Top Marketing and Sales Priorities for IT Services Firms in 2025

Recently, TSL Marketing surveyed almost 50 business leaders at IT Service firms that include managed service providers (MSPs), managed security service providers (MSSPs), software as a service (SaaS) providers, solution providers, system integrators (SIs), and cloud service providers (CSPs). We asked them questions about sales and marketing strategies and challenges.  

The TSL 2025 B2B Tech Marketing Survey uncovered key insights into what sales and marketing approaches IT service firms find valuable for reaching, engaging, and converting target customers. 

Top 5 Sales and Marketing Priorities 

We wanted to understand what types of sales and marketing strategies IT service firms are using in 2025, so we asked them to identify their priorities for the next 12 months. 

The top 5 responses were: 

• 85% Generating new leads 

• 49% Strengthening brand awareness 

• 47% Improving lead conversion rates 

• 45% Expanding into new markets 

• 30% Increasing marketing ROI 

Lead generation was the top priority by a large margin, underscoring the crucial role marketing plays in setting up sales for success and driving business growth. IT service firms also acknowledge the importance of outreach, making brand awareness the number two priority and choosing expansion into new markets as their fourth priority.  

IT service companies want to realize more value from both their sales and marketing teams, citing increased lead conversion rates and marketing ROI as top priorities. 

Sales and Marketing Challenges 

To get a sense of why IT service firms were prioritizing certain marketing and sales tactics and goals, we asked them what their biggest challenges were in converting leads to customers. Of the respondents: 

• 51% identified long sales cycles 

• 45% indicated ineffective sales follow ups 

• 40% pinpointed poor lead quality 

These responses emphasize the importance of lead nurturing and collaboration between marketing and sales in generating leads. When marketing and sales work together, they are on the same page about how to qualify leads. Marketing and sales strategies need to be in place to follow up on leads quicky and regularly once they enter the pipeline to have a better chance of turning them into customers. 

How Sales and Marketing Work Together 

Digging deeper into the relationship between marketing and sales teams, we asked how involved marketing teams were in progressing sales opportunities. Out of the IT service firms surveyed: 

• 51% responded “Marketing is responsible for generating and nurturing leads but sales closes deals” 

• 28% chose “Sales primarily owns the buying journey with marketing providing supporting content” 

• 19% selected “Marketing and sales work together throughout the entire buying process” 

Less than 20% of leaders at IT service firms report that sales and marketing teams truly collaborate. This lack of collaboration possibly contributes to the challenges companies face with lead conversion. Marketing takes a subordinate role to sales at nearly 30% of companies.  

We recommend that sales and marketing teams work together, reflecting HubSpots “smarketing” approach.  

Valuable Marketing Tactics 

We wanted to learn how IT service firms use specific tactics to address their sales and marketing priorities. When asked what aspects of their marketing mix B2B tech companies found valuable, they responded: 

• 79% Events and conferences 

• 70% Content marketing 

• 53% Tactics to support referrals/word of mouth 

Events are a great way to promote brand awareness and encourage networking to build relationships with customers. 

Role of Content Marketing 

While the majority of B2B tech companies chose events as the most valuable marketing tactic, content marketing was a close second. We took a deeper dive into content marketing by asking what type of content has been most successful in engaging audiences.  

Of the respondents: 

• 68% chose case studies and customer success stories 

• 49% indicated short-form social media content 

Case studies are a great way for tech companies to establish a trustworthy reputation. Notably, social media content creates a way for customers to promote your business to others on social channels by liking, commenting on, and reposting content. 

Tied for third place at 45% were: 

• Product demos and feature breakdowns 

• Thought leadership articles/white papers 

Although thought leadership content ranked in the top three, only 34% of the respondents felt that business owners and leaders found market awareness and thought leadership valuable.  

Key Takeaways 

In 2025, IT service firms are making lead generation, brand awareness, and lead conversion top priorities. However, to get buy-ins for their marketing and sales strategies, B2B tech companies need to demonstrate to stakeholders that tactics like thought leadership content deliver real value. To succeed in 2025, tech companies must create a marketing mix that aligns with their objectives.

IT service companies also need to work to create closer collaboration between sales and marketing teams to successfully generate, qualify, nurture, and convert leads.  

Get expert advice on how to succeed with your IT service firm’s sales and marketing priorities. Request a proposal from TSL Marketing.