Marketing Trends for 2022

I recently signed up for training to help me negotiate sponsorship deals when creating content. You're probably now wondering what the tech sponsorships have got to do with my MSP business, so just hear me out. 

There was one thing that blew me away on the training program, and that was when the guy running the training, mentioned that a brand had contacted him to say that they had a small budget of $6-8k, and they couldn’t go over that. 

This guy managed to negotiate that brand up to $30,000 in sponsorships, for just two Instagram posts. 

Sounds nuts right? Why would someone pay $30,000 to an influencer? 

So in today’s MSP 101 Marketing Pillar post, I wanted to explore one of the future trends we’re seeing become more popular than ever, and see how you can relate this in your MSP - and that is the Rise of Influencer marketing.

If you're new here then hi my name is Pete, and I help MSPs and IT Business Owners to grow their business through these posts and videos on my YouTube channel. aThe resources I have made are available via my website:

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So let's get back to that question, why on earth would someone pay $30,000 for marketing, knowing they will only get 2 Instagram posts back in return?

I estimate it will take an influencer to create perhaps 5 to 10 minutes to put together the wording for the post, and maybe another 10-30 to snap a photo, a little longer for a video perhaps. Which roughly works out to about $1,000 per minute in earnings! 

Crazy right? Or is it? 

From the brand's perspective, they are spending $30,000 on someone who has an audience of people who are finely tuned to their niche, following every post and every video. The key for anyone that's going to buy into a business is the Know, Like, and Trust factor, and that's what an influencer has. 

An influencer has spent years curating this relationship between their viewers. Months and years of creating free content for others to enjoy - I know, I’ve been doing this whole video marketing thing now for about 3 years! It’s a tough gig. 

But, as you put the consistency in, consistently making that content, you do grow an audience, and that audience does know, like, and trust you. So when a company is happy to spend $30,000 for a so-called influencer to post some photos on Instagram, they know that they will get at least $30,000 back in return. Either from direct product sales, brand awareness, or whatever they want from it, as long as they find the right person, with the right audience, who are typically potential buyers of their product. 

So as an MSP, how can you hack into this latest trend? As much as hate influencers, who all seem to get free products, do very little work, and just get rich very quickly, perhaps we do have to admire them just a little?

MAKE INFLUENCER MARKETING WORK FOR YOU

Step 1 - You need to have pinpoint accuracy as to who your customer avatar is. If you don’t know who your customers and potential customers are, then you won’t be able to follow step 2.

Step 2 - Look at your social media platforms. That’s probably LinkedIn for most of us as MSPs, but don’t dismiss the others just in case you're missing out on a great opportunity.

Find people whose audiences also fit your customer avatar, and start a conversation with them. Influencer marketing is so fresh right now, and unless you are trying to get through to people with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers, then it’s likely you’ll be able to easily get hold of them AND it won’t be too expensive. 

Take Jeri Williams from Smooth Accounting as an example. On LinkedIn, she has over 60,000 combined followers, many of whom are small business owners. So if your audience is small business owners, nationwide in the UK, possibly even accountants as business owners - then I wouldn’t think twice about discussing an exchange of money, for a sponsored post, or a 30-second ad read on one of her YouTube videos. 

The beauty of us in the B2B business world - small audiences mean nothing.

Small audiences can be engaged audiences.

Small audiences can be loyal, and genuinely interested in what that person has to say.

They’re not putting out content that wider consumers like - and therefore those followers could be anywhere from 10 years old to 100.

Now, this isn’t an Ad for Jeri, I’m not saying to go and speak to Jeri, but that is just one example of what I would be looking at, as a business owner in 2022, to jump ahead of other marketing campaigns.

Ever spent £1,000 on Google Ads and got nothing in return? Why not try £1,000 with someone from your niche, who has an audience and would be open to collaborating on something together with you.

The way to seriously win in business is to do something different to all of your competitors. MSPs right now, aren’t seeing this as a real opportunity. Even though we’re consuming content, every single day when we pick up our phone and scroll through Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn, that is full of these sponsorships and collaborations. 

So why not stand out, by doing something different. I guarantee you that this will get you more attention and a faster return than some of the more ‘traditional’ marketing that you’ve tried over the years.

So that is your MSP 101 Tip for today. That is why Influencer marketing could be worth a try for you and your business, and THAT is why I am happy to accept $30,000 if you want me to post, well basically anything on my Instagram account for you. 😊

Thanks for reading - see you in the next one!

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