{"id":16014,"date":"2020-08-20T14:45:15","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T14:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fieldnation.com\/resources\/market-strategies\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T14:48:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T19:48:22","slug":"market-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fieldnation.com\/resources\/market-strategies","title":{"rendered":"Vertical and horizontal market strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"<a name=\"whats-the-right-approach-for-your-msp\" class=\"fldn-table-of-contents-anchor\"><\/a><h2 id=\"whats-the-right-approach-for-your-msp\"><strong>What&#8217;s the right approach for your MSP?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Differentiation is an ongoing challenge for many MSPs. It\u2019s harder than ever to stand out in our constantly changing, highly competitive market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So how do you make yourself relevant to the right clients?\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Answering that means making a decision about who you\u2019re going to serve. And that starts with choosing between two basic market strategies \u2014 vertical or horizontal.<\/span><\/p>\n<a name=\"a-vertical-market-strategy-approach\" class=\"fldn-table-of-contents-anchor\"><\/a><h2 id=\"a-vertical-market-strategy-approach\"><strong>A vertical market strategy approach<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A vertical market strategy targets a specific industry, trade, profession, or other group of customers with specialized needs. This could be:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A specific industry \u2014 healthcare, education, finance<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An industry subset \u2014 dentists, online universities, off-shore tax consultants<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A niche within a niche \u2014 POS for dentists, IT for online universities, VOIP for off-shore tax consultants<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<a name=\"a-horizontal-market-strategy-approach\" class=\"fldn-table-of-contents-anchor\"><\/a><h2 id=\"a-horizontal-market-strategy-approach\"><strong>A horizontal market strategy approach<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A horizontal market strategy is the exact opposite of that approach. Rather than target one specific type of industry, you provide services to a broad range of clients across different sectors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You might focus on a specialized service like POS installation and maintenance. But you don\u2019t limit yourself to a specific industry like healthcare, education, or finance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help you pick the right strategy for your business, let\u2019s explore the benefits of each.<\/span><\/p>\n<a name=\"benefits-of-a-vertical-market-strategy\" class=\"fldn-table-of-contents-anchor\"><\/a><h2 id=\"benefits-of-a-vertical-market-strategy\"><b>Benefits of a vertical market strategy<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The benefits of a vertical market strategy include niche expertise, differentiation, better margins, and a targeted sales and marketing strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Niche expertise<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developing a deep understanding of the unique systems, processes, and needs of a specific field makes it easier to become the go-to expert.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How well do you understand HIPAA compliance in healthcare, IT compliance in finance, or curriculum systems in education? Insight into these types of issues helps you speak your customers\u2019 language. You\u2019ll also be able to identify and help solve challenging problems more quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Differentiation<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This deeper industry-specific knowledge can help set you apart in a crowded, competitive market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Imagine two MSPs competing for the same IT services contract with a large hospital. Both have similar technical expertise, access to talent, and support systems in place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But one MSP specializes in the medical industry, with years of experience helping hospitals leverage technology while navigating complex regulatory requirements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Everything else being equal, who has a better chance of landing the account?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Additional value leading to higher margins<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That type of first-hand experience also helps MSPs provide a more complete solution. And when you\u2019re competing on value, price becomes less of a factor. This means the potential for higher margins.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.itglue.com\/resource\/global-benchmark-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IT Glue\u2019s 2020 Global MSP Benchmark Report, 43% of legal-vertical MSPs reported net profit margins of 20% or more, followed by government vertical (40%), finance (39%), and professional services (38%).<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><b>Targeted sales and marketing strategy<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Narrowing your market focus helps you tailor your marketing and sales approach. Your messaging becomes all about the customer \u2014 their needs, their challenges, their goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your options also get clearer. Which industry conferences should we attend? Are there trade publications should we pitch? Which account lists should our sales team focus on calling? Questions like these become much easier to answer when you know exactly who you want to serve.<\/span><\/p>\n<a name=\"benefits-of-a-horizontal-market-strategy\" class=\"fldn-table-of-contents-anchor\"><\/a><h2 id=\"benefits-of-a-horizontal-market-strategy\"><b>Benefits of a horizontal market strategy<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The benefits of a horizontal market strategy include having a broader range of clients, a diversified industry portfolio, and the potential for service specialization.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Broader range of clients<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes it makes more sense to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">not<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> limit your market to any particular industry niche.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Serve a small geographic area? There may not be enough of one type of organization to support your business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Want to be known for your cutting edge approach to a specific technical challenge? Consider focusing your messaging on the advantage of your unique approach, rather than any industry-specific needs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Diversify demand<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Economic downturns and global events can affect some industries more than others.\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"\/insights\/recovery-second-half-of-2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sectors like retail apparel, automotive, and hospitality have been flat or declining<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. On the other hand, pharmacy, discount retail, and clinics have seen significant gains.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Serving multiple industries can help reduce your risk. The broader your range of potential clients, the less you\u2019ll have to rely on any one market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Technical expertise<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By offering a specific technical service to a broader market, you\u2019re able to become the go-to expert in that niche.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Service specialization can help make it easier to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maintain a specialized workforce<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perform services more quickly<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Standardize your offerings and deliver on a larger scale<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lower your operating costs<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Innovate within your niche<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<a name=\"choosing-and-supporting-your-approach\" class=\"fldn-table-of-contents-anchor\"><\/a><h2 id=\"choosing-and-supporting-your-approach\"><strong>Choosing and supporting your approach<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vertical and horizontal market strategies each offer unique benefits. Whichever approach you choose, Field Nation\u2019s marketplace will help you connect with the right technician with the right skills at the right time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Want to offer a complete range of technical services to a highly targeted vertical market? The marketplace lets you easily find field service technicians with a broad variety of skills and <\/span><a href=\"\/industries-served\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">specific industry experience<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Quickly find and organize talent pools based on specific credentials, certifications, and skillsets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you offering a specialized service to organizations across multiple industries? Access a wide range of high-quality talent to cater to the needs of your current customers, or <\/span><a href=\"\/coverage-map-tool\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">quickly expand your services to new markets and geographic locations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<a name=\"ready-to-get-started\" class=\"fldn-table-of-contents-anchor\"><\/a><h2 id=\"ready-to-get-started\"><strong>Ready to get started? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visit <\/span><a href=\"\/signup\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fieldnation.com\/signup<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to support your market strategy and start connecting with top field service talent today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Differentiation is an ongoing challenge for many MSPs.\u00a0See if a vertical or horizontal market strategy helps win more business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":18745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"xn-wppe-expiration":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-action":[],"xn-wppe-expiration-prefix":[],"footnotes":""},"content-group":[],"class_list":["post-16014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fldn_content_category-growth","fldn_content_category-cost","fldn_content_type-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vertical and horizontal market strategies | Field Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fieldnation.com\/resources\/market-strategies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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