Many Managed Service Providers (MSPs) struggle to create effective MSP marketing strategies to attract and convert new clients.
The marketing funnel, which turns a prospect into a new client, can be challenging. Prospects often enter the funnel in various ways, but keeping them engaged and guiding them towards a successful conversion requires more effort.
In the IT industry, it’s essential to understand what your potential clients need from your services. By personalising your messaging to address these needs, you can establish yourself as a trusted MSP and the ideal solution. To succeed in MSP marketing, an effective strategy that combines educational content, targeted advertising, and personalised outreach is essential. This involves understanding the buyer’s journey and tailoring your approach to increase the chance of converting prospects into satisfied, long-term clients.
What is the marketing funnel, and how does it apply to MSP marketing?
The marketing funnel is a multi-stage process that guides potential clients from becoming aware of a service to purchasing it. It visually represents the client’s journey from initial brand awareness to final purchase.
- The top of funnel (Awareness stage)—Where potential clients first become aware of your service through marketing efforts.
- The middle of funnel (Consideration stage)—Where interested prospects assess your offerings and compare them with your competitors
- The bottom of funnel (Conversion stage)—Where prospects who have shown strong interest make a final purchase decision.
The funnel stages align with the customer journey and buying process. You must tailor content to each stage and the mindset of your potential clients. Doing so will progressively nurture leads as they move down the funnel.
Top of funnel (TOFU)
The top of funnel (TOFU) is the initial stage of the marketing funnel, where potential clients become aware of your brand and services for the first time. At this stage, your content should capture your target audience’s attention and pique their interest. For MSPs targeting other businesses, you should aim your content to educate and inform prospects about the benefits of outsourcing IT services. The content could include blog posts, whitepapers, or social media posts that address common issues your target audience faces, such as cybersecurity threats, generic IT challenges or the need for cost-effective IT solutions.
Additionally, TOFU content should highlight the expertise your company possesses. Content could involve informative videos, infographics, or case studies that demonstrate your successful track record in delivering IT support.
The main goal of TOFU content is to attract potential clients and establish your MSP as a trustworthy IT service. By providing valuable, unique and relevant content, you can nurture leads and guide them to the next stage of the marketing funnel. According to Smith.ai, 68% of businesses prioritise the top of the funnel, recognising its key role in building brand awareness and capturing a wider audience.
TOFU metrics include website traffic, page views, bounce rate, click-through rates, and leads generated.
Content to cover in the top of funnel stage
- Industry trends—Discuss the latest trends and challenges within your industry. Trends include cybersecurity threats, compliance regulations, cloud migration, remote work challenges, and more. Addressing these pain points positions your MSP as a trustworthy resource.
- Business benefits and solutions—Highlight the advantages of managed IT services and how you can help businesses improve efficiency, reduce costs, increase security and achieve business goals. Explain the different services you offer and how they address your target audience’s challenges.
- Educational content—Provide educational resources that cover topics related to your services. These could include cybersecurity best practices, cloud computing fundamentals, IT management, etc. Educational content positions your MSP as a trusted authority in the industry and is beneficial in MSP marketing.
- Thought leadership content—Publish articles, blog posts or podcasts that share your insights on industry trends, best practices and new technologies. Creating this type of content will help attract potential clients seeking expert advice. Developing thought leadership content is an effective IT marketing strategy for ensuring your company is the primary source of advice.
Middle of funnel (MOFU)
The middle of funnel (MOFU) is the stage where potential clients have shown interest in your services and are making an informed decision. At this point, your content should be focused on nurturing these leads and positioning yourself as the ideal solution to their needs.
MOFU content should educate prospects on your services’ features, benefits, and value proposition. This could include detailed service descriptions, competitor comparisons, testimonials and case studies from satisfied clients. MOFU content should also address common concerns potential clients might have when outsourcing IT services, such as pricing, service level agreements, or the onboarding process. Live demos, webinars, and Q&A sessions can all be good ways to address these concerns and provide transparency regarding your services.
The main goal of MOFU in IT marketing is to stand out against your competitors and prove why your services are the best fit for the prospect’s needs. By providing information and addressing pain points, you can build trust and credibility to guide leads towards purchasing. Effective MOFU content includes clear calls to action and encourages prospects to book consultations or request quotes.
MOFU metrics to measure include lead engagement, lead quality, conversion rate, sales cycle length and pipeline velocity.
Content to cover in the middle of funnel stage
- Service overviews—Provide in-depth descriptions of your services. This could include detailed information on your cybersecurity offerings or cloud migration services.
- Comparison—Create content that helps potential clients compare solutions and service providers. This could consist of comparison charts, evaluation checklists or guides outlining key factors to consider when outsourcing IT services.
- Technical deep dives—Webinars and demos exploring your offerings’ technical aspects can help less tech-savvy businesses understand what you’re offering. These deep dives also provide valuable insights for more technical audiences, positioning your MSP as the most knowledgeable compared to your competitors.
- Cost and ROI—Provide insights that help potential clients understand your costs and the potential return on investment (ROI) they will get from working with you.
