As many know, I started helping steer the ship here at DigeTekS (DTS) at the beginning of the year. However, having DTS in my Producers Club group for the past few years, I was already very in tune with the company and hit the ground running. We were in the valley of death, as they say, and needed to forge forward so we didn’t get caught there. We ended 2022 with $2.7M and set a somewhat “cautious” goal of growing by $500K (18%) topline while maintaining a 20% net. We knew our focus this year was not necessarily extreme growth of our revenue, but rather focusing on improving (oftentimes FIXING) our procedures and processes, as many businesses uncover various “problems” through this stage of growth.
First up, focus on our strength, which is/was becoming the ultimate IT trusted advisor to our clients…ergo, improve our Technology Business Review (TBR) process. We’d held consistent TBRs with our clients for a few years, but in Q1 of 2023, with a targeted focus (following the TMT Q1 theme), we put heavy concentration on improving what we had in place.
We set out to become THE TRUSTED IT ADVISOR for our clients and really dialed in to help THEM grow their business. We were wildly successful in our strategy, which was simply to help them succeed. We created a badass specialization statement that we tailor toward the industry we’re working with, and we continue to drill it in during everyday conversation. Our specialization statement is “We are a local, security-focused IT firm that SPECIALIZES in helping [niche; e.g., hospitals, financial institutions, government entities, etc.] meet regulatory compliance requirements, mitigate risk, create stability and foster growth.
Additionally, as we’ve been taught time and time again, we never sell a client less than what they need, but we really leaned on that principle and created IT road maps to move our clients in the right direction. We do NOT sit down in a TBR and talk about open tickets and billing changes. Instead, we focus on clients’ growth, opportunities, design strategies and budgets to help them achieve their goals. In fact, four of our now largest clients have grown significantly this year by leaning on us for their planning and execution.
Next, we fixed our marketing! We identified that we had to fix/improve our oil wells, our message and brand, reports/collateral, presentations and swag, lead gen and capture – all of it really. When DTS first joined TMT, there wasn’t a dedicated marketing person doing the work, which left it effectively piecemealed together. We had bits and pieces done here and there, but the message wasn’t consistent, and because the person doing the work didn’t have full buy-in from the owners, several things had fallen flat. NOTE: Owner buy-in is crucial. You cannot follow the recipe if at every turn you’re told to remove an ingredient or swap for an off-brand, cheaper component, creating a recipe that tastes like shit. In fact, I would argue that without owner buy-in, you’ll just waste money, thereby increasing the odds of the owner(s) NOT buying in.
What were we failing at? Let me count the ways… We were not making follow-up phone calls correctly, if at all, and several attempts at direct mail marketing had failed (possibly because lists were incomplete and unscrubbed over the last year). We had maybe two testimonials, and they were not rewritten to show us in the best light; our website was mediocre (at best); and our digital marketing presence was severely lacking. Oh…and we weren’t answering our phones live. In summary, our “marketing team” was not a team at all – it was one person who was doing multiple other things, and a few part-time “helpers” who weren’t dedicated to execution on the marketing plan. So, we set out to fix it.
We reached out to our clients to get testimonials and put together a beautiful book AND put a plan in place for ongoing, continuous outreach for more. In fact, we just launched another testimonial campaign in mid-January. We hired two sales development representatives, have our direct mail marketing going out and we’ve been successful in our outreach efforts, getting people to sign up for our half-day tech event in the fall and for Threat Assessments (four). While I realize four isn’t that big a number, it is when the list was roughly 100 prospects called. We purchased new lists (now scrubbed) in four different geographical areas we are targeting and are currently prepped to launch a new campaign – a version of Duck in a Box.
We also completed a website makeover, complete with working links, pop-up ads for opt-ins (that change depending on what’s going on in the business), and significantly better verbiage about who we are and what we do, plus testimonials. And finally, we have consistent digital marketing posts going out at least five times per week, including a few “likes” campaigns we’ve run, and retargeting setup, which is in process. Overall, I feel significantly better than I did about our marketing oil wells when I first came on board, and to further develop and refine our process, our marketing team and I are attending Rapid Implementation Workshop (RIW) 66 in late January to fix any gaps that still exist. This is “kinda like” (Kim Walsh Phillips reference) how we sell Threat Assessments – we do the assessment; then, after identifying and remediating problems, we do it again. We went to RIW a few years ago and have since identified problems and have remediated them. Now we’re going again.
Finally, we had to put the right people in the right seats (to include no seat) and get our efforts in front of the right audience! We hired a marketing admin, strictly focused on building our marketing department and creating a digital presence. We swapped accountants, letting go of someone who helped in their spare time and replacing them with someone strictly focused on our books, and we hired a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) to step in on the organizational structure of the payroll and benefits side of the house, bringing consistency to the team. We now hold weekly sales and marketing meetings that are structured and productive, ensuring we’re all on the same page and moving in the same direction, including ongoing training sessions.
Beginning late Q2, we put a heavy focus on getting in front of prospects. We joined two different Chambers in areas we were geographically wanting to grow in and have partnered with both to complete a lunch-and-learn series over the course of the year. We are utilizing their newsletter and Facebook pages to launch monthly ads offering things like two free hours of support, dark web scans, free reports and even free Threat Assessments. We also partnered with three different JVs, one of which brought us a client we’ve since closed, and we have proposals out to two more. With one of our JV partnerships, we’re holding quarterly webinars. Social media posting with video content is our next objective to master, with retargeting and ads on the timeline to implement.
We’re on a great track for continued growth and another successful year, and we’re hoping to add another million in revenue to essentially leapfrog us to the other side of the “valley.”
