How to Find New Clients for Your MSP/IT Firm for Under $10,000/month

As your managed services or IT firm continues to grow, so will your need for new clients. There are a lot of different strategies that you can implement to help attract new business, but you should choose the tactics that create a comprehensive solution to get the most out of your investment. With a bigger marketing budget comes bigger opportunities for client acquisition and development, and that’s something you need to embrace if you’re going to continue to scale up in your industry and outpace the competition. 

Searching for new clients can seem like a never-ending quest. However, when you set up solid campaigns for outreach and lead generation, you will be able to spend less time searching and more time taking care of business, knowing that your client acquisition efforts are doing their job. Which efforts should you choose? You’ll have to consider the options and see what’s going to work best for your firm, but here are five tactics that should be on everyone’s list. 

Tactic #1: Build your professional network 

Cost: Free 

Reputation is everything. If your MSP or IT firm doesn’t have a strong reputation in the industry, it’s not going to matter what else you do to attract clients. Therefore, your first step needs to be to make sure that your professional network is in order and that you’re utilizing it to build brand awareness and get your firm noticed. Connect to other industry businesses, build backlinks with related companies, and do what you can to position your business as an authority within your industry. 

Professional networking gives you the chance to show that you’re worthy of a good ranking because other businesses trust you. That’s the kind of stuff that Google relies on to rank websites these days, and it’s what people will use to determine whether they want to work with you or not. Build your reputation and the rest will come. 

Tactic #2: Get reviews and referrals 

Cost: Free, unless you offer incentives 

People talk, there are no two ways about it. If you want to make sure that people are talking about your managed services firm in a good way, you should take advantage of reviews and referrals. Word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most effective options for businesses from all industries and of all sizes. People like to know that others have had a positive experience before they choose to work with a business. 

You can create a referral program or simply ask people to leave a review of your business if they were satisfied with your service. Make sure that you diversify here—get reviews for your website, Google, Yelp, and other places online so that you can build your reputation with a variety of review sources. And if you happen to find negative feedback, address it immediately so that it doesn’t hurt your reputation too much. 

Tactic #3: Perform an SEO audit 

Cost: $250-$5,000

When is the last time you optimized your website or checked to see how your optimization efforts were doing? An SEO audit done by a professional will allow you to improve your website and off-page content so that you can get the search engine results page (SERP) rankings that you deserve. There are several steps involved in a proper SEO audit and it involves a lot of technical details, which is why it’s best left to the professionals. 

Once an SEO audit is complete, you will get to see where your optimization efforts are most effective and where they could use a little help. It might also point you toward keywords that are newly available or popular so that you can add content related to them to enhance your rankings and more. It guarantees that your online presence is as optimized as it can be, which will help drive business and attract new clients. 

Tactic #4: Engage with clients on social media 

Cost: Free

You can’t ignore social media any longer—if you’re not already engaged and fully involved with a robust social media strategy, you need to be. Today’s consumers search for businesses in different ways. They like to see companies they work with on social media because that’s where they spend a lot of their time. And it’s about more than just marketing your business there. Get engaged in conversations. Share information and stories. Every once in a while, have some fun with your followers. 

Your social media engagement will help you improve your client intake, as well as build your professional reputation. It can also give you another platform where you can position your MSP or IT firm as an authority within your industry, helping you further outpace the competition. You can use just about all the social networks for different things—

• Create informational videos on YouTube
• Share industry news on LinkedIn
• Use Facebook to share client success stories 
• Tweet the latest IT industry news to your followers
• Etc. 

And as a bonus, if you’re not that savvy on social media yourself, you can always hire an expert to consult with or help you set up your social media strategies in the first place. 

Tactic #5: Outsource to save time and resources 

Cost: $250-$5,000 

Outsourcing is a great option for businesses of all sizes. There are so many different services and tasks that you can outsource, and some companies even choose to go this route with entire positions to save money. Of course, even just partnering with a company that can handle your admin and communications needs can go a lot further than you might have anticipated. 

For example, when you choose to work with the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai, you’ll have a dedicated team to assist with outreach campaigns, while also acting as your 24/7 answering service to ensure you never miss an opportunity. Plus, we can even offer assistance with appointment scheduling, lead screening and intake, and live website chat, among other things—the real question is, what can we do for you?

To answer that question, or to get more information, schedule a consultation or reach out to us at hello@smith.ai. 

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