4 Tips to Improve Your MSP's Inbound Marketing

Marketing can be one of the biggest hurdles for any MSP’s growth.

Depending on the size of your MSP, you likely do not have a dedicated marketing team - for many smaller MSPs, the owner creates some light marketing campaigns, if anything at all, but nobody’s full-time role is developing marketing strategies.

While creating marketing material can seem daunting for those less familiar, the ROI for a focused campaign cannot be underestimated. And even just a few tweaks to your outreach strategy can exponentially increase your sales in a short time.

At Print Partner, we are committed to supporting our MSP partners in their endeavors. After working with hundreds of MSPs nationwide and collaborating with them on marketing collateral, we recognize good IT-world marketing when we see it!

This article will delve into some simple but effective ways to boost your MSP’s marketing strategies.

1. Redefine Your MSP Target Audience

Any self-respecting business has a target audience they appeal to.

Some MSPs may focus on supporting a specific industry. Does your MSP focus on supporting hospitals? Law firms? Real estate? Etc.

Other MSPs may focus on a specific size of business. Does your MSP support small, local businesses, or do you specialize in large, multi-state firms?

But while you probably have some concept of a target market in mind, when was the last time you took an honest look at your client base and evaluated who is actually generating the most value for your business?

As time passes and industries evolve, so do MSPs. And often, your target market can change over time..

Maybe schools were your biggest clients when your MSP was founded, but over time, hospitals became your most valuable clients after a few years in business.

If your target market has shifted, lean your outreach strategy into your findings.

Craft messaging and advertising that support your new client base - or the one you want to reach, so you can effectively sell your products.

If you’d like to read more about tips for selling your MSP services, read: 5 Steps to Improve Your MSP Sales

2. Polish Your MSP’s Home Page, Website and Landing Pages

When new clients visit your MSP’s website, are you proud of what they see? If you were them, would you buy services from you?

The old saying is, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” But despite this well-meaning sentiment, most prospects do indeed judge companies by the first page they see on their website. 

If your website looks like it was created in FrontPage back in 1998, your bounce rate will be through the roof. There are so many easy access options when creating a new website like WordPress that there isn’t a good excuse to have an antiquated site.

So make it pretty!

“To begin, think about the purpose of your website and what you want visitors to do,” writes John Hughes of Themeisle. “Now, remove everything that does not serve this goal. To help you better define the purpose of your site, consider if you are selling, educating, or engaging.”

Many websites fall into the trap of cramming as much information on it as possible, hoping to impress viewers with an abundance of information.

However, doing so often scares prospective clients away, never to return.

A promising sign your home page is hurting your business is a high bounce rate - if you find that most site visitors show up and leave before diving deeper than the front page, you have a problem.

The same goes for landing pages - if your clients visit a landing page and leave, it is likely because the landing page needs to be better organized or clear on its purpose.

So put some thought into your website - you may even want to consider some web development consulting services.

3. Create Inbound Blog Content

So you have a beautiful website and honed in on your target market. How do you get new clients to come to your website?

You have to provide something of value to your client base. “Check out our awesome services” won’t be enough to flock the masses to your business, sadly.

And so, an easy way to attract clients to your website: write blog posts!

Your clients have questions about IT support, and your blog could be the post that answers them.

Unlike traditional advertising, where you essentially say, “please, please buy my product,” creating inbound traffic is an organic way to bring in curious web surfers that would have otherwise never discovered your company.

As evidenced by the existence of this very article, Print Partner has successfully implemented this strategy, generating value for MSPs to increase our web traffic.

“Brainstorm every question you’ve ever been asked by a prospect or customer,” writes Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask, You Answer. “If you struggle coming up with these questions, there’s a frank reason why: you’ve lost touch with your ideal customer or client.”

Consider what your prospects want to know about your business, and proactively address them in your blog. Most recommend updating your blog with 2-3 posts per week to keep a consistent stream of content creation. 

Over time, Google will recognize your website’s authority on your subject matter, and you’ll see more and more organic traffic rolling in.

4. Social Media and Email Campaigns

Your content cannon is locked and loaded - now, it's time to launch it into the world!

Organic traffic from search engines is a fantastic passive, but it's not the only way to get eyeballs on your newly-refurbished website.

First, consider your business’s social media presence. Does your MSP have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.? Consider the prospects on each website and which blog posts would resonate with them the most.

Generic posts about your service offerings won’t do much on Facebook or Twitter. But blasting educational blog posts out on social media is a fast, free, and effective way to bring new visitors to your site. 

If your content is good, you can increase your followers and social media connections, which can snowball into an exponential increase in clients over time.

But while social media posts can be compelling, you can’t always control who sees your posts.

Email campaigns are another great way to increase your site visits. Using your contact list, you can tailor your messaging to target specific groups of people and supplement your messaging with blog content.

Want to increase your MSP’s base of law firm clients? Create a blog post that addresses common IT-related pain points at law firms, and send it specifically to prospects in the industry.

Do you also want to target hospitals? Great! Create a separate email list for healthcare industry prospects addressing their issues. Etc.

Pairing organic web traffic with targeted email and social media marketing can skyrocket your MSP’s marketing.

Print Partner and MSP Marketing

With our shared tips, you can start implementing easy, effective marketing strategies today and increase your website traffic.

As the trusted partner to hundreds of MSPs across the country, Print Partner is committed to supporting your team every step of the way, whether in sales or marketing.

To support your sales efforts, our team at Print Partner can collaborate with you to curate marketing emails and social media posts to attract referrals you can send our way.

And when you send us referrals, we pay you at least $250 per referral, plus $1,000 per copier sold and 5% on the client’s lifetime print allotment. You’ll be helping your clients achieve their print-related goals while creating additional income for your business.

So what are you waiting for? Partner with us, and we can create print-focused marketing collateral today.