On this page
- The short answer
- The four MSP guides, and what each one answers
- LinkedIn, Google and Meta each have one job
- Say something only you could say
- Track every call to a signed retainer
- Common mistakes MSPs make with ads
- What this looks like for real IT firms
- What it costs, and how to choose who runs it
- Frequently asked questions
- Read next
The short answer
MSPs win more clients with paid ads by getting known by a defined list of businesses before their IT contract comes up, not by telling everyone "we do IT support". Use LinkedIn to reach owners and IT decision-makers at companies of the right size, sector and distance, Google to catch businesses already searching for managed IT or a new provider, and Meta to retarget everyone who visited until they're ready to switch. Give them a specific reason to switch, offer a useful first step such as an IT risk review, and track every booked call through to a signed retainer in your CRM.
- Decide exactly who you serve: the sectors, company sizes and distance from the office that suit your team.
- Use LinkedIn to get known by the owners and IT decision-makers at those companies, before their contract comes up.
- Use Google for businesses searching now, with negative keywords so you don't pay for phone repairs and IT job hunters.
- Use Meta to stay remembered by everyone who visited, for as long as it takes.
- Say something only you could say, offer a useful first step, and track every call to a signed retainer.
For one regional MSP: 14 booked calls and 4 signed retainers in 90 days, at £71 per booked call. See the proof.
Most MSP founders I speak to built the business the same way. A client recommends you to another firm. An old colleague moves jobs and brings you in. Someone's provider fumbles a migration and they ask around.
That works until it doesn't. Two quiet months and the year is at risk. The cold caller's hit rate drops. And when a prospect does look you up, your website says what every other MSP's website says: proactive support, trusted partner, 24/7 helpdesk.
The fix isn't more noise. It's getting the right few hundred businesses in your area to know who you are, so that when their contract ends or their provider lets them down, you're the one they call.
01The four MSP guides, and what each one answers
This page is the summary. Each part has its own detailed guide:
If you only read one, start with how to get more MSP clients without cold calling. It covers the decisions everything else depends on.
02LinkedIn, Google and Meta each have one job
Each channel reaches a different kind of buyer at a different moment. Run them as one blended budget and you can't tell which one is working.
- Who it reaches
- Owners, MDs and IT decision-makers at companies of the right size, sector and distance from your office
- Judge it on
- Booked calls and signed retainers
- Who it reaches
- Businesses searching for managed IT, IT support or a new provider in your area
- Judge it on
- Enquiries and booked calls per search theme
- Who it reaches
- People who visited your site, watched your videos or are already in your CRM
- Judge it on
- Return visits that turn into a review or a call
LinkedIn: get known by the businesses you want
Most of the businesses you'd love to work with aren't searching for a new MSP today. They're in a contract, mildly annoyed with their provider and busy. LinkedIn is the one channel that lets you reach them anyway, by company, size, sector, location and job title.
- Build the list of companies. Upload the businesses you want, or use company size, industry and location if you don't have a list yet. For the regional MSP in our case study, that meant 1,800 IT decision-makers at firms with 20 to 200 staff, inside a 90-minute drive of the office.
- Pick the job titles of the people who choose an IT provider: owners, MDs, operations and finance directors, practice managers and in-house IT leads.
- Don't stack seniority, job function or skills on top. Titles at the right companies are cleaner.
- Turn LinkedIn Audience Expansion off, so your budget stays on the companies you chose.
Full detail: IT MSP lead generation with LinkedIn Ads. If you want to know what LinkedIn clicks and leads typically cost in the UK before you start, see our UK LinkedIn Ads benchmarks.
Google: catch the businesses searching now
Some businesses are looking right now, usually because something has gone wrong. Their searches look something like this:
- managed IT support for law firms
- IT support company near me
- switch IT provider
- outsourced IT for accountants
- cyber essentials plus support
Example searches written for this guide.
Send each search theme to a page about that service for that kind of business, with proof and a clear next step. Not the homepage. And block the junk from day one. IT terms attract phone and laptop repairs, home broadband, people fixing their own PC, IT job hunters and people studying for exams. Our free negative keyword list for IT and MSP Google Ads covers them, and you should still check the search terms report every week.
Meta: stay remembered until the contract ends
MSP buying has a timing problem built in. Most prospects are locked into a contract when they first find you. Meta retargeting keeps your name, your proof and your people in front of everyone who visited your site, on Facebook and Instagram, usually for far less than LinkedIn charges per view. It's a retargeting tool, not a way to find IT buyers cold. Set it to optimise for a tested website conversion, not traffic.
