If you own a service-based business, it’s time to start incorporating these tips into your strategy. There are some things to keep in mind when thinking about marketing, specifically for your type of business:

• Marketing helps you attract more customers. If potential clients don’t know that you exist or what you do, they won’t hire you, buy from you, or refer you to others.

• Marketing helps audiences remember who you are and what you do. This is especially important if your business has a lot of competition. Your customers may forget about the one thing that sets your business apart, so consistent reminders help ensure that your brand stays top-of-mind for them when they need your services again.

• A successful small business needs to have an effective marketing strategy in place at all times. By implementing a thorough marketing strategy, a small business owner can generate sales leads on auto-pilot, meaning they can focus on other aspects of the business that need attention.

You can always stay up-to-date by checking out other helpful articles in our Signpost blog to grow your marketing know-how. But to start, here are 10 tips to get the ball rolling. 

1. Know your target audience.

Have you ever thought about what it means to know your audience? You may have asked yourself questions like “Do I know my customers well enough?” or “How can I better understand my customers?”

Knowing your customers allows you to meet their needs which results in more repeat customers who may recommend your business to others. As a result, you can grow your business by gaining new clientele through word-of-mouth advertising.

The more you know about your audience, the easier it is for you to market effectively because you can create materials that meet their needs. You can do this by studying the demographics of your customers and thinking critically about who they are and what they want from a product or service.

For example, as an electrician, you can do a survey during times of peak seasonal demand to better understand the kind of needs your ideal target market has. 

2. Put together a clear marketing strategy.

When thinking about marketing, you need to consider your target audience and what messaging would work best for them. You also have to consider the different channels available for your marketing efforts. In some cases, it may make sense to advertise in multiple channels. This is known as multichannel marketing.

For example, let’s take the case of a general contractor. The marketing plan’s messaging would depend on whether they’re trying to attract new homebuyers, win over commercial clients, etc. 

If they’re targeting new homebuyers, they could advertise on home shows and talk about how he can help them remodel their current homes or build their dream home from the ground up. 

If they’re targeting commercial clients, they’re marketing efforts would be different since they’re going through a different process than a typical homeowner would. They could advertise on news programs and talk about how their team of builders can renovate or construct an office building. This would increase the awareness of a company and emphasize the productivity and efficiency of the business. 

3. Nurture leads through an email marketing plan and text messages.

When you’re in business, it’s easy to get caught up in making sales. However, if you don’t nurture your leads—those who have shown interest in what you do and are likely to become customers—you’ll lose them if they forget about you. And if you’re a service business, losing a lead can mean losing a customer or repeat business.

Email marketing is a great way for any type of business to keep in touch with their customers and nurture leads. If you’re an HVAC contractor, you will likely have just as many service calls for new jobs as for emergency repairs. If so, your marketing emails should reflect this.

For example, if someone signs up for a free estimate on a new air conditioner installation, it would be effective to send them an email with a coupon or discount code to use when they decide to get the job done. You can also add them to your email list for future offers on new products or services. 

If a customer has a service call coming up for an air filter change or something else that doesn’t require immediate attention, send them the reminder email. A missed appointment means less money in your pocket!

Text messaging is another relevant way to nurture leads in a more personal way on the device that’s constantly right in front of them. This can prove vital for service businesses who are always trying to stay at the top of customers’ minds.

Having a hard time manually staying in touch with your customers? Take advantage of Signpost’s automated email marketing campaign and text messaging services!

4. Take advantage of social media marketing.

Social media marketing has become an important marketing tool for service businesses. It can be used to enhance current business practices. The most important thing to remember about social networks is that you need to tailor your approach according to the platform you choose and the type of audience you hope to reach.

If you’re using social media as a way to enhance your existing marketing strategy, you’ll have the advantage of leveraging the content and brand recognition already built up through other channels. After all, if people are already familiar with your brand, they’re more likely to be receptive when they hear about it on social media. You can also use social media platforms to get feedback from customers in order to make adjustments that will improve your business.

For example, let’s say that you run a roofing company and you have a Facebook page where you create social media posts of projects completed by your company. If you’re getting positive reactions but only getting a few leads through the page, you might want to take advantage of Facebook ads. You could target specific demographic groups using location or interests.

5. Claim your business on Google Business.

Claiming your business on Google Business is an important part of marketing for service businesses such as plumbing companies. It is free to do and can be done easily online, but time must be allocated to it.

If you’re a plumbing business, people search for plumbers on Google all the time. They type in things like “plumber near me”, “plumber prices” or “plumber coupons”.