Kaseya is urging MSPs to rethink how they see themselves, warning that failing to prioritize sales and marketing may hinder their growth.
Speaking at the vendor’s TruPeer EMEA event in London last week, Greg Jones, Kaseya’s SVP of MSP success for EMEA and North America, said that despite years of industry evolution, sales and marketing continue to rank as one of the top challenges for MSPs.
“It’s frustrating,” said Jones. “For as long as I can remember, sales and marketing have always been in the top five challenges. Usually, it’s number one to three.”
Jones' insights come from Kaseya’s long-running State of the Industry report, of which 74% of the over 800 MSP respondents were based in North America. The survey was sent to MSPs in late 2024, and the results were published last year. According to Jones, the root cause of the MSP marketing mayhem is structural.
“Around 80% of the MSP industry are technical founders who fell into running a business,” said Jones. “Technology is logical and process-driven. Marketing is creative and very different. It’s just outside their comfort zone.”
The consequence, said Jones, is that many MSPs continue to see themselves primarily as tech firms, a mindset that he believes is limiting their ability to scale.
“One of the biggest things we’re saying is: you’re not really a tech business. Even though you are,” he said. “First and foremost, you should be a go-to-market business — sales and marketing first, IT second — if you want to grow and scale.”
Low profitability, vendor program changes and rising operational complexity are squeezing providers, Jones added. “It’s dangerous,” he said. “Quite a lot of MSPs I speak to, I genuinely wouldn’t like to be in their position. They’re worrying about staffing, margins, economic change, vendor pressure.”
Yet despite recognizing the need to grow, many providers struggle to look up from day-to-day delivery and build a structured marketing engine.
Helping MSPs master marketing
Historically, MSPs that attempted to address the issue often outsourced marketing to agencies, often at high cost and with unclear return on investment.
“Agencies are typically ridiculously expensive and don’t always deliver ROI,” said Jones. “And because marketing isn’t the MSP’s forte, they don’t always know what’s working. They’re seeing half the results but don’t know from which half.”
In response, Kaseya has launched two new digital marketing offerings under its TruPeer community programme: Express and Pro.
The packages, initially available to TruPeer members, combine pre-built campaigns, automation, MSP-specific content, and back-office support, including SEO specialists, designers, videographers, and web developers.
“This isn’t just generic agency work,” said Jones. “It’s MSP-centric. Everything is designed specifically for MSPs.”
In the U.S., Kaseya reported that 74% of TruPeer partners expressed interest in the program at launch.
“That level of uptake shows how real the pain point is,” said Jones.
Jones also acknowledged that demographic factors may be influencing MSPs’ ability to adapt.
“We are seeing that an older demographic is not pivoting or changing as fast as they need to,” he said. “The younger generation are digital natives. They expect technology to just work — and they expect instant gratification.”
Younger leaders, he suggested, are often more comfortable adopting SaaS tools and structured marketing automation, rather than relying on referrals and word of mouth.
But the challenges are not confined to small or aging providers. According to Jones, issues such as differentiation, customer acquisition, staff retention and low margins are common across the MSP landscape.
“How they differentiate themselves, how they position on value rather than price — those questions come up again and again,” he said.
“There’s more friction and complexity in the MSP business now than there ever has been. If providers don’t treat themselves as go-to-market organizations, they’ll struggle to grow. If we can help remove that friction, everyone wins.”
