The Ultimate Guide to MSP Marketing
What is MSP marketing?
MSP marketing is an umbrella term that is used for all the marketing services that are provided for managed service providers (MSPs). MSP marketing encompasses SEO, PPC, social media marketing, email marketing and more. Typically, a managed service provider works with one marketing agency that provides all of these MSP marketing services for them. This is generally on a monthly basis and the MSP marketing company helps improve their marketing strategy and generates more leads and customers.
What makes MSP marketing different from general marketing agencies is that the services are tailored for managed service providers. To generate quality leads and sales for MSPs, a marketing agency has to use list building software in addition to having a thorough understanding of the managed services market and the type of marketing customers respond to. With MSP marketing, agencies target ideal managed services customers and use both traditional and modern marketing strategies to attract and convert those customers.
Types of MSP marketing
There are several main types of marketing you’ll come across when working with an MSP marketing agency. They include:
Referrals: Referrals are one of the most popular forms of marketing for MSPs. With referrals, people in your network promote your services to their network and this can bring organic business for your MSP. Since referrals are primarily word-of-mouth, they are free and can bring long-term clients to your business. MSP marketing agencies can help improve your referral marketing strategies.
SEO: Search engine optimization (SEO) is another popular marketing method for MSPs. When MSP clients have a question or are looking for a particular MSP service, they usually go directly to search engines like Google. With SEO, you can rank for keywords that are relevant to your business. This can bring organic traffic and leads to your business for years.
PPC: Pay per click (PPC) advertising is another online marketing method for MSPs. With PPC, you can pay per click for the keywords that are relevant to your business. Instead of waiting months or years to rank for a competitive keyword on Google, you can be one of the top results immediately by paying for a click. This is a good marketing strategy to get immediate clicks and visits to your site and this can potentially lead to a customer.
Social media: Social media marketing refers to posting content on channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc. This can be a great marketing strategy if you can find where your idea clients are. You can start posting engaging content and building an organic audience on social media. This can in turn help you get more organic clients for your MSP.
What should you look for in a MSP marketing provider?
Domain expertise: When selecting an agency to work with, it’s important to choose one that is a specialist at a given acquisition channel. It’s easy to get excited about an agency that does a lot of marketing services, but it’s very unlikely that they do all of those services at a high level. For example, working with one SEO-focused MSP marketing agency will likely drive much better results than working with a jack-of-all trades agency.
Track record: Your MSP must work with an agency that is proven. If you are investing thousands of dollars per month in your business’ marketing, you need to work with a partner that has already shown they can produce results for managed service providers. Make sure to ask if they have specific case studies and results they have done for MSPs.
Communication: When working with an MSP marketing partner, you need thorough and easy communication. This is not limited to emails and phone calls, your agency should be providing you with occasional updates on how marketing campaigns are performing. This is often overlooked, but communication will impact
What is the cost of MSP marketing?
Generally, MSP marketing agencies price their services anywhere between a few thousand dollars to upwards of ten thousand dollars per month. This is all relative and depends on the type of agencies you work with. The majority of MSP marketing agencies price their services in the $2,000-$7,000 range. What can impact the cost of MSP marketing services is the type of services provided, the track record of the marketing agency and what results they can generate.
If you’re a managed service provider, the best provider to work with is the one that generates the highest ROI. It may be more costly to hire a higher end MSP marketing agency, but if they can close several new clients for your business, then the cost is worth it.
What is the ROI you can expect from MSP marketing?
The ROI you can expect from MSP marketing will depend mainly on the agency you work with and the type of services provided. It’s best to work with experienced agencies who have generated real results for other managed service providers. When engaging with an MSP marketing agency, ask what results were generated for their clients. This should give you a good estimate of what you can expect in terms of leads, new customers, etc. when working the agency. Additionally, the type of services provided will heavily impact the ROI and how long it will take to generate a return.
For example, if you are working with an SEO agency, it can take several months before you start seeing any real impact in terms of leads to your business. A service like SEO will take months to start generating results, but it will be long term and can bring organic traffic to your website for years. In contrast, a service like pay per click (PPC) advertising can generate quick leads and sales. Since you are paying for ads, you can get immediate clicks to your site and you can optimize your landing pages to get more conversions.