The Magic of Marketing: Building Trust and Confidence Through Messaging

Given the symbiotic relationship between sales and marketing, it’s curious that there are dealers within the office technology sector that have chosen to outsource their marketing needs. After all, who would better understand the industry, the intricacies of customer verticals, the vagaries of state/regional market buying patterns and the pain points of the modern office buyer than the dealer? Who truly knows your customers more than you?

Still, outsourcing of marketing is very real in 2023 and appears to be trending upward. There are more than a few dealers, however, who would scoff at the very notion. They’ve invested a great deal of money and resources into ensuring that sales and marketing are closely aligned in identifying, cultivating and enticing clients and prospects with the totality of their offerings catalog. Selling is a team sport; you need the table setters to develop the leads for closers to work their magic, and you can’t have one without the other.

In this month’s State of the Industry report on marketing, we’ve canvassed a number of the industry’s heavy hitters to assess their evolution and provide insights into the marketing channels, software, partnerships and senseis they rely upon and emulate to ensure their message is getting in front of the intended targets.

Anatomy of a Strategy

When Karlee Travis first arrived at Impact Networking, the service provider had focused much of its marketing efforts on an outbound strategy, reaching the client masses through sports sponsorships, billboards and ample printed materials for sales reps. Travis, now the chief marketing officer for the Lake Forest, Illinois-based MSP, and her team shifted gears to take a more educational tack to arm clients and prospects with the information they needed, particularly in the early stages of the buying cycle.

Building a body of educational blogs and other forms of content has been essential in constructing a resource center that prospects and clients want to visit. The attack plan is twofold; focusing on education and targeted outreach.

Blogs, ebooks and videos allow reps to nurture clients throughout their journey. This creates a longer sales cycle that reps can leverage to demonstrate their knowledge and support for what clients want to accomplish. By the same token, the content library has been a catalyst for organic site traffic, and blogs—not Impact’s home page—are the number-one traffic driver.

In tandem with the company’s SEO efforts, paid media and email outreach have combined to create an omnichannel campaign strategy. Touchpoint integration also ensures clients and prospects are being diverted to the digital assets.

“If we’re sending an email, we make sure we have a strategy in regards to next steps,” Travis noted. “If we’re using paid media, we need to have them fill out a form or direct them to an ebook. When we were in the early stages about five years ago, our paid media would just lead a prospect to the home page. It’s not as successful; in today’s marketing world, you really have to be targeted.

“Now, if we have a paid media campaign, we’re very strategic. We build a customized landing page for that campaign that has all the content they’re interested in. It also includes a form at the top for them to provide their information, allowing us to enter them into an email nurture campaign.”

Impact Networking has also made significant investments to grow its internal video team, moving toward producing content that answers some of the most common questions clients and prospects may have. One of the inspirations for the MSP’s approach is the book “The Visual Sale: How to Use Video to Explode Sales, Drive Marketing, and Grow Your Business in a Virtual World” by Marcus Sheridan and Tyler Lessard.

Video’s growing influence as a marketing medium underscores the importance of a quality production that speaks to questions and objections. Travis’ team has also modified its video promotion strategy, switching from a stand-alone landing page to incorporating the videos into other relevant landing pages or blogs. This has bolstered an uptick in video views and enhanced its SEO value for the individual pages.

We’ve been doing videos for four years, so it’s not necessarily new. However, we’ve become a bit more refined in how we create the videos, the topics we choose and how we’re marketing them.

– Karlee Travis, Impact Networking

“We’ve been doing videos for four years, so it’s not necessarily new. However, we’ve become a bit more refined in how we create the videos, the topics we choose and how we’re marketing them,” Travis added.

Initial Conversations

Traditional outbound marketing strategies had long propelled Applied Innovation of Grand Rapids, Michigan, namely radio, digital ads, billboards and mailers, among others, aimed primarily at branding. As the inbound revolution, fueled by HubSpot and similar software providers, continued to take form, the marketing team and top executive John Lowery concluded that the greatest value might be found in speaking to clients/prospects much earlier in the buying cycle, according to Alexandria Moran, marketing director.

