How to Become a Champion of Your Business

Small business owners must wear many hats. As a small business ourselves, we understand everything that goes into running one; even more, what goes into owning one. It’s a LOT of work, and a LOT of time and dedication is needed to keep it running smoothly while trying to have a personal life on top of it.

Sorry, but we’re about to suggest something ELSE you should be doing as a small business owner: getting personally involved on a public level in marketing your company.

Be the Champion of Your Business

It’s YOUR business; your name can be attached to your marketing materials.

For example, if you get our MSP Blog Service, blogs are published three times per week to your company’s website. Those who have this service or are at least familiar with it should know that NO credit is given to us in any way for writing these blogs; we allow you to choose the blog author to appear on your site. Many of our clients choose to publish their blogs under the owner’s name, giving the impression to anyone who visits their sites that the owner and/or CEO is the subject matter expert that leads the company in best servicing local businesses in all of their IT-related needs.

That’s what we want!

We don’t want credit for the blog articles, social media posts, or direct mail pieces that we create for you. You can brand them to your company, and attach your own name. You should: attaching your name instead of just signing off your marketing as your company name adds a bit of a personalized touch. Your marketing materials should already be branded to your company anyway; you shouldn’t also need to say they’re ‘from’ or ‘written by’ your company’s name.

All of this is a great first step to take. The next step is actually getting out there and meeting people.

Get Involved, and Get Known

Question for you owners of small to medium-sized businesses: do your clients and prospects know your name? Do they know a bit about you, like a hobby or interest of yours? Have they talked to you in person or even shaken your hand?

Most of Directive’s clients know quite a bit about us and our lives because of how open we are, and how involved we are in the local community. Even a lot of our clients that utilize our MSP Marketing services know quite a bit about our personal lives, but we’re going to focus on the companies that we work with in our local area.

For us, we grew up in this area; it is our home, always will be, and we want to do our part to make our city great. This includes your typical ‘business owner’ involvement that we already try to encourage you to do, such as getting involved in the local Chamber of Commerce, joining local committees, and attending events on behalf of your company.

Sure, we like the benefits of getting involved in this way that extend to our company… but that’s not why we do all of what we do. In fact, not all of our involvement is directly tied to the ‘Directive’ brand! We also are active in the community in other ways, including our local Legion Riders chapter, and we help to grow and advertise the various charity runs that they put on.

Getting your name out there in any way helps give you an edge over your local competition. Think about it: if you’re looking for some sort of business partnership, are you going to turn to Joe Shmoe’s business for assistance, or are you going to turn to the business run by someone you know of, or are at least familiar with?

Because of our involvement in both personal and professional spheres, people in the community know us. There are people in the community who don’t even work with us that we’ll run into, and they’ll ask “what’s for Crock-pot Thursday this week?” or about the dog or cat we had visiting the office recently. This leads us into the next step: using social media.

Show Things Off on Social Media

When determining your MSP’s social media marketing strategy, did you give any consideration to your own social media accounts?

As a business owner, you’ve probably developed relationships with other business owners in your local area; some of them you’re probably friends with on Facebook or connected to on LinkedIn. That’s great! Now, are you taking advantage of this personal connection?

Even if these business owners like/follow your business’ pages (there’s no guarantee that they do!), they might not be seeing the posts that you are sharing through them. Unless you’re doing your due diligence and boosting all of your business’ posts, they may not be seen due to the way that social media algorithms work.

That’s why you also need to be a champion for your business on your own social media accounts. Posting content related to your business and your expertise as a business owner gives you a second chance to get in front of these decision makers that you’re connected to. Even more, it puts a ‘face’ to your business when you’re sharing content related to it. Since you’re the owner, when you share your own knowledge and expertise, this easily translates over to your business since you are the owner of it.

Here are content ideas that you can use to promote your business, directly and indirectly:

• Your Page’s Posts - You can share posts from your company’s social media pages to your own personal social media account.
• Your Favorite Blog Articles - Have a blog article on your company’s website that you just LOVE? In addition to sharing it on your MSP’s social media channels, post about it on your own social media accounts as well.
• General Educational Content - Not all of the content that you share has to be content that is from your own website. Feel free to share articles and videos from industry leaders. The fact that you are sharing these things from reputable sources adds to your own expertise and the expertise of your company because it shows that you keep up with the latest news and breakthroughs in your industry.
• Company Announcements - We’re sure you’re already doing these through your company’s social media pages, but do these through your own too! Whether it’s a product/service announcement, a live event that’s coming up, or an award/accomplishment of your company, posting about it through your own accounts can help increase the awareness of whatever it is.
• Company Culture - What makes your business so great? Of course it’s the quality of services that you provide, but it’s also the people who make up your company and the internal culture you’ve developed through your management style. Showing that you personally care about your employees through pictures, videos, and funny anecdotes really speaks to the type of business owner that you are.
• Company History - I’m sure you have stories and pictures from the early days of your company. Share them! It’s a great way to show how much your company has grown and improved over the years.
• Your Expertise and Insight - You’ve probably learned a LOT in the years you’ve spent running a business and helping numerous clients with their technology-related needs. Share some of that knowledge!

Note that when you’re sharing any content from somewhere else, whether it’s from your company’s social media pages, a blog from your website, or content from another website, you should be adding your own insight or commentary in a sentence or two. Make it as personal as you can! This is YOU talking.

Best case scenario, your posts are seen by more people (specifically, business decision makers) that not only watch or read the content that you share, but actually engage with you on the posts themselves. This gives you a chance to start a meaningful conversation, either in the public space of the comment section on that post or through a personal message, email, or phone call.

We’re also not saying that this is the only content that you should be sharing to your own social media accounts. They are your accounts, not your business’. You should still be sharing the same pictures and videos of family and friends, updates on your travel, relatable memes - whatever you normally share - to your personal accounts. Adding content that promotes your knowledge of the IT industry and showcases your business in a positive, personalized manner should instead be supplemental to your everyday content.

Get Yourself AND Your MSP Noticed

Going from a face in the crowd to a place in the spotlight can be quite intimidating. Fortunately, JoomConnect can make the transition easier by assisting you in getting noticed, and providing guidance regarding what to do once you’re there to best showcase your MSP in a positive manner. Feel free to reach out to us for any marketing-related advice or assistance.