Transcript
My name is Stephanie Hammond. I'm part of the Head Nerds team here at Enable. I'm the head nerd that focuses on all things sales and marketing related. The goal of these coaching videos is really to provide you with bite-sized sales and marketing advice and guidance that you can immediately incorporate into your MSP. That will hopefully pay off with either new leads or new signed contract customers at the end of the day. This time around, I'm in the middle of now developing and delivering a new multi-part training series focused on helping MSPs build their own marketing operating system. And I'm being joined by MSP industry marketing experts, Mark Kopman, Dave Sutton from Wingman. So thank you again, gentlemen, for joining me on episode number two, very happy to have you here. Nice to be back, Stephanie. Yeah, so we're developing new training content because the goal for both of us, the three of us, is to really help demystify and simplify that world of marketing for MSPs because we're still working with MSPs where marketing is a real struggle and a real challenge for them. And they're struggling and puzzled with how to convert those leads and those prospects into signed contracts at the end of the day. So in today's episode, we are going to be starting kind of that deep dive into each of the different jigsaw puzzles that MSPs really need to focus on to help them get real success and real traction when it comes to their marketing efforts. And so that first puzzle piece, and let me just bring up our puzzle piece so everybody can see what we're going to be talking about. So there we go. Everybody can see that. So the first puzzle piece that we're going to be speaking about in today's episode is how to get your MSP found by potential prospects and how to create that awareness, how to drive that visibility of your MSP in the marketplace, because that does seem to be one of the biggest challenges I think that MSPs face when it comes to their struggles with new customer acquisition is really how do you get yourselves found? So Dave, Mark, let's talk about that today. So what does being found mean in the context of MSP marketing? I'm going to start. There's a thing I just want to mention, which is fresh in my mind, which actually happened to us just this morning. And I know Dave's going to bring a quick analogy in, but it's all well and good. In the first episode, we talked about foundations, getting that website built, getting that strategy set. And we unfortunately see a good number of people that will do all that and then do nothing else. And so it is literally like building a shop, dressing the window, paying your rent for the next 12 months and sitting there and waiting. And that is a problem. So in order for this complete model to work, you have to be doing all those things in that jigsaw. And this, of course, is the first one is all about getting found. So I'm going to let you extend the analogy. I love an analogy. And a great way to explain this is the shopfront that Mark mentioned. You might have a shiny website, whether it's a brand new one or it's an old one that you've done some work to. You've worked on that message. You've got an appealing call to action. But what value does that have if no one can find it? That shopfront, the way SEO works, we all know how difficult it is, will typically be in a place where you're down a dark alleyway somewhere. People will not see your website because there is no footfall down that dark alleyway. So what we have to do is work to relocate that storefront to the main street where you're going to have a lot more natural footfall by producing content, optimizing the website, working on SEO and more recently, GEO, as they call it, Generative Engine Optimization, which is the AI-based search, getting content to feed those engines that will allow your website to move up the rankings, be discovered locally for both those high intent keywords. You want traffic to find you when they're in a time of need. There's nothing like a disaster for an MSP to win new business from a customer that's on their knees. They've had a cyber attack or their incumbent MSPs let them down. They jumped on Google to look for a local firm. You want them to find you. Your website, of course, has got to say the right things, but they've got to find you to start that conversation. So work on that SEO, work on that visibility. But it stretches beyond the website as well, doesn't it, Mark? It's about that online presence of the business. Yeah, I think so. And I think that there are so many myths, and this isn't going to be a full SEO episode, Stephanie, as we know, but a couple of thoughts, because we see still, you know, as we record this in 2025, I still see people getting things wrong and misunderstanding. And that is terms like managed service provider. We all know what that means, because we are all ensconced in the industry. But your prospects will not necessarily understand that term. It will not be at the forefront of their mind when they're looking for help. What are they most likely to be looking for? We still see this every single day of the week, IT support, city name, IT support near me, which is the equivalent, IT services also. There's pretty much nobody looking for a managed services provider, and there will be some exceptions to that. But typically, that phrase, that acronym shouldn't really appear on your website at all. Maybe once you've introduced the concept and you actually explain and educate people what it means, but don't be leading with those sorts of headlines. So yes, your online presence is, I guess it's just, it's all encompassing. If you can leave lots