MSP marketing can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially in an industry as competitive as IT. However, there are great ways to market to your clients, and there are also, well, not so great ways. As you market to your dream clients, taking shortcuts using third-party syndicated content is tempting, promising a quick and effortless solution to content creation challenges. As an IT marketing agency, we see MSPs always making this mistake—don’t join them.
Syndicated content seems convenient at first glance, but its drawbacks can make your marketing efforts seem poor. From the lack of originality to legal risks, relying on syndicated content can harm your reputation, decrease your online visibility and stop you from standing out against other MSPs.
By understanding the drawbacks of third-party syndicated content, you can build a solid brand presence, establish yourself as a thought leader, and, most importantly, stay relevant to your clients.
What is third-party syndicated content, and why you shouldn’t use it for MSP marketing
MSP content marketing is essential for getting your brand voice heard and providing value to your clients. However, there are various ways to produce this content – some better than others. Third-party syndicated content is created by one party and then licensed or distributed to others for publication on their platforms. This content comes in many forms: articles, blog posts, videos, and more.
For many MSPs, third-party syndicated content’s appeal is readily available and low cost. This makes it an attractive option for those who want to increase their content marketing efforts. It will allow you to do so without investing too much time and money into content creation.
However, third-party syndicated content has several disadvantages that could affect your MSPs online presence and reputation despite its convenience.
Lack of originality and brand voice
Content providers produce this type of content to sell it to multiple businesses. As a result, the content tends to be generic and lacks the unique perspectives and expertise you offer your clients. Clients look to MSPs for industry knowledge and expertise, not just your services. Generic content could make you appear indistinguishable from competitors using the same content.
Additionally, syndicated content fails to capture your brand voice. Your brand identity, values and messaging should resonate with your target audience. How will you do that if the content you purchase is on other websites? Syndicated content is produced without this context in mind. This leads to content that may be inconsistent with your brand voice, and the lack of alignment might confuse your clients.
SEO concerns
Search engines prioritise original and high-quality content when establishing a website’s relevance and domain authority. Syndicated content is often used across multiple sites, which will be flagged on Google as they may struggle to choose the most authentic version.
Syndicated content doesn’t address specific keywords, topics, and questions your target audience is searching for. Great SEO involves creating content that aligns with potential clients’ search intent. However, syndicated content can lead to lower organic traffic, which may not rank well for the relevant keywords. This could result in no one seeing your content.
If you want to get yourself known as an industry thought leader, ruining your chances at good SEO through syndicated content is one of the worst things you can do. Google values fresh and original content that provides helpful solutions to users’ queries.
Risk of outdated or inaccurate information
While syndicated content offers a convenient way to fill up your content, it lacks the real-time updates and industry-specific insights essential for the fast-paced IT industry. It’s produced to cater to a large audience; the MSP industry is anything but that. As a result, the information could become outdated as trends, technologies, and best practices in the managed services sector change. This type of content can affect your MSP marketing efforts by misleading clients, ruining your reputation and leading to missed opportunities.
If you want to show that you can respond quickly to industry changes, emerging technologies, or security threats, ensure your content isn’t outdated. Accurate information is crucial for staying ahead of close competition and providing clients with up-to-date solutions and advice for their IT concerns.
Limited customisation
The one-size-fits-all approach with syndicated content can feel generic and impersonal, thus failing to resonate with your target audience. It also comes with limitations when modifying the content’s structure, tone of voice (TOV), and messaging. You may find yourself strained by these limitations as you’ll be unable to adapt the content to align with your brand voice and values.
Legal issues
Using syndicated content without gaining the necessary permissions and licenses can lead to copyright infringement issues. It’s usually owned by the content creators or providers who retain the rights to their work. Without proper authorisation, you could risk legal issues, fines and damage to your reputation as a whole.
This type of content often comes with contractual agreements, which could restrict how it is used, modified, and distributed. Failure to abide can lead to breach-of-contract claims, penalties, and disputes with other content providers.
Challenges related to accuracy, defamation and compliance with regulations and standards may also be presented.
Lack of control over content quality
It’s common for content providers to prioritise quantity over quality, which leads to inconsistencies in writing style, tone, grammar, and factual accuracy. If your content varies in quality, you might struggle to maintain a consistent and professional image. Syndicated content is unlikely to be regularly updated to keep up with the latest industry trends, technologies and best practices. Hiring an IT marketing agency can save you time while controlling your content quality.
The benefits of creating original content
You should always prioritise creating original content for several reasons. Third-party syndicated content offers convenience for your MSP marketing strategy. However, it lacks your unique brand, audience, and industry-specific information. Writing your content in-house or with a specialised content writer can boost business growth, client engagement and industry leadership. Below are a few key reasons why you should invest in original content as an MSP:
Establish expertise and authority
By creating content that showcases your knowledge, insights and perspectives, you can position yourself as a thought leader in the IT industry. Whether through articles, case studies or webinars, you can share valuable information, best practices, and solutions that address the concerns and needs of your target audience. Expertise-driven content educates clients and builds credibility and trust. If someone uses your content to tackle a small problem successfully and requires more help down the line, they’re more likely to hire you.
