Episode Summary
Crystal always had a passion for marketing and knew that’s where she wanted her career to take her.
After working at Hewlett Packard and starting two of her own companies, Crystal helped conceptualize The 20 — a marketing agency for managed service providers (MSPs) that helps with lead gen, sales and scaling their businesses. The name is derived from the 80/20 rule, “as our intention is to dominate the top 20% of the IT industry,” Crystal says.
On this episode of Tech Qualified, Crystal dives into how she approaches lead gen for a service that requires customers to make major changes within their business and how she cultivates thought leadership at The 20. She also shares what her most successful marketing campaigns are and what it takes to be a successful B2B tech marketer.
Guest Profile
- Name: Crystal McFerran
- What she does: As the CMO at The 20 — a marketing agency for managed service providers (MSPs) — Crystal does everything marketing: from conceptualizing the vision of The 20 to developing and executing brand strategy to bring in qualified leads.
- Company: The 20
- Noteworthy: Crystal is part of the Forbes Communication Council, an invitation-only organization where senior-level communications and PR executives discuss pressing business challenges and new insights through private articles on Forbes.
Key Insights
- Create a marketing plan that resonates with your ideal customer. Seems easier said than done, right? Take Crystal's advice: "You have to step back and think about … What are their pain points? What's keeping them up at night? Where are they going for information?" Integrate the answers to those questions into your marketing strategy for a successful campaign.
- Partner with vendors to build an authoritative brand. The 20 partners with vendors to put on events together, host events for its vendors, and participate in its vendors’ events. Crystal and the CEO of The 20 speak at industry events and join in on podcasts (like this one!). All of these events help build The 20 as a thought leader in the industry.
- Don't be afraid to delegate. Crystal came into The 20 and inherited a new team. At first, she was hesitant to delegate and step away from the execution side of things, but eventually, she learned she would be much more successful if she trusted her team. "I think being able to trust your team and just step back and delegate [will help] you to go so much further," Crystal says.
Episode Highlights
- Create a service that helps customers overcome their challenges
- Marketing is not one-size-fits-all
- Using data-driven insights to find new opportunities
- Make marketing your wing man for sales
- Social proof, specifically video testimonials, as the most effective content