1. The document discusses how branding is important for all businesses, regardless of size. It provides 5 tips for small businesses to build their brand: create branding standards, engage in social media marketing, use email marketing, personalize marketing efforts, and leverage SMS marketing. The document emphasizes that branding helps businesses stand out and be remembered by customers and prospects.

1. BRANDING & THE MSP:
BRANDING ISN’T
JUST FOR THE BIG DOGS
www.mspadvantageprogram.com

2. BRANDING & THE MSP:
BRANDING ISN’T
JUST FOR THE BIG DOGS
Branding & The MSP: Branding isn’t just for the big dogs 02
DO YOU THINK OF BRANDING AS
SOMETHING DONE ONLY BY LARGE
CORPORATIONS?
Most people hear “brand,” and
think of Heinz Ketchup, Kraft
Cheese, Coca-Cola, Apple, and
Toyota, but large firms don’t have
a monopoly on branding.
Any business, no matter how
small, has its own brand, even if
it isn’t aware of it. Whether you
are starting a business or growing
one, the one thing that is most
vital for the sustainability of any
business is branding. Your brand
is the image you portray of your
business and yourself. It is the
way others perceive you. This
includes prospects, customers
and even competitors. The good
news is you can decide how you
want to be portrayed.

3. 1.
CREATE BRANDING STANDARDS AND
ENSURE EVERY PIECE OF YOUR
MARKETING COMMUNICATION MATCHES
THEM
This includes all of the physical
and digital brochures, and any
other marketing assets you use
to promote your business. Your
first step is choosing a logo,
color scheme, font type, and a
general graphic “look.” These
become “branding elements” and
should be used consistently in
ANY interaction with a customer
or prospect. After that, build
your brochures, websites, and
all other marketing collaterals in
strict adherence to those brand
standards. Every time a prospect
sees something representing
your firm, including an email or an
invoice, it should remind them of
you.
Color increases
brand recognition by
up to 80%
Source : University of Loyola
DID YOU KNOW ?
YOU CAN BUILD YOUR BRAND!
Everything a managed service
provider does becomes part of
the brand. From how an owner
dresses to meet a client, to the
colors, size, and graphics of a
brochure; all of these choices
telegraph a message about the
firm that gradually becomes
the ”brand.” Even the clarity of
an invoice can shape a small
firm’s image in the mind of the
client. It is all about the way
you market yourself to the
world. Whether you’re sending a
business proposal or an email or
interacting one-to-one, it is your
brand that is being portrayed.
Your brand is your promise of
value and trust.
Our e-guide talks about 5-steps
you can take to develop and
improve your brand image.
Branding & The MSP: Branding isn’t just for the big dogs 03

4. 2.
ENGAGE IN CONSISTENT SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING
Social media marketing refers to
building awareness of your firm
using social networking sites
such as LinkedIn, Facebook,
Twitter and your company blog.
Social media marketing has
specific goals that may differ
from the goal of a website or
a brochure. Websites function
as your digital storefront and
are where people go to browse
your products and services.
Social media, however, should
not be used as an overt selling
tool. Instead, your presence on
these sites should be primarily
informational.
Don‘t just promote yourself!
Use your social media presence
to provide greater knowledge for
the reader on topics related to
your products and services.
Instead of promoting your line
of internet security tools, talk
about what threats exist for
small businesses, particularly
businesses in your target market.
Explain what phishing scams are
and what types of passwords are
the strongest. Be an information
source. This will build your brand
as a knowledgeable vendor, and
drive traffic to your website,
where your products and services
are showcased.
45% of people
surveyed said they
would unfollow a
brand on social
media if their
platform is
dominated by “too
much”selfpromotion.
Source : BuzzStream
DID YOU KNOW ?
Branding & The MSP: Branding isn’t just for the big dogs 04

5. 3.
DON‘T FORGET EMAIL MARKETING
4.
PERSONALIZE YOUR MARKETING
EFFORTS
While it has been eclipsed
somewhat by other digital tools,
email marketing remains an
effective and inexpensive method
to build brand awareness, create
ongoing contact with prospects,
and help keep your firm “top
of mind,” so that whenever a
Personalized sales
communication helps you break
the ice with your prospects
sooner and achieve better results.
Tailor your communication to
match the prospect’s preferences
and sales cycle position and see
them warm up to you sooner.
People respond better if they
feel an email brochure or other
marketing piece is personalized
prospect reaches the point of
needing managed services, they
remember you.
Emails should be very short, to
the point, and generally include a
link to your website, your blog, or
a brochure.
to them. Digital tools are readily
available that allow you to
personalize marketing assets to
use a customer’s name and focus
on products or services that they
have linked to on your website.
Personalization increases the
chances of initiating contact
with a lead, as well as cementing
relationships with present clients.
Email marketing
technology is used
by 82% of B2B and
B2C companies.
Source : Ascend2
DID YOU KNOW ?
Personalized emails
that include the
recipient’sfirst name
in the subject line
have higher open
rates.
Source : Retention Science
DID YOU KNOW ?
Branding & The MSP: Branding isn’t just for the big dogs 05

6. 5.
LEVERAGE THE POWER OF SMS
MARKETING
Yes, texting. Everyone does it, and
you should be using it for your
marketing. Unlike emails, texts are
almost always read immediately
upon receipt. This is a chance to
develop awareness of your brand,
your services, and offer timely
information regarding technology
as well as new services you may
be offering.
An example of timely information
might be a quick text alerting
readers of a new malware or virus
that has been released. This will
heighten their awareness of the
need to look into their own data
security efforts.
The average
response time for a
legitimate email is
about 90 minutes,
compared to 90
seconds for a text
message.
Source : CTIA.org
DID YOU KNOW ?
What are you waiting for? If you have not started
building your brand yet, it’s time you did!
Briefly, these are 5 quick ways
that can help you build your
brand. If you invest the initial
effort outlined in step #1, it
should be easier to then reinforce
brand awareness among clients
and prospects.
Without an ongoing effort, it
becomes difficult to keep new
leads coming into the sales
pipeline, and we all know how
important that is to keeping
revenue goals on track.
Mindmatrix offers Channel & Sales Enablement software for direct and indirect sales
channels. Mindmatrix is the only provider of a Single Unified Platform that combines
PRM software, Direct Sales and Channel Enablement, Channel Marketing Software,
Marketing Automation software and Marketing Asset Management. Mindmatrix takes you
through every step in the sales process from lead to revenue, enabling your salespeople
and channel partners to sell more, faster.
2403 Sidney Street, Suite 150, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
Phone: 412-381-0230, Fax: 412-774-1992
www.mindmatrix.net