and lots of little footprints around the internet, and look, let's be really specific here. What are we doing right now as Wingman? We're leaving a footprint on the internet with you, Stephanie and Enable here on YouTube. It's got nothing to do with our website, but we're leaving a footprint, which means people might find us and people therefore one day may come and have a conversation with us as a result of this. So think laterally. It's not just about the property that you own. Think about all the other channels around the edge as well. Yeah. And importantly, to add to that, it's not just the conversation that I mentioned that the website should start from those that are looking right now. But importantly, Stephanie picked up on the previous episode, intent is a key component in any marketing engine now, because people do so much of their research before they're prepared to engage in the buying cycle. Years ago, it was typical that you would have to start a conversation with a salesperson to learn anything about a product or service, and people were prepared to go through that often painful journey to be sold to, but no one likes to be sold to anymore. People want to do their homework, and with AI, with websites now, it's so easy for people to go online, type in a few words, read websites, or have the AI do the work for them in going out and searching and presenting them with the best option that's tailored for them. So what can you do with that? What does intent mean? Well, it means that you can track people that have visited your website, that have clicked on emails, or spent time trawling through pages on your site, and by using a myriad of tools, you can identify who those organizations are. Not often the contacts, that's possibly pushing it a little bit around the data privacy laws around the world, but if you can identify the organization, you can spot someone that is potentially in the market. Maybe not right now, but they might be in the short to medium term. So what should you do with that? You should use that data to follow up with those organizations, and that brings us on to our other puzzle pieces, to remarket to those prospects, and we've seen many MSP clients of ours have had success from a lukewarm phone call, I'm going to call it, rather than a cold call, of you notice an organization on your website, you maybe drop them an email, you maybe pick up the phone and speak to them, and say, hey, we've noticed you've been on our website, are you looking around for help right now? Are you looking for a new IT support provider? And it's amazing the conversations that can come from that, and start that conversation that otherwise wouldn't have happened because they didn't fill in a contact form, they didn't complete a call to action. Yeah, perfect. Now, two things that you had mentioned there, gentlemen. First was talking about kind of AI, you know, that's becoming really big, you know, in all facets of an MSP's business. But from a marketing perspective, how can MSPs leverage AI to help them improve their overall visibility in the marketplace, to help them get found by prospects? By telling stories, by being unique, by describing the ways that you've been helping customers and the experiences that you've been creating. If you continue to just produce bland AI-based content, AI isn't going to particularly pick up on it. So the concept of zero-click search is becoming a real thing now, and I don't know the exact statistic at the minute, but it's increasing on almost an hourly basis. And what that simply means is people are not leaving the search engines or the AI engines, let's be honest. And so what you need to be doing, if you continue to create that content and tell those stories, focusing on the key phrases still that you want to be found for, then over time, the various engines, whether it be search or AI, will be picking up on those stories. And the hope would be, we've seen this ourselves, is that those snippets at the top, which we're now becoming very familiar with, are actually generated from your website. So the importance of the website isn't just there as the shop window for people to come and check you out, which is hugely important, don't get me wrong. But it's also there for the AI engines and the search engines to extract and scrape that content, to use it to best present answers to their audiences. So that's my take on it, Dave, you may have a slightly different. Yeah, no, exactly the same, really. Authority is a big part of it. And it sounds kind of weird, but if you can write content that says you are the expert in a particular subject matter, then often it will read that you are the expert, but it will get smarter and smarter. We have had clients that have had success through content that we've generated meeting SEO best practice that has, as a byproduct, therefore met what AI needs, because it can only read what already exists. It can only read what's on the internet. So you need to be telling it that you are the subject matter expert in a particular field. You need to have answers to those open questions. And even long tail searches now, people doing their homework, they're typing in more keywords to get specific answers to their specific questions. So as Mark said, unique content that answers those problems to get that holy grail of becoming cited as a resource within Gemini or ChatGPT or wherever it might be. And the last thing I'll say on this, if we're allowed to give homework in these sessions, Stephanie, I'm going to give some homework right now. And that is not until this is finished, of course. But if you're watching this and you run an MSP, pull out your favorite