Judging an agency
What MSP marketing should look like at $1M, $5M and $20M
Marketing that fits a $1M MSP is wrong for a $10M one. What to run at each stage, what it costs, and what changes when you move upmarket.
Marketing spend and approach should scale with MSP revenue: under $1M focus everything on local search and referrals, $1M to $3M add organic depth and outbound, $3M to $10M add paid search and dedicated ownership, and above $10M run multi-metro programmes with an internal marketing function. The benchmark used by the strongest performers is roughly 1.8% of revenue.
The most common expensive mistake is buying the marketing programme that suits a business three times your size.
Under $1M: do one thing properly
At this stage you have almost no budget and almost no time, and the correct response is concentration rather than coverage.
What to run. Referrals, deliberately rather than passively. A Google Business Profile that is genuinely complete, actively collecting reviews, and posting. A website with a real page for each service you sell.
What to spend. Under $1,000 a month, most of it on getting the website right once.
What to skip. Paid search, because you cannot gather enough data to optimise below roughly $1,500 a month in ad spend and you will conclude the channel does not work when what happened is you never got past the noise. Also skip content volume, blogging weekly, and social scheduling. None of them do anything at this stage.
The failure mode. Spreading $800 a month across content, ads and social, producing activity on all three and results on none. This is the single most common waste at this size.
$1M to $3M: build the asset, add predictability
You have some capacity and referrals are producing but unpredictably.
What to add. Organic depth, meaning a genuinely distinct page for each town you serve and buyer-question content that catches the research phase. This is the point where SEO for MSPs starts compounding.
Then outbound, because it is the only channel you can turn up on demand and it costs roughly $200 a month for both email and LinkedIn plus about an hour a month once the ICP is defined. For a business whose pipeline is seasonal and referral-dependent, that predictability is worth more than another content channel.
What to spend. $2,500 to $4,000 a month, which is the practical floor for an agency engagement and roughly where 1.8% of revenue lands.
The failure mode. Hiring a full-service agency and then supplying nothing, so the output is generic. At this size the owner still has to supply the point of view and the client stories. Nobody external can invent them.
$3M to $10M: add paid, add ownership
Referrals no longer cover the growth target and the marketing function needs somebody accountable for it.
What to add. Paid search, with someone genuinely responsible for the search terms report, as covered in Google Ads for MSPs. Systematic outbound rather than occasional. Industry pages where you have real clients.
What changes structurally. This is where an internal owner becomes necessary, whether that is a hire, a fractional leader, or a hybrid arrangement. The options are compared in outsourced marketing for MSPs.
What to spend. $5,000 to $10,000 a month across retainer and ad spend.
The failure mode. Nobody measuring cost per client. At this spend the number matters enough that not knowing it becomes genuinely expensive, and it is the stage where most owners still cannot state it.
Above $10M: programme, not projects
What to add. Multi-metro organic coverage, vertical programmes, partnerships as a managed activity, and brand work that starts to pay because you have enough presence for it to compound.
What changes. Marketing becomes a function with a budget and a plan rather than a series of engagements. Agencies become specialist suppliers to an internal strategy rather than the strategy itself.
The failure mode. Continuing to run it the way you did at $3M, with one agency and one internal person, then wondering why growth slowed.
Moving upmarket
Several of the questions buyers ask AI assistants are about moving upmarket to larger accounts. It is a different problem from growing, and the marketing changes more than people expect.
Positioning changes first. A 200-seat business does not buy on responsiveness and price. It buys on process, compliance posture, account management structure, and whether you can survive their procurement. Your site probably speaks to none of that.
Proof requirements change. SOC 2, documented processes, named references at similar scale, and case studies with real numbers. A 200-seat prospect will check.
The sales cycle triples. Six to twelve months, multiple stakeholders, a formal evaluation. Marketing has to support a long consideration period rather than capture an urgent search, which means content that helps somebody build an internal case rather than content that catches a trigger.
Channels shift. Local search matters less. Outbound, partnerships, and vertical credibility matter more, because the buyers are fewer and identifiable rather than searching.
The mistake is bolting upmarket ambitions onto downmarket marketing. A site that says "fast, friendly local IT support" will not convert a 200-seat manufacturer no matter how much traffic reaches it.
Whichever stage you are at, the selection and accountability process is the same, and it is covered in how to choose an MSP marketing agency.
The one thing that does not change
At every size, somebody inside the business has to supply the point of view, the client stories, and the decisions about what matters this quarter. The amount of execution you buy changes enormously between $1M and $20M. That does not.
Frequently asked questions
How much should an MSP spend on marketing? Roughly 1.8% of revenue is the benchmark used by the strongest performers, which is about $4,500 a month for a $3M MSP. Below $1M, under $1,000 concentrated on one channel beats a spread budget.
When should an MSP hire a marketing agency? Usually around $1M to $2M in revenue, when referrals no longer cover the growth target and there is enough budget to clear the $2,500 to $3,000 practical floor for a meaningful engagement.
When should an MSP hire an in-house marketer? Around $5M, when volume justifies a salary. Below that the work does not fill a role and you end up with a junior marketer doing social posts.
What marketing works for a small MSP under $1M? A complete and active Google Business Profile, deliberate referral generation, and a website with a real page per service. Concentration beats coverage at this size.
How does marketing change when moving upmarket? Positioning shifts from responsiveness and price to process, compliance and account structure. Proof requirements rise, the sales cycle triples, and channels shift from local search toward outbound and partnerships.
Can a small MSP compete with larger ones in search? Locally, yes, often more easily than expected, because large national providers rarely build genuine local depth. Nationally, no, and it is not worth attempting.