As an MSP marketing agency, we have gotten to know managed service providers from around the world. Through the many relationships that we have built over the years, we have noticed some common hardships that these businesses experience on a regular basis in relation to their marketing - some of which we even experienced ourselves in the early years of running our own IT company!
Managed service providers, as well as other B2B vendors and service providers, have a very different market to compete within than they once did. In fact, the competition between different businesses has transformed into hypercompetition—the shifting adoption of various tactics for the express purpose of undermining another business’ advantages. Let’s consider how the right kind of marketing activities can help your MSP to gain an advantage over its competitors.
You’ve been nurturing this lead for months now. You’ve spent a lot of time, effort, and money trying to convince the business decision maker of this company to start doing business with you. But, just as you think they’re about to convert, they disappear. After you do some further research, you find out that another local managed service provider snatched them up.
Marketing is incredibly important for your business’ success, but only if your marketing is reaching your target audience. How do you do this? You need to relate to your clients and potential clients. It’s like when you’re looking for a new sitter for your child, you don’t pick the first person you talk to and your clients aren’t going to just pick you because they see you first. You’re going to interview and talk to the potential sitters and see which seems like the best fit for your child - who likes to go outside and play, who knows CPR and actually gets along with your child. The same thing goes for your clients and potential clients - they want to make sure you value the same things they do and that you care about them.
In the competitive atmosphere that surrounds the world of managed services, it can be hard to get ahead of your competition. Sometimes, it’s not enough to just differentiate yourself through your marketing efforts. To get clients through the door, you have to “wow” them by going the extra mile.
That’s right. If you plan to stay in business for the foreseeable future, you need to be marketing.
If you’re the small business owner that has never knowingly utilized any marketing before, you’re probably saying to yourself, “No, I don’t. We’ve been doing just fine without it so far!”