Two-way communication through feedback and discussion can lead to more personalised and tailored solutions that showcase expertise in efficiently meeting client needs.
Tailor content to your audience’s needs
Creating original content allows you to target relevant industry-specific issues, trends, and solutions, which is vital. By focusing on these topics, you can provide valuable insights and helpful advice to help your clients understand how complex IT problems can be. This ensures that your content stays suitable and useful and encourages continued engagement from your target audience.
As mentioned above, it is essential to adapt your messaging and tone to align with the preferences of your target audience. Whether through videos, education blog posts, or webinars, you can choose formats that resonate with your audience’s preferences and engagement levels. Not all of your clients will want to watch a video, and not all will want to read a blog post. Adaptation is key!
Improve SEO and stand out on search engines
As you know, Google likes original content with thorough keyword research and use. Writing original content means you can optimise your website for industry-specific keywords and phrases your potential clients use. MSP content marketing improves SEO through your website’s relevance and authority for these keywords.
In addition, creating original content generates backlinks from reputable sources within the IT industry. High-quality backlinks will show search engines that the content is valuable and authoritative. You could attract links from blogs and industry publications to boost your website’s domain authority. Original content also encourages user engagement, longer time spent on your website, and lower bounce rates—which is good! If you’re producing engaging and informative work, your target audience will likely stay on your website to check out other pages and return for future content!
Invest in a consistent and high-quality content strategy to achieve higher search rankings, increase visibility and improve your online presence. Use Google Keyword Planner to find your relevant keywords.
Build stronger relationships
Producing relevant and helpful content can help you build deeper relationships with your audience, gain trust, and maintain long-lasting connections. People enjoy buying from people, not company names. With original content, you’ll show your audience that you have a solid understanding of their needs and position yourself as a trusted advisor. Keep your target audience informed, engaged, and connected regarding what’s new in the company to stay top-of-mind and strengthen your brand presence.
Improve social sharing and engagement
While we’ve made it clear now that creating original content that resonates with your dream clients will encourage them to look at more content, it might even turn into a share on a social media platform. Spark meaningful conversations to encourage discussions, feedback and engagement. The engagement promotes a sense of community and to like, comment and share the content within their networks – just see it as free advertising!
Humanise your brand by adding an authentic tone of voice, creativity and storytelling to your content. Your dream client is more likely to engage with and share content that brings them emotion, provides value or is relevant to their interests. Attract new followers who are actively looking for solutions, information and insights!
Adapt to changing industry trends for effective MSP marketing
We don’t need to tell you how fast-paced the managed service industry is, so keeping your clients updated with relevant content is essential. Explore new technologies, market shifts, and industry developments to keep your clients informed, educated, and engaged. This will position you as a thought leader and go-to person for anything new in the IT industry.
While syndicated content prevents you from customising your content, your original content is yours, so you can change it whenever possible. Monitor content performance, engagement, and the competitive industry to identify new opportunities. Optimise strategies and change your approach to keep up with changing industry trends.
Takeaways
Finally, third-party syndicated content is a convenient way to streamline content marketing efforts. However, it isn’t a strategy that will work out long term. The lack of originality, SEO concerns, legal issues and the risk of sharing outdated content are all huge drawbacks of this type of content. Instead, it’s essential you focus on and prioritise original content that respects your expertise, unique perspective, and brand values. Doing this can effectively engage your target audience, boost your online presence, and direct business growth. In content marketing, it’s always quality over quantity that wins.
Outsourcing to an agency offers a variety of benefits that can impact the success of your marketing efforts. For example, you can reap the benefits of:
- Expertise and experience
- Cost-effectiveness
- Scalability
- Access to tools and technologies
- Fresh creativity
- Measurable results
Create original content for your MSP marketing plan with xpandly
As an IT marketing agency, we understand that MSP content marketing can feel like a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be. We harness deep industry expertise, sharp market insights, and a forward-thinking approach to create innovative go-to-market strategies tailored to our clients’ needs. Thriving in the technology space requires a significant understanding of the market and a progressive approach that capitalises on emerging opportunities.
We are your trusted growth partner. Founded by technology growth experts, we bring unparalleled expertise and experience to help technology-leg organisations thrive. Not only have we delivered more than £30 million in recurring revenue growth for MSPs, but in 2023, we created more than £75m of opportunities for our clients.
Are you ready to heighten your marketing efforts with original and relevant content? Contact xpandly to craft content that resonates with your clients, establishes you as a thought leader and drives sales. Don’t settle for boring generic content; invest in high-quality! See how we can help you stand out in the world of IT.