The Client Brief
RM PLC has been working exclusively in the education sector for over 50 years. From flexible IT support and strategy, broadband and online safety; to cloud-based MIS, they are a trusted technology partner to thousands of schools and trusts. As part of the strategy to improve profitability, a decision was made in 2023 to create and launch a new range of managed IT services specifically for the education market. As a Fractional CMO I was given end-to-end responsibility for defining the go-to-market launch strategy for this new services portfolio.
My Ten-Point Approach
- Kicked-off with a series of workshops with the product team and sales to scope out the requirements and strategy
- Thoroughly researched the target personas and their pain points (education was a new market for me)
- Mapped these pain points onto solutions within the services portfolio
- Constructed a holistic family offering from existing point solutions and gave the new portfolio a name and identity
- Wrote a compelling story narrative with a value proposition that resonates with the target audience
- Created the sales enable tools – presentations, battle cards, playbooks, and training material
- Prepared for eternal launch- creating new website pages, brochures, data sheets (x12!) etc… all with a fresh look and feel
- Communications – Amplify the reach with a press release and organic social media across all channels
- Encouraged the employees to engage as ambassadors and share the launch content
- Measured engagement, downloads, leads and reported back to stakeholders on success rates
I was aware of Alan’s reputation from working with him at NTT, so he was my first choice for taking our new managed services portfolio to market.
He’s the type of experienced marketing contractor that you can point at a challenge and trust that he will get it done to very high standards.
I’ve worked directly with Alan over the last five months on this new services launch. We accelerated the product relase significantly and expanded the scope of delivery thanks to Alan. He is a pleasure to work with, has a fantastic depth of experience along with the drive to make things happen. I would definitely recommend him if you’re planning any marketing / go-to-market activity.
The Impact
The new NX-Generation managed services portfolio was successfully launched in January 2024 with a press release and social media outreach program. Following the sales training, profitable managed services deals are already starting to come in.
The website (design, copy and SEO by Lucifer) can be found here:
https://www.rm.com/services
A closing word from the main stakeholder, Jason…
“Against very ambitious deadlines Alan delivered above expectations with a range of digital marketing assets that I am confident will drive our profitable services business into the future. He also left us with a number of processes and marketing templates that will serve us long after his project ends.
A small sample of the many datasheets produced for the product launch. I left the template with the client to enable the marketing team to create new product brochures in a matching format in the future.
