Cautious but Continued Optimism for MSPs in Channel Futures’ Exclusive Quarterly Survey

…need for marketing to a new savvy buyer and potentially employee is difficult. It feels like the MSP is on a whirlwind ride of opportunity, but those paying attention are setting their sights on skating to where the puck is going. That is where the customers and employees are, and it’s on social media. So the time is now to chuck the fear, apprehension and resistance and run toward the modern customers that are awaiting.”

The Changing Narrative

MacBean emphasizes the overall shift in approach for the marketing spike.

“This all goes back to the fact that the narrative is changing,” he says. “Our go-to-market messaging now needs to correspond to what people care about and how they talk about technology. And so it’s changing our approach. We have to go to market, so the job of the marketing team is to give sales and the clients things to read and things to watch that speak to what they give a damn about. Business outcomes must be driven by empathy rather than feature sets. There’s a change in perspective. It’s the same amount of work, but we have to rethink our approach in the messaging. We have to speak to this new kind of buyer and what they care about now, given the washing machine we’ve all been rolling around in for the last year and a half.”

Continued, but Cautious, Optimism

The digital transformation that the industry underwent has caused growth in a lot of areas. But, as our quarterly survey shows, MSPs are still being cautious and are forecasting cautiously as a result. Many shops are poised to increase strategic spending. However, they will likely pull back on the reins a bit and proceed with caution as the uncertainties regarding the COVID-19 variants play out. Whatever the case it will certainly be interesting to see what our next quarterly survey numbers look like.