Building Your MSP Marketing Engine (EP 1015)
I sit down with Tim Fitzpatrick from Rialto Marketing to talk about why most MSPs don’t really have a lead problem, they have a broken marketing engine problem. We get into strategy vs tactics, niching, referrals, and how to stop leaving money sitting in your existing client base.
I brought Tim Fitzpatrick from Rialto Marketing back because too many MSPs keep telling me the same thing: “We tried marketing, it doesn’t work.” Tim breaks that thinking apart and explains why most of us don’t have a lead problem, we have a strategy problem. We dig into why “strategy before tactics” is the real fuel for your marketing engine, how to get specific about your ideal clients, and why your generic website hero section is quietly sending good prospects to your competitors.
We also talk about where the easy money is hiding inside your business right now. Tim walks through smart referral systems (not just client referrals but true referral partners), tapping MDF without the usual friction, and a real example of a 2M MSP that accidentally niched into healthcare but never built a plan around it. We wrap up on paid ads, SEO, and AI, and Tim explains why those tools only work when you already have an engine in place, plus how to use AI for data and research instead of just cranking out more weak content.
Chapters
- 00:37 Money Marketing Series
- 04:40 Referral Partners Matter
- 06:45 Build the Marketing Engine
- 09:06 Strategy Before Tactics
- 21:22 Website Hero Matters
- 23:38 Avoid Premature Paid Ads
- 27:29 Why Campaigns Fail
- 29:47 Manage Marketing Closely
- 32:54 Simplify the Growth Plan
- 36:22 AI as an Accelerator
- 39:43 Growing MSPs with Data
=== Guest: Tim Fitzpatrick, Rialto Marketing
- Website: https://www.rialtomarketing.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timpfitzpatrick
=== Companies / Vendors / Products / Books
- ACES Conference: https://acesconf.com
- Microsoft 365: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365
- Apple: https://www.apple.com
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): https://aws.amazon.com
- Google Ads: https://ads.google.com
=== SPONSORS:
- Livestream Partner, ThreatLocker: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/threatlocker
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- Digital Partner, Designer Ready: http://itbusinesspodcast.com/designerready
=== SHOW MUSIC:
- Item Title: Upbeat & Fun Sports Rock Logo
- Item URL: https://elements.envato.com/upbeat-fun-sports-rock-logo-CSR3UET
- Author Username: AlexanderRufire
- Item License Code: 7X9F52DNML
=== Connect with Uncle Marv
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🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
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B2B Revenue Accelerator
Tim is an entrepreneur/business owner with marketing and growth expertise. He has 25+ years of entrepreneurial experience with a passion for developing and growing businesses. That passion served him well in operating and managing a wholesale distribution company he co-owned for nine years before being acquired in 2005.
Since then, he’s had failures and successes. He started Rialto Marketing in 2013 and has been helping MSPs & B2B professional service firms build and manage their marketing engine to get where they want to go faster. He believes marketing shouldn't be difficult. But, you must remove your revenue roadblocks to grow consistently and predictably.
