Marketing is an essential component of any service-based business’ plans for success. Cultivating an engaged audience to share your offerings with is the foundation for sales and sustainable growth. So, how does a business get the word out to the right people, keep them engaged, and ultimately, turn them into happy customers? 

Here are my top marketing strategies for service-based businesses.

Get Clear On The Messaging for Your Marketing Strategies

Before you can develop a winning marketing strategy for your service-based business, you have to know exactly what you’re selling and to who. 

Start by defining your signature offer. This is the main service you provide to customers and the one you want to be best known for. You need to be crystal clear on your signature offer and the value it provides to customers.

Next, consider who your dream client is. It’s not enough to say, “A woman in her 30’s who likes interior design.” Dig deeper and explore your dream client’s values, goals, opportunities, and challenges. How will your signature offer make this person’s life better? What problem does it solve for them? 

The Marketing & Sales Guide walks you through outlining your signature offer and Dream Client Avatar. It’s a great place to start if you need help fleshing these essential items out.

Armed with your clearly defined signature offer and dream client avatar, you’re ready to dive into marketing strategies.

Attract The Right People

It might be tempting to whip together marketing content you think will get some attention on your business. But if you’re not developing content for the right people (your dream clients) and sharing it in a way that they’ll see and consume, you’ll just be “spraying and praying.” 

To attract your dream clients, first, think about what type of content will resonate with them. Perhaps they’re very active on social media, or maybe they’re more likely to listen to a podcast or read an article. Go back to your thoughts on who your dream client is and what’s important to them, and start there.

Then, consider which channels will be most effective for getting their attention. If they’re active on social media, focus on one or two specific platforms where your dream clients spend the most time. 

Choosing specific avenues for getting in front of your ideal audience is the most effective way to get their attention. Plus, you won’t be wasting time and resources on marketing activities that may or may not reach the people you want to connect with.

Engage With Your Dream Clients

It’s not enough to execute your marketing activities, sit, and wait. Engaging is a crucial step to building your audience, getting to know them, and learning about what they need.

For service-based businesses using social media to attract their audiences, for example, posting strategic content and interacting with followers and dream clients is essential. Participating in your comments and interacting in DMs shows your audience that you’re paying attention and gives you meaningful opportunities to engage with them.

Use those engaging interactions to demonstrate the value you can provide to your audience. Document or record what you learn about what resources they want and need. Seek opportunities to show your expertise. 

Interact with your audience and pay attention to their needs. How are you engaging and providing value to these people? What content and resources can you provide to benefit them and demonstrate your expertise?

Whether you’re focusing on social media, YouTube, or email marketing, focus on how you can provide value to your dream clients while learning about their needs.

Nurture Your Audience

Once you’ve started engaging with your audience and becoming recognizable to them, it’s important to nurture that connection with helpful and free content. They know who you are, what your service-based business does, and now it’s time to let them experience your value firsthand.

Nurturing your audience helps you to become a trusted expert in their eyes. With free content, they get a taste of the value you can give them with your paid services. 

Once your audience members have consumed your nurturing content, point them to the next step in working with your business: Inviting them to your signature offer. If they’ve benefited from your free content and have been impressed with your business’ value, they will be much more likely to invest in your offer. Just be clear about what your offer entails and how it will help them.

 

Delight Them!

Once your audience has made a purchase or investment in your business, it’s important to continue to engage and — most importantly — delight them.

Don’t let their positive experience with your business stop with that purchase. Continue to provide them with value and watch them become referrers, vocal fans of your business, and perhaps unofficial brand ambassadors who happily send new business your way.

Ready to create a clear action plan, authentic brand, and content crafted specifically for your ideal audience? Grab The Ultimate Business Planner Pack. It has the six Sonrisa Studio workbooks that will help you organize your great ideas and actually reach your goals. Filled with insightful questions and step-by-step guides, you’ll create strategies to grow your business to success.