Here's how I see it,
The cloud-focused MSP or cloud focused IT Solutions Provider (what ever label you want to use) isn't going to cannibalize their current revenue streams coming from their non-cloud clients by aggressively introducing cloud to them - so if they are serious about cloud they need net-new clients for their cloud solutions and services.
Same thing with the "born-in-the-cloud" guys - they obviously need net-new clients for their cloud solutions and services.
Problem, it's going to be "next to impossible" for most all of these guys to properly execute on today's digital marketing aka inbound or marketing 2.0 needed to fill their funnel of their cloud solutions and services with their lack of expertise and resources to consistently create, execute and manage digital marketing campaigns.
The analogy with IT MSPs - this is exactly how the IT MSP came about. The SMB doesn't have, nor can they afford, the technical expertise and tools to manage their increasingly complex IT environment. So the MSP came to town with expert technical resources they could time-slice to many clients and the automation tools such as RMM and PSA to provide most everything needed remotely and much more efficiently - less expensive and much better than the SMB can do on their own. A win-win for everyone!
This is how digital marketing is evolving. Digital marketing is a combination of an art and a science. An art meaning the "remarkable content" needed to deliver the marketing message and educate prospects through their "buyers journey" and a science meaning the metrics of website traffic volume, page volume and effectiveness, blog volume and effectiveness, lead conversions....the list goes on. The expert digital marketing resources and automation tool(s) are simply out of reach for the SMB - in this case the cloud focused ITSP etc. Just like the IT MSP, the digital marketing MSP can provide this service less expensive and much better that the client can on their own - do we see another win-win here? I think we do...........
