Offering professional services? Follow this 5-part checklist to up your digital marketing game!
You know what you’re selling and you know who it is for. Next up is the actual selling - and that trips you up. Correct? As an entrepreneur and someone who’s offering professional services, you’re not the only one being haunted by the idea of selling. So, take a deep breath and tell yourself - “it’s okay!" because it truly is. Getting comfortable selling your professional services takes time but rest assured, I’m here to offer you the tools & techniques that you need to confidently show up in front of your dream audience and clearly communicate to them through efficient digital marketing, what you’re selling. And not just that - to clearly communicate to them why they should choose you over the others. In doing so, you are really channeling your digital marketing efforts in the right direction and increasing your chances of making more sales!
New to the digital marketing world? Start here - Top 4 things to streamline (or start) your digital marketing
So are you ready to up your digital marketing game? Are you ready to learn the strategies to sell your professional services more effectively? Let’s do that with the help of this 5-part checklist!
1. use an Attention-Grabbing Headline
This one needs some playing around with to get right. Whatever digital marketing tool you prefer, there are some general rules based on which your efforts may turn out to be successful or they might even tank! So your well-intentioned content might not even reach your target audience if it’s not able to grab their attention.
When offering professional services, YOU know pretty well how amazing your services are BUT it wouldn’t matter unless your audience sees it. The idea is to communicate your offer to your audience in the clearest, on-point, and most attractive way so that your people take notice of your offer and get interested in it. So whether you’re communicating through your website, social media, print, or digital advertisement - make sure you use a strong, attention-grabbing headline that speaks to your ideal clients, pulling them in. Just “great content” does not cut it anymore, presentation is a key deciding factor in this era where first impressions matter. So, your digital marketing is incomplete without an attention-grabbing headline for a caption or blog post title, an ad, a podcast topic, and your website.
As an example, check out this blog title copy.
Doesn’t that sound click-worthy? To me, it sure does! Now, imagine a blog post with similar content that says something plain and generic like this:
“Welcome Email Sequence Guide”
Which one would you rather click on if you only have enough time for one blog post? The top one? Exactly! That is the power of using powerful yet catchy, short yet promising titles when it comes to digital marketing.
2. Address your client’s Problem
When digitally marketing your professional services, this is one big mistake I see business owners make. A LOT. In an attempt to put yourself out there, you forget to focus on your ideal client’s pain point. You tend to put a lot of focus on your services and self-praise and by doing so, your ideal client’s pain points get pushed to the back burner. The challenge or set of challenges that they are facing that’s stopping them from reaching their next level and hitting their personal or professional goals. Something that’s keeping them up at night. The problem that they are desperately trying to solve. All that’s what you have to address.
When you shift the perspective from yourself and focus on your ideal client’s most basic problem, that is when you will get their attention and get one step closer to making the sale! Otherwise, you’d simply be shouting into the void no matter how much money you spend on your digital marketing.
Take a look at Marie Forleo’s free resource where she is focusing on teaching her audience how to become better writers as it is a common problem every entrepreneur faces when it comes to digital marketing for their business. And so, this leads her to success in her own digital marketing efforts!
3. Agitate the problem
This technique in digital marketing strengthens your point as to why people should invest in your services. According to Forbes, people have some core emotional motivators that are the reasons for people to really buy anything. Such as - to feel safe, to feel good, to level up, to be liked, to be successful, to save time, to save money, to belong, and more. So think about how you can use one of such core emotional motivators in your digital marketing.
What would your ideal clients lose if they don’t buy what you’re offering? How will their lives be impacted? Will the problem that they are stuck with, just get worse? Addressing the implications of not solving this problem, will really play a big role in moving people to buy your services. So agitating the problem is a key digital marketing technique that you should be applying anywhere and everywhere like the sales page on your website (your biggest digital marketing tool!), social media captions, etc. You can create blog posts, youtube videos, and podcast episodes covering the implications strategically, moving the needle for your digital marketing game.
4. Show a promising solution
By this point, you know pretty well who your ideal client is. You also know what their biggest pain point is. And what’s amazing is - you’re offering professional services that address those pain point/s perfectly. So you have all the pieces of the marketing puzzle right in front of you! Now is the time to present the promise of what your service delivers. Ideally, you should clearly tell your ideal clients what results they will get and basically answer all the questions they might be thinking of subconsciously. This way you can eliminate any barriers and up the chances of making a sale. For example - A marketing strategist’s offer may say something like this: Increase your email list by 500 subscribers in 30 days!
Why is this so promising? Because it clearly tells the ideal client what they will get and in how much time. Also, this offer sounds very relevant and attractive as it clearly shows the ideal client what’s in it for them (which is the biggest motivation behind any buying decision really!). So until your offer is promising enough for people to step into without thinking ‘So What?’, keep refining it. I promise it’ll be worth your time and energy in the long run :)
5. Clearly lay out the next step
And finally, right before you put that marketing piece out in the digital world in the form of a free download, a training, a podcast episode, or an ad - check this last but utterly important item off your checklist! Don’t lose money on the table by not giving your ideal clients a clear next step which is called a CTA or Call To Action. Tell them very clearly how to buy what you’re offering. Even when things feel like they are a no-brainer, trust me - it’s always a good idea to clearly spell things out to get more conversions!
Conclusion
There you go! I totally understand how digital marketing can feel like a beast but the key is to break it down into chunks and tackle each step strategically rather than randomly.
New to the digital marketing world? Start here - Top 4 things to streamline (or start) your digital marketing
Got questions or stuck somewhere? You’ve got all the help! Comment below or reach out to me at hello@twelveandtwentyeight.com or even better, let’s hang out on Instagram where we can have fun conversations while working through your marketing questions! Good luck friend, you’ve got this :)
Building brands with strategy + love,
Ridha
