Marketopia CEO Terry Hedden Named a Top Influencer of the Worldwide VAR Channel

Marketopia CEO Terry Hedden Named a Top Influencer of the Worldwide VAR Channel

Apr 28, 2015

Managed IT services marketing & sales firm leader among Top 50 of Penton Technology Group’s The VAR Guy Channel Influencers List for 2015

Marketopia, a specialized source of innovative and powerful demand generation, marketing and sales solutions and team training for IT service companies, today announced that Chief Executive Officer Terry Hedden has been named among the Top 50 Channel Influencers by Penton Technology Group’s The VAR Guy. The inaugural list recognizes the best and brightest in the solution provider channel, according to Penton, a media provider of the latest news about information technology. It was compiled from a global survey of The VAR Guy site readers conducted earlier this year and industry knowledge shared by the site’s editorial staff.

“Terry is truly honored to be selected as one of the top tech influencers who is dedciated to VAR marketing and the MSP channel,” said Andra Hedden, CMO at Marketopia. “It’s exciting to see The VAR Guy establish a catalog of the IT channel’s most influential leaders and industry game-changers. We congratulate all of this year’s top channel influencers, and we celebrate with them as they each continue to contribute to the IT channel’s growth and prosperity.”

Terry Hedden is recognized for founding one of the largest MSPs in the world, then becoming a professional industry speaker and consultant after recently selling that company. He speaks at more than 50 events each year, reaching thousands of VARs, MSPs and vendors. His presentation topics range from cloud and managed IT services to sales and marketing best practices. He also consults with VARs and MSPs on topics such as cloud computing, managed IT services and entrepreneurship, as well as with vendors, such as AVG, Apple, CompTia, IBM, Synnex, and many more.

This is the first time The VAR Guy has distinguished the men and women who have made an impact on the channel, said Charlene O’Hanlon, Senior Executive Editor/Content Director at The VAR Guy.

Added Marcia Parker, Executive Director at Penton: “This is an extraordinary time for the channel as solution providers and vendors alike adapt their growth strategies for the changing market. There’s a lot to learn from these industry leaders.”
About Marketopia

Marketopia, The Lead Machine, is a firm uniquely positioned with expertise throughout the entire IT channel from software, hardware and cloud vendors to distributors, MSPs and VARs. The company’s system is based on real-world knowledge. Marketopia uses an enterprise-class technology platform, channel marketing experience and deep industry relationships to create a revolutionary approach to outsourced marketing and sales empowerment for IT service companies seeking to grow leads, sales and profit. For more information about Marketopia and its proven demand generation system for managed IT services, visit the company on the web at https://marketopia.com. To learn more now, call 844.482.4769. Also, to get the latest industry news and trends, go to https://marketopia.com/blog; like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MarketopiaMarketing; follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/marketopiatlm; and connect with us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketopia.

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The original release can be found at https://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/04/prweb12679276.htm

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3 Fun Teamwork Drills to Create Collaboration, Inspire Business Success

3 Fun Teamwork Drills to Create Collaboration, Inspire Business Success

Apr 23, 2015

When it comes to your business, your team is one of your most valuable assets. However, it’s important to remember, as the saying goes: “There’s no ‘I’ in team.”

“My model for business is … the total (is) greater than the sum of the parts. … Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.”
~ Steve Jobs
Founder/CEO, Apple

Nothing could be truer. Each employee brings to your business beneficial attributes and complementary skillsets. Each day, that’s how your business effectively runs. But, your employees must work together to drive your company to thrive.

86% of employees and executives site lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures. (Salesforce study)

Now, you can force employees to work together and call it “teamwork.” But, without trustworthy relationships among team members, there are major differences of opinions and over-stepped leadership boundaries. People feel uncomfortable. Then, they’re unable to produce their best work.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”
~ Helen Keller

So, let’s focus your vision on putting your business team on the winning path. Here are 3 fun team-building activities that nurture company spirit and breed excellence:

True Colors Test:

No, it’s not about your favorite color. It’s a great way to get to know each other and get a laugh or two among team members. It encourages participation, improves productivity and puts everyone at ease.

