Bright colourful umbrellas with the title of the blog post "MSP USP: How to Uncover Your Unique Spark as an IT Provider" overlaid.The managed service provider industry is more competitive than ever nowadays, so it’s absolutely crucial that IT providers of all stripes are able to set themselves apart.

There are numerous ways that MSPs can avoid the trap of being seen as “just another IT provider” – and one of the most powerful is to define your unique selling proposition or USP (hey, you even share 2 letters in your three-letter acronyms!).

Taking time to define the exact qualities that make you unique may sound like self-indulgent navel-gazing, but I assure you it really isn’t. Uncovering your USP is an important aspect of communicating who you are and what you do to/for who.

Whether or not you know what your USP is, I assure you you have one. Knowing what that USP is can help you create marketing that truly resonates with your desired audience and helps you understand where you fit into the wider market. So let’s get started!

What is a USP?

A business’s USP (or Unique Selling Proposition) is essentially the unique, uncopyable spark that makes your company or solution better than your competition and/or more favourable to an audience.

Like many marketers, I vastly prefer the term “Unique Value Proposition” as it is far more reminiscent of what matters – the value you provide. It’s this that sits at the core of a good USP, whether you’re an IT provider or not.

In terms of the USP itself, it doesn’t have to be some extensive manifesto about how you intend to change the world. It only needs to be a sentence or two that states your case for greatness – something that you can use to inspire your sales and marketing efforts.

A Note About Cooking Up Your USP

Your USP is – and should be – a very personal, unique thing to your business. There’s a clue in the name after all. You may be able to roll all of the below ingredients into your USP burrito, you may only need to use some of them. I’ve tried to be as exhaustive as possible to give you the most inspiration I can!

7 Elements to a Solid MSP Unique Selling Proposition

What Do You Do?

This sounds like the easiest thing on the list, but it actually requires a little more consideration than simply “we’re a Microsoft solutions provider for healthcare” or “we’re an MSP for B2Bs in Lincolnshire” – though sweeping statements like those are certainly a great place to start.

We’ll explore some of these factors in depth as we move through the article, but start thinking about what specific problems you solve for people – how do they compare to the problems your competition (and the wider market) seem to solve? What tangible value do you provide that you are unsure your clients would be able to get elsewhere? Consider the depth of service you provide – do you simply make sure your clients are out of the woods on an issue? Or do you go the extra mile to make sure the problem never rears its ugly head ever again?

Tech is such an important part of doing business nowadays that it can take quite an emotional toll when it all goes wrong. So, it might sound silly to some, but consider the emotional upshot of having your services on speed dial. In a similar vein, think about how well you are able to navigate crucial triaging and diagnostics when someone on the other end of the phone is quite flustered. You might be hearing from people at their worst, after all!

Also consider how present are the problems that your prospects come to you with? Are tech worries keeping them awake at night, so they come to you desperate for reassurance? Are they suffering from multiple little problems that are withering productivity like “death from a thousand cuts”? Or are they excitedly looking to add something totally new to their tech stack? Knowing what role you are playing for your client can be a great way to conceptualise “what you do” – if you are unsure, a quick round of customer satisfaction surveys can go a long way!

Who Are Your Clients?

Again, there’s more to this question than broad statements like “Businesses in the North West with Windows servers” or “the care supply chain” – but they can be great jumping off points.

Even if you haven’t got a formal niche that you specialise in, investigate common threads in the companies you supply. For example, are they mostly/all B2Bs? Are they mostly in a particular niche? Are they usually placed at a particular point in their wider supply chain? Are they mostly particularly vulnerable to the same kinds of tech hiccups or cyberattacks?

Also, consider what I like to call “what world is your client from?” How down to Earth are they? When you visit them on site, are the decision makers in work boots and high-vis? Polo shirts and jeans? Or Moss Bros suits? This isn’t so much a class thing, but remember that people buy from people they are already like. If you’re going for the Moss Bros suit crowd, for example, they’re likely going to resonate with different messaging from you than the other groups might.

And to continue on from our above investigation into your customers motivations, you could even ask them outright why they chose you over your competitors. If you have a good relationship with them, you could even ask who else they were considering at the time and why!

Your Founder’s Background and Story

A lot of MSPs have a great story behind them. So what did your founding members set out to do with the business? What gap did they see in the market? What spark did they feel was missing from the industry? And how has that changed over the years of being in business?

If your founder(s) is/are open to it, it might be worth making them the face of your brand. It’s their idea, knowledge, hard work, and leadership that has built the business, after all. This is great if that person is well known in their network. People do business with people, after all!

However, being the face of your business can be a lot of hard work. If your business does experience a PR crisis, the most visible face might be the one who invokes the most ire. And what happens if that person wants to sell or leave the business? Though it’s a marketing boon, it can also be a heavy burden.

What Are You Up Against?

Competition isn’t just other businesses who do the same things for the same audiences. But let’s start there. Carry out a spot of competitor research and carry out a bit of a SWOT analysis – what are your own strengths and weaknesses compared to your competitors? What do their own USPs appear to be?

A good SWOT can help you identify where you are currently riding high, and what opportunities could be out there for you. This can provide excellent insight into what to include in your USP.

