A practice manager at a 40-person accountancy firm is fed up with their IT provider. Slow tickets, a patchy migration, a renewal coming up in the spring. She Googles, finds your website, reads the services page and thinks "they look decent".
Then a client rings. She closes the tab.
Five months later, the renewal lands. She can't remember your name. She does remember the big regional MSP whose logo was on the sponsor board at the chamber of commerce dinner. They get the meeting.
You didn't lose on service. You lost on memory. This guide is about fixing that, cheaply.
The short answer
Install the Meta Pixel, build audiences from your website visitors, video viewers and CRM, and show them a rotating sequence of introduction, proof and objection-handling adverts on Facebook and Instagram for up to 90 days. Use LinkedIn to reach named companies cold. Use Meta to make sure the ones who looked never forget you.
Why the bigger MSP usually wins
It's rarely because they're better. It's because they're everywhere. Sponsorships, a sales team, a marketing manager, a bigger ad budget. When a business finally decides to switch provider, the big name is the one they already know.
MSP buying has a timing problem built in. Most prospects are locked into a contract when they first find you. The decision comes when that contract ends, or when something breaks badly enough. That might be next week. It might be next year.
So the question for a small MSP isn't "how do we get more leads this month?". It's "how do we stay remembered by the right businesses until they're ready?". That's exactly what retargeting is for.
Why Meta, when your buyers are on LinkedIn
Fair question. LinkedIn is where we reach IT buyers by company and job title, and it's where we'd start cold. But LinkedIn impressions are expensive, and the people you're trying to stay in front of spend a lot more time on Facebook and Instagram in the evening than on LinkedIn at work.
LinkedIn's job
Reach named companies and the right roles, cold. Introduce yourself to people who've never heard of you.
Meta's job
Follow the people who already visited, watched or enquired. Keep you familiar for months at a much lower cost per impression.
Used together, the small MSP ends up with the kind of repeated visibility that used to need a sponsorship budget.
What Meta can't do (read this first)
Meta is not good at finding IT decision makers cold. Its job-title and interest targeting is loose for B2B roles. If you target "IT manager" or "business owner" you'll get cheap clicks from people who will never sign a managed services contract.
So this is a retargeting strategy, not a prospecting one. It only works if something else is sending the right businesses to your website: LinkedIn, Google, referrals, networking, events or a cold caller. If your website gets very little traffic, fix that first.
The five audiences to build
Build these in Meta Ads Manager once your Pixel is firing properly. Start with the first two if you're short on time.
Pricing and services page visitors, last 30 days
Your warmest audience. They looked at what you do and what it might cost. Small, valuable, and the first one to build.
All website visitors, last 90 days
Everyone who found you through LinkedIn, Google, a referral or a cold call and had a look. Most of them are not ready yet. That's fine. You're paying to still be there when they are.
Video viewers, 50% or more
Anyone who watched at least half of a video on Facebook or Instagram. Cheap to build, and a genuine signal that the subject interested them.
Your CRM contacts and open proposals
Upload the prospects you've quoted, the ones who went quiet and the ones on long contracts elsewhere. Match rates on business emails are often low, so include personal emails and phone numbers where you legitimately hold them.
Existing clients (as an exclusion, or for cross-sell)
Exclude them from new-business adverts so you don't pay to pitch people you already serve. If you have a new service such as cyber or Microsoft 365 security, run them a separate cross-sell campaign.
Go deeper: How to set up the Meta Pixel properly
The adverts each audience should see
The biggest mistake is showing the same "we're an award-winning MSP" advert for months. Retargeting should move people forward. Rotate by how long ago they visited.
First 2 weeks after a visit
Who you are and who you're for
The MD or technical director on camera, 30 to 60 seconds, explaining which kinds of business you look after and what a normal month with you looks like.
Weeks 2 to 6
Proof
A named client talking about the switch, a real response-time stat from your helpdesk, a before-and-after from a migration. Specific beats polished.
Weeks 6 to 12
Objections
The things that stop people switching: the pain of moving provider, notice periods on the old contract, fear of downtime. Answer each one plainly in its own advert.
Any time, for pricing visitors
The next step
A direct invitation to book a call, with what happens on it. No gimmicks, no fake scarcity.
The advert most small MSPs never make
"What switching IT provider actually involves." Walk through the first 30 days: the audit, the handover, the password reset week, what can go wrong and how you handle it. Fear of the switch keeps more businesses with a poor provider than price does. Answer it and you remove the biggest reason not to call.
Go deeper: B2B Facebook ad examples
Budget and frequency
Retargeting budget is capped by your traffic, not your ambition. For most small MSPs, £10 to £20 a day (about £300 to £600 a month) is enough to reach the audiences above regularly.
Split it roughly two-thirds to all website visitors and video viewers, one-third to pricing and services page visitors and CRM uploads. The warmer audience is smaller, so it takes less money to reach properly.
Watch frequency. A handful of sightings a week keeps you familiar. Much more than that and the same person is seeing you every time they open Instagram, which starts to work against you. If frequency climbs, add new adverts or lower the budget rather than widening the audience.
Go deeper: Facebook retargeting for B2B: the full setup
How it fits with LinkedIn
In our IT MSP LinkedIn case study, a regional MSP booked 14 discovery calls in 90 days. Nine of those had been retargeted at least four times before they booked. Cold ads introduced the MSP. Retargeting kept it front of mind through the weeks it took each buyer to be ready.
