MSPmentor

A few months ago, MSPmentor praised several very promising blogs penned by managed service providers, software companies and industry pundits.

Alas, many of those blogs have gone silent. Even worse, they’re still online — allowing everyone to see that they’ve run out of things to say.

I’ll avoid the temptation to list the dead blogs by name. Instead, here are five managed services blogs that continue to move forward with fresh content.

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Not sure how to brand and market your managed service? You can steal a page from Bravura Networks CEO Michael Kaiser. He participates in a rather slick custom video describing the value of managed services in small business. You start to hear the meat of the message about one minute into the video, including interviews with Kaiser and endorsements from two small business customers.

Overall, the video shows how an MSP can effectively brand itself through high-quality custom video.

Evolve IP, a managed service provider in Wayne, Pa., just made my “watch” list. Evolve says it has lined up more than 100 new customers since launching its managed technology services operations  roughly 180 days ago. Read More >

A comprehensive managed services research report just hit my desktop. It’s from Techaisle. I’m not very familiar with Techaisle’s history or research methods. However, the company claims they surveyed 6,827 small businesses to pinpoint managed services spending trends across the globe.

The following blog entry is one of my longest ever, and it’s packed with data that may help MSPs develop their sales, marketing and business strategies for 2009. Take a look. Read More >

Talk about timely, on-point messaging. MasterIT, one of our MSPmentor 100 companies, is hosting a “non-technical” symposium October 30 at the FedEx Institute of Technology in Memphis, Tenn.

The timing and positioning of this event offer five key lessons to rival managed service providers. Here they are:

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Some great thoughts today on SparkplugCEO, one of my favorite small business-oriented blogs. Teresa Morrow’s current entry says:

“For business owners, marketing and promoting your business is something you will (or should do) year round and not only when times are tough.”

Morrow goes on to offer 10 tips for promoting your business. The tips certainly apply to managed service providers.

In part 1, I described how you can line up vendor money to pay for your branding efforts. Here in part 2, I explore a specific case study: In late 2007, Trailhead Technologies Inc. was a managed services provider without a clear brand — and without Web site.

Trailhead turned to local marketing agencies for help, but the agencies didn’t understand Trailhead’s business and the concept of managed services, according to company president Erik Johnson. In December 2007, Trailhead began to find some branding answers during an Ingram Micro Seismic conference in Dallas.

Here’s how the branding story played out, and some key lessons for other MSPs to consider. Read More >

Jeff Auerbach, CEO of EMR Group, sent me an email highlighting a key challenge that’s also an opportunity for managed service providers (MSPs). Auerbach noted an AP story, indicating that 43 percent of large U.S. and European businesses have cut their overall spending on IT products and services for 2008, according to Forrester Research Inc. Here’s the bad news and good news for managed service providers (MSPs). Read More >