From the rise of AI to the increase in cyber attacks and the shift to hybrid offices, dynamic forces are driving stronger demand for managed services. The MSP market has never been more vast and vibrant than now. Many firms have changed significantly in the span of just a few years as technology plays an ever-bigger role in the world economy.
This change takes multiple forms. It’s obvious in some cases and more subtle in others. As a result, some firms have evolved even more than they realize, in ways such as:
- Acquisitions: Mergers and acquisitions have changed the size and strategy of the company resulting in multiple brands and marketing strategies coalescing under one umbrella.
- New Services: You have added or expanded service lines without making a major push to publicize those services to current and/or prospective clients.
- Expanding Geographies: The firm launches operations in a new city, state, or region where your name and brand are not well known.
- New Persona Targets: You are selling to new personas like larger companies or more senior decision-makers, making your old method of selling less effective.
- New Technology Partners: You work with new technology partners or offer new technology from old partners, but haven’t fully exploited the new opportunities.
- Market & Technology Changes: Shifts in your market and tech focus have left your firm less relevant as an IT services provider than it was before, and you are playing catch up.
- Stagnating Growth: What worked for decades is no longer bearing fruit and ‘something needs to change’.
- Competitor Maturation: New competition from MSP and IT startups or consolidation among existing players changes the competitive market for your company.
- Client Feedback: Feedback improves or declines, providing strong proof your firm is doing something differently. If feedback is positive, ask yourself: Are you capitalizing on the new indicators? If it’s negative: How are you responding strategically to required shifts?
Any one of these situations merits a fresh strategic review and likely a corresponding rework or update of your brand, positioning, and MSP marketing strategy. What you currently have in place may not adequately represent all the technology, services, and value you offer, or maximize the growth that is waiting around the corner. By making savvy marketing updates you can not only reach more of your target clients but build even further on your recent success.
Dealing with several of these situations at once, as is the case at some MSPs, may necessitate a total transformation where you scrap the current branding and marketing and build something new from scratch. But how do you know when to make such a major move? And how do you build on what is already working instead of starting from square one?
Transformation the Right Way
On any scale, changing how your company presents itself to clients takes caution in the IT services space. You risk alienating your current customers and confusing your new targets by awkwardly integrating old and new approaches. Fresh takes (or total transformations) on brand, positioning, and marketing can reinvigorate an MSP and set the table for sustained success—but you need to get it just right.
That process looks different for everyone. MSPs can’t follow instructions for where, when and how to make changes. What you can do is avoid the mistakes of others by learning what to expect from the process.
Updating the Past to the Future
Some MSPs just need to tweak their marketing strategy or boost a still-valuable brand. Others need to go as far as changing their name, logo, and core messaging because the long-term gains outweigh the short-term costs and complexity. Start by figuring out where you fall on that spectrum. And no matter what changes you intend to make, watch out for common pitfalls. Here’s our advice.
1. Start With a Strategic Audit
Audit your MSP marketing strategy, positioning, and brand to understand what you are doing internally and what that looks from the outside. The answers might seem obvious, but daily responsibilities can distract from small, accumulated business changes, leaving decision-makers with a biased perspective. Take the time to replace assumptions and estimates with thorough data driven auditing, and consider getting a third-party involved to ensure the audit is objective and comprehensive.
2. Pick Your Strategic Priorities
You need to pinpoint where, how, and to what extent the current branding, marketing, or positioning fails to adequately encapsulate the business. Rank each issue based on the size of the deficiency and its strategic importance. Then use those rankings to prioritize which changes to make immediately, which to delay until later, and whether anything can be ignored or eliminated.
3. Commit to Change
It takes time and resources along with a balance between strategy and creativity to successfully change branding or marketing. Plus, people can be defensive about what has worked in the past. For all these reasons, change efforts can run out of steam or fail to launch in the first place, leaving you no better than before. Help everyone understand why and how the changes are necessary—then commit to them fully.
4. Get Organized
MSPs know implementation is everything, even with branding, positioning, and marketing. There’s no going back once the implementation process begins, and even great concepts can fail in execution. Keep your changes on track by organizing everything and everyone into a comprehensive plan with dates, goals, metrics, and as many details as possible. Take this slowly rather than racing to put fast but flawed changes in place.
The Critical Role of Marketing
Who determines if a business and its brand have fallen out of sync? Who makes the call on whether to update the marketing and positioning or scrap everything and start fresh? Major decisions like these require input and sign-off from executive leadership—but the C-Suite doesn’t always have the best perspective on the problem or the solution.
Strategic marketers are the best resources for creating and implementing a big change since they operate at the literal intersection of business strategy and marketing strategy. They can qualify and quantify the gaps between the two. And whether you utilize your in-house team or have them work with an experienced third-party, they can close those gaps as quickly and completely as possible. Consider them essential.
About the Author
Natalie Nathanson is the Founder & CEO of Magnetude Consulting, a B2B marketing firm that pioneered the fractional marketing approach for small to medium tech-related businesses in 2012. She has advised and mentored over 150 B2B tech companies, helping companies shape their go-to-market and revenue functions, their marketing strategies, and growth plans. Prior to founding Magnetude, Natalie led the global IT marketing team at Forrester, and has served in a range of other in-house marketing roles at successful tech firms. Natalie speaks at industry events on a range of company growth topics, hosts a podcast on business transformation, and is a regular contributor to Forbes and other industry publications.