That campaign ran retargeting on LinkedIn. Adding Meta alongside it lets you keep that same repeated presence while paying less per impression, and it reaches people in the evening when they're not buried in email.
The combined system
- LinkedIn reaches a named list of target businesses and the roles that decide.
- Some of them visit your website.
- Meta and LinkedIn both retarget those visitors with proof and objection handling.
- Sales or the MD follow up with the businesses that keep coming back.
Go deeper: How a large IT company doubled enquiries by moving 10% of budget to retargeting
How to tell if it's working
Meta's own lead count will undersell this. Retargeting rarely gets the last click, because by the time someone is ready to book they often type your name into Google.
- Returning visitors to your website rising month on month
- More branded searches for your MSP's name
- Booked calls from prospects who first visited weeks or months earlier
- Prospects saying 'I keep seeing you everywhere' on the first call
- A higher close rate on proposals, because they already trust you
Mistakes that waste the budget
Using Meta for cold targeting of IT decision makers
Interest targeting like 'IT manager' or 'small business owner' is loose on Meta. You'll get cheap clicks from the wrong people. Use Meta to follow people who already found you.
One advert on repeat for six months
The same video 40 times becomes wallpaper, then irritation. Rotate by stage: introduction, proof, objections, next step.
Forgetting to exclude clients
It's surprisingly common, and it's wasted money. It also looks odd to a client paying you every month.
No Pixel on the pricing page
If the Pixel isn't firing on the pages that matter, your best audience never gets built.
Judging it on Meta leads alone
Retargeting rarely gets the last click. Its job is keeping you remembered while LinkedIn, sales and referrals do their work. Measure the whole pipeline.
Killing it at week four
MSP decisions often line up with contract renewals months away. Give retargeting a full quarter before deciding.
Want this running for your MSP?
We'll look at your traffic, your market and your current campaigns, then show you what LinkedIn and Meta working together would look like. If there's a fit, you'll get a proposal.
Most MSP engagements sit in our Growth tier at £1,725 a month. That's well below the cost of a marketing hire.
FAQs
What is Meta retargeting for an MSP?
Showing Facebook and Instagram adverts to people who have already visited your website, watched your videos or are in your CRM. It keeps a small MSP visible to its warmest prospects for months after they first find you, at a lower cost than most B2B channels.
Are IT decision makers really on Facebook and Instagram?
Most people who run or manage IT for a small or mid-sized business have a personal Facebook or Instagram account and use it outside work hours. You're not reaching them in 'work mode', which is why proof and familiarity work better than hard sales messages.
Can Meta target IT managers directly?
Not reliably. Job and interest targeting on Meta is loose for B2B roles. That's why this approach uses Meta only for retargeting people who already know you, and uses LinkedIn for reaching named companies and roles cold.
How much should a small MSP spend on Meta retargeting?
Most small MSPs can start at £10 to £20 a day, roughly £300 to £600 a month. The ceiling is set by how many people visit your website. Spend beyond that and the same people see you too often.
How many website visitors do I need?
There's no hard minimum on Meta, but below a few hundred visitors a month the audiences are small and slow to fill. That's often a sign to fix traffic first, usually with LinkedIn, SEO or outbound.
Is Meta retargeting cheaper than LinkedIn retargeting?
Usually, per thousand impressions, yes. LinkedIn is still the better place for cold account-based reach. Running both lets you keep your frequency high without paying LinkedIn prices for every impression.
What adverts work best for MSP retargeting?
Short videos from the MD or technical lead, client testimonials, specific helpdesk or security proof and plain answers to switching objections. Stock images of servers and handshakes rarely earn attention.
How long should the retargeting window be?
Ninety days for general visitors and thirty days for pricing or services page visitors is a sensible starting point. Many MSP buyers are waiting for a contract to end, so longer windows can make sense.
Do I need the Meta Pixel?
Yes. Install it, check it fires on every important page, and add the Conversions API where you can so more visits are recorded accurately.
Is this GDPR compliant?
Retargeting relies on cookie consent and a lawful basis for any uploaded lists. Use a proper cookie banner, only upload data you're entitled to use, and speak to your data protection adviser if you're unsure.
Should I exclude existing clients?
Yes, from new-business adverts. You can run them a separate campaign for additional services if that's useful.
How do I measure Meta retargeting for B2B?
Look at whether website visitors return, whether booked calls increase, and whether prospects mention seeing you. Meta's own lead numbers undercount its effect because retargeting rarely gets the last click.
Does this work without LinkedIn Ads?
Yes, if you already have steady traffic from SEO, referrals, events or cold calling. It works best alongside a channel that sends the right companies to your site in the first place.
How quickly will it work?
Audiences start filling in days. The commercial effect usually shows over one to three months, because it depends on when prospects are ready to switch.
Can Evergreen set this up for us?
Yes. We build the Pixel checks, audiences, adverts and reporting, usually alongside a LinkedIn account-based campaign. Book a call and we'll look at your traffic and market.
Related: IT MSP LinkedIn playbook · Facebook retargeting for B2B · LinkedIn vs Google vs Meta · pricing