A good marketing strategy is essential for every service-based business. After all, you can’t build an interested and engaged audience if you don’t learn who you are and what you can do for them. Regardless of where you are in your business’ growth, there are several marketing assets every service-based business needs to succeed. To show up consistently and effectively promote your business, you need to have these assets in your business vault. 

Defined Brand Style

Your ideal customer will encounter countless businesses and brands that offer similar services to yours. Service-based businesses need an established brand style. It’s the best way to stand out and be memorable to the people you want to work with.

If you want to create a look and feel for your brand that your audience will recognize anywhere, an excellent place to start is to establish a branding guide for your business. A brand guide is the one-stop resource for the tone and look that exemplifies your business. It’s valuable to solopreneurs who want to create consistent content, and it’s a useful reference for any future team members or collaborators as well.

Use our Branding Guide Template to create one for your service-based business. 

Clear Messaging

For service-based businesses to build credibility with ideal customers, you need to show them that you’re an expert and that you can deliver. This comes down to your messaging: What do you want to tell them? How can you add value to their lives?

Your messaging is at the heart of how your audience will perceive your business. It’s important to be strategic about what you say and how you say it. The way you communicate with your audience will help them understand what you stand for, what they can expect from you, and why they should want to hear more.

Don’t hesitate to be authentic with your audience. Be real and be honest. Let them see your business’ values and what matters to you. 

Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are free resources you provide in exchange for someone’s email address. They’re vital to developing your email list and cultivating an audience of engaged prospective customers. 

When you share a lead magnet with your target customers, you’re providing them with a valuable resource. Ideally, your lead magnet will have content or information that helps your audience solve a problem they face in their lives or businesses.

I can personally attest to the power a well-strategized lead magnet has when it comes to building your email list. My highest-performing lead magnet (below) has helped me grow my email list to more than 2,000 subscribers. It’s a simple workbook, but it’s delivered impactful results. Plus, it demonstrates to my audience that I’m a credible resource for them regarding branding.

Email Templates

Email templates go hand-in-hand with lead magnets: here’s why.

Branded email templates help you establish the consistency needed to help your audience come to recognize and trust your business. Every time someone on your list opens an email from your business, they should immediately know who it’s from.

The best way to create that consistency is by creating a template in your chosen email platform that you can reuse and modify as needed to send emails to your list. Not only will a branded template help you build recognition and credibility with your audience, but it will also save you time. And what business owner isn’t looking for ways to do that?

Social Media Templates

One of the best marketing assets service-based businesses can have in their back pockets is a set of branded social media templates. Whether you are new to social media or have an established following, branded templates are an excellent tool to show your credibility, professionalism, and to help people get to know your business.

When businesses present themselves with one look and personality on one platform and then appear completely different on another, it can confuse audiences. Templates help you to show up consistently with attractive and professional-looking content. They make it simple to quickly plug in your content and share with your platforms (especially helpful if designing and creating visual content isn’t your thing).

Check out the Sonrisa Digital Shop for my selection of beautifully branded templates you can use across your platforms.  

Blogs for Service-Based Businesses

Blogging is essential for website traffic, and that certainly has been the case for this blog and my business. Businesses with blogs produce 67% more leads every month than those that don’t. Blogging can be a valuable marketing asset for service-based businesses looking to increase their visibility and establish their brand.

Blogging is essential to improving your SERP (search engine results page) rankings. It’s important to making sure your business shows up when a target customer is searching for content related to your business. Blogging is an excellent tool for:

• establishing yourself as an expert in your industry
• sharing valuable insights and resources
• helping your audience get to know you

Blogging is also valuable for service-based businesses looking to build their email lists. Blogs are great spots to include sign-up forms and promote lead magnets.

Plus, your blog will quickly become an excellent library of branded content that you can easily pull from to repurpose across your business.

A Branded Website

A service-based business that is active online has to have a professional website. Your website can make a huge difference in converting potential customers into paying ones. 

Your website is one of the first places a potential customer will learn about your business and determine if they’d like to invest in you. It’s where you can showcase your work, share your wins, and provide valuable information about what your business brings to the table.

A well-designed website also establishes that your business is credible and professional. It will guide visitors through a journey that shows them your business’ value, and services. Then, it ultimately leads them to take the next step to engage with you. 

 

 

If you need help building an effective brand and website for your business, check out my services.