6 digital marketing techniques every service-based business should use

If you want to earn as many sales as possible, you need to get your digital marketing strategy right. In this article, we’re going to outline some of the best digital marketing techniques for service-based businesses.

Take a look at this article from Qrius for more insights into the top marketing trends of 2021. 

Let’s get started!

Focus on using the most appropriate social media platforms

Businesses need to take advantage of social media — it’s a very powerful digital marketing tool for reaching new customers. Too many businesses make the mistake of trying to be on every platform at once, which can have a detrimental effect on the quality of their content. Focus on a few different platforms that are relevant to your business. For instance, if you have a lot of image-based content like a makeup artist or hair salon would, Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram are all good options. If you provide services to other professionals and businesses, LinkedIn is a solid choice. If you’re just looking for the largest platform, Facebook is your best bet.

Let’s look at a few examples of businesses that have done an excellent job on their social media pages for inspiration.

Take a look at how American International University implements social media content into their website well. At the bottom of their Career Services page, they encourage website visitors to follow them on different social media platforms. Since they’re targeting undergraduate students, notice how the different platforms they’ve highlighted are age-appropriate; Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter tend to attract younger audiences. Be sure to keep your audience demographics in mind when deciding what social media platforms to use.

De Cielo Spa, a salon and spa located in Burbank, California, has also incorporated social media into their digital marketing strategy well. Take a look at what they’ve highlighted on their Instagram page: a soft face-framing hairstyle by one of their stylists. This is a great way to promote the salon and the work of their stylists! People who like this look might be more willing to contact De Cielo Spa for a hair styling service. 

Keep in mind the type of services you offer when choosing your social media platforms — De Cielo Spa, for instance, has a lot of photo-worthy content, making Instagram a great choice for them.

Use SEO tactics to climb the search engine results pages

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is one of the most important digital marketing tools at your disposal. This is the process of optimizing your website’s content and copy to make it rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs). 

There are three essential components of boosting your SEO. To start, you should create content based on keyword research. Head to a keyword research tool like Google Keyword Planner with a list of words and phrases related to your business. Plug them into the planner, and Google will provide you with a list of keywords related to the subject. Basing your content off of these keywords, or weaving them into your content in a natural way, will help you boost your ranking in the search engines.

You should also consider putting together a link-building strategy. Link building is the process of acquiring links from other authoritative websites in your niche. When this happens, Google takes it as a vote of confidence in your work and gives you a boost in the SERPs. 

Lastly, make sure your technical SEO is top-notch. Here are a few examples of technical SEO requirements:

• Have a fast-loading website (try to keep it under two seconds)
• Compress the images on your website
• Make your website mobile-friendly
• Have an intuitive navigation system

Let’s look at an example of a business that uses this tactic well. 

Florin Roebig, a trial attorney law firm based out of Florida, has implemented different SEO strategies well. Their car accident lawyer service page ranks on the first page of Google for queries with a collective monthly search volume of 7,510, meaning it can get them quite a bit of traffic! Florin Roebig was able to achieve this strategy by creating a helpful article on car accidents and weaving appropriate keywords throughout. On your website, be sure to incorporate keywords throughout your web pages, like in your titles, headers, and copy—this will help you rank higher on the SERPs.

If you need more help, check out some of the SEO strategies offered by Loganix. We can help you build links, write content, and more.

Use content marketing to attract the right people

Content marketing is one of the most important tools at your disposal for attracting your ideal audience. It’s creating content, like articles, videos, live streams, and the like, to help your customers and draw in new people to your website.

One great way to come up with content marketing topics is by answering common customer questions. Check in with your customer service team to see if they get any questions regularly. If you base your content on these questions, your customers will feel understood and trust you more. 

You can also conduct some question keyword research. Bring a list of words and phrases to a keyword research tool like Answer the Public. They will provide you with a list of questions related to any given subject. Basing your content on these questions will boost the SERPs, which can bring more traffic to your website and increase your sales!

Let’s look at a few different examples of businesses that do a great job of content marketing for inspiration. 

FreshBooks, an online accounting software company, has a helpful article on how to write a winning invoice letter. The article covers templates, what to include in the letter, and more — it’s excellent for drawing in their audience of small business owners and freelancers who likely send out invoices. If website visitors are interested in invoice letters, they might also be looking for accounting software!

On your website, think about how you can create content for your website that will draw in your target audience. How-to guides, like the one offered by FreshBooks, are a great way to draw in these people.

Venngage, an online infographic maker, has a helpful article as well. Their website has a guide to choosing the best types of charts for your data. This article shows that Venngage knows what they’re talking about when it comes to data and chart design. Website visitors that come across this article will gain confidence in Venngage’s authority, making it an excellent piece of content marketing.

On your website, think about what types of content you can create that will show off your expertise. This will build trust with your audience and help lead to more sales.

Create case studies to show how past clients have benefited 

Case studies are a very effective digital marketing tool. They can show your customers the results you’ve achieved or other clients! When working with your new clients, be sure to ask for permission to record data on the results of your services. Keep track of information with your clients before, during, and after your service process. 

Once you have this information, compile it into a blog post or article. You want to be sure that your prospective clients see these case studies, so be sure to share them on social media and promote them on your website by linking to them through relevant pages. This will show your website visitors that you’re skilled in what you do, and get you more customers!

Guest post for websites relevant to your work 

Guest posting is just what it sounds like — it’s the process of creating content for other authoritative websites in your niche in order to build your backlinks and boost your SEO. It can help you spread the word about your business among your target audience!

When looking for guest posting opportunities, consider reaching out to your network. If you know of different influencers or businesses that work in your niche or one that’s similar, reach out to them and see if you can create content that would be a good fit for their guest posts. 

You can also take a look at different websites that are relevant to your own and see if they have guidelines for guest posting submissions, such as length requirements and topics. Or, reach out to their head writer or editors to see if they’re taking article submissions. 

Consider what you’re best at when coming up with topic ideas. Write guest posts about topics you are an expert in — what people come to your business for over anyone else. This tactic will get you great results and potentially more customers as you show off your expertise.

Monitor your marketing performance and adapt accordingly 

You can’t just put together a digital marketing strategy and then follow it blindly — for the best results, you need to monitor the results closely and adapt your strategy accordingly/ 

Here are a few examples of key performance indicators that can give you an idea of how your content and website is doing:

• Click through rates on social media
• Conversion rates
• Number of returning visitors
• Web traffic sources

Be sure to stay flexible in your strategy and listen to the data. If you aren’t doing well in a particular area, consider changing your strategy to get the desired results.

Summary

Digital marketing is a tricky beast — in this article, we outlined several different techniques to improve your website and become more successful. Content marketing, SEO, and social media are all great ways to improve your strategy.

Need more help? Take a look at this article from Qrius They can help ensure you find success in your digital marketing strategy.

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Alex Ratynski is the founder of Ratynski Digital, an online marketing consultancy that focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses achieve their goals. He set up his company after working as a local SEO director for a dental marketing agency, where he helped to turn clients’ ventures into thriving multi-million dollar businesses. He spends most hours strategizing SEO for his clients.