As an MSP company, you’ve got a business model that requires a few different areas of focus for best results. Here, we’ll look specifically into traffic. Inbound traffic refers to sales opportunities related to those who contact your MSP for one reason or another. Outbound traffic is the sort of marketing you engage in proactively to engage target demographics.
Which is Better?
This is a tough question. Inbound traffic tends to be ideal, because if someone is emailing you, or calling your company, that means they’re more likely to need the products or services you provide and have an interest to converting their operation such that it applies what your MSP company does. Inbound interactions do tend to be easier, because half the work is done for you. But how much inbound traffic are you getting? Usually, you’re not going to have a lot until you’ve reached a certain prominence in the demographic market you’re courting.
So starting out, it’s a bad idea to lean exclusively on inbound marketing. However, outbound marketing is less likely to produce conversions. It can, and it will–if you’re diligent about it. The thing is, you’re going to have a lot lower rate of conversion, meaning a different sort of ROI.
Return On Investment is something you definitely need to take into account as you go about managing marketing campaigns. If you’re getting $100k in business, but spending $120k in marketing, you’ve lost $20k. That can be acceptable, if there’s a statistical trend gradually increasing your cashflow such that, eventually, it overcomes investment cost. However, there’s a time component to factor in as well. It’s likely you’ll be slightly over-extended in terms of loans and debt starting out, but leaning into that reality perpetually will hamper your company.
Aspects of Inbound and Outbound Marketing from Which to Develop Strategies
Outbound traffic has a few ideal applications:
- Raising Awareness About New Services
- Raising Awareness About New Companies
- Informing Clientele Pertaining to Sudden Legal Changes
- Distributing Information to Facilitate Increased Demographic Awareness
Inbound traffic has a few different qualities:
- Customer Service Calls Can be Leveraged Into Sales
- Inbound Traffic Commonly Involves Prospects Seeking Services
- Calls for Help or Technical Support Tend to be of the Inbound Variety
- Inbound Callers Are More Likely to Have Made a Decision Already
Gather marketing personnel to examine operational needs, prerogatives, and future changes. Have you added new services recently? Do your customers know? If they don’t, that’s a great opportunity for outbound marketing.
Also, you can use the hybrid approach. For example, you might have an outbound campaign designed to encourage existing clients into contacting you to upgrade in agreement with said campaign.
Finding Your Marketing Balance
As an MSP company, you’ll have to maintain cash and customer flow. There are many ways to do this, a good first step is delineating outbound marketing approaches from inbound approaches and determining where a combined strategy might make sense.