- Client testimonials and reviews—Share testimonials, reviews and success stories highlighting the positive experiences you have provided current and past clients. Proof of success can be highly influential in MSP marketing.
Bottom of funnel (BOFU)
Bottom of funnel (BOFU) is the final stage of the marketing funnel, where clients are ready to make a purchasing decision. At this point, you should focus your content on converting these leads into paying clients. BOFU content should provide detailed information about pricing and the specific services your offerings include. This could include detailed service level agreements, pricing calculators and clear explanations of the onboarding process. BOFU content should also address prospects’ concerns, such as security measures, data protection policies or support and maintenance procedures. Case studies, endorsements and client success stories are also powerful tools to prove the value and reliability of your services.
The goal of BOFU content is to eliminate any remaining barriers to purchase and provide prospects with the final push they need to commit to your MSP services. This content should be highly targeted and personalised, addressing the specific needs and pain points. It should also include clear calls to action, encouraging prospects to book consultations or sign contracts.
BOFU metrics include sales revenue, conversion rate, Average Order Value (AOV), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), and win/loss ratio.
Content to cover in the bottom of funnel stage
- Pricing and contract details—Be transparent about your pricing models, services, contract terms and any additional fees.
- Onboarding process—Outline the onboarding process for new clients, including information about timelines, resources, training and support provided and any potential disruptions.
- Service level agreements and guarantees—This includes response times, uptime guarantees, and any other performance metrics your MSP adheres to. These help strengthen trust and confidence in your ability to deliver promising results.
- Security—Highlight any security and compliance certifications your MSP holds. Businesses will see your commitment to maintaining a high standard of security.
- Free consultations or assessments—Free consultations allow potential clients to understand their specific needs and how your service can address them. This can help overcome any remaining objections.
Leveraging CRM for automation
Leveraging a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to automate the marketing funnel can speed up the process and improve efficiency in MSP marketing. Integrate your CRM with your website and other lead generation sources to automatically capture and split up leads based on their information and behaviours. This allows you to organise and prioritise leads effectively. Next, rank your leads based on their engagement, demographics and other criteria. Set up automatic nurturing campaigns with personalised content to move them down the funnel. Using marketing automation tools to create and execute targeted and personalised email campaigns, social media campaigns, and other promotional activities is helpful during this stage.
Lead management automation
CRM systems automate the process of capturing and nurturing leads. You can set up workflows to automatically allocate leads to team members and send personalised email campaigns.
Sales process automation
Additionally, CRM systems allow you to automate your sales processes. You can create templates for quotes, proposals and contracts and automatically move them through approval workflows. This automation ensures consistency throughout your businesses, reduces the risk of errors and moves along the sales cycle, allowing your sales team to focus on building relationships and gaining new clients.
Marketing automation
Marketing automation is a benefit of leveraging the CRM system because it allows you to create and execute automated marketing campaigns, track client engagement and nurture leads through the marketing funnel. This will enable you to deliver personalised marketing messages at scale, improving client engagement and driving growth.
Customer service automation
Customer service automation in CRM systems can automate customer service processes, such as routing inquiries to the correct department, creating and assigning support tickets, and sending automated responses or status updates. This automation increases client satisfaction by ensuring fast and efficient delivery.
Data entry and reporting automation
CRM systems can automate data entry tasks by integrating with other systems or applications and capturing and syncing customer data from various channels. Additionally, they can create automated reports and dashboards, providing real-time insights into sales performance, client behaviour and other metrics. This automation significantly reduces the time it would take for you to do it manually.
Takeaways
Finally, marketing funnels play a vital role in a successful marketing strategy. They allow you to attract and nurture potential clients through various stages of the buyer’s journey. By leveraging digital marketing, you can effectively capture the attention of your target audience through education and guide them to the bottom of funnel.
As your prospects progress through the funnel, focus on showcasing your expertise and addressing the specific pain points and challenges they might face. Automated nurturing campaigns, personalised follow-ups and targeted marketing efforts can help keep prospects engaged and move them closer to purchasing your services.
Above all, a successful marketing funnel creates qualified leads and helps you build trust, establish authority as an MSP and develop long-term relationships with your clients. You can keep ahead of the competition by continuously monitoring and adapting your marketing strategy and achieve sustainable growth.
Are your MSP marketing efforts an afterthought? Book a call with xpandly.
Did you know that 79% of leads never convert into sales due to insufficient lead nurturing?
Don’t add to this statistic- outsource an IT marketing agency to help you.
At xpandly, our IT marketing team specialises in tailoring strategies for MSPs, ensuring they align perfectly with your goals, whether expanding your client base or boosting brand awareness. We understand that marketing your MSP can be daunting. However, with over 15 years of experience in technology environments, we understand the technologies and services you sell.
Still not convinced? We’ve overseen more than £30M of MSP revenue growth at some of the best-known names in the IT sector. Contact our team at xpandly to book a call and see how we can help you grow in the competitive IT industry.