The typical MSP owner wears multiple hats, and one of those includes marketing. Many MSPs might also have a small marketing budget. There may not be enough budget to get any reasonable returns from email, social media and online search marketing, and so, MSP owners have to look for more cost-effective strategies.

Having worked with many MSPs worldwide for over a decade, I can attest that the most successful MSP marketing strategies boil down to three principal characteristics: focus, performance and consistency. This means you must show your expertise to your target audience, set measurable goals and continuously execute marketing activities.

Creating useful content is just one way to market to your audience. Done right, it is one of the most effective and low-cost marketing initiatives with a long-term impact.

Targeting the right market

Market research is a key element of targeting the right market. Luckily, you have a treasure trove of data to work with: your existing client list. By evaluating your client list, you can identify trends showing what types of prospects you attract and have the highest chances to sign up as customers.

Company size 

You likely work with businesses of varying sizes. Where is your sweet spot? Find the optimal client business size, including the number of workloads and breadth of IT infrastructure, in which your services deliver the most value without overwhelming your technicians.

Profitable industries 

Analyze clients by industry to identify which bring in the most profits. For example, if your health care clients serve as a consistent source of revenue, then you can tailor your marketing efforts to target health care prospects. On the other hand, you can also pivot your marketing strategy away from industries that consistently soak up more time, money and resources.

Client history

You likely have several problem clients in your portfolio. In your evaluation, look for trends to help you understand what differentiates these clients from the good. For example, you might find that clients in specific industries are the most difficult to work with, create the most tickets, consume the most time or require the most resources to manage. With this insight, you can avoid targeting that industry and instead target those with whom you have positive and profitable relationships.

Services that yield the strongest margins 

The services that generate the most revenue are not necessarily the most profitable. Given that some services require more upfront costs and technical expertise to manage than others, you need to consider each of the operational expenses and map those to the right audiences. For example, it doesn’t make sense to market a costly service to a small business that cannot pay for it. Evaluating your client list will help you understand which services map best to certain types of clients.

Once you identify your most profitable clients, you can start developing a cost-effective, long-term marketing strategy for your business.

Creating high-value content 

The phrase “content is king” stems from a 1996 essay published by Bill Gates. The article famously explores the impact of the internet with a surge in content consumption and revolutionary money-making opportunities now available to businesses of all sizes. Over the years, the idiom has held true. 

Technological advancements have lowered the barrier to entry for marketers and business owners to create intent-driven and relevant content. And this is why low-cost methods like search engines, email, social media and event marketing remain tactical.

For example, generative AI tools like ChatGPT are a time saver for content creation. The key is writing thoughtful and concise prompts focusing on your target audience: your most profitable clients. But remember, although AI-generated content is a great start, you should rework and edit the content to provide insights for your readers, as well as reflect your business’s voice and personality. 

When creating prompts, remember to speak your clients’ language, provide relatable examples and maintain an empathetic, helpful tone. The more specific your prompt is, the better the outcome will be. Ambiguity is an Achilles’ heel for gen AI tools, so ensure your prompt gives clear instructions. 

Ultimately, you need qualified, long-term clients to resonate with and convert after consuming your content. Traditional funnel-based marketing strategies support every stage of the buyer’s journey with assets. Yet, your client’s decision-making process is far more complex than a simple sequence of content engagement events. The goal is to build trust, and do it in the long run.

Whether you are creating a blog, LinkedIn post, email or event signage, the content needs to be trustworthy. Building authority as a leader with your expertise will captivate your target clients, and they will turn to you repeatedly, resulting in healthy margins.

Measure your success and fine-tune

The time spent learning marketing analytics tools will pay dividends in the future. Nowadays, there are many free courses to help you understand no- to low-cost marketing tools to help you measure website traffic, email open rates, user experience, conversions and other key performance indicators. Once you can benchmark these metrics, you can begin to set attainable goals.

Another benefit of understanding these metrics is that you can identify strategies that are not working. Let’s say you created a webpage targeting your most profitable industry, and months later, the traffic is booming, but conversions are at a standstill. To figure out where you can improve, look at bounce rates, examine heatmaps, revisit messaging, ask fellow MSPs and survey your clients directly. Take a data-driven approach while exploring resourceful ways to get feedback to enhance your strategy.

Make the most of marketing spend

Studying your clients is critical to developing trust and long-lasting partnerships that will keep them from churning or jumping to competitors. You need to analyze their IT challenges, compliance needs and requirements, and how you can deliver more value to them.

Identifying key client segments, industries and services that yield the highest margins enables you to tailor marketing efforts to target these areas effectively. Continuously measuring and refining these strategies based on performance metrics ensures that you remain adaptable and responsive to market changes. Ultimately, combining strategic client insight and agile, cost-effective marketing practices enables you to build lasting relationships and sustain profitability in a competitive landscape.