Lessons from CrowdStrike outage: 3 huge marketing and customer service opportunities around an IT crisis

But from a marketing point of view, it was also an opportunity. And while that specific opportunity might have gone, you can prepare for the next time an IT incident hits the mainstream news.

You might perceive that marketing is the LAST thing you should be doing during an IT crisis. But I believe it should be right up there at the top of your priority list. 

 Because from a marketing point of view, unexpected change creates opportunity.

 Here are three huge marketing and customer service opportunities you can prepare.

Opportunity 1: Make it simple for your existing clients

I heard a lot of crazy things during the CrowdStrike outage and I’m sure you did too. Business owners switching off Windows updates to “protect themselves” -  that kind of misunderstanding.

Here’s the thing, ordinary people really don’t understand what’s going on when technology goes wrong. They read a little bit of news and a lot of social media and often jump to the wrong conclusions.

So, your first opportunity – really, this is a necessity – is to make sure your existing clients understand what’s going on in the simplest possible way.

You do this even if they are not affected. During CrowdStrike, did any of your clients phone up to say something like, “hey I see on TV all the flights are being cancelled because of Windows and I’m worried we could be next”?

When an IT crisis is big enough to leap out of the Channel and into normal news, that’s when you must reassure every client who is not affected, as well as support those who are. 

This can be by email if you’re super busy… although picking up the phone is always the best option.

The key is to make it simple for them:

• Hey, I’m calling about this IT problem you’re seeing on TV

• Good news, you guys are not affected at all

• I can explain it if you want me to…

• If you have any worries, contact us in the usual way. We’re always happy to put your mind at rest

Opportunity 2: Offer yourself up to your local media

I was a journalist and radio presenter for 13 years before starting my first business in 2005. 

And even though that was a lifetime ago in media terms, I know that whenever there’s a big national story, the local media are always looking for an angle to make it relevant to their audience.

This is a huge opportunity for you.

You can call your local newspapers, radio stations and TV stations, and explain that you are a local technology expert. You’d be happy to give them background information, or interviews to help them create stories.

Some will say no thanks. But, some will say YES PLEASE. Journalists are used to creating content about things they don’t understand, and one of the standard ways to do this is to ask other people to explain it to them. 

I promise you, when you make those phone calls, you are not a pain on the phone. You are offering them a solution to a problem.

Opportunity 3: Educate prospects

This is an opportunity both during the IT crisis and for a few months afterwards. 

When IT is in the news, business owners and managers briefly pull their heads out of the sand and pay attention.  

You can use this moment of attention to have a conversation about their wider technology.

For example, for my MSP Marketing Edge members we created a guide explaining exactly what had happened during the CrowdStrike outage, why it happened, and why having a disaster recovery plan is so important.

I told my members to put it on their website, share it on social media and email it to their database of prospects. The idea was to find the prospects who were concerned that their business could have been affected and just start a conversation with them.

These are just 3 easy ideas, but also very powerful ones. Take a print out of this article, pin it to your office cork board, and the next time you see an IT crisis on the TV, you’ll know how to turn the headache into an opportunity.