to follow when creating your marketing messaging. Just having a message isn’t going to cut it. You need to make sure it resonates with your clients and prospects to provide the benefits you want.
Starting Where Your Clients Start
You may be proud of your help desk operators and technicians, but they probably have very little to do with the future growth of your business.
How can we make such a bold claim? Well, think about it…
When someone is shopping around for an IT provider, do they meet your technicians, support staff, or even youbefore they start making decisions?
Not in most cases.
The people who are nabbing your prospects and stealing your clients aren’t IT professionals. They’re the writers, graphic designers, and marketing professionals employed by your competitors.
It’s all about lead generation, first impressions, and value perception.
A prospect’s first impression of your company is garnered entirely through your persistent marketing assets. Your website, emails, sales letters, etc.. All of your written content is being weighed and measured against the written content of everyone else in your market.
If your marketing copy is poorly-written, there’s a very good chance that someone with a better writer will impress, persuade, and convert your prospects before you do.
Yes, it’s a tough pill to swallow, but you can see this happening throughout the business world.
Smaller, less experienced, less qualified, and even downright inferior businesses have risen to the top — even slain Goliaths — by leveraging the power of marketing. Now, it’s your turn.
Fear Not! You Can Use This to Your Advantage
Rather than denying the fact that writers and graphic designers have more to do with securing new business than your actual IT staff, you can lean into this realization and capitalize on it.
Doing so is just a matter of improving your own marketing. You’ll probably want to start with your written copy, since it plays such a huge role in communicating your message and compelling prospects to engage with your business.
Anyone can improve the quality of their emails, sales letters, or website content. In our recent MSP Ignition! webinar, we discussed a few important ground rules for writing effective marketing copy.
By simply following these guidelines, you can ascend to an above-average level of copywriting that is focused on performance:
Know your audience
Yes, marketing professions tend to harp on this, but it’s incredibly important. If you don’t know who you’re trying to communicate to, you’re not going to get very far.
Make sure you understand your audience and their “personal story” before you put the first word on the page.
Focus on value
“How is this going to benefit me?”
That’s the question on everyone’s mind when you’re interacting with them — and you’d better give them a good answer. You must provide value every step of the way, not just with your final offer. People want to see value before they’ll even open your email.
Play on buying motivators
As we discussed in the webinar, there are four reasons why people make a buying decision:
- Self-Interest – This product will make me happier or make my life better.
- Fear – I don’t want to miss out and there’s risk if I don’t buy this product.
- Logic – I’ve researched what I need, and this product is the most reasonable answer.
- Social Proof – Other people recommend this product, so I’ll follow their lead.
When writing your marketing copy, try to address all four of these points.
Prove your worth
This is an extension of the social proof aspect of the decision-making process. Take every opportunity you can to demonstrate your value and show that you’re trustworthy.
Make liberal use of testimonials, case studies, and positive reviews. Place them in your email signature and cite them as a reference to back up the statements you’re making in emails.
Build and use momentum
Remember the purpose of marketing: to guide prospects through the buyer’s journey so that they — hopefully — decide to sign an agreement with you. All of your marketing communication should serve this process.
Every email or sales letter should be written to compel an action in the form of some sort of engagement from the reader. It could be to download a white paper, visit a specific page on your website, or sign up for a discovery call.
Regardless of the step you want them to take, make sure that readers are presented with another call to action immediately afterward. You’ve got them interested, so don’t let the momentum die by forgetting to tell them what to do next.
These tips will help you write more effective marketing copy and turn more readers into clients. That being said, copywriting is a skill that takes years to perfect (and you never really perfect it).
This is why many companies turn to freelance copywriters or professional marketing agencies to write their marketing materials. If you don’t have the time to hone your own copywriting skills, don’t hesitate to consider this option.
For more information and to register for the MSP Ignition! Program, please click here.