While sales reps can be an effective tool for that approach, Moran felt an all-hands-on-deck strategic process would yield greater results. It’s an ongoing journey that requires constant refining.

“It’s not just about sending out email with content,” she said. “My team and I have done quite a bit of digging into what the conversations are and the questions and concerns our audiences are having, then generating content around that. We want to be the ones answering those questions, but it’s a heavier lift than most people realize.”

Culture has always been a huge selling point for the dealer, as evidenced by its Applied Chemistry set of core values. Much of the video marketing efforts have centered on it, but it also permeates the company’s blogs and social media efforts. It’s been a hallmark in establishing the dealer’s formidable client list, but Moran and her marketing division sought to leverage new accounts and discern where they are in the buyer’s journey.

The rebrand from Applied Imaging furnished a strong jumping-off point, providing the opportunity to illustrate the company’s wider product and service catalog. Identifying the new contacts and the lines of business they’re in enabled marketing to create nurturing campaigns that can guide clients and address the questions and concerns they have in the earliest stages of the buying cycle.

To be able to cross-sell is the biggest opportunity for us in terms of business growth, and we found that the lack of understanding around everything that we offer was our biggest limitation.

– Alexandria Moran, Applied Innovation

“We were trying to create this thought leadership and content in our different lines of business,” Moran added. “Our customers tend to exist in vacuums within our lines of business, and we found that the communication and messaging weren’t cohesive. We felt it was better to update our brand to reflect who we are, which is much more than a printer/copier company. To be able to cross-sell is the biggest opportunity for us in terms of business growth, and we found that the lack of understanding around everything that we offer was our biggest limitation.”

Inbound Shift

Like many dealers, Datamax Inc. of Little Rock, Arkansas (with offices in Texas), had long been focused on an outbound sales and marketing strategy. The marketing department’s role was to provide resources from collateral, CRM support, customer support and proposal development in supporting sales reps. From a marketing perspective, the dealer wasn’t keen on promoting its value proposition through billboards, radio spots or television ads—it was more about helping salespeople foster confidence with clients and differentiate organizational value add, according to Robert Caldwell, the company’s vice president of marketing.

The shift in approach occurred in 2013, when President Barry Simon decided to have Datamax engage the services of Jayne L. Smith and Smart Advantage around the concept of relevant selling. The belief was that most businesses don’t align operations with their customer priorities internally or externally. The key was to determine the priorities and needs of clients and prospects alike. Instead of focusing on Datamax’s purpose, vision and aspirations for the next three years, it was time to explore the outlook of the client/prospect base instead.

“From developing databases for such intelligence to web presentation to collateral creation, we feel this has been a strong initiative and one that we’ve remained wholly committed to,” Caldwell remarked. “It’s certainly made our company better.”

The inbound journey began in earnest around 2015, when Datamax tapped the vast knowledge font of industry marketing maven Darrell Amy to usher in the movement. It entailed sales rep training, web development and other strategies, and the dealer continues to tweak and enhance its approach today.

“In many ways, our ‘relevant selling’ and inbound strategy complement one another and really drove the advent of our tagline—Relevant Technology, Raving Results,” Caldwell added.

Datamax’s inbound machine continues to be fueled through the efforts of Caldwell and Marketing Communications Manager Jeff Walker, who crank out a schedule of educational pieces through the company’s Datamax Thinking Blog. A Q&A blog called “You Ask, We Answer” was added three years ago, a nod to Marcus Sheridan’s highly popular and influential “They Ask, You Answer.”

In many ways, our ‘relevant selling’ and inbound strategy complement one another and really drove the advent of our tagline—Relevant Technology, Raving Results.

