Customer demand for managed service providers is growing exponentially around the world, creating new opportunities for MSPs to increase their service offerings and win more clients. Your MSP might indeed have the best technologies and services on the market, but unless you invest in marketing strategies and tactics, the world may never find out about it.
However, marketing for MSPs is a common headache, whether due to a lack of expertise or a crowded market to compete in. Establishing your MSP as a valued partner to clients is vital to ensuring the longevity of your business, with huge benefits as the MSP market is expected to reach $356.24 billion by 2025 (up from $186 billion in 2019).
So what is it about your MSP business that motivates customers to choose your company over the alternatives available to them?
Simple: your core value proposition.
Social media marketing and MSP websites are great components of a marketing strategy but they aren’t effective without a value proposition. A compelling and strong value proposition is one of the most crucial parts of your MSP marketing strategy and can boost your conversion rate as well as improve your sales and marketing initiatives across a variety of platforms. It informs prospective clients why they should work with you instead of your rivals, and it makes the benefits of your products or services obvious from the start.
So what makes an outstanding core value proposition and how do you create one that gets your business out in front of the competition?
What is the purpose of a value proposition?
First, what is a value proposition and why does your MSP need one? Ask yourself – why should someone hire your MSP? That’s what a value proposition answers. It should convince potential customers that your MSP services or products will provide more value than competitor companies’ offerings.
You know your company is great, but how do your potential clients understand what makes it unique? An effective value proposition is the first thing consumers consider when they are looking at MSPs they might do business with. Since you only have about 15 seconds to catch the attention of web visitors, an effective value proposition is key to your marketing campaign.
A unique value proposition should meet three criteria:
- Be clear about the specific features and benefits your target customer will get from doing business with you
- Explain how your business services or products will solve your target customers’ problems and improve their life
- Differentiate to your target audience why they should do business with you instead of your competition.
Using brand slogans, marketing jargon, or your company position statement is not the same thing as a core value proposition.
What are the top characteristics of a great value proposition?
Instead of focusing on your business product or its features, your value proposition should emphasise the unique strengths your MSP provides and should address the pain points your target audience has and how your brand can improve their lives.
But first, you need to know who your target audience is. These demographics include the type of customer, verticals, company size, and even the specific buyer within the company. Having a clear idea of who your target audience is will ensure marketing tactics are efficient and lead generation is optimised within potential and existing customers.
When looking at your target demographics, consider:
- What verticals or industry sectors is your target audience in, such as finance, health, accounting, etc?
- What is the size of your target customer’s business?
- What are the pain points of your target audience and how can you solve them? For example, cloud migrations, data backup and recovery, or infrastructure support.
- Who is the person within your target company you need to reach, such as the CEO, CFO, ITM or OPs Manager?
Answering these questions helps to build profiles of your ideal customer, so you can create specific content that is relevant to prospects and guides them through the buyer’s journey.
Key elements of a core value proposition
When you start to craft a value proposition, it is important to ensure your potential customers can see themselves there. Use the words of your current customers to attract future clients – if you were writing a case study and interviewing your customers, how would they describe your MSP business? Why do they choose to support your company? How does it improve their lives?
Importantly, if your value proposition isn’t crystal clear and just confuses potential customers, then you need to rethink it. You should focus on the specific benefits and value of your business, and identify the pain points your value proposition can solve for potential customers to make an impression.
An effective value proposition communicates the value of your product or service’s benefits in a quick, easy-to-digest format for your customers. Keep your value proposition concise. Every word used should improve clarity or make your key selling point more compelling. If you find yourself using hype or jargon, take that as a sign your value proposition isn’t well defined.
When writing a successful core value proposition, these key characteristics should be aimed for:
- It is based on a solid business model.
- It hones in on fewer pain relievers and gain creators, but develops them extensively.
- It targets the outcomes that many customers want, or a small number are happy to pay well to benefit from.
- It aligns with the way your customers measure success.
- It prioritises your customers’ most urgent, severe, and relevant issues.
- It differentiates your business from your competition in a unique way.
- It specifically reaches customers where they are in digital formats that are accessible and instantaneous.
- Can perform better than your competition in at least one aspect.
- Is unique and distinctive, creating a standout element that is difficult to copy.
- Is applicable and relevant, addressing unsatisfied jobs, pains, and gains.
Create a value proposition that succeeds
Creating a strong value proposition is a marketing exercise that many businesses struggle with because they can’t easily identify one or aren’t able to clearly express what their value proposition is. Every company believes its services and product is valuable but it can be challenging to communicate that value to the wider world to give your business an edge.
Your value proposition is a promise to potential customers, so it is vital to perfect it and ensure it pays off. The IT marketing specialists at LeftLeads can help you to identify the unique features and benefits of your MSP business and the problems you solve for potential customers, delivering a strong core value proposition that informs your marketing strategy and content marketing, and puts you ahead of your competition.
We’re not like other marketing agencies because we specialise in MSPs, IT, and cyber security and have the inside goods on attracting the right people to your business by building trust and authority. Get in touch with the marketing specialists at LeftLeads today and get more results from your marketing budget.
