24 01732 759725 of money with them. We were spending about £50,000 to £60,000 a year with that agency, maybe a little more, and we really didn’t get much from it. They didn’t understand what the customer was looking for, the tone of voice, all the things that make a difference. We ended up taking some of that marketing back in-house. “What we found then was that social media, LinkedIn posts and what-have-you give customers awareness that you’re around, but if you don’t get the messaging right on socials, then you don’t get a lot of traction. You may get some likes and a few followers, but at the end of the day, you’re spending money and you want to have a return on the investment. You want a new customer or a new project out of that spend. “What worked well for us at IT Hotdesk was building up our database clients are looking for. They want to be cyber-safe, they want to automate using AI and so on. It can be difficult for MSPs to hit the right message. They can shout ‘Hey, we can sell you Copilot’. But, so what? Everyone can do that. You must get your message right and to the right customers.” Lessons learned So what lessons did Gordon learn as Managing Director of IT Hotdesk? What marketing mistakes did he make along the way and how would he do things differently today? “First of all, we employed a marketing agency, a local one in Aberdeen, and what we quickly found was that they didn’t understand the MSP space very well. They said they did and we spent a lot Gordon Christie, Founder of IT Hotdesk, the Aberdeen-based managed service provider acquired by Redsquid in November 2024, has joined his sister, Jane Christie, at Techreach Agency, the marketing agency exclusively for MSPs that she set up in September 2025. The combination of Jane’s marketing skills – she ran the marketing at IT Hotdesk – and Gordon’s MSP sector experience – IT Hotdesk had a turnover of circa £2 million and 14 or 15 staff and was growing at a rate of 30% to 40% per annum when it was acquired by Redsquid – will be an enticing prospect for MSPs that might be looking for help with their marketing and wider commercial considerations. Techreach’s strapline, ‘built by MSP founders, for MSP founders’, tells you everything you need to know about how Gordon and Jane are positioning the agency and differentiating themselves from competitors. In a nutshell, they understand the challenges and pressures MSPs face and, having successfully grown and sold their own business, they know in what areas MSPs need help and what works from a marketing perspective. “Marketing is really difficult for MSP leaders,” says Gordon. “Trying to do the marketing piece on top of running their business, looking after customers, dealing with people problems and everything else that goes with running an MSP can be difficult. We’ve been there, done that and understand those pressures. It’s easier for MSPs to work with us because we already know what it’s like to be an MSP.” He adds that most MSP owners are great technical people but are generally not good at marketing and as a result their businesses tend to stagnate after an initial growth phase. “When they reach £300,000 or £400,000 turnover, have three or four engineers and have been growing at a rate of 20% or 30%, which is quite normal for the first few years of a reasonably good IT company, they often just stagnate. They don’t understand what to do to get that next customer. “That’s where marketing comes in – to shout about the values of the business and what it can do for clients and to start talking about the business outcomes James Goulding talks to Gordon Christie about his and his sister Jane’s new marketing agency and why MSPs should avoid generic marketing playbooks and recycled content MSPs, like you MARKETING Jane and Gordon Christie
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