Experts say there are four basic personality types: yellow, red, blue and green. By knowing their personality color and what it means, employees better understand themselves and why they react to certain situations in a certain way. And, when they understand who they are, it allows them to open up to at least try to understand others.

Get the team together and take the test: free-color-personality-test. What’s your color!

Giving Back:

It’s especially meaningful when team building is paired with a corporate social responsibility or philanthropic component that benefits your community or a local charity.

Beyond building bicycles and planting trees, for a fresh perspective, try as a group to make a difference by:

  • Preparing school breakfasts for low-income kids
  • Volunteering at a children’s hospital
  • Lending a hand at a homeless shelter
  • Decorating area libraries with murals
  • Supporting disabled veterans
  • Assisting animal rescue groups
  • Assembling disaster relief kits for the Red Cross

 

Create Your Own Group Activity:

Get your group to design and present a new group activity. A challenging exercise which requires all the elements of teamwork—communication, goal-setting, planning, cooperation, creativity, task orientation, etc.

By adopting one or more of these activities, you’ll be closer to an environment where personal relationships are built, a level of trust is established, and your business stays on the track to success.

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
~ Michael Jordan

Next week, we will report on one of Marketopia’s team-building, morale-boosting efforts. We blast the beach at the 33rd Annual SportsFest, a competitive corporate event for proving company pride. Stay tuned!

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Vendor to Watch: Marketopia

Vendor to Watch: Marketopia

Apr 23, 2015

When there’s no time in your schedule for marketing, there’s Marketopia, a demand-generation and marketing service that does all the work for you.

Some MSPs complain that there’s not enough time in their schedules for marketing. Others make only a cursory effort to pursue opportunities outside of customer referrals. Enter Marketopia, an outsourced marketing partner for MSPs as well as VARs looking to transition to managed services. “That’s our market niche,” says Marketopia CEO Terry Hedden. “They’re managed service providers? We’re managed marketing. We integrate with their CRM, PSA, and RMM tools to do marketing under their logo, on their behalf, to make their phone ring.”

It’s easy to understand why the company has been enrolling one or two new customers a week. “We do email marketing and newsletter marketing, SEO, SCM [search content marketing], direct mail, and we give a seminar and a webinar each month for each customer,” says Hedden.

To ensure clients are prepared for growth, Marketopia offers a library of training materials and other services. “We help them with financials and a business model. We help them with their tools. We help them find salespeople who will be successful. We give them proposal templates, all their contracts. It’s a marketing and sales empowerment solution,” says Hedden, whose system is based on his 12 years’ experience building an award-winning, fast-growth managed services firm.

When asked how his company differs from other sales and marketing firms that cater to the channel, Hedden says, “That’s a very easy question. There are a lot of people who preach something but have never done it themselves. Their advice is theoretical, whereas I built a 50-person MSP with no capital, no nothing.”

But the bottom-line differentiator, say Hedden, is this: “We actually do [the work] for the MSP, and the difference is substantial. It’s a set-it-and-forget-it type model. It only requires two to three hours a month of the MSP’s time to help us help them. The rest is them handling the leads and closing the business.”

Marketopia’s services start at $999 a month. “It’s not hard to cover $1,000 a month when you’re an MSP; it’s one customer,” he says. “That’s one of the reasons it’s worked is that we can pay for ourselves quickly and then start producing a huge ROI on that investment.”
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The original story can be found at https://www.channelpronetwork.com/article/vendor-watch-marketopia

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7 Tip-Top Guidelines for Getting Social with Your Clients

7 Tip-Top Guidelines for Getting Social with Your Clients

Apr 15, 2015

Still not clinking glasses on social media platforms? You should be for your MSP business.

