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Health & Fitness

Marketing Tips for Professional Service Providers

Anahid Derbabian was the guest speaker at my lunch and learn last week, and shared these 12 tips for professionals to effectively market their services.

Anahid Derbabian was the guest speaker at my lunch and learn last week, and offered valuable advice to professionals on how to effectively market their services. Anahid is the owner of Integrity Communications, a company focused on branding, marketing, and Public Relations. Throughout her career, Anahid has worked with solopreneurs, professional service providers, large corporations like GM, and non profits like Cranbrook Schools.

Anahid offers these Top 12 Marketing Tips for Professional Service Providers:

1.  Remember you are selling a service, not a product

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This will require building strong relationships through your marketing and sales efforts.  Services aren’t always easily understood by others.  It takes time to connect with the client and prospective client, so they can understand your value, and grow to know, like, and trust you.

2.  Develop a Marketing Strategy and Plan

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Avoid the latest marketing “silver bullet”.  Instead focus on a strategy that works for your company and speaks to your clients.

3. Create your company brand

This is as important for corporations like Kraft, GM, etc. as it is for the solopreneur.  How you go about creating and implementing the brand will be different as a solopreneur than a large corporation.  However, your brand should clearly differentiate you from others in your industry and demonstrate how you connect with and help your target audience.

Use key words and visuals that are consistent and which are integrated in all your marketing materials.

Make sure your brand and marketing strategy reflects your company’s:

  • goals
  • business style
  • mission
  • passion
  • services
  • products
  • target audience
  • referral sources
  • value to clients
  • method of addressing your client’s pain
  • how you stand out from the competition

4. Speak in a language that resonates and connects with your target audience

Research and understand your target audience’s pain and desires, and then share through your marketing materials how you intimately know and understand their challenges, or hopes and dreams, and how your company can provide that solution.

The words and visuals you use should create an emotional response that resonates with the target client and which is authentic to the culture of the company/owner.  This emotional branding will build a trust relationship with your target market.

5. Develop Credibility as an industry expert and thought leader

Guide your clients and prospects using your expertise and these marketing tools: 

  • conduct presentations
  • acquire publicity in local, national and trade media
  • craft articles, white papers, case studies
  • develop videos that highlight your style, thoughts, intentions, value
  • use engaging life examples and anecdotes
  • actively use social media to communicate your industry expertise

6. Utilize stories/anecdotes and samples of your work to paint a picture

This generates more clarity about what you do and how you can help your prospects and clients.  It makes you more relatable, and it strengthens the trust relationship.

7. Repurpose your content

Content is king!  Find ways to re-use the content you have generated in your business, by creating:

  • Articles/blogs/newsletters
  • news releases
  • case studies
  • white papers
  • Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Posts
  • Videos
  • Podcasts/webinars
  • Power point presentations

8. Remember the marketing tool isn’t as important as how it is strategized and implemented

Be sure that each marketing initiative works in tandem with the others to reflect your brand, your value, and engages your audience and draws them toward you.

9. Create intellectual capital and new revenue streams

As service providers, leverage your knowledge by developing “products” that open doors to new business and revenue:

Create $5 articles or $15 books that showcase your expertise. These can turn into $3,000 or $15,000+ projects for that client later.

Products create passive income, so you aren’t limited to earning money solely for the work you perform on an hourly basis.

Find ways to protect and capitalize on your intellectual property.

10. Market to existing and former clients

As a service provider, your most favorable opportunities for new business are your existing and former clients.  They already know and trust you, and are more likely to do business with you again and/or refer you to someone else.  Find ways to stay in touch or reconnect.

11. Collaborate with other professionals

Other service providers in non competitive industries make great referral partners.  They can cross promote you and your services through marketing, ads, sponsorships, events.  You  can also support and encourage one another.

12. Let go of reluctance and connect with success

The goal of marketing is to attract more clients, sales, and profits.  In order to do this, we need to unleash and express the essence of our company in a way that resonates with and connects with our target audience.  Don’t keep it a secret or isolate from others in an attempt to appear professional.  Be personable, authentic, and caring so you’ll attract those who you can help.

POINTS TO PONDER AND SHARE:

  • What marketing challenges do you face in your business?
  • Do you feel your brand adequately represents who you are as a service provider and connects with your target market?
  • Do you outsource your marketing, or handle it in house through staff or do it yourself?

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Anahid Derbabian is the founder of Integrity Communications, an award-winning business she formed in 2004 to provide digital marketing, branding and public relations to inspire business growth within small and mid-size companies. Anahid’s prior background in the corporate sector includes directing marketing/public relations for national and international brands such as General Motors, Ford Motor Company, The Home Depot, Champion Athletic Products, WXYZ-TV/Channel 7, and Cranbrook Schools. Her masters degree in counseling enables her to guide clients with intuition and build their emotional brand. For more information or to contact Anahid, visit her website.

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