Rome Wasn't Built in a Day - Your MSP Marketing Shouldn't Be, Either

Time is often a key ingredient for things to turn out well. The longer cheese ages, the better it is often considered to be, and the longer a 401k has to build and mature, the better off one will be later on. In many ways, an effective MSP marketing campaign works in the same way - it takes time to build up and optimize your efforts before they’ll crystallize into successful conversions.

We’ll discuss a few of the time investments you’ll need to make and processes to undergo for your marketing to be as successful as possible.

Why Good MSP Marketing Takes Time

First, let’s start off with a question: when did you last make a big decision, one that would have significant influence on your business, based on minimal knowledge and input? While risks like these have been reported as successful on occasion, these are isolated cases that hide countless failures that don’t last long enough for their stories to be told. Instinctively, you likely know this, and therefore avoid taking these risks - consciously or not.

Your audience will feel the same way, so it won’t be enough to simply say, “Such-and-such solution or service is the best option for you!” This is the perfect example of something being all sizzle and no steak.

In the business-to-business environment, your audience wants evidence. They’ll want to know that they’re getting value for their money. They want something that is reliably consistent, and consistently reliable. In marketing terms, they need to see the reasons why such-and-such solution or service is the best option for them. They need to see that it worked for others like them, in their position. They need to see it often enough that it is always fresh in their minds when they are considering their quandary. They need to see substantive evidence that yes, such-and-such solution will work for them, supported repeatedly and in a variety of ways, over time.

Your audience wants a perfectly-cooked steak, so to speak, that could stand on its own but happens to be dressed up by the sizzle. If you can deliver both in your marketing, you will be able to build their trust.

Identifying the Right Audience

Of course, you’ll need to know who your audience is made up of as well, if your marketing is to work. After all, you could produce some of the best marketing in the world for your juicy and flavorful steaks, but if you end up targeting vegetarians, it probably isn’t going to work the way you need it to.

This is precisely why you will need to do some market research and identify precisely who it is you should be talking to. Who is it in the business that reacts the most positively to your marketing efforts, and more importantly, who is it that needs to? You could impress three-quarters of people who work in a company… if the decision-maker isn’t one of them, your chances of closing a deal just became that much worse.

This is why we find it crucial to leverage what are called personas. By building these personas, a better understanding of a given decision-maker’s sensibilities, priorities, and preferred communication style becomes possible. This means you can better speak to the audience you should be speaking to, in the way that they are most receptive to, about the things that they care most about. This can go so far as to even change what your content should focus on - one decision-maker may want to see proof of experience, while another may want to see that you are remaining current and up-to-date on important events. Knowing what your ideal audience is looking for will assist you with the next part of this process.

Building a Brand that is Best-Fit

Once you’ve established what your preferred audience is looking for, you can assemble your brand to provide just that. This should be a deep dive into your branding, which means you’ll have to ask yourself some hard-hitting questions:

• What is the motivation behind your brand? Or, in other words, why does it exist?
• What sets your brand apart from your competition? What emotional impact do you have that differentiates you and your company?
• Is there a specific niche that you have particular expertise with that others can’t match?
• What services do you have that you go above and beyond your competition in their delivery?
• What core values do you stand by that make you and your brand something to follow and remain loyal to?

Congratulations! You’re Halfway There!

At this point, you’ve managed to create a brand that will be the basis of your marketing initiatives from here on out. Just as all of your marketing initiatives should direct back to your website, they should also remind your target of your company, and how you have presented yourself.

Now you have to put your brand to good use in your MSP marketing initiatives - but what if it doesn’t work as well as it should? Don’t worry, we aren’t going to abandon you halfway through! Stay tuned for the second part of this blog: Even Rome Had to Be Rebuilt - Your Marketing Might, Too. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to us at 888-546-4384 for any marketing assistance you may need!