AI tool, whether it be GPT or whatever, and actually put a query in for recommend me an IT support business in Denver, which isn't perhaps a giant corporate. It may have, I don't know, 20, 30 people in. And they specialize in pharmaceutical industry or whatever it may be. Be really specific. And obviously, those specifics need to be about your business. And see if you are recommended. And you can go the other end and just say, recommend me an IT support business in Denver and see what comes up. But I think. Top five, top 10. Yeah, but I think actually going, you know, the more detailed you make these queries, as we know, the better the responses come back. So actually think like a prospect would think, you know, going back to target market we talked about in a previous session, and see if you're coming up in those recommendations. And if you're not, think about the content that's on your site, because that's the reason that you're not being recommended. Yeah. And so when we talk about content, I know we're going to talk about this in some other puzzle pieces, but just kind of a preview of what's to come. What kind of content should MSPs really be creating to help improve their chances of being found and improve their visibility? I think it's a combination between content with authority on, you know, what is a good MSP. Importantly, thinking about the keywords that you use, talking about, you know, IT support and IT services, not necessarily MSP, to help you with that differentiation of, you know, a good provider should be doing X. Here's what your provider isn't doing for you. So it feels relatively generic in terms of answering some of those, you know, buyer type questions. But if you don't have that content on your website, how can search and AI read that you do things differently, that you've given content that's a synopsis of the industry? So think about some of that stuff around best practices and principles of what you adopt within your business to differentiate your service delivery. But also, importantly, beyond that, look at the business problems that you solve. And this is part of the foundation exercise that you should do when you consider your audience, is to really think about those top 5, 10, 15 goals and challenges that your customers have. And what are they likely to go online and search for assistance for? What regulations do they have to comply with? What likely workflows and processes do they have within their business? And therefore, the interactions with technology that they're likely to have. And where would those problems then stem from? You know, if you're serving real estate, for example, there's probably 5 or 10 key pieces of software that that market would ever use, ever. And you probably know what those 5 or 10 pieces of software are if you specialize in that market. So therefore, you can talk about them. You can talk about the pitfalls, talk about the problems that they have and how to address those through your expertise that you've built over a number of years. And that, once again, my final word on this is, you know, that's all about proving you are expert in the vertical you're looking to serve. Now, many people won't want to be focused on a specific vertical. But the way I'll wrap this up is think about us as an agency. And there are hundreds of thousands of agencies out there. But there are only a handful that work in this particular area. And so we know where to hang out. We know the sort of content to write. So on our blog, you'll find all sorts of content around MSP stuff in general. It goes beyond just pure marketing because we know that's what people are looking for. They're looking for help outside of the sphere. So I think think laterally about the content you create. It doesn't have to all be about IT support. In fact, it shouldn't be because that, frankly, gets a bit dull. But if you can think about the stuff around the edge, you just never know what might happen. Absolutely. Thinking about all the other things, because MSPs are brilliant. You guys are problem solvers. And thinking about what Dave said, all the problems that MSPs solve on a daily basis. And I think it's just being cognizant of really kind of thinking about that and writing it down and then using that to build content around and getting it out there. Because as you said, Mark, you are what you are online. And so if I'm looking for a new MSP because I am not impressed with who I'm using today, I'm going to start doing my research. I think it's like 80% by the time somebody reaches out to you, they're 80% of the way through their buying decision because of all the research they've been able to do online. So if they can't find anything about you, but they can read and find a whole lot about your competitor, who do you think they're going to reach out to? And so I think it's a great wrap up there. So again, thank you, gentlemen, for helping to crystallize for the MSPs we're watching today what it means to be found and the tasks and the activities that MSPs need to really focus on to drive visibility of their MSP in the marketplace. In our next episode, we're going to be moving on to discussing the second jigsaw puzzle piece that makes up an MSP's marketing operating system. And that is how to be nurturing. How do you follow up on that intent data that Dave talked about, leveraging drip campaigns, telemarketing research so that you can convert those leads that you've generated into hopefully real sales opportunities for your MSP. So that's what we're going to be talking about. Hope you can join us on our next installment of Building Your MSP's Marketing Operating System on Tech it to the Bank.
