4 Reasons ERP VARs and ERP Consultants HATE Marketing
Are you sick and tired of lousy marketing results? Do you feel like you are just sending money down the drain when you invest in marketing activities? Are you tired of wasting time with marketing sessions by the marketing "experts" but have no way to execute all those brilliant ideas?
Marketing is a big struggle for any company. Marketing in the ERP industry...those who want to sell ERP systems...it's pretty tough. :ERP Consultant marketing takes a log time to yeild results. It's a longer sales cycle...it's not for the faint of heart. ERP marketing is not well suitef for a marketing company that doesn't understand the ERP industry or how to speak to your target market. As hard as it is to get a lead you understand the difficulty of finally finding a company that could really use your expertise. So the struggle is...how do you connect with your target audience and establish your credibility to gain new customers?
4 MARKETING CHALLENGES ERP CONSULTANTS and ERP VARs FACE
- NO LEADS FROM VENDORS - Historically, every ERP consultant knows that you can't rely on your vendor / ERP software publisher for leads. If you've been in the ERP business long enough, you know that you can't rely on your vendor for leads. They may or may not send them to you BUT don't count on them to help build your business. The reality is that if your vendor also sells direct, then don't rely on them for leads. The solution is to try to market your own company's expertise. How do you do it?
- NO WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION - You know that more and more ERP software consumers are doing most of their research with the internet. Since Google, Bing and Yahoo are the most popular search engine tools, it's super important to make sure you show up there so prospects can find you. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet when it comes to SEO and finding the best keywords to use. You know need to market your expertise but how. What is the best way to show up on the internet without paying a fortune?
- NO CONSISTENT BLOG STRATEGY - Blogs enable your content to circulate through your company and employees' SOCIAL MEDIA accounts.
- NO KEYWORD STRATEGY - Don't bother blogging if you don't use your blogs to leverage your keyword strategy so people can find your blog.
- NO SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY -
THE SOLUTION
- ASK YOUR VENDOR FOR HELP - Ask your vendor for marketing co-op funds, content, success stories, videos and another marketing resource that you can make your own. Also, ask your vendor about what's working for other successful VARs. Study the top VARs and see what they are doing. Attend ITA, it's worth it to check out what the leaders in the business are doing! Marketing materials from vendors are only useful if they are on your website and you can brand them as your own content. We've seen some vendors try to convince ERP VARs to post content that does nothing for the ERP VAR because it points to the vendors website not the VAR's website.
- MAKE YOUR OWN LEADS - It's not easy to get a qualified ERP software lead and there is no silver bullet. It takes time and a consistent marketing effort to establish and build up your expertise. It takes even more time and effort to allow people to find you who need your expertise.
- PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION - If you are considering a new marketing campaign, work with a marketing team that understands your business. Don't get caught up in the details.
- BLOG, BLOG, BLOG - When you write content on your website, it sits there waiting to be found. A blog circulates through social media. It's like casting a line
- NETWORKING AND REFERRALS - Referrals remain one of the most effective sources of qualified leads. They are best generated when you work to build up your relationships with other providers that are serving the same TARGET CUSTOMER as you. Contact us to learn how to help make it happen.
- DEFINE YOUR TARGET CUSTOMER - Have you identified a particular industry or geographic area you want to focus on? Who exactly within the company are you aiming to connect with: the CEO, CFO, the warehouse manager, the Controller, someone in the warehouse or AR department? Once you clearly define your target audience, you'll be better equipped to tailor your marketing activities and campaigns to effectively resonate with them.
- LEVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA - LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook (not really big in our industry) and YouTube and others helps you build relationships and develop KLOUT by sharing your expertise with others who are interested in your topic, encouraging them to like and share with others.
If you are curious to read about why and how to boost your ERP consulting business with best blogging practices, please feel free to check out additional ERPVAR blogs:
- Attention ERP Consultant: 3 Reasons Why You Must Blog: Part I
- ERP Consultants: 4 Ways Blogs and Social Media Helps Part II
- ERP Consultants: 4 Ways a Blog Strategy Helps Grow: Part III
- 4 Common ERP Consultant Questions: Why Blog? Part IV
- ERP Consultant Blogging: 7 Tips on HOW to Use Keywords: Part V
- 9 ERP Consultant Tips on HOW to Blog Effectively: Part VI
Watch our Top 8 ERPVAR Business Blog Secrets
While we don't claim to have every blogging answer or believe that blogging alone will resolve all your marketing headaches, we understand the frequent curiosity around the question, "WHY blog?" We hope this sparks some inspiration and helps get your creative juices flowing for your next blogging endeavor.
We are happy to discuss with you the WHYs and HOWs of blogging or any other marketing planning you are considering in 2017. Please feel free to contact us. We help ERP consultants and VARs with their marketing challenges.
About ERPVAR
Established in 2012 and headquartered in Orange County, CA, ERPVAR represents the collective expertise of ERP VARs and ERP consultants that represent ERP solutions such as; Acumatica, Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 500, Sage X3, Epicor, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, NetSuite, Intacct, Infor, and QuickBooks Enterprise. We help ISVs / 3rd party developers combined with the expertise of local implementation with ERP consultants. These local ERP consultants provide end users / ERP SMB customers with a thorough needs analysis to determine which ERP software functionality is required to address their unique needs. If a business process assessment is required, the local ERP VAR consultant is enlisted to provide a comprehensive examination with end user company departments to insure the correct ERP software is selected, implemented and the staff is properly trained.
ERPVAR helps SMB businesses find the best ERP consultant. We do this by helping ERP VARs with customized marketing strategies to help with inbound marketing efforts. We are a HubSpot certified partner which is one of the many tools we use to help increase revenue for ERP VARs.
For more information, please visit www.erpvar.com or call 888-253-6705 or info@erpvar.com
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles from freedigitalpohotos.net
