How To Use the Target Market Pyramid To Gain New
Customers For Your MSP
Join us for this episode of MSP To The Future where your hosts, Jeanne DeWitt and David Hood, answer these questions and more about these cloud options!
Join us for this episode of MSP To The Future where your hosts, Jeanne DeWitt and David Hood, answer these questions and more about these cloud options!
Select Your Service and Listen
Are you an MSP that is wondering why you’re not getting a consistent flow of leads? When I learned, from a very good friend and fellow marketer, about the target market pyramid, it really helped me to understand the big hole we had in our MSP growth strategy.
Let’s jump right in, and hopefully it can help you too!
The Target Market Pyramid, Explained
First, picture a pyramid. Now, divide that pyramid into five segments.
- The top segment is 3%, and that represents the 3% of your target market that is buying right now.
- The second segment down is the 7% of your target market that is open to buying right now.
- The third segment is the 30% of your target market that aren’t thinking about your offerings.
- The next segment is the 30% of your target market that don’t believe that they’re interested in anything that you have to offer.
- The final segment is the 30% of your target market that knows they’re not interested. You could talk to them until you’re blue in the face, but they are never going to buy from you!
With these segments in mind, let’s break down the pyramid in more detail.
The Top 3%
If we go to the top of the pyramid, there is only 3% of our target market that is in buying mode. What does that mean? Well, it means they’re out there, they have a problem, they’re actively looking for a solution, and they’re ready to buy.
If they have a network of people, they are probably asking that network for referrals. a lot of times they’ve done a lot of research on their decision, making them some of the easiest prospects to work with!
However, the problem with word of mouth and the top 3% is that they are not predictable. You can’t possibly control what 3% at the top of that pyramid are ready to buy, or how to find them in the vast number of businesses that are in your target market.
So, let’s look again at the rest of that pyramid!
The Majority of the Target Market Pyramid
With 30% at the bottom not interested and 3% at the top ready to buy, let’s shift our attention to the middle of the pyramid. This is 67% of your target market! Of that 67%, 7% are open to buying.
Typically, these businesses haven’t hit the tipping point where they’re ready to buy yet because they need more information or guidance to continue forward. This is where collateral like guides, blogs, and education can really help you to tip them up into the 3% that is buying!
What else can we do with the people in this middle part of the pyramid? The 67% is in our target market, but they really have no idea that they need us. And honestly, if we try to sell to them while they’re in the 67% or in this middle part of the pyramid, they’re going to think we’re pushy.
In other words, if we try to sell to them immediately it that can ruin our chances of getting that prospect forever!
The Role of Effective Marketing
The baseline of reaching the majority of the target marketing pyramid in an effective way is marketing. That’s really the answer! Through marketing we can build desire for the services that our MSP offers.
While your competitors are waiting for a referral from the top 3% and hoping that somebody is going to come to them, we can take advantage of that middle 67% and market to them. So how do we do that? The best way is to systematically show those prospects how we solve their problems.
We want to build a foundation that speaks directly to our target markets. Here are some ways to do so:
- Reformat your website to speak directly to client pain points.
- Gather social proof, reviews, testimonials, and case studies that are actual proof of what you’ve done and how you solved your client’s problems.
- Improve your visibility with your content marketing through posting blogs and videos.
- Grow an email list and nurture the people on it. Do the same with a mailing list.
- Build your audience on social media with LinkedIn, Facebook, and other platforms.
- Hold webinars to provide value and incentivize clients to give you their information.
- Once you have a foundation, start investing in Google and Facebook ads to re-engage users who have already come across your marketing!
As with anything, this process takes time. Don’t start today and expect to close a lead tomorrow! If you go in with the right mindset and the goal of growing your business over time, this is how you’re going to do it.
I hope this blog has helped you to understand the target market pyramid and plan out implementing it into your marketing strategy! Hopefully you can have as much success with it as we did when we were an MSP.
Today I want to leave you with this quote from Colin Powell: “A dream doesn’t become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” Thank you for reading!