“Content Marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.” – David Beebe
Content management should be a task you are doing continuously. If you do not have fresh or intriguing content no one will want to engage with your marketing. Are you talking about how great you are, or are you telling the prospect how great you can enable them to be? Managed services is about taking the worry and stress of IT away from the business owner. That should be a key concept in your MSP marketing efforts.
So you are sending out emails and getting some signals back. Now you are wondering, is this lead into buy? First you will want to check if you are reading right signals. Just because someone opens an email does not mean they are ready to buy. Maybe, you would get lucky with a referral opening an email and it quickly turns into a sale. That is most often never going to be the case. Someone may open the email, then never think about your company again. This is why you need to have fresh, engaging content.
To help you understand these signals better, Mindmatrix developed a clear system called the lead scoring model. This is based on years of working with MSPs and understanding the buyer’s motivations. The basis of a drip campaign is to warm a cold lead up until they reach that high/hot interest score. That score can be achieved in a couple different ways.
- Opening emails
- Going through your site
- Filling out forms
- Downloading an asset
If the prospect is interacting with your MSP marketing content enough to get their score to 300+ they will be marked as Hot or High interest. This could mean they are interested enough to begin talking about a sale and you should start reaching out.
But what if they are connecting with you but aren’t a hot/high prospect yet? There are some signals that you can keep an eye for for in addition to the lead scoring model.
- If they are clicking through your email
It is great when someone opens the email but if they are clicking through it shows that they are truly engaged in your content. This may be an early indicator that they could turn from a prospect to an opportunity. - If they are clicking through your MSP website
One of the first steps in the buyer’s journey is awareness. If the prospect is looking around on your website they may be trying to qualify you as a vendor. This is a good time to reach out with some educational materials. Don’t have a great MSP website? Here’s how you can get one. - If they request information/download an asset
As the prospect is in the interest stage they may request some type of asset such as a brochure or price sheet. The prospect is most likely weighing their options and comparing prices. Absolutely reach out with some assets and be available for questions.
These are all indicators that could show high interest from your prospects before they reach the hot/high interest level in Mindmatrix. Keep an eye on your feed widget as well as the contact activity. Once you see contacts that are interacting heavily with your marketing materials it is a good time to review their activity and decide if it’s time to give them a call.