What Industry Should My MSP Be Targeting?

Robin RobinsMSP Marketing Leave a Comment

Most of our MSPs support medical practices and will tell you that medical clients are their high value clients. If you ask them, medical, manufacturing, CPAs, financial services, anything that has regulatory compliance over its head is going to be a good industry because of regulatory compliance that is pressed upon these businesses.

If you’re interested in growing your MSP, we are giving away 6 cost-free ways to get more leads, turn prospects into appointments, and increase sales

The same is true with CMMC. If you’re doing any work with the Department of Defense or you’re touching the government in any way, you’re going to have to be compliant or you’re going to lose that government contract. So that means these people are going to spend money to make sure they don’t lose that business that they’re getting.

That said, anytime you’ve got a hot industry, you’re going to get heavy competition. So it’s not like there’s some hot industry everybody’s ignoring. Every industry has pros and cons. Retail, restaurants, and hotels are still struggling and working to come back from COVID.

Manufacturing and construction can vary depending on where you are. If you’re in Nashville or if you’re in Florida, construction is huge. If you’re in another city or an area, new construction, housing, and retail is not as strong.

The answer is there’s no real hot untapped industry or source of new clients that nobody’s figured out. Every industry has cheapskates and every industry has whales that spend a lot of money. MSPs often make a mistake by saying to themselves, “Well, all right, I’m an MSP. So what’s the hot industry? Where do I go?”

It’s not a bad question, but a question MSPs should ask is: What industry should I be in?  

If you have a background in legal, like you were an attorney, your dad was an attorney, or you’ve worked in a law firm, then you have that expertise and it makes sense that you would target legal entities or law firms.

You want to think about not just what industries are hot, but think about what industries are appropriate for you based on your skill set, based on your background, and based on your preference.

One of the reasons I chose IT is that I share a similar psychology and thought process with a lot of MSP owners. You’re selling intangibles, which is my background. You’re selling contract work, which is my background. Advertising services are sold very similarly to IT support services because you are selling firm, signed contracts. Advertising firms manage marketing just like MSPs manage IT. So it’s very, very similar. And I worked at a couple of tech companies in the past, so I know enough to be dangerous. 

I’m not saying I’m technical, but the acronyms don’t scare me. A lot of marketers just back off IT because they get so overwhelmed and confused. So when I chose this industry, it was for a lot of reasons that had to do with a psychological fit and was not determined by whether or not IT was a “hot industry”.

I had good JV partners, I had good connections, and I had the background that I could support and that’s why I chose that industry and I’m very successful with it.

It really has to come down to picking who your customer is. Who do you want to be a hero to? Who would you like to work with? Who lights you up and gives you energy? Where can you do your best work?  

​If you’re an MSP owner making plans for 2023, do not miss out on our free guide detailing how your MSP can instantly make clients more valuable, profitable AND better served…