– Robert Caldwell, Datamax

Datamax is also a de facto publishing house for the modern office, having churned out a number of ebooks produced internally. Various titles include “7 Reasons NOT to Outsource Your IT… or so You Think,” “Anatomy of a Productive Medical Workplace: 10 Routine Screenings to Check Your Technology Workflow & Security Wellness,” “10 Factors of a Fanatical Copier Service Experience” and “8 Signs that Say it’s Time to Dial Up a More Cohesive Communications Strategy.”

“The intent with these is prioritizing education and awareness over trying to sell something to readers when they may not yet be in the decision stage, but also to present relevant information in an easily digested manner,” Caldwell explained. “We’d always followed a traditional selling format, which put a lot of pressure on the sales force to build relations and make connections. We’ve been able to grease the axles with our web content and have been consistent and committed to it. It’s important to be a thought leader and provide information when the client is in the discovery phase of the buying cycle. There’s a time for the selling pitch, but that comes later.”

Tweaking Process

Robert Woodhull’s ascension to marketing director of Woodhull LLC in Springboro, Ohio, coincided with the industry’s mass migration toward the inbound marketing strategy. His mother, CEO Susie Woodhull, had been exploring HubSpot as a potential solution to enhancing the firm’s marketing efforts. The more they weighed cost versus value (buoyed by input from dealer friends) and considered the back-end costs, that solution was shelved, and Woodhull decided to pursue a different route.

“We really looked to maximize our social media and redefine our website,” Robert Woodhull noted. “Historically, a lot of dealers’ websites are glorified customer portals, and we needed to convert that aspect to sales. That entailed a lot of web design and cross-platform implementation while making sure our messaging was consistent and driving clients and prospects back to our website.”

In subsequent years, Woodhull has enhanced its programs on the strength of analytics and insights generated from social media and digital marketing (pay per click or digital advertising/search advertising). “Marketing is generally a simple concept: how do I get the most touches with the least amount of money to help reinforce the sales rep?” Woodhull added. “We want our campaigns to touch enough people so that by the time my rep walks in the door, there’s some familiarity.”

Videos have been essential in driving inbound activity. Woodhull prefers them to white papers, although he has an ample supply of those on request. Enhancing sales rep engagement starts with a website that has information at the visitor’s fingertips, according to Woodhull, and by capturing “who we are” in videos, it helps maximize the value of a visitor’s experience on the page. A Susie Woodhull tour video, featured prominently on a number of pages, achieves that end.

“It’s really the platform to share our story,” he said. “It lets our people participate in the narrative of who we are. Posts about people, I find, generate a lot more action than product posts, because our people are the main reason people work with us.”

We want our campaigns to touch enough people so that by the time my rep walks in the door, there’s some familiarity.

– Robert Woodhull, Woodhull LLC

A diversified marketing approach and spend—magazines, billboards, radio or digital web-based advertising—is the key to netting the best results for the dealer. Maximizing community outreach endeavors and various partner programs to help build brand identification within the market will go a long way toward Woodhull’s future success.

Modernizing Approach

Joe Blatchford will be first to admit that Image 2000 is a bit old-school when it comes to marketing outreach. The Valencia, California, dealership had long relied upon telemarketers to help produce quality leads, and its core of sales reps were expected to cold call and canvass their territories. Ideally, Blatchford would rather have his reps spend time in front of warm leads instead of pounding the pavement/phone.

The dealer has relied on third-party lead gen sources such as EDA, and explored another that uses artificial intelligence to assist in helping dealers generate more consistent leads, but has shelved the idea as it seeks out a more suitable platform. Still, Image 2000 has been out-punching its weight class.

“We actually sold more with fewer people last year; that’s a really good thing,” Blatchford noted. “The more productive I can make our closers, the happier they’ll be. Our strategy is to boost the level of leads that we’re able to provide these producers.”

The supply chain shortages made it difficult for Image 2000 to focus marketing efforts on A3 and A4 units. The dealer made a significant push on LinkedIn in 2022, which raised awareness in the business community, and outsourced its campaigns to Evolved Email Marketing, which in tandem have been “somewhat effective,” according to Blatchford.

The more productive I can make our closers, the happier they’ll be. Our strategy is to boost the level of leads that we’re able to provide these producers.