Full detail: Meta retargeting for IT MSPs. For what retargeting can do on LinkedIn, read how a large IT company doubled enquiries by moving 10% of its budget into retargeting.
03Say something only you could say
Here's what most MSP ads and websites say:
- Proactive IT support
- Your trusted technology partner
- 24/7 helpdesk
- Cyber security solutions
- Tailored to your business
Every one of those is true of every MSP. A buyer who can't tell you apart sticks with the provider they have. Specific messaging names the buyer, the cost of the problem and the reason to switch. Compare these:
Proactive, reliable IT support for your business. Your trusted local technology partner, with a 24/7 helpdesk. Get a quote today.
Practice managers at 30 to 150 person accountancy firms: if an 'urgent' IT ticket takes a day to fix, that's a day of billable hours gone. Book a free 30 minute IT risk review and see where the gaps are.
Example ads written for this guide.
Ad B is close to how the regional MSP campaign worked. Its two angles were the cost of slow IT responses and cyber security beyond Cyber Essentials Plus, and both led to a free 30 minute IT risk review. Start by matching each segment to the person who signs off, what worries them and an angle that speaks to it:
| Segment | Who signs it off | What worries them | An angle that fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Law firm, 20 to 200 staff | Managing partner or practice manager | Client confidentiality, and fee earners sat idle when systems go down | What a breach would do to your client relationships |
| Accountancy practice | Partner or practice manager | Downtime in the January rush, and client data security | Is your IT ready for the busiest month of the year? |
| Finance or wealth firm | COO or compliance lead | What the regulator and auditors will ask for | Evidence your cyber controls before someone asks |
| Single-site manufacturer | Operations director or FD | Production stopping because of an IT fault | What one hour offline costs the factory floor |
| Firm with one in-house IT person | MD, often with the IT manager | Everything depends on one person, including holidays | Back-up for your IT manager, not a replacement |
Table written for this guide as a starting point. Replace it with what your best clients told you when they switched to you.
The full MSP acquisition guide goes deeper on building a reason to switch and an offer an unhappy prospect would actually want.
04Track every call to a signed retainer
A form fill isn't a client. If your reporting stops at leads, you'll end up rewarding the campaign that produces the most enquiries, which is rarely the one that produces retainers. Here's what complete tracking looks like:
- Ad click
- Service page or IT risk review
- Lead in your CRM, with its source
- Booked discovery call
- Proposal
- Signed retainer
- Capture the source on every lead. The ad platform, campaign and offer should land in your CRM with the contact.
- Connect your CRM to the ad platforms. Send booked calls and signed retainers back to LinkedIn and Google as conversions, so they learn who becomes a client, not just who fills in a form.
- Record contract value and length. A managed services client is worth the whole contract, not the first invoice. In the regional MSP case, the 4 signed retainers were worth around £94k in the first year alone.
- Report cost per booked call and cost per signed retainer. Cost per click tells you very little.
- Review over quarters. Many prospects are mid-contract, so some wins arrive months after the first click.
If GA4 is crediting your best leads to "direct", read why LinkedIn conversions show as direct traffic.
05Common mistakes MSPs make with ads
Sounding like every other MSP
"Proactive", "trusted partner" and "24/7 helpdesk" tell the buyer nothing. Name the buyer, the cost of the problem and the reason to switch.
Targeting the whole country
If you support businesses within a drive of the office, an audience of every IT decision-maker in the UK wastes most of the budget. Build the list from your real patch.
Leaving LinkedIn Audience Expansion on
It quietly widens your audience beyond the companies you chose. Switch it off on every campaign.
Running Google without negative keywords
You'll pay for phone repairs, home broadband and IT job hunters. Use our free list for IT and MSP Google Ads.
Sending ad clicks to the homepage
Send each audience to a page about their problem, with proof and one clear next step.
Asking for a quote too early
"Get a quote" asks a stranger to start a buying process. A free IT risk review gives them something useful first.
Measuring clicks instead of retainers
Report booked calls and signed contracts from your CRM. That's the only number that pays the team.
Switching retargeting off after a month
The prospect who visited in March might not be free to switch until next year. Stay in front of them.
Already running ads that aren't producing calls? Our ads audit looks at your account and tells you what to fix first.
