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Market Your Service
4 important tips for creating a great
campaign
By Kim T. Gordon
Most Americans can’t get through a
single week without purchasing a service from a small business. Whether they’re
visiting the neighborhood carwash, having an office painted, or a home
refrigerator repaired, they’ll find a local entrepreneur ready and able to
provide the service. It’s the local, one-to-one aspect of service marketing that
makes it so different from marketing the average product. The very word
“service” implies a more personal interaction. And if your company is all about
providing a great service, a marketing campaign that builds relationships is
essential to your success.
Let Customers Know You
Good relationships are built on
trust. So it’s natural that customers want to learn as much as they can about
your company and the people that stand behind it. Women shoppers, in particular,
look for deeper information when deciding on which company or service to choose,
and the vast majority of both male and female shoppers do research on the Web
before making a purchase. Having a company website is a smart way to convey
in-depth information, and it’s extremely affordable to create a website for a
service business because there are no shopping cart costs involved.
You can work with any of the major
hosting companies to create your own site using the site-building wizards and
still keep your costs to a minimum. Showcase the benefits of using your services
on the main page, just as you would in an effective company brochure. Include
your company’s story, photos and staff bios where appropriate, and all your
association affiliations on related pages. And show how well your company
delivers on its promises by providing testimonials, case histories or work
samples.
Compete Based on Value
What will make customers or clients
select your company versus its nearest competition? Most will choose the service
provider that offers the greatest value for their money. In many competitive
market niches there’s price parity among the principal players. So the best way
to win business is not to cut your prices or rates, but instead to add services,
or even products to your service offering, that elevate your offer – making it
too good to resist. This is called “bundling.”
Take time to develop a service
bundle that you know will appeal to your best prospects. You may need to test
various offers until you find a winning combination, then modify your offer
periodically to keep your incentives new and fresh.
Tempt Customers with Incentives
Past customers who’ve had positive
experiences with your company’s services will happily return, but tempting new
customers requires making a special offer. Businesses that provide home
services, such as rug cleaning, painting, home heating or air conditioning, can
benefit by sending consumers coupons through an area marriage-mail provider,
such as Valpak. You can choose households by ZIP code, and your coupon offer
will be mailed in an envelope with others. Although you won’t have the undivided
attention of your consumer, mail from a known marriage-mail provider is often
well received and you can conduct this kind of campaign for a fraction of the
cost of stand-alone direct mail. For long-term results, create a special offer
that will motivate new customers to make more than a single purchase.
Keep in Touch
It costs considerably less to keep
a customer than to win a new one, so it’s smart to maintain a campaign to upsell
or resell existing customers. In fact, if you’re not communicating with your
customer database at least every four to six weeks, you’re missing opportunities
to grow your business. Use a combination of sales and marketing to stay in
touch, such as by alternating sales calls with e-mail and postal mail. Even with
the best of offers you can burn out your list if you pitch customers too often.
So rather than sending only communications with hard-sell offers, intersperse
them with e-newsletters containing case histories or other soft-sell but
relevant and valuable information.
Make a habit of periodically using
your marketing communications to ask for referrals. You can e-mail a success
story, for example, and ask the recipients to forward it to friends or family
members who would like to achieve similar results. By providing deep information
about your company for new customers and ongoing offers and communications with
existing customers, you’ll create a synergistic campaign that builds strong
relationships with the neighbors you serve.
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Coaching on this Topic>>
Kim
T. Gordon's columns and articles are read by more than
3 million small-business owners each month. She is a small-business expert
and the author of four books, including Maximum Marketing,
Minimum Dollars: The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business.
Copyrighted material. May not be reproduced in
whole or part without expressed permission from the author. |