5 Must-Have Online Marketing Strategies for Your Service Company
- August 6, 2014
- By: Vonigo
We work with a lot of different kinds of service companies, from handymen and cleaning companies to painting companies, window washers and more. A lot of them struggle with the same problem: how do I get more prospective customers to my website so they’ll use my service?
As one of our customers from Frogbox put it, a big part of it is about engaging customers with content they care about. “Social media makes all of that visible and amplified. On social media, we talk about things that matter to us and our customers – and not just our product. We’re interested in sharing stories or compelling environmental articles… But getting to know what resonated most with our demographic through metrics such as likes and comments was key to understanding what to share and how best to keep our audience interested.”
Enough with the theory. Here are some tips to help you be successful with your online marketing:
Listen to Your Customers. When your business launched, you likely had certain assumptions about your customers: what they like, what they don’t like, what they’re willing to pay and who they are when they’re not busy using your services. Now you get to see what they really think. Social media makes it easier than ever to almost “read” your customers’ minds.
Read their Yelp reviews. Check out their blog post that raved about the service they got – or if they didn’t like something, figure out how to do it better. Above all, find out what they’re interested in — and let that inform the rest of your marketing approach.
Tell a Story. Even better, tell lots of different stories. On June 13, our client, Modern PURAIR’s Twitter account tweeted that they “removed 16,204 lbs of dust from residential homes in 2014! Help us beat that for 2015!” That’s interesting – and It helps potential customers understand exactly what they do.
Did your service company start out as a sweat-equity passion project before it took off? That’s a human interest story of following your passion that will appeal to a large audience.
Perhaps your service has a unique and entertaining appeal? Our client Men in Kilts, which offers pressure washing, gutter cleaning and related services by professionals who just happen to wear kilts, has gotten plenty of buzz just from sharing photos of their hardworking folks on the job. It’s a business that was made for publicizing on Instagram and Pinterest. Whatever your marketing channel, make sure the text, image or video tells the customer something authentic about your business.
Be Helpful. Some companies are leery about sharing how-to videos, Instagram diagrams and blog posts of what they do, fearful they’ll give away their trade secret. The truth is that for most service companies, their customers are really buying your time and peace of mind for a job well done. Your uncle Bob who’s really quite handy himself is still going to hire a pro to renovate his house, because he wants the expert to take it off his hands.
Those How-To videos show your customers what you do, helping them understand the value. In fact, in a lot of cases they stop the customer from trying a DIY project because they see how tough it really is to do the job. Being transparent about how you do what you do makes you the go-to expert when the customer needs help.
Be Social. Broadcasting is yesterday’s method. Today it’s all about having real conversations with your customers. Tell stories, listen to what your customer is telling you and be helpful. An engaged customer who feels they already have an existing relationship with you, even before they’ve ever bought anything, is more likely to go with you when they’re ready to buy.
Online marketing is an amazing vehicle for communicating with customers so they’ll think of you when they’re ready to buy.
Learn more about how you can put Vonigo to work in your business.