15 tips on how to market effectively when you are an MSP of one, part 2

Following my previous blog post (which you can read here), I’m continuing to look at marketing and lead-generation activities for small MSPs. Here are my remaining tips on how to effectively market when you are an MSP of one.

15 tips on how to effectively market when you are an MSP of one (tips 9 – 15)

9. Build a customer referral program, and don’t forget to promote it

I have had partners tell me that they do have a referral program, but that it doesn’t generate many new leads for them. Continuing to promote your referral program to your customers helps them keep it top of mind. Bring it up at every quarterly executive business review. Bring it up when every successful project is completed. Promote it via your social feeds.

10. Build a referral network

If you have any accountants, or lawyers as clients, see if they would be willing to refer their business clients to you for your technical services, in exchange for a reduced rate or special perks. Partner up with a graphic design or website design firm, and offer to refer your customers to them for website development support, in exchange for them referring businesses to you to handle technical support.    

11. Create a Google My Business account and ask for reviews

For local businesses, a Google Business Profile is a great resource, and it is 100% free. For it to work best, just as with your LinkedIn profile, ensure that every section of your profile is completely populated, and that it is connected to your Google My Business Account. Having a completed Google Business Profile not only helps with ranking metrics, but it also increases the number of actions customers take when they find your profile. When your profile is set up, ask all of your best customers to visit your page and leave a positive review, because this will help to improve your overall rankings even further.

12. Update your email signature to include useful information

Your email sign-off is a really strong marketing tool. It goes out on every email you send, so make the most of it. For example, include links to your website, to your latest blog posting, to your social media profiles, or links to any events you might be doing.

13. Apply for MSP business awards

Throw your MSP hat in the ring and apply for any MSP-specific awards that you can, then showcase them on your website and in your social feeds. Check out awards such as Channel Futures MSP 501 or NextGen 101, Cloudtango, Channel Partner Insights MSP Innovation, and Channelnomics MSP Award. Awards can provide instant credibility and help set you apart.

14. Read up and build a community to help support you

Keep up-to-date on marketing trends by reading books relevant to MSP marketing, and focus on building a network of peers to help improve your marketing know-how and work through any marketing challenges you might face.

And, finally, my most important tip:

15. Leverage your vendors for marketing assistance

If you are an N‑able partner, we have our MarketBuilder platform that can help MSPs with their content marketing and email marketing strategies. Currently, we have more than 50 campaigns in the system, covering a wide range of topics and themes, including cybersecurity, co-managed IT services, re-engagement campaigns outlining the benefits of conducting executive business reviews, and many more campaigns that are vertical-specific. So as a marketing team of one, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel from a content perspective—our MarketBuilder team has created and written the content for you. All you need to do is add your logo and contact details and you’ll be all set! To learn more about MarketBuilder and to register for an account: https://www.n-able.com/partner-success/marketbuilder

Although you may be a small MSP with no dedicated marketing personnel, don’t let that stop you from embracing marketing to help generate leads. You don’t need to move forward immediately with all 15 of my tips from the past two blogs. Just start with one or two ideas, and go from there.    

Stefanie Hammond is head sales and marketing nerd at N‑able. You can follow her on LinkedIn and on Twitter at @sales_mktg_nerd.