5 Ways to Take Your MSP Marketing to the Next Level

A recent survey estimates that there are 107,368 MSPs, solutions providers, integrators, consultants, and systems builders in the United States. With so much competition going after new business--and maybe after business you already have--it’s important to effectively communicate your MSP’s value proposition to both customers and prospects.

September 22, 2016

4 Min Read
5 Ways to Take Your MSP Marketing to the Next Level

MSPs are all too aware of the importance of marketing their businesses. CompTIA’s 5th Annual State of the Channel report estimates there are 107,368 MSPs, solutions providers, integrators, consultants,and systems builders in the United States. With so much competition going after new business–and maybe after business you already have–it’s important to effectively communicate your MSP’s value proposition to both customers and prospects.

The results of most MSPs’ marketing campaigns, however, show significant room for improvement. If you are looking for more effective ways to market your MSP, here are five tips that will help you better identify customer needs, collect leads and increase marketing ROI.

  1. Work With Your Sales Team. Your marketing team and your sales representatives ultimately have the same goal: to increase sales. They need to work together to reach that shared goal. It wouldn’t make sense, for example, for the sales team to work toward a goal of signing five new clients for BDR services, while the marketing team deploys a campaign that attracts prospects interested in network security. Marketing campaigns should align with sales team goals and activities for maximum efficiency.
     

  2. Have a Strategy. When the sales and marketing teams meet, they should develop a coordinated strategy. The strategy can begin by creating a description of what ideal clients would look like for the product or service you are selling, and then identifying the unique value that your firm brings to the table–that is, “Why you win.” Marketing must then determine all the most cost-effective ways to find prospects that meet that ideal description and to communicate your unique selling points to them through activities such as digital marketing, inbound marketing, targeted promotions and participating in industry events. It sounds simple, but these steps keep everyone–from marketing to sales to customers–on the same page and define your position within the marketplace.
     

  3. Monitor, Evaluate and Adjust. Although it’s impossible to understand every way marketing may impact the path to a sale, you can identify relevant metrics and monitor them to gain insight into what works–and what doesn’t–for your specific business. Adjust campaigns to optimize performance based on those metrics, and if something doesn’t provide the results you need, move on to something that does. Always try to focus on return on investment in everything you do.
      

  4. Develop Content That Is Valuable to Prospects. Your idea of interesting content may be a blog post exploring the features of a new product or service, but your prospects may not care or may not think your offering is relevant to them. The information in your blog posts, newsletters and other marketing content should demonstrate that you are aware of prospects’ pain points and have knowledge and solutions that can help them. This is another area where the sales team can help your marketing department. Sales reps speak to prospective clients every day and can share common challenges they’re hearing about. Leverage their insights.
     

  5. Use Marketing Resources From Vendors. Your vendor partners may offer marketing and sales materials that can help you with marketing campaigns and save you the time and resources it would take to develop them on your own. The Intronis Partner Toolkit, for example, provides rebrandable email templates, success stories, data sheets, and guidance for running campaigns, holding events, and more.

To reinforce the goal of helping MSP partners be more successful, Intronis is holding its first MSP Marketing Masters Awards. Every MSP that submits an award application will also be invited to participate in an exclusive marketing workshop that will provide more tips to help get results from your marketing initiatives. The workshop will highlight some of your peers’ best-performing campaigns as examples of what your MSP can aspire to.

Entrants will also have the chance to win prizes, including marketing services such as graphic design, social media guidance, professionally written content, and “Ask the Expert” consultations on marketing and PR.

Entries will be accepted until Sept. 30. For more information, visit the MSP Marketing Masters Awards page.

Richard Delahaye is Senior Director of Marketing for Intronis MSP Solutions by Barracuda, where he manages the company’s global marketing strategy. Richard has 15 years of experience in high-tech B2B marketing with a track record of spearheading innovative campaigns.

Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of MSPmentor’s annual platinum sponsorship.

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