Service-based businesses need marketing that’s a little different from product-based businesses. The sales process has more steps, and consumers do more research before they reach out for an appointment or quote. So, of course, your marketing needs to be different. From better websites to showing expertise, learn more about the best marketing for service-based businesses below.
1. Your Website Needs Improvements for Leads
For most service-based businesses, your website is a critical part of the sales process. From learning more about your services and what differentiates you from competitors to taking the next action, your website needs to be easy to use and drive customers to sales (and make sure the sales team knows about these leads). We go over all this and more in our dedicated article, 4 Ways to Tell You Need a New Website as a Service-Based Business.
2. Advertising is a Must, But the Platform Differs
With a well-configured ad campaign, you can target and bring the ideal customers right to your website, phone, or office to buy. For many businesses, this will mean Google Ads, but for those competing with big brands or international businesses, costs can get too high. Such businesses might have more success on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn, or advertising on other Google platforms like YouTube or Local Service Ads.
3. Reputation Management Matters
More than any business, word-of-mouth and your reputation are critical factors when potential clients compare you with other services. If you’ve got poor ratings on Google, Facebook, and reputation and listing websites related to your industry—or you don’t even know what’s said online about you—you’ve got a problem. You need to:
- Review what’s being said online about you.
- Respond in a constructive manner to resolve issues.
- Ramp up collecting reviews from satisfied customers.
This last part is vital for turning around a middling or poor reputation. Learn more in our blog, Shifting from Reputation Management to Reputation Marketing.
4. Showcasing Your Expertise is Important
While showcasing your expertise starts with a good website and continues with getting reviews, you can do more to showcase your expertise not only to customers, but also to Google and AI agents to bring even more people through the door. The key option is going to be writing business blogs that balance both keyword use and actual information with strong calls to action, but social media, infographics, and video are also options to both gain traction and have marketing content to showcase.
At Vision, we’ve helped countless service-based businesses (both interesting and boring) improve their marketing, from websites to advertising. Contact us today to get started. Want to see service-based marketing in action? Check out the rest of our Vision blogs, our enVisioning Success podcast, and our downloadable Marketing Strategies Playbook.
