MSP Marketing: Don’t Slow Down Your Marketing in Summer

Instead of slowing down your efforts to market your MSP during the summer slowdown, there is a case for continuing to promote your services and keep your MSP top of mind. Here are some ways summer marketing can benefit your business and generate leads.

Play into Pain Points that Businesses Face During the Summer

The most effective way to connect with potential customers (and Google) is to create content that addresses your target audience's concerns. The summer months provide a unique opportunity to get your MSP services in front of potential leads. During this time, what issues could be top of mind for businesses? One issue many companies face is the temporary “brain drain” that occurs when their techs and other support staff become unavailable due to summer vacation.

If a company's tech support is out of the office for a week or two, what's their plan if something goes wrong? Remember Murphy's Law, which practically guarantees something will go wrong while their IT department is unavailable. While many businesses will power through and hope the situation doesn't get too bad, that is a recipe for disaster.

Your marketing goal is to educate them on how MSP services can help them during the summer. Co-managed IT, for example, is well-suited to provide support when their team is unavailable. This is an opportunity to take advantage of Google's helpful content update, a recent update of Google's latest algorithm, which rewards websites that provide valuable information by increasing their page rank. 

When thinking about what type of content you should provide, it is helpful to create a buyer persona, helping you better understand what problems your customers are facing. Once you have your persons, consider what services you would value to support your business when your team is out of the office during their vacations. We mentioned Co-managed IT, but what about remote monitoring and maintenance or a help desk?

Lastly, leverage the flexibility in businesses' schedules during the summer. One of the biggest deliverables offered by MSPs is a complimentary audit (IT, network, or cybersecurity), and one of the pushbacks many MSPs receive is that "now isn't a good time." However, many businesses may now have the space to accommodate you during the summer slowdown, but only if you ask them. This is why marketing is essential; if you don't reach out to them, they aren't aware that you can help them.

Prepare for the Fall Surge

Even if you are generating few leads during the summer, you can begin to plant the seeds to grow your business and generate leads for the fall and beyond. One way to do this is by announcing any new products or services you introduce. While it may seem counterintuitive to introduce a new product when fewer people are paying attention, this tactic can provide long-term benefits. 

First, instead of trying to break through the noise of the busy business season, you can take advantage of the summer season's breathing room. There are fewer competitors during this time, allowing you to have the marketing space to yourself. Additionally, marketing depends on repetition; by promoting your MSP multiple times during the summer, you are better positioned to be top of mind when the business begins to spin up again in the fall.

When we speak about marketing your MSP, we mean marketing your MSP, which means more than just having an MSP website. If you feel your MSP website is all you need, you aren't marketing your MSP and are not alone. For example, when it comes to announcing something new, most MSPs either don't do anything or add a generic page to the news section of their website, where to be honest, no one will ever see it. Marketing your services aims to get your MSP in front of an audience.

This means anything that is of interest to your business needs to be promoted so it can gain the attention it deserves. So while it may seem that there's no point in promoting something few people may see during the summer, you have to remember the rule of seven. Simply put, it takes a person multiple times viewing your services before they even notice it, let alone act upon it.

Marketing is a Year-Round Endeavor

Whether it's the winter holidays or summer break, marketing is a year-round endeavor. If you're like many MSPs, marketing your services is often treated as an afterthought or a necessary evil. Instead of treating your marketing as a burden, you should treat it as an investment in growing your business. You need to market your business to enter the consciousness of potential customers. The brutal truth is that no one will know your business exists without marketing.

If you're struggling to find quality leads, you're not alone. Instead of doing the same thing your competitors are doing or repeating the same tactics you have been doing, it may be time for a change. The change in the business environment during the summer is an excellent opportunity to try something new and shake things up.

As the premiere marketing agency for MSPs, we are familiar with managed service providers' challenges when trying to get their businesses in front of an audience and generate leads. We offer various services, increasing your chance for success by increasing your points of contact. These services include MSP marketing plans, lead lists, and Meet the Company Campaigns, Meet the Company Campaigns, designed to get you the leads your business needs to grow. Call 888-546-4384 today to schedule an appointment.