Building Your MSP Marketing Plan: How to Set Goals

Marketing gets a bit more mystifying every year. On the plus side, digital marketing has made it easier than ever to market very specifically to the people you want to reach. On the not-so-great side, there are so many options it’s a bit overwhelming. Do you advertise on Reddit? LinkedIn? Google? Facebook? Is your email list bring in leads? Are those leads converting to sales?

So many questions.

The best way to answer those questions is to have clear MSP marketing plan goals. Here’s a simple roadmap to setting effective marketing goals.

Step 1: Start With Your Business Goals

What are the growth goals for your MSP? It’s easy to say generate more revenue, but how is your organization planning to do that? Setting marketing goals without clear business goals is putting the proverbial cart before the horse. Your MSP marketing plan goals should align with and directly support your business goals.

For example, if your MSP is planning to expand its cybersecurity options and up-sell current clients, your marketing goals shouldn’t exclusively focus on bringing in new leads (although new leads should always be a part of the big picture).

Step 2: You Are Here

Before you decide where you’re going, you need to know where you are. How are your current marketing efforts going? Look at how you’ve on-boarded your recent clients—how did they find you? Other measurements to consider include:

• How many leads were converted to new clients?
• How much did it cost for you to bring in each client?
• How many of your website visitors converted to leads?

Setting marketing goals without knowing exactly where you are now is like trying to lower your blood pressure without taking it first. You need to know where you are.

Step 3: Set SMART Goals

It’s an acronym that’s been tossed around a lot, and for good reason. SMART goals ensure your goals are:

• Specific—How many clients do you want to bring in? How much revenue?
• Measurable—What KPIs will you be tracking to see if you’re on track?
• Attainable—Your goals should be challenging, but not impossible.
• Realistic—It’s better to set a few goals and develop a solid plan for each than try to do everything all at once.
• Time-bound—When do you want to achieve your goal?

Set a few clear goals that make sense in light of where you are and where your business is going.

Step 4: Measure Progress

We’ve all set goals and failed to meet them, personally and professionally (see: New Year’s resolutions). Set aside time weekly or monthly to track your progress toward your marketing goals. If you aren’t meeting a goal, dig into why and adjust accordingly. No progress will be made if you just set a goal and hope for the best; you need to measure how you’re progressing toward your MSP marketing plan goals.

Ready to set specific marketing goals? Not sure how to get started? Check out our Building Your MSP’s Marketing Team series, which is full of tips for developing a clear marketing plan that will move your business forward.