Start Selling to People That Are Eager for Your Services
Starting an MSP firm is not for the faint-hearted. First, you need to get the right equipment and business premises. Then you need to put together the most talented crew you can find. And, that’s only when setting up.
Once you open the doors to customers, you’re flooded with even more concerns and tasks. Suddenly, you start spending sleepless nights updating your tech knowledge and thinking of ways to keep your clients happy.
It’s tough! It can get so exhausting that many MSP providers have very little time to spend on thinking of ways to market their businesses so they can expand sustainably.
Sure, you can hire a marketing firm specialized in the MSP industry. But, most don’t provide scalable marketing solutions that lead to more clients walking through your doors. Or, at least, calling you over for a consultation.
If you can relate to such a challenge, then you probably sit up at night and wonder.
What is Your MSP Marketer Overlooking?
Marketers spend a lot of time and mental energy, gathering credible leads. Once they have these leads, they expend an even greater effort trying to sell to their best prospects. Social media, email campaigns, and other "new media" platforms offer an almost word to mouth effect.
However, many marketers overlook the effectiveness of national and local media campaigns. Consequently, failing to allocate a sufficient budget. Instead, they pump all your funds on marketing to prospect through social media and other digital means.
This issue has taken root, especially with the coronavirus pandemic. Such circumstances have highlighted the significance of locally-based media to the need for local business compliance.
Why Do MSP Marketers Prioritise National Media?
The primary goal of every marketer is to get your message out to the public clearly and cost-effectively. To ensure that you can see an ROI value to their marketing services, they apply a breakeven analysis to all media buying.
Local media costs may not be prohibitive, but national media campaigns attract more prospects. Only the 10-15 DMAs can guarantee a breakeven point that justifies spending more on local media.
And, even then, results will depend on the size of the respective market. This makes local media less effective to the needs of most marketers. Instead, they opt for a national media strategy.
It all makes fiscal sense, but national media also presents some challenges.
What Challenges Do National Media Campaigns Present to MSP Marketing?
National media allows marketers to cast a broader net to lure more prospects. They also help cut back on some upfront costs because the same message is relayed to the whole nation. However, it also creates the following problems:
National Campaigns Seldom Focus on Prospective Clients
The nature of the services provided by MSPs, especially support services, limits them to specific regions. After all, when a client experiences network downtime, they’ll want someone from your company to deal with it as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, national media casts such a wide net that most of your potential clients won’t be within your firm’s range.
For instance, your offices may be located in downtown Boston, MA, and your target is somewhere in the middle of New Haven. How quickly would someone from your company be able to get to them? They’d require at least 2 hours, depending on traffic.
National Media Offers Limited Geographic Customization Options
Ad campaigns need to hit specific industries and other demographics for them to be effective. This is challenging when the geographical area is too broad for marketers. Effective marketing and ad campaigns work when they consider a specific niche industry at a ZIP code level.
How Do You Turn the Focus MSP Clients Within Your Reach?
Your marketing campaigns need to target clients who are likely to buy your services or within your geographical reach. Both national and local media can be leveraged to suit your needs.
Here are two things that will gauge the efficacy of your marketing team's media buying strategy:
Create a Customized Location
Start by looking at the locations where you have offices or local agents. Then, look at their proximity to businesses and settlements that need your MSP support and services. You can also factor in drive times to create your custom area.
In such an instance, Local media works to the advantage of your MSP marketer.
Rework the Figures
Now, sum up the costs of buying local media in your custom location and compare it to national media in the same area. It helps to ignore the impressions cast by the metrics outside your custom location. The purpose here is to have a retail mindset, but you can use this data for your eCommerce marketing needs.
Such a breakdown analysis shows the efficacy of local media. It’s not about your firm's attention from your marketing strategy but the leads that you can convert into clients. National media may have the reach, but local media provides the type of targeted focus that MSP firms need to thrive in such a competitive industry.
Key Takeaway Points
More factors and observable metrics favor the use of national media for massive customer targeting. You'll still need a local outreach to get customers that need IT support and tech services within your location.
The coronavirus pandemics has also changed the way companies do business with a greater emphasis on virtual desktop and cloud computing solutions. Such companies and even individuals need locally available MSP solutions.
Your company could miss out on such an opportunity if your marketing means failing to capture prospective clients within your location.
Call Ulistic for MSP Marketing Consultations and Workable Strategies
At Ulistic, we understand that formulating an effective MSP marketing strategy can be quite challenging. Your business should suffer as you try to figure it all out.
We are not a regular marketing firm but are specialized to the exact needs of MSP companies. Speak to Ulistic today to learn more about how you can start selling your services to clients interested in your services.
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