06What this looks like for real IT firms
An MSP serving law, accountancy and finance firms, relying on referrals and one cold caller. We built a LinkedIn audience of 1,800 IT decision-makers at firms with 20 to 200 staff inside a 90-minute drive, ran two angles (the cost of slow IT responses, and cyber security beyond Cyber Essentials Plus) and sent both to a free 30 minute IT risk review. Read the case study →
A technology distributor whose teams weren't sure paid social could work in B2B. We started with one department, proved it, then expanded across several. On like-for-like feed placements, clicks cost roughly a third of the incumbent agency's. It shows how B2B technology buyers respond to well-targeted ads, even though the business model is different from an MSP's. Read the case study →
Anonymised client engagements. They show what's possible, not a prediction for your business.
07What it costs, and how to choose who runs it
Working with usEvergreen Growth costs from £1,250 a month + VAT to manage one ad platform. Ad spend is separate and paid directly to the platform, from £500 a month per platform. Rolling monthly, 7 days' notice, no setup fee.
The full breakdown is on our pricing page, and what we do is set out on our LinkedIn ads agency page. Before you spend anything, work out what one managed services client is worth over the contract. That tells you what you can afford to pay to win one.
Comparing options? Our guide to the best LinkedIn ads agencies in the UK sets out who each one is built for and what they charge, including when a freelancer or doing it yourself makes more sense.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best marketing for an MSP?
For most MSPs, referrals plus a focused paid programme aimed at a defined list of businesses. Pick the type and size of business you serve best, inside the distance you can support, then use LinkedIn to get known by them, Google to catch the ones already searching and Meta to retarget visitors until their contract is up. Judge it on signed retainers, not clicks.
Do LinkedIn ads work for MSPs?
They can, when the audience is a defined list of companies and the offer is specific. For one regional MSP serving law, accountancy and finance firms, LinkedIn Ads to 1,800 IT decision-makers at firms with 20 to 200 staff produced 14 booked discovery calls in 90 days at £71 per booked call, and 4 signed MSP retainers worth around £94k of first year contract value. That is one client result, not a guarantee.
Google Ads or LinkedIn Ads for an MSP?
Google catches businesses already searching for managed IT or a new provider, which is valuable but limited to the people who search. LinkedIn reaches the businesses you want that aren't searching yet, usually because they're still in a contract. Most MSPs do best with both, each judged on its own numbers, with Meta retargeting keeping you in front of the people who visited.
Is Facebook or Instagram advertising worth it for an MSP?
As retargeting, yes. Meta isn't good at finding IT decision-makers cold, but it is a cheap way to stay in front of people who already visited your site or watched your videos, for months, until their contract ends. Set it up to optimise for a tested website conversion, not traffic.
How much should an MSP spend on ads?
Work it back from what one managed services client is worth over the contract, not from a platform's suggested budget. Ad spend starts from £500 a month per platform, and for LinkedIn we recommend £1,500+ a month of media for a meaningful test. That's a recommendation, not our minimum. Evergreen Growth costs from £1,250 a month + VAT to manage one ad platform. Ad spend is separate and paid directly to the platform, from £500 a month per platform. Rolling monthly, 7 days' notice, no setup fee. So the smallest all-in month with us is about £1,750: the £1,250 fee + VAT plus £500 of ad spend.
How long does MSP marketing take to work?
Calls can start within weeks. In the regional MSP case, 14 booked calls and 4 signed retainers came in a 90-day window. But many businesses you reach will be mid-contract, so some of the value lands months later when they come up for renewal. Judge a campaign over at least a quarter, and keep retargeting running.
How do I stop Google Ads wasting money on the wrong searches?
Block the searches that look like yours but aren't buyers: phone and laptop repairs, home broadband, people fixing their own PC, IT job hunters and people studying for IT exams. Check the search terms report every week. We've published a free negative keyword list for IT and MSP Google Ads you can copy straight in.
Can I run MSP ads myself?
Yes, if your budget is small and you'd rather learn than hire. The B2B Ads Kickstart is our step-by-step course for running your first LinkedIn or Meta campaign, with an AI coach at each step. Step 1 is free. The full course is £97 (inc. VAT), one-off.
Want more MSP clients than referrals alone can bring?
I'm James Green, founder of Evergreen Growth. On the call we'll look at the businesses you want, what one client is worth to you and where your work comes from now, then tell you whether LinkedIn, Google or both make sense. If there's a fit, you'll get a proposal.