Are you a managed service provider (MSP) looking to amplify your marketing? In such a saturated market, it can be difficult to stand out, which is why developing a robust, strategic, comprehensive marketing plan is all the more important. The difficulty, however, is knowing where to start. As an MSP, you’re experts in providing IT support and services to your clients, but you may not be well versed in digital marketing.
At Marketopia, we are a global MSP marketing agency. We’ve spent years working in the IT channel and understand your services in a way no other agency or consultancy can. We’re also specialists in marketing and innovative lead generation solutions that get results, meaning we know how to leverage marketing services to your unique advantage.
If you’re in need of a marketing plan for your MSP but don’t know where to start, we’re here to help. Below, we explain the basics of MSP digital marketing and how we can provide you with the support you need to excel online.
What Is MSP Marketing?
MSP marketing is marketing specifically geared for MSPs. Marketing techniques heavily depend on the type of industry you’re in, and for MSPs, being in the digital sphere means the stakes are higher in terms of digital marketing. Your clients will be expecting top-tier marketing across online platforms, but if you don’t have your own internal marketing team, it can be hard to know where to start.
Why You Need an MSP Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is integral to your marketing success. It’s not enough just to post the occasional blog and make a few social media posts a month. Your clients and prospects will be expecting to find a wealth of information across your digital platforms, which is why you need to be strategic about your marketing efforts.
At Marketopia, we are experts in developing MSP marketing plans based on data, expertise and best practices. We create annual MSP marketing plans that drive results for your business, and we do that by building a solid foundation using the following techniques.
Creating an MSP Marketing Strategy – Techniques and Tactics
If you don’t have an internal marketing team, it’s a good idea to outsource your needs to an MSP marketing company, like Marketopia. That being said, we believe in empowering MSPs with knowledge, which is why we’re more than happy to dive into the basics of MSP digital marketing. If you’re interested in starting your marketing journey, or if you’re curious about how we determine which MSP marketing solutions will work best for your business, keep reading.
Outline Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
The first step in marketing for MSP organizations, and indeed any other business, is determining your KPIs. This will greatly influence marketing budgets and where you allocate your resources. For example, if you’re looking to raise your brand awareness, you will want to focus primarily on SEO and ensuring your business profile is readily available across the web, including on social media.
On the other hand, if your main KPI is quick sales for rapid revenue growth, you’ll want to allocate a good amount of spend and effort on digital ads and sponsorships, be it through pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google, or social media advertising.
Before creating a marketing strategy for MSPs, KPIs, goals and other objectives must be agreed upon from the top down. Changing the goal posts midway through a campaign isn’t ideal and can be detrimental, so it’s best to establish these things first.
Align Your Sales and Marketing Strategies
The next thing you need to do is make sure your sales and marketing strategies are aligned. Marketing and sales go hand in hand, so it’s important your strategies match. Your sales team needs to know what Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) to expect and how to approach the leads that come through the funnel, and your marketing strategies need to be built to support sales teams in achieving their goals.
At Marketopia, we provide sales enablement that aligns with your marketing campaigns, helping to keep your MSP on track on all fronts.
Define Your Audience and Know Where They Are
The next step in developing a marketing plan for your MSP is knowing your audience. You likely already know your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), but you need to go one step further to understand where your audience is and what types of marketing they will respond to.
As an MSP, content marketing will be one of the most valuable weapons in your arsenal due to the nature of your services and how your ICPs make their way through your sales funnel. In contrast, influencer marketing may not be quite as effective for you as it would be for ecommerce businesses, based on your products and audience. People don’t tend to buy IT services based on an Instagram ad (although this may be good for building brand awareness), but they will likely intensify their intent based on researching blogs, whitepapers and eBooks.
The key to MSP marketing, and indeed any type of marketing, is meeting your audience where they are.
Choose Your Marketing Channels
When you know your audience, you can begin to narrow down your marketing channels. This will involve looking at social media and deciding which platforms to build your presence on, as well as looking into types of paid ad content and your overall website.
As one of the leading MSP marketing companies, we have a diverse team well versed in every marketing channel, including traditional (non-digital), so whatever channels you choose, Marketopia has the means to help you.
Build Brand Awareness
Whether your KPI is to develop brand awareness specifically or if it’s something else, your marketing strategy will need to include this in some form. As a base point, it’s a good idea to get your team to interact with your content and try to drive traffic to your profiles. From including social media links in email signatures and reposting social posts to sending clients useful content and attending in-person events, every little bit helps.
Remember to be consistent here – it’s a continuous, sustained effort. If you don’t have the capacity to undertake this along with your commitment to delivering for your clients, speak to us and let us take the reins for you.
Create an SEO Strategy
SEO is the basis of most marketing strategies and will be an invaluable tactic for MSPs across the board. SEO is how you get discovered on search engines like Google, and it’s how you begin to set yourself apart from your competitors.
That being said, SEO is a full-time job. It requires in-depth, technical knowledge and this knowledge is always changing due to search engines updating their algorithms multiple times a year. When algorithms change, specifically when Google conducts its annual/twice-yearly core algorithm updates, your website can fly up the search engine results pages (SERPs), maintain its positions or tank.
Unless you know what has changed and how to fix it (typically from a technical perspective), it can be hard to know how to keep your SEO standing healthy and in the black.
At Marketopia, our team are experts in SEO. We delve deep into the details of technical SEO, consistently monitor search engines and stay informed about their updates. We incorporate this knowledge into our marketing strategies to proactively safeguard you from potential penalties resulting from algorithm changes.
Develop Engaging Content Across Platforms
Following on from all of the above, it’s time to create content for all your chosen platforms. This is highly specialized. MSP email marketing that is aiming to get conversions will be very different to social media content, and this will be different to blog content, which will – in turn – be different from landing page content.
An in-house marketing team could create your content, but for optimal results, outsource to an MSP digital marketing agency with a broad team of specialists. At Marketopia, our team is skilled across all marketing platforms. We have teams who live and breathe social media, email campaigns, website content, video production and more.
We know what works and for what platforms, allowing you to trust us with all your content production and distribution.
Analyze Your Marketing Strategy Regularly
When you’ve developed your marketing plan, you need to make sure you analyze it regularly and interpret the data to amend your strategy. Certain types of marketing, specifically SEO, take a while to develop results. Other types of marketing, like paid ads, need vigilant monitoring to ensure maximum results from the allocated spend. This, again, is a job in itself, which is why it may be in your best interest to outsource your marketing automation, plans and management to an agency like Marketopia.
Need Help with Your MSP Marketing Strategy?
Marketing is the backbone of every business. Without it, you will struggle to develop leads and grow beyond your word-of-mouth local community. With such high stakes, it’s crucial that you give your marketing the due care and attention it deserves. If you need help with your MSP marketing plan, don’t hesitate to speak to us to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation.
Discover MSP Marketing Services from Marketopia
For more information on our range of MSP marketing services, please contact us. Alternatively, check out our blog for a wealth of MSP-specific marketing resources.
