9 Sales Promotion Ideas for Your MSP/IT Services Firm

The competition is fierce in the managed services and IT industries today. Nonetheless, there are still services and firms out there that are building their entire business growth on the foundation of referrals. While you can get a lot from referrals (and even more if you incentivize them, see our tip below), it’s not the only way to grow your business. You can also outsource your sales outreach to get leads informed about your business.

Not only is it inconsistent, but it doesn’t offer you enough variety, structure, or ways to reach the audience that you truly want to reach. Fortunately, today’s world of promotions is only as limited as your imagination. To get you started, here are some great ideas for promotions to boost your business, increase your client base, and position your firm as a leader in the industry. 

1. Use LinkedIn to Promote to B2B Clients

In the managed services and IT industries, B2B networking and promotions are often the most difficult part of the business. Fortunately, sites like LinkedIn make it easy to use professional social networking to find clients and generate new business. You can create content and share posts with your audience, or even offer people special incentives or discounts for mentioning your LinkedIn post or profile. 

2. Attend trade shows or expos 

There are plenty of IT-related shows and expos around the world every single year. Even small business expos could be a good place to build the presence of your own MSP or IT services firm. These events allow you to network with other professionals and find potential clients, giving you the best of both worlds. You can even give out promotional items or offer people special deals for mentioning that they found you at the trade show. 

3. Make sure your social media is up to par

Nothing you do is going to matter if you’ve still got stiff, basic social media profiles and aren’t actively marketing on them. We already talked about LinkedIn, but you need more than that. Your social media, even in the MSP and IT services industry, needs to be up to par in all ways. People find all kinds of things on social media today, including business and consumer clients alike—don’t underestimate the power of your social profiles because they can get you a lot more business than you think when you do it right. 

4. Add a blog to your website 

Another great way to build an audience or promote your abilities in the managed services industry is to start a blog on your website. You don’t have to come up with the next best-seller here, it’s just a blog. However, it does need to be informational, relevant, and properly SEO optimized (for search engines) so that you can get the exposure that you want. This will give your audience something of value and position you as a thought leader at the same time. 

5. Offer promotions or incentives for referrals 

As we’ve mentioned, referrals are probably a large part of your business. While they can’t be your entire promotional strategy, they can be a good part of it. Consider giving people some kind of discount or incentive, such as a free (branded) gift or special savings if they refer someone to you. Be sure that you offer the same deal to the person being referred, however, because the incentive process works much better when everybody wins. 

6. Offer free demos, trials, etc. 

You’re in an industry full of potential for freebies, demos, samples, and giving people a chance to see what they’re getting before they commit. Take advantage of this. Sure, it might seem a little counter-intuitive at first, but watch how much faster people convert when they have these options, and when they can see firsthand what you can do for them. Don’t be just giving this away—it’s got to feel at least a little exclusive—but make sure that you’re giving people a reason to invest their money with you by showing them what you can actually do. 

7. Consider video marketing and webinars

Much like a written blog, video marketing and webinars can help you establish your position as an authority in your industry. You can host videos on tons of subjects, provide informational and interactive webinars on Zoom or another platform, and so forth. Whatever you do, do it with your audience in mind. Think about what they’d want to see and what would be most useful to them. Then, create that content. People tend to like videos more than written content these days, so you’ll win big with this when you do it right. 

8. Offer discounts for email/newsletter subscriptions 

In any tech-based industry, email marketing is a great way to reach your intended audience. People like to stay informed and they appreciate getting incentives from the companies with which they do business. When you also provide them with some kind of discount or incentive for signing up, you’ll get a lot more interest via email. Then, you’ve got a whole new list of leads who are ready to try out your services because they’ve got a special offer. 

9. Partner with Smith.ai for promotions, communications, and more 

Of course, when you’re going to have a slew of new leads coming your way, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got the team on board to handle them, including a 24/7 answering service that will make sure that you never miss an opportunity. And, not only that; when you partner with the outsourced virtual receptionists at Smith.ai, you can also get support for outreach campaigns, as well as outbound sales calls, emails, texts, and more. 

Ask us about appointment scheduling, lead intake, and even our live website chat solutions—whatever you need, we can help, and we can create the perfect strategy to manage it all, too. 

To learn more, schedule a consultation to discuss what the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai can do for your MSP or IT services company. You will also find us at hello@smith.ai or (650) 727-6484.