Skip to main content
SolarWinds MSP
  • Login
  • Support
  • Partnerships
    • Partnerships Overview
    • Solution Provider Program
    • Technology Alliance Program
    • Distributor Program
SolarWinds MSP
  • Products
    • SolarWinds N-central Automate what you need. Tackle complex networks. Try this remote monitoring and management solution built to help maximize efficiency and scale.
    • SolarWinds RMM Start fast. Grow at your own pace. Try this powerful but simple remote monitoring and management solution.
    • SolarWinds EDR Defend against ransomware, zero-day attacks, and evolving online threats with Endpoint Detection and Response
    • SolarWinds Backup Manage data protection for servers, workstations applications, documents and Microsoft 365 from one SaaS dashboard.
    • Mail Protection & Archiving Protect users from email threats and downtime.
    • Password Management Easily adopt and demonstrate best practice password and documentation management workflows.
      • Passportal Demo
    • PSA & Ticketing Manage ticketing, reporting, and billing to increase helpdesk efficiency.
    • Remote Support Help support customers and their devices with remote support tools designed to be fast and powerful.
  • Solutions

    I'm looking for...

    • Security Solutions
    • Monitoring Solutions
    • Efficiency Solutions
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Webcasts & Events
    • Ask the N-central Experts
    • Daily Live Demos
    • RMM Foundations Training
    • Upcoming Events
    • Upcoming Webcasts
    • Resource Center
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Resource Library
      • Case Studies
      • Product Information
      • eBooks
      • White Papers
      • Infographics
    • SolarWinds MSP Free Tools
    • GDPR Resource Center
    • Security Resource Center
    • MSP Institute Webinar Series
    • MSP Advice Project
  • About
    • Contact
    • Customer Success
    • Worldwide sales and support
    • Careers
    • Awards and Recognition
    • Get A Quote
    • Newsroom
      • Press Releases
      • In The News
      • Media Contacts
      • COVID-19 Response
    • Leadership Team
    • Legal
      • Cookie Policy
      • Privacy Notice
      • Software Services Agreement
      • Terms of Use
      • Backup Fair Use Policy
    • Security
      • SolarWinds Security Statement
      • Vendor Data Protection Requirements
    • Support
  • IT Departments
  • Contact Sales
    • Get A Quote
    • General Inquiry
  • TRY NOW
    • SolarWinds RMM
    • SolarWinds Backup
    • MSP Manager
    • SolarWinds Passportal
    • SolarWinds N-central
    • SolarWinds Mail Assure
    • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
    • SolarWinds Take Control
  • Request a Quote
  • Try Now
    • SolarWinds RMM
    • SolarWinds N-central
    • SolarWinds Backup
    • MSP Manager
    • SolarWinds Mail Assure
    • SolarWinds Passportal
    • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
    • SolarWinds Take Control
Request quote
Filter Blogs
  • Filter by:
  • MSP Business
    • Automation
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • Security-series
    • Best Practices
    • Business
    • Business Growth
    • Business Risk
    • Cloud Computing
    • Customer Service
    • Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity Awareness Month
    • Data
    • GDPR
    • Internet of Things
    • IT Support
    • ITSM
    • LOGICcards
    • Machine Learning
    • Mail
    • Managed Services
    • Marketing
    • Mobile
    • Networking
    • Operations
    • Podcast
    • Product
    • PSA
    • Remote Management
    • Research & Trends
    • Risk Intelligence
    • Security
    • Security Vlog
    • Service Desk
    • Services & Support
    • The Head Nerds
    • Tips & Advice
    • Training
Home Blog MSP Business Marketing Do You Have a Marketing Strategy?
Marketing

Do You Have a Marketing Strategy?

By Eric Anthony
16 August, 2018

When looking to market your managed service provider (MSP) business, the very first question you should ask yourself is, do you have a strategy? 

A strategy is different from a plan. Your marketing plan is the how-to guide to getting your business in front of potential customers, but why do you want to get out in front of new customers? This may seem easy—because the obvious answer is revenue. The problem is, more revenue in itself is not a complete nor specific enough answer. This is where the strategy comes in.  

why_body.jpgYour strategy should describe what sources of revenue you are going after; this will define your offering and help paint a picture of your ideal customer. Unless you determine the “why” behind your marketing efforts, the plan will not be specific enough to be effective.

What goes into your strategy?  

Let’s ask ourselves a few questions to see if we can describe our why:

  1. How much revenue do you want to increase by?
  2. How quickly do you want to generate that revenue?
  3. Who is your target market? Are you in a vertical?
  4. What sources of revenue do you want to focus on?
  5. Who is your ideal customer?

target_audience.jpgThese questions can help you to create a marketing plan to aim directly at a target instead of using a shotgun approach. There is nothing inherently wrong with a shotgun approach, it’s just less effective than targeted marketing because you have to spend lots of money and/or resources to get measurable results. By defining your “why,” you create a smaller target with a better-defined need. This may help raise the effectiveness of your advertising.

Measuring revenue is critical. At the end of the day, you are spending X dollars on marketing to get Y dollars in revenue. If you do not know what your target is, how can you hit it? Knowing the number and time schedule may allow you to plan and budget in order to meet that number. Once you know the target number, working backwards may allow you to determine a realistic number of impressions, views, visits, etc., you need to meet—which will help tell you how much money you need to spend.  

Once you know this, you can budget that spend over the period of time you expect to generate the revenue. The only guessing here is the conversion rates for how many of those impressions will become leads, and then how many of those leads will become customers. 

