Outsource Your MSP Marketing Using Other People’s Money
Market development funds can give your MSP business an edge over your competition and make a crucial difference in how it stacks up. You may not be utilizing MDF because you might not know how accessible it is and you may have other concerns. No matter what, you're still weakening your position and missing out on opportunities. If you use MDF resources, you could be getting a big increase in leads and sales.
What are Market Development Funds (MDF)?
MDF, or Market Development Funds, are dollars that manufacturers or vendors give to partners (resellers, VARs, ISVs, and distributors) so that they can sell their products and share information about the company. They can also be called distributor cash advance programs. Market development funds are a great way to get your marketing efforts off the ground, but they can be difficult to manage on your own.
At first glance, MDF programs may seem easy: Part of the budget is just distributed to partners and then everyone just sits and waits for the revenue to flow in. Unfortunately, it's often much harder than that. To begin with, vendors that offer the best MDF outcomes for MSPs invest a lot of time and money in creating libraries of globally sensitive guidelines and marketing support that can help partners maximize the MDF outcomes.
What Is the Goal of Market Development Funds?
The main goal is to use MDF to grow your business. There are a variety of marketing strategies you can take for granted, such as kiosk marketing, display ads, or even print materials. Whatever you decide, your options are endless because there's no limit to the marketing opportunities. The variety of campaign types makes it difficult to choose which direction to take your marketing agenda in.
A vendor that offers the best MDF outcomes will provide the full range of marketing support, including:
- Press release templates give a company the opportunity to provide official communication on their website, which is then distributed to the press and social media outlets.
- Outreach materials, such as blog posts and infographics can be used in white papers, articles, and press releases.
- Social media marketing support, such as creating posts and email campaigns to attract new customers.
Few channel partners have marketing teams, and for those that do, scalable marketing is seldom a real strength. MDF can quickly overwhelm already overworked marketing teams, who would rather be working on something more in their wheelhouse. That's why partnering with an integrated marketing agency is a great idea.
The Market Development Fund (MDF) Journey
The first step you should take is to reach out to your vendors and identify available MDF opportunities. After discovering what MDF opportunities are available, you can start developing your pitch and develop an ROI-effective plan. An integrated marketing agency can help you understand how to best approach MDF opportunities.
After you've assessed the market development funds (MDF) opportunities that are available to you, it's time to start putting together your pitch. To get MDF from a vendor, you'll need to show that you have a plan in place that will generate a return on investment (ROI) for both the sales team and the vendor. In other words, you need to demonstrate how you can get the most bang for your buck.
To do this, begin by outlining what you hope to achieve with the MDF funds. What are your specific goals? How will you use the money? Once you have a clear idea of your objectives, you can start putting together your pitch.
If you can put together a strong pitch that highlights the potential ROI of your MDF plan, you're more likely to get the funding you need to implement it. Market development funds can be a great way to jumpstart your sales efforts, but it takes careful planning and a well-crafted pitch to get the most out of them. What are your objectives? What are you hoping to achieve with the funds? Write what problem you're solving and how these funds will help solve it. Explain the potential ROI of this program/process.
How to Improve MDF Results with an Integrated Marketing Agency
An integrated marketing agency offers a range of services, such as advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and market research. The benefits of an integrated marketing agency are that it can offer more comprehensive and in-depth services. This type of agency will be able to offer a better understanding of your unique needs and provide more effective solutions.
Some ways to improve MDF results with an integrated marketing agency is by using their expertise in the field to develop strategies for successful campaigns. They will be able to help with improving the experience with your brand by providing insights into how the target audience will want to see your services or what you want them to think about when they hear or see your brand.
Here are a few key areas where partnering with an integrated marketing agency can help MSPs positively transform MDF outcomes.
- They have the expertise and experience to help you make the most of your MDF funds.
- They can help you develop a strategic plan for your business.
- They can provide you with access to vendors that specialize in specific areas of marketing.
- They can help you find new clients and generate leads.
- They will work with you to make sure that all of your goals are met.
Marketing development funds are an excellent way to get more resources for your organization. If you're not applying for them, you should be. Consider educating yourself on available marketing dollars and applying for some funds today. They can help your business grow!
An integrated marketing agency like Ulistic can help you streamline your MDF efforts, making it easier and more efficient to achieve your goals. We will work with you to create a plan that aligns with your MSP business's unique needs and requirements, so you can focus on what's important – marketing and growing your MSP business.
Almost all MSPs have never used MDF, but that isn't the case for the MSPs that partner with Ulistic. We teach our clients how to have our marketing services paid for using other people's money. Ulistic knows MSP marketing because we do it every day. We understand the business models of all companies in the space, as well as their desired goals. We know what audiences they are targeting and in what way.
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