As the economy starts to slow down, managed service providers (MSPs) may begin to feel its effect in maintaining their sales, let alone trying to grow. The slowing of the economy also means a tougher market, however, with the right approach, MSPs can still win new business even during difficult economic conditions. Barracuda MSP has invited Raj Khera, SEO Coach, to share effective strategies MSPs can employ to attract new clients. Here are three key takeaways that Raj shared with us on how to attract new clients during an economic downturn:
Q: In today’s business environment, which marketing tools should MSPs leverage?
A: In the past, the top four ways businesses researched a vendor included asking a friend or advisor, Google, attending events and inbound sales calls. With the growth of social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, and who can forget, YouTube, these are all effective mediums for MSPs to market today. Additionally, the popularity of podcasts is going through the roof with people listening to them during their commutes to work, dropping off the kids at school, during a workout, or simply to pass the time.
Q: How can an MSP attract their ideal client through social media?
A: The first step in getting found on social media is to know what your buyers respond to. For example, messaging to healthcare workers is completely different than messaging to accountants. Customers are referred to as patients vs. clients. Also, accountants would not be focused on HIPAA compliance but rather other types of compliance. Small word choices in your messaging can make a big difference. You can download free buyer persona examples for MSPs from morebusiness.com’s website here.
Your next step is to use hashtags that match what your audience might be looking for. Again, this will be niche-specific. If you target healthcare, you might use a hashtag like #hipaa in addition to #datasecurity. Using hashtags expands your reach to those who search hashtags to find relevant information.
The most important part of reaching your audience via social channels is consistency. Don’t expect a dramatic jump in followers immediately – or even in 6 months. A steady posting schedule of quality content will enable you to see what types of messaging works best.
Q: What are your suggestions to the MSPs for getting the content?
A: The process I shared in the webinar is designed to be one of the simplest methods of creating a large volume of high quality, original content that will attract new clients. Here’s my process in a nutshell:
- Identify several keyword clusters with both information and commercial intent
- Create content outlines with prompts that you can talk about
- Record yourself discussing these topics (I recommend doing this as a podcast so you can repurpose the material)
- Transcribe the recording and create articles
- Optimize the articles for SEO and share clips of recordings on social media
- Include lead capture forms on your new content pages
Doing all this still takes time and there are quite a few nuances that can determine whether your effort will be successful. That’s why many MSPs rely on experienced contractors to handle the leg work.
When MSPs work with me at morebusiness.com, they start with a 6-month MSP marketing program that is thoughtfully crafted with layers of activities that build on each other and can continue as they see success. The best part is that it costs less than a third of what a junior or mid-level marketing person in-house would cost. On top of that, we only take on one MSP per geographic location so that there is no conflict of interest with any other MSP.
For the do-it-yourselfer, we have lots of free and very affordably priced training material that is focused on MSPs, including a list of specific keywords to pursue (just google “MSP keywords” and it’s the #1 ranked article).
Want to learn more?
By leveraging your unique strengths along with digital marketing channels, MSPs can continue to grow and thrive even in the face of economic uncertainty. Watch the replay of Raj’s webinar, How to Attract New MSP Clients in the 2023 Economic Downturn, to learn about how to attract new clients in the 2023 economic downturn.
Photo: izzuanroslan / Shutterstock
