Marketing is a key component of any successful business today, whether the business is primarily online or conducted locally. However, marketing a service business is a bit different than marketing a specific product or a brand that offers a line of products. Knowing how to market a service can significantly increase traffic (both online and off), increase clients, and ultimately increase revenue.
Service Business Marketing: Basics and Tips
Follow these service business marketing tips to connect with your customers and build your business.
What is a service business?
A service business is a business that promotes and offers a service as its main entity. Rather than selling manufactured products, a service business rendered specialty services that may require the assistance of a professional or a trained specialist.
A service business typically either relies on people or on equipment to deliver services rendered. Service businesses that rely on other professionals to conduct businesses include law firms, accounting agencies, graphic design agencies, and even electrical repair companies. Service businesses that are heavily reliant on equipment to provide services include airlines, which require airplanes, and even movie theaters, which require food equipment and screen projectors.
The basics of service business marketing
When you are building a people-powered brand that offers services, knowing the ins and outs of service marketing is essential. Understanding how to market a service begins with familiarizing yourself with the basics of service business marketing.
Establishing credibility and building trust
To successfully market any service business, establishing credibility and building trust among your target audience is a must. Service businesses rely on satisfied customers who are willing to refer their own friends and family to the business in the future.
Values
Building a service business from the ground up is not always possible without first establishing the values you stand for as well as the mission and objective of your service business itself. Defining the values that are most important to your service business can also help you to home in on the demographics you want to reach and why.
Effective messaging
Effective messaging and communication go a long way, especially when it comes to developing a working service marketing strategy. When you know exactly what it is that your customers want and need, it is much easier to convey the exact message they are hoping to hear.
Customization and personalization
Regardless of the type of service you provide to customers and clients, offering customized services is always advisable. Providing your clients and customers with top-tier individualized services can help to build brand loyalty and trust. Because the service industry today heavily focuses on personalization, providing custom service plans for clients can go a long way when it comes to your own service marketing strategy.
7 service marketing tips
Immersing yourself in service marketing does not have to feel daunting, intimating, or overwhelming, especially once you have an idea of where to begin.
Establish your brand identity
One of the first steps to take when you are marketing a service is to establish a brand identity and values that reflect your business and its mission. Establishing your brand identity and the values your brand represents can help to further determine what demographics you should attempt to target and how to go about reaching them, online and off.
When you know the brand identity of your business, it is also much easier to craft copy and messaging that is most likely to resonate with your target audience.
Build a sense of community
A key component in building any successful service business is the ability to build a sense of community among those who are most actively engaged with the services you provide.
Building a sense of community can come from launching an ongoing newsletter or even expanding your service company's online presence with the use of social media. Using social media platforms is often one of the best ways to streamline digital marketing efforts when it comes to attracting new followers and generating interest in a particular idea, product, or service.
Distribute business cards and marketing materials locally
If you are offering services to locals in your city or nearby community, consider the option of distributing business cards and official marketing materials to help spread the word about the services you provide. You can also use official business cards and marketing materials to connect with local entrepreneurs, vendors, and business owners who may be interested in promoting the services you offer in exchange for a similar promotional opportunity.
Distributing business cards that appear professional, modern, and sleek will also help to establish and build credibility among prospective clients. Business cards that are poorly designed or appear outdated may leave a negative impression on those who receive them, which is why a well-designed business card matters, especially when it comes to establishing and building a brand new service business.
Consistent communication is key
Consistent communication is crucial when it comes to building a successful service business. From politely and professionally responding to customer reviews to offering discounts, there are many ways to communicate as a service business while simultaneously winning over customers. Developing a regular newsletter for locals, online visitors, and loyal customers can also provide valuable insight into the wants and needs of your target audience.
Connect with local media and social influencers
Establishing trust and building a service business from the ground up is not as easy as delivering quality services. You will likely need to connect with local social influencers online as well as with local media offline to help in building even more credibility surrounding your brand. Even if you are offering your services locally, using online influencers, blogs, and even social media can help to generate the foot traffic and interest that you need to generate sales and revenue.
Taking the time to make connections with local media groups as well as online media or promotional groups that are relevant to your niche and industry can also help significantly in terms of generating buzz and driving traffic to your website. Working together with influencers as well as those who are involved in local and online media can help you to spread the word about the type of services you offer, even if you intend to enter into a highly saturated and competitive market.
Place quality over quantity and price
With any service business, quality over quantity matters. The quality of the services you offer will have the biggest impact on how others view your business and whether or not they will return to your business for services again in the future. Ensuring that the quality of the service(s) you provide is better than any other company near you is essential to truly stand out while you establish yourself as a service company.
When marketing your service business, emphasize the importance of the quality of services you offer and how the quality does, in fact, impact the daily lives of your customers and clients. Highlight the reasons why the quality of your services matters and how low-quality services in the same industry can result in a detrimental or disastrous outcome for your clients. Focusing on pain points as well as on the solutions your service company brings to the table can also help to drive home the messaging you are trying to convey to prospective customers. You can also focus on what sets your services business apart to help garner even more attention to the services you provide.
Make customer service a top priority
As a service business, your customer service philosophy should be one of the most important components of managing your day-to-day operations. Service businesses rely on happy and satisfied customers and can quickly go out of business if they choose to neglect their customer service duties.
When you own a service business, ensuring that the level of customer service you provide to your customers is top-notch at all times is imperative. If you have local competition, you will need to strive to offer more in terms of service as well as customer support if you want to keep your business running smoothly and successfully.
Consider the type of customer service solutions you have available to those who are interested in your services. Do you have other service workers available on-site to help answer questions and respond to inquiries? Is it best to implement a live chatbot on your website to provide guidance to visitors who would like to learn more about the services you offer? Does your website have a FAQ, or a Frequently Asked Questions, section available to the public?
Start marketing your business
Whether you are trying to market a business for the first time or if you are looking to expand your service marketing strategies, knowing the basics of service marketing can go a long way with your next campaign, whether it is online or off. With the use of Mailchimp, streamline your service marketing efforts, whether you are marketing a service geared towards a niche audience or if you are attempting to grow and scale your entire business and brand.