Digital marketing for sole-proprietors or service firms like accountants, lawyers, electricians, dog groomers or ANY service-related business requires a different digital marketing strategy than a small business selling their physical products online.
Social media marketing is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to promote your company expertise. Creating a social media marketing strategy to distribute your content via different platforms will help build your reputation and visibility in your local marketplace.
Firstly, a lead-generating website needs to be designed to serve as the center of your online marketing efforts. Relevant, easy-to-find content targeted to the correct audience will help to convert visitors into leads. The hard part is getting that audience to visit your site and buy your services.
So many small business owners have websites built and just “expect” traffic to arrive. Without a proper digital marketing strategy which includes a social media strategy designed to drive visitors to your site, you will travel a long, uphill road to getting online visitors, leads and sales of your valued services.
A strong social media presence is important for every company regardless of the industry. It will help boost awareness and reputation of your service firm among your target audience.
A well-devised social media strategy for professional service firms will:
- Position you (and/or your team members) as thought leaders in the industry and in their respective niches. This builds trust and credibility with your audience
- Increase the reach/visibility of your content (posts, blogs, videos, webinars, ebooks)
- Grow word-of-mouth marketing efforts through positive reviews and testimonials
So which platforms should be used for your service business? That depends on a number of variables but with assistance from a digital marketing professional to help you understand and define your audience, you can choose the right platforms and determine how to best allocate your marketing dollars.
An overview of the strengths and weaknesses of each platform can be found here. While relying mostly on organic (non-paid) traffic was feasible years ago, the various platforms (especially Facebook) have adjusted their algorithms to encourage paid advertising to get the best results. Like anything else involved with growing your business, spend your resources wisely and seek the advice of a social media marketing specialist to map out a course of action that works for your small business.
