What MSPs Should Know About Retargeting: Turning Window Shoppers into Revenue

As a managed IT service provider (MSP) looking to scale your revenue and eventually sell your business at a premium, you need a robust marketing strategy. One often overlooked but highly effective tactic is retargeting. If you’ve dabbled in digital marketing, you’ve likely heard of retargeting, but do you know how to leverage it to maximize your returns? Let’s dive into the essentials of retargeting and how it can transform your lead generation efforts.

What is Retargeting?

Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a form of online advertising that targets users who have previously interacted with your website or digital content. The idea is simple: keep your brand in front of bounced traffic after they leave your website. For MSPs, this means turning casual visitors into potential clients by re-engaging them with tailored ads.

Why Retargeting is Crucial for MSPs

1. Increased Conversion Rates: B2B tech companies have an average of 1% conversion rates on their website. Anecdotally we typically see .5 to 1.5% conversion rates but this varies wildly on traffic composition, how optimized the website is, how mature the marketing program is, and many other factors. Channel specific conversion rates can be higher.
2. Enhanced Brand Recall: Frequent exposure to your brand increases the likelihood of conversion. This is especially important in the MSP sector, where decision-making processes are longer.
3. Cost-Effective Marketing: Because you are targeting a warm audience, retargeting ads are typically less expensive than other types of ads and have higher engagement rates.
4. Higher ROI: Because you’re targeting an already interested audience, the ROI on retargeting campaigns is generally higher compared to other forms of digital advertising.

Supporting MSP Sales Efforts

Beyond marketing and lead generation, retargeting plays a crucial role in supporting your sales efforts. During the consideration cycle, prospects often have multiple touchpoints with your sales team. Showing retargeting ads to these prospects between phone calls or meetings helps keep your brand top of mind, making it easier to close deals. This consistent brand presence ensures you stay competitive and can significantly boost your close rates.

Driving Referrals and Brand Awareness

Retargeting ads also help drive referrals from individuals who may not be direct prospects but are familiar with your business. Most people aware of your company only have a vague understanding of what you do, often summed up as “IT stuff.” Retargeting ads can educate not just your prospects but also friends and allies of the business, providing them with a clearer picture of your services and value proposition. This increased awareness can lead to more referrals and a stronger reputation in the market.

The Traffic Volume Challenge

Despite its advantages, retargeting is dependent on driving sufficient traffic to your website. Without enough visitors, your retargeting audience will be too small, making your campaigns ineffective and risking audience oversaturation. This is why retargeting is typically only viable for established mid-sized MSPs with an existing base of website traffic, often sourced from SEO and organic search efforts.

The more traffic you have the more effective your retargeting campaigns can be. Higher traffic volumes allow you to segment your audience further and still maintain a sufficient audience size. When just starting out a good audience target might be all your website visitors over the past 180 days. With more traffic volumes you can segment down further into more qualified audiences like pricing page visitors over the last 30 days.

Driving Traffic for Effective Retargeting

Below are some popular ways to drive traffic volume which can support your MSPs ability to run retargeting campaigns. MSPs need around 1,500 visitors per month to generate sufficient audience sizes that will allow them to get started with retargeting.

1. SEO/Organic Search: Invest in SEO to increase your website’s visibility on search engines. High-quality content, keyword optimization, and backlinking strategies can drive consistent organic traffic.
2. Content Marketing: Regularly publish valuable content that addresses your target audience’s pain points. Blogs, YouTube videos, whitepapers, and case studies can attract and engage visitors.
3. Social Media Marketing: Utilize social media platforms to promote your content and engage with your audience. Paid social ads can also drive traffic to your site.
4. Display Advertising: Use low cost display advertising to drive targeted traffic to your site. Social media ads can be particularly effective.

Key Retargeting Strategies for MSPs

1. Segment Your Audience: Not all website visitors are the same. Segment your audience based on their behavior on your site. For instance, those who visited your pricing page might be more ready to buy than those who only visited your blog. The more traffic you have, the more you can segment.
2. Frequency Capping: Avoid overwhelming your potential clients. Set frequency caps to ensure your ads are shown enough to be effective but not so much that they become annoying. When frequency caps aren’t available you can fine tune delivery by tweaking your budget and looking at delivery metrics.
3. Creative and Messaging: Tailor your ad creatives and messages based on the audience segment. Use different messages for those who visited your blog versus those who checked out your service pages.
4. Leverage Multiple Platforms: Don’t limit your retargeting efforts to just one platform. Utilize Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other relevant platforms to reach your audience wherever they are.

Measuring the Success of Retargeting Campaigns

1. Click-Through Rates (CTR): A higher CTR on retargeting ads compared to your other ads indicates that your retargeting efforts are effectively engaging your audience.
2. Dwell Time: Do you have ads that are generating a lot of engagement – getting through with your message is a leading indicator.
3. Frequency: You don’t want people seeing your message too much or too little. Shoot for a frequency of between 7-10 touches over a month timeframe.
4. Conversion Rates: Track how many users convert after being retargeted. This could mean filling out a contact form, downloading a whitepaper, or scheduling a consultation.
5. Cost Per Lead (CPL): Retargeting should ideally lower your CPL since you’re targeting warm leads.

How Tortoise and Hare Can Help

At Tortoise and Hare, we specialize in creating and managing effective retargeting campaigns tailored for MSPs. Here’s how we can help you leverage retargeting to boost your marketing efforts:

1. Ad Creation: We design compelling retargeting ads that resonate with your audience and drive engagement.
2. Platform Setup: We set up retargeting campaigns across various platforms, including Google, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and more.
3. Conversion Tracking: We configure conversion tracking on ad platforms to ensure you can measure and optimize your campaigns effectively.
4. Audience Building: We help create and populate retargeting audiences, ensuring you have a sizeable and relevant audience without oversaturation.
5. Campaign Strategies: We develop strategies that promote your key services and capture email addresses via lead magnets in retargeting ads.
6. Ongoing Management: We provide ongoing campaign management and optimization to ensure your retargeting efforts continue to deliver results.

Conclusion

Retargeting is an invaluable tool for MSPs looking to maximize their digital marketing efforts. However, it requires a solid foundation of website traffic to be effective. Established mid-sized MSPs with a steady flow of visitors, often driven by strong SEO and content marketing efforts, are in the best position to benefit from retargeting. By bringing back visitors who have already shown interest in your services, you can significantly boost your conversion rates and, ultimately, your revenue. Remember, the key to successful retargeting lies in understanding your audience, segmenting effectively, and continually optimizing your campaigns. Implement these strategies, and watch as your casual visitors turn into loyal, long-term clients.

Ready to elevate your MSP’s marketing game with advanced retargeting strategies? Let’s discuss how Tortoise and Hare can help you leverage retargeting to scale your business and reach your financial goals. Learn more about our MSP PPC service offerings today.