This Crazy Mistake Stops MSPs Capturing Leads In 2026

Is your lead magnet being ignored? It’s a common experience for MSPs and today I want to talk about why that happens and what actually works. Also this week, the power of a strong opinion in your marketing, and the fascinating insight of why this MSP sold… and why the buyer bought. Welcome to Episode 362 of the MSP Marketing Podcast with me, Paul Green, powered by the MSP Marketing Edge. Best lead magnet for MSPs in 2027

Let me start today by asking you a question… have you ever put something on your website that says “Sign up for our newsletter” or “Get our free guide” or something like that? And then over a number of years you’ve discovered that nobody ever does it. Maybe your mum fills in the form or something, but she’s the only one. No one else does it. If that’s happened to you, then you’re not alone, that’s a common experience for MSPs. And today I want to talk about why that happens and what actually works instead. What we’re talking about there is something called a lead magnet. You’ve probably heard that phrase thrown around the internet. It’s a common phrase in marketing. And we’re going to talk about the kind of lead magnet that works best for MSPs, not just at the end of this year, but in 2027.

Put simply, a lead magnet is something that you give away in return for someone’s contact details or to start a conversation with them.

That’s the whole concept. It’s not new at all. In fact, the concept of a lead magnet actually predates the internet. It was something that was being done in the 19th century where people would give out samples to start a conversation with people. That’s how old it is. But in the internet age, we give away a thing, a PDF or a physical thing, and we do it in order to get their contact details and then we can do some automated marketing to them. That’s the theory. However, it’s 2026 and nobody wants more emails, right? If you just say to someone, “Please sign up for our newsletter,” they’re not going to do that. That’s actually not a lead magnet and that hasn’t worked for 20 years because that’s just asking someone to add another task, to get more unwanted emails in their already overflowing inbox. And no one’s going to take you up on that. They haven’t done for the last 20 years. But they will still do it, they will join your mailing list if you offer them something that’s of such a high perceived value that they really, really want it and they will happily hand over their details. And I know this is the case because I’m doing this every single day of the week. And I’ll tell you more about that in a second because I’ve got a freebie for you, my lead magnet. I’m going to give it to you in just a few minutes. But let’s talk first about the options for you. I’ve been doing lead magnets for around about 15 years or so. So I started doing it really well in my last business and this whole business started with a lead magnet. I built a list by putting a lead magnet out there just to MSPs in the UK about 10 years ago, and that’s how I got this whole business started. So we can talk about what works and what doesn’t work because I have learned this the hard way by doing it. And I’ve generated, I reckon it’s getting on for nearly 30,000 leads over the last 20 years, which is not the biggest number in the world. Someone like Alex Hormosi has generated millions and millions of leads in just five or six years. So I know it’s not the biggest number in the world, but I’ve done it consistently across a whole number of different sectors. So MSPs is just the last sector that I’m ever going to work with in my working career. I’ve previously worked with veterinarians, dentists, opticians/optometrists, and a whole bunch of other business owners, and they all came from lead magnets. So when you are putting together a lead magnet for your MSP,...