MSP Marketing Tools

Here are the 10 most popular MSP marketing tools to help with your MSP startup and ongoing marketing efforts:

Website Analytics to Measure Progress

We assume you already have a website if you are on this lesson. So, as a next step, you need to measure your website’s progress. As Peter Drucker, the management guru, said, “What gets measured, gets improved”  Your MSP needs to track website performance so that you can see what channels are working and what channels and tactics need to be improved or possibly ceased.

The most used Analytics tool is Google Analytics; it is free, easy to install, and easy to use.

Google Analytics 4 is the latest version, be sure to use this one, as the previous versions are being sunset in 2023.  Google Analytics 4 offers insights into who’s visiting your site, which pages they’re viewing, how long they stayed on a page, and more. It also helps you track the effectiveness of other marketing tactics like email campaigns, social media, and paid ads.

Seota installs Google Analytics on every client website (if the website does not have it already).

SEO stands for search engine optimization & SEO is key to getting a high ROI from your MSP website. If you can’t afford to hire a professional SEO agency, there are a few things you can do for free that can help you improve your SEO.

SEO Plugins

Let’s start with the easy stuff. If you are on WordPress, there are two SEO plugins we recommend; you only need one or the other.

1. Yoast is the most widely used SEO plugin, it is easy to install, and the free version is all you need. We don’t recommend paying attention to the traffic light rating system they have, but the most useful function is creating unique titles and unique meta descriptions for each page. They have a first-time-use wizard that we highly recommend you go through and complete.
2. Rank Math is a favorite in the SEO industry among the people that do SEO for a living. It has many of the same basic functions as Yoast, without the bloat. As your SEO becomes more advanced or you hire an SEO firm, the tool will become more useful.

Caching Plugins

If you want to take your SEO a little further, we recommend adding a caching plugin – at Seota, we use WP Rocket, but there are free caching plugins that are very good. It is important to get the settings of your cache plugin correct, or you could break your website.

Here are 4 popular, free caching plugins:

1. WP-Optimize.
2. W3 Total Cache.
3. WP Super Cache.
4. Hummingbird

Google Search Console

Google search console gives you insights into your Google presence that may not show up in your Google Analytics. For instance, you can see how many times your website appeared in the search results, you can see what pages are indexed by Google, and you can troubleshoot indexing issues. The GSC also allows you to submit a sitemap, see if malware is infecting your site, and find out who links to what content on your website. Google Search Console is free to use.

Email marketing for MSP businesses is the best way to reach out to potential customers and drive them toward conversion. You can build your list in a number of ways, but using content marketing is the most effective way. Content Marketing will be discussed further later in this lesson. While email marketing can be easy to forget to do, there are some great free tools to help you with your email marketing efforts and most of them allow you to schedule emails so you can plan 3-4 emails at one time.

MailChimp is one the most popular email marketing tools for MSP businesses, and it is free for the first 500 contacts you have in the system. MailChimp has constantly been improving its product, and they have marketing automation features in the paid versions that can be integrated into your website.

MailChimp also allows you to create beautiful templates for newsletters and marketing campaigns. This is a great way to ensure your messages look professional so they don’t get lost in the crowd.

Social media is a great way to market your MSP business and reach potential customers. Setting up accounts on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn is free, and they can help you engage with people in your target audience.

We use Twitter to post helpful tips, promote blog posts, and share awards and accomplishments.  You can also use LinkedIn to build connections with potential customers and industry professionals.

Buffer is a social media tool that you can use, and it has a free version that you can use to grow your following. You can also post content on social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter, allowing you to show off your products or services and attract potential customers. All social media platforms are free to use unless you pay for advertising.

Content marketing is an effective way to reach potential customers and build relationships with people looking to learn more about a subject related to your services. As a good example, these courses are Content Marketing. We are attracting MSP clients to our site to learn about marketing with plans to build a digital relationship with them (you).

To be effective, content marketing should attempt to capture some contact information from the person consuming the content.

Your content can take many forms, including; blog posts, e-books, whitepapers, podcasts, webinars, and more.

In content marketing for MSP businesses, it’s important to create relevant and valuable content that resonates with your target audience. Your content should provide helpful information and be tailored to the specific challenges that your potential customers are facing.

To help you create engaging content, there is a free tool called buzzsumo.com, which allows you to research the type of content performing well in your industry. This will help you generate ideas for topics that will help you reach out to people that may need your services.

Word-of-mouth is one of the oldest forms of marketing, and it’s still highly effective for MSP businesses. You can use word-of-mouth to spread the word about your business and build a loyal customer base.

To maximize the effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing, you should give incentives to people who refer to your business. This could be a discount on their next purchase or perhaps even a gift card or cold hard cash.

You can also use social media as an effective way to spread the word about your MSP business. Ask customers to leave reviews and share posts about your services. This will help you reach out to new potential customers and increase your visibility in the digital world.

Word-of-Mouth is how most small businesses get started, and it is not scalable, but it is a great tool in your arsenal.

You can use paid advertising to reach potential customers who are in the market for your services. Paid ads are great for targeting specific demographics and reaching new audiences. Google Ads and Facebook Ads are two of the most popular platforms for advertising your MSP business.

Google Ads come in a few flavors, Search Ads and Display Ads. Search ads are a great way to get in front of people who are actively searching for a service you are offering. Search Ads, often called PPC ads, can get very expensive, so we recommend you start with very targeted terms and geographic areas. Display ads can also be used in a number of ways to get in front of small business owners, law firms, doctors, or other niches you are targeting.

Facebook Ads allow you to target people based on their interests, location, demographics, and more. This is an effective way to reach out to people who may be interested in your services. Facebook ads tend to be less expensive the Google Ads but not as effective for B2B marketing. We typically use FB ads for retargeting people that have already visited your website.

LinkedIn ads can be effective, but we don’t allocate much budget or time to LinkedIn ad spend. The ROI has been too low on the platform as it has shifted in the way people use it. In our opinion, the platform has degraded to primarily people looking for jobs and people pitching services.

Influencer marketing is an effective way to reach out to potential customers and build relationships with them. Influencers are people who have large followings on social media and can help you spread the word about your MSP business.

You can use influencer marketing to get more organic traffic, increase brand visibility, and engage in meaningful conversations with your target audience. To find influencers in your industry, you can use a tool like BuzzSumo to search for relevant keywords and topics. Great influencers for you to use would be anyone that talks specifically to your target audience. For most MSPs, that would be podcasts, blogs, and social media groups aimed at business owners, lawyers, doctors, COOs, and whomever else you have defined as a target niche.

Marketing an MSP business can be challenging, but with the right strategies and tools, you can reach out to potential customers and grow your business. You want to be sure to use a mix of content marketing, word-of-mouth, paid to advertise, and influencer marketing to achieve the best results.

With the right strategies in place, you can build a loyal customer base and increase your revenue.