MSPs access $255K in MDF from Cisco to boost digital footprint with Vendasta

The approach

Education and awareness

To kick off the partnership, Vendasta co-hosted a webinar event with Cisco to educate MSPs on the importance of marketing development funds. 

“It’s free money. You have done the hard work and partnered with an IT manufacturer. You’re trained and certified; you’re selling it through to your customers. You’ve earned that money,” says Vendasta Director of Sales, IT Channel, Andrew Down. 

“MSPs are technically minded, they’re not sales and marketing focused. Marketing development funds are a great avenue to kickstart some marketing for your business. Historically, MSPs have grown largely by word of mouth with referrals and relationships in their local markets. It doesn’t hurt to have some potential inbound lead flow or content creation and collateral that you could use in sales motions long term.”

Global Partner Sales Leader at Cisco Michelle Ragusa McBain mirrors Down’s remarks. 

“MSPs are amazing advisors, technicians, strategists, business leaders, and visionaries, but when it comes to marketing, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

“Consider what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, and look at that weakness as an opportunity to partner with those people who can do it with you and help enable your success,” Ragusa McBain says.

Execution

Managed service provider outreach 

Vendasta reached out to dozens of managed service providers, making more than 100 calls to MSPs to offer support and options for utilizing their MDF.

Through a selection of purpose-built digital marketing solution packages, MSPs were able to work with a dedicated Vendasta representative to select a set of solutions that best fit their business goals and budget. Once on board, the MSPs have the advantage of managing their online presence and viewing proof-of-performance reporting built into the managed service provider software on the Vendasta platform.

“We were really excited to partner with Vendasta. [They] came to us when we were just beginning our true marketing effort. [They] have a team for me to navigate through my options,” says Managed Service Provider and President of IP Consulting, Cherri Mosey.

“This method will help us meet our leads where they are at, capturing prospective clients who are wanting to buy and coming to us for education, ” Mosey says.

Partnering to help MSPs define their marketing strategy and grow their businesses 

No longer can MSPs afford to adopt the field-of-dreams mentality of “we will build it, they will come.” It’s imperative that managed service providers are meeting a growing millennials customer base where they are already interacting online. 

“85% of decision makers look for up to 5 pieces of content before they even talk to a sales person. MSPs need to look at that and ask themselves if they have that content,” Ragusa McBain says. 

Consumers are much more frequently conducting independent research before they make a purchase decision, making digital marketing and the utilization of marketing development funds essential for MSPs and IT specialists in 2023 and beyond.

WATCH: Learn more about streamlining MDF utilization from Michelle Ragusa McBain, Cherri Mosey, and Andrew Down at a recent webinar: Tales of MSPs leaving MDF on the table.