The Seven Steps to Marketing Success For Your MSP

Marketing your MSP can feel like a daunting task, especially if you are just beginning your MSP marketing journey. If you’re not sure how to get started, our Ultimate Marketing Guide is a great first step.

The Ultimate MSP Marketing Guide

Are you interested in marketing your MSP, but don’t know where to start? As somewhat of a niche industry, IT services aren't understood by most businesses; most businesses don’t know how managed IT can help their organizations, by ensuring that the technology their businesses rely upon remains operational. The advice in this guide will help you better understand how, what and why you should market your MSP.

Why Should You Market Your MSP?

The simple answer to this question is that if you don’t market your MSP, no one will know your business exists. MSP marketing’s goal is to create an awareness of the services your MSP offers and give potential customers a reason to contact you.

MSP Marketing is designed to solve the three main problems all businesses face when trying to generate leads:

• Customer Awareness
• Increase Market Share
• Lead Generation

I Have Tried MSP Marketing Before, But Didn’t Get Sales

We have heard variants of this sentiment, “I have tried social media, I have tried blogging, I have tried PPC…and nothing worked.” One thing to understand is that marketing and sales, while related, aren’t interchangeable. Marketing creates the opportunity to make a sale, but doesn’t guarantee a sale can be made. While the lack of certainty can seem off-putting, one thing that is certain is that if you don’t market your MSP, you won’t have the opportunity to make a sale.

The goal of your MSP marketing should be to create an environment that makes the chances to generate leads more likely. Some steps to take to increase your chances of lead generation include:

1. MSP-Centric Website
First and foremost, your website is your most important marketing tool for your MSP. In fact, all of your marketing efforts should direct potential leads to your website. While making websites is easier than ever, your MSP’s website could be setting itself up for failure if it doesn’t clearly convey what you do, and how you stand out.

That doesn’t mean your website needs to be crafted by overpriced artisans and that every pixel needs to be unique. That doesn’t tend to help the user experience, unless the focus is, well, on user experience. That being said, templates and prebuilt solutions aren’t always going to perform on their own either. We do both—we build custom websites for all businesses, including MSPs, and we also have templated options. What makes the difference is laying out the content, giving users what they want, and making it easy to understand what it is you actually do, to your mostly non-technical audience.

Your website isn’t going to perform on its own, however. Sure, you can pull in some traffic and get a few conversions here and there—that mileage will vary based on your area, your competition, and other factors, such as how people already perceive your MSP.

Your website needs the marketing behind it to be successful, which we’re going to cover next.

Not sure what makes for a good MSP website? Here’s some more information:  It’s Time To Build an MSP-Focused Website

2. MSP-Focused Content
Your content should be used to showcase your expertise, giving customers the confidence to trust you with the technology their businesses depend upon. As such it needs to explain how managed services can help their businesses, and why your organization is the best source to do so. Finally, your overall content, not individual keywords, will generate interest and the attention of Google. Moreover, your SEO’s success is highly reliant on your content, as Google uses the quality of your content as a factor to determine your overall page position.

Suggested Reading: When it Comes to MSP Content, Don’t Hide the Secret Sauce

3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO is the process of optimizing your meta tags, search terms, and content in order to have your website appear on the first page of a search result. SEO focuses on your content as it is the main resource Google uses to generate results, and page position. The goal of SEO is to provide Google with a reason to show your website as the best answer to a searcher’s question. The result of which will place your website on the first page, above your competitors.

Being at the top of search pages is essential because most searchers won’t go past page one when searching for a solution or service for their problems. As such your MSP marketing success depends on your ability to achieve as high a position as possible when people search for managed IT services. 

Suggested Reading: I Don’t Feel SEO is Working for My MSP Marketing

4. Email Marketing
As one of the original digital marketing methods, email marketing still has the ability to generate leads for your MSP, but only if used effectively. Gone are the days of buying mailing lists and randomly sending emails in the hope of reaching someone interested in your services. Not only are there significant legal processes in place to prevent sending unsolicited electronic communications, but most businesses also have robust anti-spam filters to prevent emails from even reaching their team’s inboxes. 

Inbound marketing strategies such as email marketing work best when part of a larger marketing strategy, one designed to funnel qualified leads to your business. Qualified leads are important because they are more likely to respond to your email.

Suggested Reading: MSP Marketing Email Best Practices

5. Social Proof
Social proof is the modern equivalent of word of mouth. Social proof manifests as reviews, testimonials, and likes. Social proof allows potential customers to see what existing customers feel about your business, giving them the confidence to take a chance on your services. Social proof like reviews lets Google know that your business is trustworthy, and has authority, elements which Google uses to determine your page position.

Suggested Reading: 3 Types of Social Proof that MSPs Need on Their Website

6. Social Media
Social media is one of the most effective ways to gain social proof as it is designed to encourage engagement. Social media allows businesses to directly communicate with existing and potential consumers. Social media also allows for real-time interaction between your business and your audience.

Suggested Reading: 5 Reasons Why Your MSP Should be on Social Media

7. Direct Mail (Traditional) Marketing
Don’t ignore this! Everyone assumes that direct mail isn’t worth the effort because digital is so much easier, but traditional marketing can still work when done correctly, and it’s one of the few ways to easily get in front of prospects you don’t have permission to email.

The secret? Provide value.

Offer helpful guides, fliers, and tips along with your marketing materials to show your value. Nobody likes being marketed to, so when you provide value instead, it goes a long way.

Are You Ready to Take Your MSP Marketing to the Ultimate Level?

If you’re struggling to market your MSP because you don’t know how to start or what to do, it’s time to embrace the ultimate resource in managed services marketing. These two services, the Ultimate MSP website and The Ultimate Social Media Rig provide your MSP with a solid foundation that can help get your MSP in front of an audience.

The Ultimate MSP Website

The Ultimate MSP website comes in two offerings, both delivering a fully developed turnkey MSP website. The Ultimate MSP Website provides your business with Prebuilt MSP Services Content. For more established MSPs we offer the Ultimate MSP website built from the ground up, and uniquely designed for your business.

The Ultimate Social Media Rig

Social media remains a key component for engagement. Too many MSPs have bought into the belief that social media, as well as blogging, is only for entertainers. The belief that having an online presence is of no value to MSP marketing can set your MSP up for failure. This is because the best way to engage with potential leads is by meeting them where they are, and that’s online.

On top of that, we can be your marketing agency. We specialize in marketing for MSPs, and can utilize all of the resources, materials, and processes we’ve built over the last decade to get your MSP the results it needs to meet its goals and grow.

Not Sure if MSP Marketing Will Work?

If you’re still on the fence about MSP marketing, we want to speak with you and help you understand the benefits that marketing your MSP brings to your business. Call 888-546-4384 today to schedule a consultation and learn more about MSP marketing.