Traditional marketing strategies held sway in the market for quite some time, and many businesses benefited from using them. Fast-forward to today, techniques like trade shows, direct mails (postcards and brochures), print advertising, billboards, and radio and television commercials are no longer enough to win a sizable market share.
Like most other businesses, professional services firms thrive on active networking and marketing. Unfortunately, professional businesses like accounting, architecture, engineering, and healthcare services, run a risk of losing visibility and customers as time passes. This is partly because they relied heavily on traditional marketing means, which is no longer as effective as it used to be. So what’s the best way for professional services to remain relevant and win more clients?
Using Digital Marketing Techniques
Not only has digital marketing revolutionized marketing practices across industries, but it has also become the new normal, proving to be the most effective marketing strategy today. Note that marketing strategies are different from marketing techniques.
Digital marketing strategies refer to the detailed planning and strategic moves and actions you make to achieve business results and close more sales. They are essentially the choices you make towards positioning your firm in the marketplace and the key messages you want to get across to your audiences.
Digital marketing techniques, on the other hand, are the specific tactics and digital platforms you’ll use to spread your message and communicate with your audience. For example, search engine optimization, social media marketing, local search marketing, paid advertising, and email marketing are all digital marketing techniques available to businesses today. Going into the meat of the discussion, what are the best digital marketing techniques that professional services can leverage to build their visibility and generate more leads?
Specialization and Niche Targeting
Specialization is a highly effective marketing technique, especially for professional services providers. Specialists have a unique niche, which makes it interestingly easy for them to position themselves in the market. Aside from the fact that they are in high demand, they have the advantage of serving in a niche where they are very well trained. This is a powerful marketing edge, which, if tapped, can yield tremendous benefits.
Specialization makes your marketing efforts easier; people see you as an authority in your niche, you understand what matters most to your audience and how best to speak to them. As a result, they are more likely to come to you when they need help. If there’s any area of the market that you understand better than others, then that’s your edge over the competition.
Blogs and Articles
With well-written blogs and articles, like the one you're reading right now, you position your business to be seen as an authority in your niche. However, it is best to write mostly informational content that is tailored to the needs of your audience. This is in line with the SEO best practice of working with user intent in mind. User intent or search intent focuses on providing answers and relevant solutions to the average user’s needs.
People are constantly looking for answers to many questions on the internet, search engines, and social media platforms - and more than 50% of buyers will read up about what they want before deciding to purchase. By providing insightful content on these topics, you will be able to satisfy your audience, but also improve your visibility and attract more prospects.
Lead-generating Website
Did you know that most customers will check out your website before deciding to buy? To convert such customers, you need to set up a functioning lead-generating website. This is specifically created to provide useful and relevant information to your prospects, nurture them and gradually convert them into paying customers.
As a professional services provider, you can be sure that people will check you out first before contacting you to solve their needs. They want to see your profile, your project portfolio, and learn more about you. A lead-generating website can help you achieve this with less effort.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
With a website dedicated to promoting your business, you can broaden your online marketing by incorporating ongoing search engine optimization. SEO can also be factored into your blogs and articles. The fact that potential clients are able to find you easier and you get to leverage organic growth are some of the biggest benefits of SEO.
All you need to do is use the right keywords, push out content that answers the questions your audience is asking, and optimize your landing page and content pieces using SEO best practices. The results may take a while to start showing, but sooner or later, you will begin to experience the impact of your efforts. If there’s any place where SEO is needed, the professional services industry should come top of the list.
Video Marketing
Consumers love video content. More than 63 percent of businesses currently use video content as a vital marketing tool. This is because most people prefer to watch a video about a product, a service, or an event rather than read about it. Professional services providers can leverage this unique opportunity to provide insightful clips of their services, solutions, and so much more to their audience.
Luckily, making good videos are way cheaper and easier today, thanks to the many smart video-making tools on the internet. However, if you find this aspect overwhelming, you may be better off working with a professional at an agreed price. Every once in a while, you can use video to establish a bit of face-to-face interaction with your audience. This is an effective way to boost engagement.
Social Media
Did you know that many people now engage on social media more than they do anywhere else? With powerful networking platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram, social media provides businesses the opportunity to achieve the same thing that they would with traditional marketing techniques like trade shows, seminars, and billboards, and even more. In a nutshell, social media is where your customers are.
It is a wise choice to get on as many social media platforms as necessary. Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok also offer users, including businesses, the tools and platforms to promote and market their businesses to achieve more visibility.
Final Thoughts
With the variety of opportunities available out there, professional services firms can achieve better marketing results without stressing too much. If you’re yet to start, there’s no better time to begin than now. If you need further assistance getting started or improving your efforts, we would be glad to help. At Mission HR, we use our profound market and industry insights and expert guidance to help you improve your marketing results and business productivity.
We are experts at assisting businesses to implement the best growth strategies successfully. As leading partners in the PEO, HR, payroll, and benefits outsourcing marketplace, we also provide result-oriented services for small and medium-sized organizations and government contractors, serving as a trusted partner in integrated human resource compliance, risk management, employee benefits, employment practices liability insurance (EPLI), and payroll processing. Contact us today for further assistance.