– Joe Blatchford, Image 2000

The goal for 2023 is to produce more measurable results, and for this Blatchford turned to Canadian company MPS Toolbox. Creating more of a presence through SEO and gaining greater insight into where the business is coming from will be the main thrust for the year. Roughly 80-90% of Image 2000’s business has been self-generated through clients/referrals, and the hope is that these added resources will enable the dealer to market more aggressively and consistently, generating more inbound activity.

In the process, Blatchford aims to bolster his company’s sales headcount. “All of this is coming together in one massive marketing piece to see if we can provide leads to our higher-end sales reps and go after additional salespeople from outside of our industry,” he added.

Evolving Methods

The last 10 years have produced some of the most significant changes in the marketing approach for Pulse Technology of Schaumburg, Illinois. CEO Chip Miceli notes the dealer has bolstered its use of social media, particularly LinkedIn and Facebook, with a deeper digital dive for newsletters, videos and blogs.

“We communicate with our customers and prospects through email campaigns, newsletters and an ongoing public relations campaign,” he explained. “Product availability has required that we be more nimble in our messaging. We focus on solutions rather than any one specific product, which is what our approach has been for many years.”

Miceli also feels it’s important to clarify the message, thus information on Pulse’s website is concise and focused on the pain points of customers. Paying constant attention to the website is vital; he sees it as a “living, breathing entity” that’s constantly evolving.

Looking ahead to 2023, Pulse has devised a marketing strategy that will act as an umbrella over social media, videos, blogs and email. Its messaging will run parallel to the website’s strategy, illustrating the dealer’s grasp on the challenges end-users face and the solution roadmap offered. An ongoing public relations campaign further augments the efforts.

Product availability has required that we be more nimble in our messaging. We focus on solutions rather than any one specific product, which is what our approach has been for many years.

– Chip Miceli, Pulse Technology

“The PR campaign helps us showcase our specific knowledge and expertise by contributing thought leadership articles on topics including MPS, IT and furniture design into local and regional business media,” Miceli added.

Come Together

A pet peeve of Keven Ellison is the segregation of sales and marketing as two different departments. The vice president of marketing for Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS) of Las Vegas believes the disciplines should be treated and viewed as a single revenue department. Both have the same goals, and the information flows better within a department—all to the betterment of the dealership. AIS continues to move in this direction, and he feels his fellow office technology comrades would yield better results in doing so.

AIS continues to develop its content marketing strategy. Blogs and videos have been essential in addressing client questions, and having its blog rank on the first page of search results underscores the efforts, netting tens of thousands of page views. The offshoot is fostering more trust with customers and prospects in addition to driving traffic to its website.

AIS is also among the growing list of dealers to incorporate an ecommerce function on its site. The page has yet to reach its potential, but early results have been promising, and Ellison sees it as a gateway of insight into the future of purchasing proclivities by customers.

On the inbound front, the sales and marketing union is an ongoing development. AIS is guiding its sales, help desk and service teams on the value of content and how it can be leveraged to better qualify and educate prospects while building stronger bonds with existing clients.

Increasing and enhancing content development is another priority, according to Ellison. “This will be important as we bring more business technology service offerings to market and become more competitive,” he said. “We’re focusing more on outbound and inbound activities such as email to educate our current customer base on all our offerings while reaching out and prospecting. Sales is a very important part of this function, as we need to work with our sales team for the appropriate workflows and follow-up processes so we can see the return and growth to our business.”

We’re working on all the areas of our business that touch prospects and customers to learn to work together, using our content in order to establish AIS as a thought leader and advisor while building trust in the buying process.

– Keven Ellison, Advanced Imaging Solutions (AIS)

On the social media front, AIS has trained its sales team to further leverage LinkedIn as a source of prospecting and nurturing of leads. “We’re working on all the areas of our business that touch prospects and customers to learn to work together, using our content in order to establish AIS as a thought leader and advisor while building trust in the buying process,” Ellison added.