What source of revenue do you want to focus on?  

Do you want more managed services contracts? What about web design or hosting projects? Whatever it is you want to grow, you must focus specifically on that. Throwing out all your offerings in a mass mailing will be much less effective than targeting the benefits of managed services contracts. Being specific helps you speak directly to the prospects that need that service or have that problem you are looking to solve.

Part of targeting your marketing in order to make it more effective is to define the “who.” Accurately describing this “who” allows you to use design material specific to that group and display it in the media most effective in reaching that group. For example, doctors read medical journals and do significant online research. If you are in a vertical, become familiar with all the avenues by which that vertical communicates. There may be special periodicals or websites they frequent. Use the information you have to build a persona of your ideal customer and it will lead you to the most accurate ways to target them.

The more questions you can ask, the more targeted your strategy will become. The more targeted your strategy, the more concise your plan will be. Once you have answers to all your strategy questions, you can give your plan a target and a schedule to hit that target. Once you know who your market is and what you are trying to sell them, you can decide what kind of content to produce and where to place it.

 

Additional reading:

  • 4 Top Marketing Tools for MSPs
  • The 6-Step Roadmap to MSP Marketing Success
  • A guide to content marketing for MSPs and IT solution providers
  • Increasing Sales Through Marketing Success

 

Eric Anthony is director of customer experience at SolarWinds MSP. Before joining SolarWinds, Eric ran his own managed service provider business for over six years.

You can follow Eric on Twitter at @EricAnthonyMSP

 

Looking for more information to help you grow your MSP business? Check out the MSP Institute, here.

 

© 2018 SolarWinds MSP Canada ULC and SolarWinds MSP UK Ltd.  All rights reserved.

 
The SolarWinds and SolarWinds MSP trademarks, service marks, and logos are the exclusive property of SolarWinds MSP UK Ltd. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

 

You might also like...
Marketing

How to Market Your MSP Business in 5 Simple Steps 

Marketing

Building a Referral-Based Sales Funnel 

Marketing

An MSP’s Guide to Getting Started with Google Ads

Marketing

The Benefits of Branding Your MSP Solutions

Marketing

4 Top Marketing Tools for MSPs

Marketing

5 Tips for Effective Social Media Marketing for MSPs

Want to stay up to date?

Get the latest MSP tips, tricks, and ideas sent to your inbox each week.

Loading form....

If the form does not load in a few seconds, it is probably because your browser is using Tracking Protection. This is either an Ad Blocker plug-in or your browser is in private mode. Please allow tracking on this page to request a subscription.

Note: Firefox users may see a shield icon to the left of the URL in the address bar. Click on this to disable tracking protection for this session/site

Recent Posts
  • What the Head Nerds Were Up to in 2020
  • RMM and PSA Tools: How to Make the Most of Both
  • How to Empower an IT Help Desk Team for Success
  • Six Tips That Will Make Managing Your MSP Company Easier
  • January 2021 Patch Tuesday: One Actively Exploited Vulnerability and a Few Likely to Be
Categories:
  • Security (230)
  • Tips & Advice (122)
  • Best Practices (94)
  • Managed Services (86)
  • Backup & Disaster Recovery (83)
  • Business Growth (75)
  • The Head Nerds (75)
  • IT Support (42)
  • Business (39)
  • Automation (37)
  • Cybersecurity (37)
  • Operations (34)
  • Mail (33)
  • Remote Management (28)
  • ITSM (25)
  • Cloud Computing (21)
  • Networking (21)
  • Data (21)
  • Marketing (14)
  • Product (11)
  • PSA (11)
  • Service Desk (5)
  • Services & Support (5)
  • Mobile (4)
  • Risk Intelligence (4)
  • Internet of Things (3)
  • Customer Service (3)
  • Research & Trends (2)
  • Training (2)
  • GDPR (2)
  • Business Risk (1)
  • LOGICcards (1)
Show moreless
SolarWinds MSP

Products
  • SolarWinds RMM
  • SolarWinds N-central
  • SolarWinds Backup
  • SolarWinds EDR
  • SolarWinds MSP Manager
  • SolarWinds Mail Assure
  • SolarWinds Risk Intelligence
  • SolarWinds Take Control
  • SolarWinds Passportal
  • All Products Use Cases
Solutions
  • Security Solutions
  • Monitoring Solutions
  • Efficiency Solutions
  • Identify which RMM solution is right for me
  • Drive Efficiency with Automation
  • Manage my MSP Business More Efficiently
  • Manage my IT Department More Efficiently
  • Layered Security
  • Cross-Platform Support
  • Data-Driven Insights
About
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
  • Leadership Team
  • Upcoming Events
  • Subscription Preferences
  • SolarWinds
  • SolarWinds Trust Center
  • COVID-19 Response
Support
  • SolarWinds RMM
  • Solarwinds N-central
  • SolarWinds Backup
  • SolarWinds Mail Assure
  • SolarWinds Take Control
  • SolarWinds MSP Manager
  • Solarwinds Risk Intelligence
  • Solarwinds Threat Monitor
  • SolarWinds Passportal
  • SolarWinds Take Control Downloads
  • Backup & Recovery Downloads
  • Service Status

Footer 2

  • Legal Documents
  • Privacy
  • California Privacy Rights
  • Security Information
  • Sitemap

© SolarWinds MSP Canada ULC and SolarWinds MSP UK Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.