Increasingly, companies are looking to hire MSPs (managed service providers) due to increased IT complexity. They’d rather let the experts handle IT while they focus on their core business. Yet when a small or midsized company (SMB) wants to outsource to IT experts, how do they find your company and then ultimately choose it over one of your competitors? In a word, marketing.
Consider the exponential growth of the managed IT service industry. It’s reported that the “global managed services market size was valued at $239.71B in 2021 and is expected to reach $680.09B by 2023.” Clearly, the industry is growing significantly, and that means more competition as new companies continue to enter the space. To build your business, you must market, market, market—and then market some more. Here’s some marketing advice for MSPs.
It’s all about solving customers’ problems
MSPs are in the business of solving their customers’ IT problems—and of course, turning a profit. Marketing is all about promoting what you can do for the customer; “what’s in it for me,” in essence. As such, all marketing, promotional and sales materials and meetings must speak to the problem/solution equation.
As a side note, today, MSPs are facing considerable challenges in terms of delivery. According to Chris Savio, GoTo Product Marketing Director:
“MSPs are adapting their service offering to deliver superior value-add services to their customers but are also running up against competition for talent and high turnover rate.”
In fact, according to CompTIA’s Trends in Managed Services 2022, MSPs state two primary impediments to adding emerging technologies and other premium services to their line cards: the need for technical training among staff (44% report this) and difficulty hiring people with the necessary skill sets (37%).
Fortunately, there are solutions that can help circumvent these labor challenges. For instance, GoTo Resolve for Managed Service Providers—all-in-one remote IT management software—is a secure IT support platform that lets MSPs remotely monitor and manage customer IT assets to solve problems quickly and easily. There’s no hefty price tag for the MSP or cumbersome training, not to mention outdated interfaces of traditional RMM software. Setup takes minutes. Security is assured with the industry’s first zero-trust, identity-based access control, which protects against malicious actors. Bottom line: the software eliminates barriers to an MSP’s ability to deliver IT solutions to customers—including labor shortages.
Top MSP marketing tactics
So where and how to market your MSP? MSP marketing should include a combination of social and traditional marketing to give you the biggest bank for your marketing dollar. These should include:
- MSP Inbound Marketing – valuable content promoted across various digital channels can generate new leads. Inbound marketing attracts customers who are looking for information. Content in blogs, social media posts, SEO, paid ads, and websites optimized for user experience resonates with these customers.
- MSP Outbound Marketing – this includes traditional marketing and advertising methods, such as TV and radio spots and cold calling, as well as direct mail campaigns. It speaks to a general audience. Although “old school,” don’t neglect these. They still work.
- MSP Email Marketing – sending emails to potential customers using targeted lists can help develop qualified leads. Don’t forget to also send emails to current customers to maintain and solidify your relationship with them. Perhaps share success stories from other customers or spread the news about new services. It’s important to be in front of your current customers and not take them for granted. Also email customers who went elsewhere for managed services.
- Social Media Marketing – B2B industries are now including social media in their marketing strategies as it works incredibly well to move the needle. Consider Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. As LinkedIn is a B2B networking site, it allows you to tap into 875 million members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
- Online Reviews – word of mouth and a positive experience can quickly turn a skeptic into a customer. Be sure to ask happy customers to post reviews for your business on Google and other third-party sites such as the Better Business Bureau.
The above is a sample of marketing tactics that should make it into the marketing strategy of all managed service providers. Rule of thumb—always market, especially if business or the economy is slow. And don’t slow your marketing efforts down if business is good. Keep it up and your sales will skyrocket.
Learn more about GoTo Resolve for Managed Service Providers.
