An MSP company needs to determine what its place is in the local IT “ecology” of local markets. Where do you outshine competitors? Where are you lacking? What can you offer that other MSPs can’t?
Effectively Positioning Your MSP for Success
Once you know these things, you’ll be able to maximize your position locally, and so have the ability to effectively expand. A few tips that direction include the following strategies:
A Positioning Statement Is Like a Mission Statement–Get One
Your positioning statement is designed to inform your company and additionally serve your customers. What do you do better than competitors? How do you do it? How will you continue to do it? Why are you doing it? Figure out the answers and apply them to your marketing outreach efforts.
Design a Slogan to Reflect and Expand Upon Your Positioning Statement
Your MSP company slogan should in some way be related to your -positioning statement. Nike’s slogan is “just do it”, and then they’ve got the “logo”–the check mark; because you “check” something off the “extreme” list.
Your slogan should emphasize the sort of things your IT company does for your local market. This not only positions your company for success, it effectively communicates to your customers the sort of things you do, so it “calibrates”, if you will, their expectations.
Know Where You Are Now, Determine Competitor Impact, Plan Accordingly
Now, though ambition has its positive aspects, you don’t want a mission statement that outpaces your ability. A small-town MSP shouldn’t have as its mission statement something like: “the decentralization of worldwide IT systems”.
Sure, you might be able to effect such an outcome, but it’s not likely. More realistically, you want to outpace local competitors where you offer superior solutions, then plan around that. Understand your competitors.
Find What Makes You Unique, Develop a Value Proposition, Test Your Efforts
Whatever makes your business unique should be focused on, and a value proposition designed from that uniqueness in conjunction with your mission statement and slogan–this will be used to help prospective customers convert. Part of testing will involve developing relevant KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) through consultation and other means.
Optimizing Local Economic Impact Through Proper Positioning
You need to strategically position your MSP company in your local market for best results. Having a positioning statement and a slogan helps a lot, as does understanding your local competitors, your unique value, and plans built around these items. Lastly, be sure you test your positioning strategy using metrics and consultation to determine its overall efficacy. Such an approach should do much to help you secure a profitable niche in your local market.
