The 7 MSP marketing foundations that make you untouchable

Last week Laura Johns was interviewing me for her newly rebranded Get More MSP Leads podcast. And she asked a really big question.

It was something along the lines of: with everything changing so fast... AI, AEO, new platforms, new tools... what marketing should MSPs actually be focused on?

My answer was the same as it always is. The foundations.

Because here’s the thing. Most MSPs are technically solid. Great PSA, great RMM, great tech stack. From a technology point of view, the foundations are in place.

But from a marketing point of view? Most MSPs are like a house sitting on top of the soil waiting for a tornado to come along and blow it away (because they don't have the foundations anchoring them to the ground... does that analogy make sense to you?)

Well, the tornado is already here. AI is changing how prospects find and evaluate MSPs right now, TODAY. And that makes it more important than ever that your MSP has the foundations in place.

Here are the seven foundations I believe every MSP needs.

1) Your Ideal Client Profile (ICP)

This isn’t a wishlist. “We want businesses with 20 users” is not an ICP. That’s just a size preference.

A real ICP is about behaviours.

• How does this type of client treat their technology?
• What’s their attitude towards paying for proper IT?
• Are they looking for a strategic partner or just someone cheap to fix their computers when they break?

We all know there’s a profit difference between those two types of client. Your ICP helps you find more of the first type and avoid the second.

Without a clear ICP, everything else is directionless. It’s the first thing to get right.

2) Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Most MSPs look identical to prospects. Their websites all say the same things:

• “We’re proactive”
• “We care about security”
• “We’re your trusted partner”

When a business owner finds 10 MSPs online, if 8 of them seem to say the same thing, they will be seen as the same. So actually the business owner only sees three MSPs to speak to: the two that stand out and are unique, and the other eight are all in one big bucket of sameness.

Your USP is what makes you the obvious choice for your ideal client. Most MSPs have never worked this out. Which means most MSPs are in the pile of 8.

Your ICP and your USP work together. Without both, you’re directionless.

3) A website that actually works

Even in 2026, your website is still your number one marketing tool. Prospects always check out your website before inquiring. I believe a lot of MSPs lose the sale before they even speak to the prospect because their website is so bad.

AI tools also use it to learn about you, even though they prefer information they can find elsewhere. Let's be honest your MSP isn't being talked about on Reddit so a great deal of the info and their recommendations to business owners are coming from info on your site.

The real problem is most MSP websites look professional but they don’t say anything meaningful. They’re full of technology talk and empty of the thing prospects actually care about: people, and outcomes.

Your website needs to reflect your ICP and your USP. If it doesn’t, it’s working against you.

4) A LinkedIn presence that reflects those same things

Prospects check your LinkedIn. And not just your company page, they look at you as the owner too. What you post, how you sound, whether you seem like a real person with opinions and expertise.

Your LinkedIn and your website need to be consistent. Same positioning, tone and clarity about who you help and how (reflecting the ICP and USP).

Those first four are the core foundations. Get those right and everything else becomes significantly easier. Then you layer on top of them with my 3 step lead generation system which is explored in my short book MSP marketing: Start Here.

5) Build audiences

Once you know exactly who you want to work with, go and build audiences of those people.

LinkedIn connections are the obvious starting point. But your email list is more valuable, because LinkedIn is a borrowed audience. Microsoft could change the rules tomorrow, right? Whereas your email database is yours forever, regardless of what platform you use to send emails.

Other audiences worth building: a podcast if you’re in a niche or vertical, a YouTube channel (every MSP should be a media company these days, not just a tech company), and even real-world networks like BNI or a local chamber of commerce. A room of 30 people you have breakfast with every month is a more powerful audience than most digital ones.

6) Grow relationships

This is the long game. And most MSPs either skip it or give up on it too soon.

The reality is that 99.9% of the people in your audience don’t want to switch MSP right now. Even if they hate their current one. Because switching is scary and disruptive and if it goes wrong, the business suffers. So they drag their feet.

Your job is to be there, consistently, so that when they finally reach the point of “right, I can’t take our current IT people any more”, you’re not a stranger. You’re the person they’ve been seeing on LinkedIn for three years. Whose emails they’ve occasionally opened, and whose video they half-watched six months ago.

That’s enough. You don’t need them to be obsessed with your content. You just need to not be cold. To have a very low-level relationship with you. That's more than any other MSP will have.

The way you build that relationship is through consistent content that talks about outcomes, not technology. Create content about productivity, less staff moaning, and making more profit. No jargon. No tech speak. Just useful, human content that shows up reliably every week.

7) Convert relationships

This is the stage where you proactively reach out and invite someone into a conversation.

The goal is simple: get them on a 15 minute discovery call. Because for most of the MSPs that I work with, if you can get someone on a video call, that will lead to a real-life sales meeting (if you want to work with that person). And you close two out of three of those, right?

The best way I’ve seen to do this is outbound phone calls to everyone in your audiences. Not selling. Just relationship building. Finding out: is now the time? Is it next year? Is it never? That’s all. And the people who do this best are often not salespeople at all, they’re warm, relaxed, natural conversationalists who aren’t afraid of the phone. Hire a back to work Mom to do this for you.

Do all seven of these and you’re 😃 untouchable 😃

ICP. USP. Website. LinkedIn. Build audiences. Grow relationships. Convert relationships.

That’s it. No clever hacks. No chasing the latest AI tactic. Just seven foundations that have worked since before Google existed and will keep working long after whatever comes next.

Which of these seven do you feel least confident about right now? Let me know. I read and reply to every email.