Believe it or not, social media is not for promoting your business. It’s about offering solutions through a popular medium to your clients and prospects. It primarily allows you to connect with them on a personal level.

Many prospects and clients use LinkedIn (39%), Twitter (36%), and Facebook (18%) to share content, according to the 2013 Content Preferences Survey from Demand Gen Report. Many content marketers are using LinkedIn (91%), Twitter (85%), Facebook (81%) and Google+ (55%) for the same purpose, cited the Content Marketing Institute.

Using any combination of these platforms, we give you our top 7 tips to becoming a social media extrovert among a crowd of competitors:

1. Use Various Social Media Platforms: Different platforms attract different audiences. LinkedIn attracts those with a business focus. YouTube attracts those wanting to be entertained or taught how to do something. Using various social outlets allows you to reach a wider range of service users.

2. Post Appropriate Content: Make sure your content is appropriate for each platform. For example, people who are on LinkedIn are there for career opportunities and business-related topics. It’s definitely not the place to share a video about “The World’s Most Epic Marriage Proposal,” unless, of course, you’re a wedding planner or an event promoter.

3. Do It Consistently: Posting frequently provides people with information about your company and creates brand awareness. Try to post at least once a day.

4. Engage Fans & Followers: No one wants to feel ignored. Respond to comments. Even a simple “like” will do. When people take time to respond, they may have questions, suggestions or opinions that can help you better serve your clients.

5. Display Images & Videos: Plain text can be a chore to read. Especially when there’s more than a couple sentences of it. Include pictures and videos. Give visitors a glimpse of what your post is really about. Mix it up with infographics to replace text.

6. Add Personality: People want to know there’s a human beyond the computer screen. Add personality to your post. Keep it interesting. Convey emotions and share thoughts, opinions and ideas.

7. Make It Interactive: Engage by making your posts interactive and entertaining. Post polls. Create contests that will encourage engagement and give fans and followers something to look forward to.

Remember … be relatable, timely and fun. Use those hashtags. Know who—and more importantly, where—your audience is. Avoid the hard sell. Stay on your toes.

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‘About Us’: What’s It Really All About?

‘About Us’: What’s It Really All About?

Apr 8, 2015

It makes no difference what it’s called — “About Us,” “Meet the Team.” Your website “About” page is really important.
It’s more than just a few quick facts and client testimonial. It’s prime real estate. It differentiates your business from the competition. It lets you relate and connect with prospects. It’s a conversion-friendly hub that gives reasons why you should be chosen.

If you’re surprised by this, don’t be. This often overlooked page needs to be a copywriting masterpiece.

 

To start, tell your visitors:

  • How your product or service benefits them.
  • What’s on offer and why they should care.
  • An emotional story to create a connection.
  • What you want them to do next.

 

Also include basic, pertinent information, like:

  • Who you are
  • What your business does
  • How long you’ve been in business
  • Where you’re located
  • Areas/regions you serve
  • Anything else, such as “by appointment only,” a fun fact, company history

 

A mission statement is a great add. It gives insight. It shows you have direction, focus and commitment when it comes to your business.

Creativity is key to delivering all this information. Make it as personable as possible. Connect with prospects. For example, put it in a letter format from the CEO. Use various images for storytelling. Get creative! Your visitors don’t want to read something boring.

Testimonials are also good. However, there’s a right and a wrong way to do this.

Wrong:
“Company XYZ is a great company, we will continue to use them for life!” That statement is useless. Sadly, many businesses use quotes like this on their sites. It tells nothing. It seems like you just made it up.

Right:
“Company XYZ has provided me with excellent service during the past two years. They have always completed tasks on time. They have even gone out of their way to assist me after business hours. It’s great having such a trusting relationship with Company XYZ, and I look forward to using them for years to come.” Now, this is the testimonial to post! It conveys valuable and relevant information.

When it comes down to it, don’t overthink your “About Us” page. Share relevant information that’s creative, appealing and relatable. Then, you’ll have new clients knocking at your door.

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