However, there are often more ways to skin a cat when it comes to IT. Not only are you competing against other MSPs and IT providers, but prospects might also be tempted by free solutions online; the prospect going direct to a vendor like NetSuite or Microsoft; places like Reddit or StackOverflow; or even them asking a tech-savvy friend or relative to put something together.

And let’s not forget that when a problem is ignorable or where a bit of a sticking plaster solution has been applied, there’s real power to the inertia of doing nothing. Comfort zones are soft, cozy things and sometimes your marketing will need to go to lengths to break through that secure, fuzzy layer.

What Tech Do You Use and/or Provide?

Your tech stack – both the tools you use internally and the ones you provide for others – can be a really powerful differentiating factor.

We’ll dive into your internal processes a little deeper later on but needless to say, the tools you use and the systems you have in place can undoubtedly make you appear more polished, professional, and responsive compared to others.

Similarly, if you are a devout user or provider of a product that has suffered some great breach or scandal; or even a relative, less trusted newcomer to the market; that might affect some prospects’ decisions to buy from you. For instance, following the LastPass debacle of 2022, I and many people I know have moved away from the software, yet I still know some MSPs that swear by it. Different strokes for different folks I suppose!

There’s also the matter of compatibility too – if you only use remote desktop tools that are compatible with Windows, you are limiting yourself to Windows-only server users too. It may not be a huge thing to you, but it’s worth considering.

Understandably, if the tools you provide to others differ from your competition or your market as a whole, that is a great point of difference. For example, I semi-regularly attend the North Birmingham Tech Tribe events. In a room full of Microsoft Partners, the chaps from Kimbley IT always stand out about being Google Workspaces specialists – and there’s a healthy level of leg pulling about it too.

But if anyone in that room were to suddenly require support around Google products, they would be on the phone to Kimbley straight away!

Similarly, if you’re a WatchGuard vendor in a sea of SonicWall providers; a SAP seller in a sea of NetSuite providers; A Mac support agency (or even one that specialises in Linux clients!) in a sea of Windows normies; or a creator of something new and bespoke in a sea of more “off the shelf” solutions – that’s going to set you apart as something fresh and unique to the right buyer.

Do You Have Good Structure & Processes?

It goes without saying that MSPs and IT providers need sound, repeatable processes in order to successfully do what they do. So how do your processes stack up to the market? What part do your processes play in creating a great customer experience? Are there any ways in which your direct competitors fall down when it comes to processes?

Similarly, is your company – especially your teams who provide products or support – structured in any way that gives you a competitive advantage? Also consider what practices get good reviews in your niche and what practices seem to attract bad reviews.

I’m hoping that all of the IT providers reading this will already have great processes and structure in place, but if you feel the need for improvement in this area, you need to speak to Michelle at The Tech Leader Network.

Your Approach to Marketing and Content

Yes, this can totally be a differentiator in the MSP space! A surprisingly powerful one too – I see many IT providers using content to great, revenue-generating effect.

However, when I’m talking about marketing and content here, it’s generally more involved than just blogging. If you are in a position to carry out research, to provide unique industry insights, to host webinars, and appear on podcasts, you’re not just doing marketing – you’re likely sharing your wisdom with the world. And that is totally a service.

Whether it’s support documentation that answers a Googler’s question “how do I do X?” or a podcast that a prospect listens to as they head on their way to work about the latest cybersecurity trends and data – it all paints you as an expert.

So through this lens – how much of this expert “thought leadership” are you carrying out? And what are your competitors doing to put their own authority out in the space?

The 7 P’s of Marketing

Like Columbo, I do have “just one more thing” for you. In order to explore your position within the market, I strongly encourage you to take a look into the 7 P’s of marketing, as these factors will help you really nail down some of the finer points of your USP. It’s a great way to conceptualise your whole marketing approach too.

Knowing where your company excels along the following lines will help you establish a firm grasp on your place in the market:

The Chartered Institute of Marketers have a great resource that goes into great detail about how to use the 7 Ps, so do check it out.

Closing Thoughts

Hopefully all of this has got you thinking about all of those special things about your company that your competitors just can’t emulate. What’s your “secret sauce”? Your own personal “Krabby Patty secret recipe”?

You may also want to consider how tumultuous your industry, audience, and competitors are – how much are they influenced by trends? How easily are they buffeted by economic wobbles or current events? And does your role involve being a much needed stable presence?

That’s the last hypothetical question of the whole article, I promise!

It’s time for the most important point in this whole article: do not rush the creation of your USP and try not to stress out about it. It’s an important thing to have – something that can influence most of your marketing – so don’t try and blast through it in an afternoon. If it’s taking time, research, and rumination, then you’re probably doing it right.

It’s also worth mentioning that USP doesn’t have to be some word-perfect mantra that you stick on your wall and recite every day – unless that’s something that would work for you, of course. It’s a simple case of knowing what individual characteristics you can offer to your clients, what makes you stand out as an individual business.

Need Some Help?

If this whole marketing strategy thing still sounds clear as mud, then give me a shout! I have a proven track record as both a marketing writer and strategist within the IT and tech industry and would love to have a chat. Drop me a line today!

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