Consistent Marketing Strategies Implemented Since Joining TMT In 2019 (and further developed and improved upon last year):
Consistent TBRs With All Managed Services Clients
We are training another account manager, to help cut back on our involvement. That person will be taking over smaller accounts, while Shane, our CEO, or I will continue with our largest clients.
In 2023, we had a goal of $700K in project work, which was a quarterly KPI of $175K. We met that goal and exceeded it by quite a bit.
We also have TBRs with clients that are NOT on our fully managed services plan, which has paid dividends in that three clients upgraded this year, totaling $4,350 in MRR and $165,300 over the life of the contracts.
Continuous Referral Program
We ask for referrals in TBRs; we also use Keap to blast out e-mails asking for referrals. Growing through referrals continues to be the most effective growth path since the implementation of the TMT program.
Currently prepping a “We LOVE our clients and want more just like YOU” campaign to launch in February. This will be followed up with by our SDR, mentioned in February TBRs, and will have an e-mail sequence. This campaign will be sent to existing clients.
Planned “Beat the Heat” referral campaign in Q3, which will run as a direct mail campaign with Aspirin follow-up sequence (phone calls, e-mails, LinkedIn message).
Direct Mail For NEW Clients
We are prepping a direct mail campaign launch for February that runs through the end of March, quite similar to the Bad Date campaign: “Is Your Current IT Provider Mr. Right Or Just Mr. Right Now?” We are offering two free hours of support
to prove we’re not like the other guys. This will be followed up by our SDR with phone calls, an e-mail sequence, and LinkedIn connection requests. As a side note, we essentially run all campaign sequences like the Aspirin campaign, as that is what our SDR was trained on.
“Robinized” Website (Improved)
We have focused content, great testimonials, a pop-up opt-in, geographical listings and fabulous “Meet the Team” and “Locations” pages. We added our “As Seen On” header and our awards footer to build celebrity status, authority, and trust among our audience. These can be viewed at www.DigeTekS.com. We are adding geotracking and redirects for our geographical locations this year since our expansion to three additional states.
Shock-And-Awe Materials
We currently have a Shock-And-Awe folder that’s sent out that contains literature about our company, branded pens, a branded notepad, company swag, and our testimonial book. Our new printed box is being designed and ordered.
Monthly Newsletters To Prospects And Clients (Done-For-You)
We have 1,717 combined prospects and clients receiving our monthly newsletter, and after we’re finished scrubbing our newest geographical location (VA), we’ll be adding another 500ish.
Monthly TechTip Postcards To Prospects
We have 1,602 prospects receiving monthly TechTip postcards. And again, after we’re finished scrubbing a new geographical location, we’ll be adding another 500ish.
Weekly Security Tips Using Keap
We have roughly 260 contacts receiving Cyber Security Weekly Tips. Our clients tell us all the time that they love receiving these and even use the tips in their company meetings.
Expanded Territories – End Of 2022 And Throughout 2023
North Texas, Hawaii, Virginia, Wyoming
List building and scrubbing in: Plano, McKinney, Sherman and other North Texas cities. (Now with on-site technician.) Gillette and Sheridan in Wyoming. (Now with on-site technicians.) “The Big Island” in Hawaii. (Now with on-site technician.) Lynchburg, VA, and surrounding cities. (Hiring for on-site technician.)
Facebook And LinkedIn Social Media Marketing
We have had several interactive posts inviting people to like our page and share. We celebrated different national days, giving away free coffee, cookies, pie, etc. We went from 14 page clicks over the course of a year in 2022 to 2,475 page clicks in 2023, while adding 188 new fans, which was a jump over the previous year of seven new fans.
Quarterly 9-Word E-mails
We have closed additional project revenue from 9-Word E-mails, although not any clients yet. And we will continue to send them.
Joint Ventures
We teamed up with two of our larger banks this year to reach their clientele. We held four different lunch-and-learns, sponsored in part by the Chambers we joined as well.
Insurance JV – We partnered with an insurance agency that sent us one client and one prospect at this time. The one client was $3,925 in MRR and $57,500 over the life of the contract. While not closed yet, the prospect that we are front-runners to win is a 100-seat medical facility, roughly $20,000 in MRR and an additional $20K in project work in the first year. Final interviews are slated for mid- February after their board meeting.
Webinars And In-Person Events
We did a cyber-liability insurance webinar with our insurance JV in October and have quarterly webinars planned for 2024.
We held two different in-person sessions for cyber security training. One was at a restaurant, partnered with a local business group that meets monthly. The other was at a school, for their teachers and employees.
Small Business Tech Day
This consumed quite a bit of time, starting in early summer. We did heavy marketing (direct invites, e-mail blasts, social media, printed flyers at in-person events, etc.), a press release and reached out to our JV partners, Chambers and news crews to pick the story up. We had 28 unique people register, and between 20 and 25 in the room throughout the sessions, less DTS and the TMT team. We also had our SDRs calling for Small Business Tech Week and had another eight people register.
In Summary
The growth and success we had this year was from improving and/or fixing everything we were already doing, because this entire program is NOT implemented once and left alone. Recently I was asked by a new Accelerators member, “Why? Why do you keep coming to these things (TMT events) if your business is successful?” And the answer was very simple, and also sums up my answer to “Why would I make a good spokesperson for Technology Marketing Toolkit?”
My answer to both is this: I am forever a student and will continue to learn from this community, from my peers, from other MSPs on different paths and trajectories, from the Experts in Residence, the entire TMT team and the brilliant speakers. As the old adage goes, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.”
