Kam Kaila has earned a built-in audience wherever she goes — including at the 2024 Robin Robins Sales & Marketing Bootcamp.
The president and chief community officer of IT By Design (ITBD has significantly contributed to the company’s growth and branding on a global scale since joining in 2005. ChannelPro’s Jonathan Browning (pictured) caught up with Kaila during the event in Tennessee to talk about her ways that sales and marketing can energize MSP growth.
The Underpinning Philosophy
Whether she’s leading a breakout session or just chatting with MSPs at her booth, Kalia emphasizes the importance of investing in marketing to build a robust brand identity. “Marketing is the most underfunded department in many MSPs,” she noted, yet it is critical for generating leads and enabling sales success.
Kam Kaila
Kaila also stressed the necessity of building a strong brand as the foundation before pushing sales. “If you build a good brand, people will refer you and existing customers will stay,” she shared.
Effective brand building is often said to requires three things:
- An honest assessment of the business’ identity.
- An understanding of what differentiates the organization from the competition.
- A clear, consistent approach to explaining the first two things.
“You need to be intentional about how you share your brand with the world. Your colors, fonts, themes, branding, website — even making sure that even your marketing collateral has the same voice. All of that is important,” Kaila emphasized. “Our customers laugh and say, ‘We can hear your voice in the emails.’ That’s our brand, and something we have worked hard to foster.”
One frequently overlooked opportunity for brand development is customer service. IT By Design bills itself as a master managed services provider, providing outsourced IT talent and services such as help desk. “Developing your workforce is a brand exercise,” Kalia explained. Every team member is a brand ambassador, and no matter how technically savvy an engineer might be, their attitude and behavior contribute to or hinders their employer’s brand.
