10 Effective ways to market a service business

1. Optimise your website for the search engines

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the best ways to market your service business online and get traffic to your site.

When implemented successfully, it will deliver qualified leads as you’ve selected the keywords which your audience are most likely searching for online.

And once you’ve created the content, it will continue to deliver traffic to your site for free well into the future.

2. Build an online community

Trusted relationships underpin an effective sales and marketing strategy, and an excellent way to build these is via an online community.

You can choose to use a platform like Facebook to host a closed or private group to give your community an exclusive feel.

Or, you can speak with your followers on your other social media platforms as though they are part of your business community as another example.

When you host a community, it’s critical to encourage engagement and get your community members to start conversations and build relationships with others in the group.

As such, consider creating social media content which includes more questions, polls, and conversation-starters to encourage that engagement.

3. Create relevant social media content

When creating content for your social media platforms, you should consider what your target audience would find relevant and helpful.

Create content theme or pillars that embody what your service is about, as well as content that your target audience would find useful.

A simple way to work out what type of content would be relevant is to review the questions that you commonly get asked by clients and those who are following you.

Once you understand what questions they have, you can create content that helps to answer these questions for your ideal clients.

4. Host a live webinar

An effective way to build trust with your audience quickly is to host a live webinar so that they can see and hear from you.

Asking people to register for a live webinar is also a great way to build your email list and capture more leads.

The format for a live webinar usually includes in the introduction, the sharing of some educational or informative content, followed by a sales pitch at the end.

However, sales pitches are generally only given at the end of free webinars.

If you charged people to attend your webinar, then I would recommend excluding a sales pitch, and perhaps using the period after your webinar to reach out and follow up with attendees.

5. Invest in paid advertising

One of the fastest ways to generate awareness and market a service business online is via paid advertising.

There are a few different options that you can choose, and each platform has a slightly different way of reaching your target audience.

If your clients are clear about what they are looking for and have an immediate need to find your types of services, then they are likely to go to a platform like Google and search.

However, sometimes your audience may not be actively searching, or may only have thought briefly about obtaining your types of services.

In this scenario, you may be better advertising on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

6. Blog about a niche topic

Writing a blog is an effective way to market your service business online and generate more traffic to your site.

When you choose to write about a niche topic, you’re also achieving two things.

Firstly, you’ll start to be recognised as an expert in your niche as you demonstrate your expertise.

And secondly, you’ll generate more qualified traffic to your site, as Google will show your blogs to people who are searching for specific information about your services.

7. Retarget your online audience

If you’ve installed the Facebook Pixel, Pinterest Conversion Tag, or Google Ads Tag on your website, then you’ll be able to set up retargeting ads to your audience.

The way retargeting works is that the pixels collect the IP address information for those people who visit your website.

Then, when those people are on social media or Google, their IP addresses are recognised, they will see ads for your services if you have retargeting ads set up.

You’ve probably noticed this before when you’ve been online shopping.

You may have visited a brand’s website and were then shown their ads online in the days following.

8. List your business in online directories

While printed directories may not be as effective in generating leads these days, you can still drive qualified traffic to your site via online directories.

The first two directories I recommend are Google My Business and Bing Places. Both are free to list.

There are also several other free online directories where you can list your service business.

To find these, go to Google and type ‘free online directories in (your state or country)’ in the search.

You may find that paid directories are more effective in driving qualified leads to your business, so to find these, go to the Google search and type ‘online directories in (your niche)’.

The other online directories that you will want to consider are those which are hosted by associations or memberships that you’ve paid to join.

Often these types of organisations will offer an online listing as part of their membership fee, but it’s up to you, the business owner to ensure that your listing is posted online.

9. Collaborate with business partners

It can be challenging (and costly) to grow an online audience on your own, but it’s less difficult when you partner and collaborate with other (non-competing) businesses.

There are several ways in which you can collaborate, including:

• Interviewing or having each other as guests on your blog, podcast, or Facebook community

• Running a joint promotion and sending this to both of your email lists and online audiences

• Cross promoting your services on each other’s sites and referring leads to each other

10. Reach out and connect

Building relationships online can be a little more challenging than when you meet someone face-to-face.

However, a great way to get to know each other more is to reach out and connect via messenger or direct message.

You mustn’t lead with a sales pitch or offer when you’re reaching out as this will come across as annoying or as spam.

Instead, comment on or share some interesting or helpful content that you’ve seen one of your followers share online.

Or, offer to help another business owner with something that you feel they would benefit from.

Another option which can work quite well is to send one of your contacts a recorded voice message rather than just a written note.

A short voice message can deliver a much more personalised message and cut through the noise.

So, there you have ten effective ways to market a service business online.

I recommend choosing 3 – 5 of these marketing methods and focus on implementing them consistently in your business before adding any others.

That way, your marketing will be targeted, and you won’t be diluting your message across too many platforms.

I also recommended putting together a marketing plan that will help you to stay organised and on track towards achieving your goals.

If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to writing a marketing plan, then get in touch for a free audit and consultation.

If you need full support for your marketing, then sign up for one of our Marketing Reboot packages to get you up and running in just ten days!