If you're about to run a marketing campaign for your MSP, pause a sec... you'd be better off setting up an easy marketing system. Here's why
It always makes me a bit sad when I hear an MSP owner is pinning all their growth hopes on a new marketing campaign.
Because campaigns are typically one offs. A burst of intense activity, followed by a return to the default of 'intending to do marketing but not getting around to it' 😃
I know marketing campaigns are popular. Lots of vendors give them free as a value add. I can see how as an MSP, your brain will fill up with delicious dopamine when you see a campaign and feel excited by the possibilites.
But here's the fundamental problem you're fighting...
Managed services is one of the most unusual sales on the planet. People only buy when they are ready to buy. And there's almost nothing you can do to speed this up.
The big problem with running a campaign is that it's a one off burst of activity. And that's an issue because people only buy when they are ready to buy.
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You do some marketing on Monday... but they're not ready to buy
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You do some marketing on Wednesday... but they're not ready to buy
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On Friday you need a rest so don't bother... they wake up ready to buy. And you're not there in front of them 😱
Don't believe they will remember you or your brand. They really won't unless you have a marketing message in front of them at the exact moment their brain is ready to see it.
Trust me, a proportion of your clients don't know what your MSP is called! 🤣
This is why my 3 step marketing system is the most powerful idea in MSP marketing. It's easy to understand but also solid and powerful.
The idea is to build a relationship with someone months and years before they are ready to leave their current MSP.
This is where the idea of 50+ touchpoints comes from. Google will say you need 7+ touchpoints with a prospect.
Not for what you sell.
You need an ongoing, never ending stream of touchpoints. So that the morning they wake up and they're ready to talk, BOOM... you are there in front of them. Whether that's tomorrow, September, or some day in 2026.
Your touchpoints might include:
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Daily LinkedIn posts they see now and again
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A weekly email they open once a month
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A monthly printed newsletter that sits on their desk waiting to be read, or gets passed to a colleague
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A regular blog and video on your website they sometimes read
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A weekly LinkedIn Newsletter they see in their feed or open in their email occasionally
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A short conversation about their business they had with your colleague on the phone
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A buyer's guide they've flicked through, which tells them how to pick an MSP
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A LinkedIn message from you they acknowledge
All of these can be swept up into a marketing system with tasks you do daily, tasks you do weekly, and tasks you do monthly. Best of all, you personally don't need to do these tasks... much of the work can be delegated or outsourced to someone else.
I've built my MSP Marketing Edge around this marketing system.
Would you like to see it?
My colleague Ben Smith will show you the system and how it's the answer to all your marketing problems. No obligation to buy anything, ever. It's a friendly tour not a sales pitch.
