“My father was an entrepreneur, so from an early age he instilled me with a good business mind. In 1997 I started rocketwise.

“I’ve worn every hat in the business. Since forming a new partnership a few years ago, my role is primarily sales and marketing, as well as being the VCIO (Virtual Chief Information Officer). 

“What I’ve found is that growth is the most difficult part of the business. Whether it’s growth within the current client base, or getting in front of new prospects. It can be tricky to teach people why technology matters, unearthing the pain they have, and helping them see they need to invest in change.

“When things work great, people forget about us and the things we’ve done to help. They wonder what they’re paying us for! So, educating our clients and our prospects is really important.

“A few years ago, we had a really generic website, zero social media presence, no blog… we weren’t doing a lot of marketing. When we heard about the MSP Marketing Edge, it seemed like the right thing to do. All the marketing material was there, and leveraging that really gave us a kickstart.

“We started off using the social media content as it was a quick win for us. We’d just onboarded with HubSpot, so it was a case of importing the content into that, and it was done.

“One of the other things we used first was the educational book members get - Email Hijack. We gave it away to leads and it even landed us the opportunity to do a presentation on cyber security for an industry association.

“Right now, we’re really using the content for credibility. We tailor the guides, books, and emails to our audience and make sure we’re always teaching them about the things they need to know. We’re educating our prospects and clients, and demonstrating why they should trust us. And it’s really helped.

“Oh, and I also have to mention how good the members-only Facebook community is. It’s the only reason I use Facebook now.

“We’ve been in other - much more expensive - groups before, but I can honestly say that the MSP Marketing Edge content is so much better. Not only that, but Paul Green and his team are phenomenal to work with. We’ve even had video meetings with Paul. We never had an opportunity like that with the group we spent thousands on.

“Paul is approachable, but also very focused. He’s doesn’t get sidetracked by new shiny things. If something doesn’t fit into his way of doing something, he doesn’t waiver. He’s a wealth of information and he’s producing a really great product.

“I don’t know how we would’ve got our marketing done if it wasn’t for the MSP Marketing Edge. The other things out there aren’t close to the quality, and we wouldn’t have accomplished what we have today without it.

“If you are considering joining, try it - there’s no commitment, you can cancel any time. I’ve already recommended it to several peers. One was already a member when we joined… I wish they had told me!

“This would be a very smart play for your business.”

Years ago, my business partner Gary was working as the IT department for an engineering company. When they needed additional help I came on board.

We were so good at what we did the MD of the engineering company sold our services to other businesses in the area. This went on for years, and although it was never a formal commercial arrangement, it seemed to really take off.

I left for a year working for a bigger IT company. When I realised I didn’t enjoy it, I re-joined Gary working in partnership rather than as an employee. Eventually we did a management buyout and left the umbrella of the engineering company.

My experience with the other company allowed me to bring in the right systems to set us up as a formal MSP. We found that once a client signed up they stayed with us for a long time. Our problem was attracting the right clients in the first place. That’s where Paul Green’s MSP Marketing Edge came in.

We’d been working with Paul when he did in-person peer groups. And when he launched the MSP Marketing Edge in June 2017, we jumped on board immediately.

Since those early days, the content and service has really evolved. Now we’re given so much content on a monthly and weekly basis that there’s always something we can use to educate our audience. Or that we can plan a bigger marketing campaign around.

We’re always being given additional content too, such as a buyer’s guide that we could have printed as a book, and content that responds to current events.

We use the vast majority of what we’re provided, and often take the time to change the content so that it’s either more personalised to us, or so it’s specific to the sectors that we’re marketing to that month. We always have something there to help us nurture relationships with both clients and prospects.

It saves us so much time. We’re never stuck, wondering what we could use for email content, or what we could send to a client that has a particular problem or concern. All of the hard work is done for us.

If I sat and tried to write some of this content myself, I would be there all day and probably only get one line down. Even if you don’t use all of the content that’s provided, it’s still useful to get ideas and inspiration for things to talk about in your own emails, or on your social media platforms. I use LinkedIn a lot, and I use the MSP Marketing Edge content for ideas on what to talk about.

Obviously, it takes some work from us to implement using the content, but the more time we spend on it, the more we get out of it. Even if you only use a small proportion of the content, you’ll still see a difference, because you’re consistently putting information and communication out there.

Over the past year or so, we’ve really evolved what we do on the marketing side of our business. We send out regular emails on a Thursday, which we call Three Minute Thursdays, and have so much educational content that we can use to nurture our relationships and really help people with. Without the MSP Marketing Edge we wouldn’t have done all this, and certainly not to this extent.

It can be a long process to get a new client as an MSP. People are reluctant to leave their current provider, just as they are with changing banks or accountants. Paul calls it “inertia loyalty”. They perceive it’s too difficult. So you need to consistently demonstrate your trustworthiness and expertise, it can’t be start stop. And the MSP Marketing Edge gives you all the tools to do just that.

If you’re considering signing up, I would say it’s a no-brainer. For the small price you pay, the amount of content you get is incredible. You do need to put a bit of time into it, to make it your own and to get it out there but the amount of inspiration it gives you to market and grow your business is immeasurable.