Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 1 The blessing and the curse of Internet marketing is that it’s there for you to manipulate as much or as little as you’d like. Internet marketing can do scores for you but if it’s not done properly or with the right fail-safes in place then all of your effort could be for naught. Here is a beginner’s guide to Internet marketing for your service industry business that you can follow to online viability. Decide On What You Want From Your Internet Marketing The first key to success for Internet marketing will actually take a lot of navel gazing. What is your business? Who is your customer? Where does your service reach? Where would you like your service to reach? You may think that something like this has nothing to do with your online marketing but it actually does. Say you opened up a corner bistro cafe in a suburban neighborhood. You may have always imagined your customer would be the upper-crust literati of your town. But if the reality is that your biggest customers are kids with skateboards who like your dessert selections, then that is your customer. That doesn’t mean that it will always be that way but you need to embrace the full reality of your business. If you don’t want those kids in your cafe anymore that’s something that an Internet marketing campaign can help you alleviate. Tip: Make sure you know the amount and volume of traffic coming through then target the traffic you want! All of this information comes from installing Google Analytics. Now here’s a sneaky Google Analytics tip. Check out Google Webmaster Tools, Google Insights, and Google Trends. All of these tools are free and will give you exactly what you’ll need. What does your competitor have for breakfast? The next thing you need to do, once you know the customer you have and the customer you’re trying to reach, is you need to get deep in the weeds. That is you need to know your industry and your local competition inside and out. What are the nearest competition doing in their Internet marketing campaigns? What are similar businesses in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Rio, Japan, or London doing? This is going to take a little bit of work on your part but by looking to what others are doing you can see what works, what doesn’t, what you think is brilliant, and what you’d rather not do. One good idea is to find out what these businesses are doing on social media and follow them. You might get some great free advice from a business owner in another part of the world which you can take and use for your business! Tip: If you find something that works somewhere else, it can’t hurt to “borrow” what’s successful! It’s called “Adapting” and you’ll find adaptable marketing strategies all around you. Stopping for lunch at McDonald’s? Swipe their upsell strategy and ask if your customers want a complementary product or service or maybe you can create a sort of “value meal” bundle of products and services. Stake Your Claim The next step in your Internet marketing manifesto is you need to establish yourself in the online world. The same way you would go around to local businesses and introduce yourself in person, so too do you need to do the same thing in the online world. That may be something as simple as becoming a Twitter follower or it may actually mean partnering with neighborhood businesses which complement one another. If you’re a dry cleaner and you’re out in front of a strip of hotels with banquet facilities it would make a lot of sense to try and corner that market by offering discounts to banquet customers. The good news is that everyone is looking to score some kind of “online-only” deal so if you offer them a percentage discount, that’s only going to earn you more traffic. If it’s a wedding party then the chances of the local wedding guests using your cleaners for their finery is even more pronounced. Plant the seed in the guests mind and then let it grow! Tip: Set a goal to have at least ten conversations a day where you ask what you can contribute to a fellow small business owner and be sure to share your business, who your ideal customer is and how folks might recognize them. Choose a social platform that YOU love and enjoy where your customers also hang out Concurrent with your laying down virtual roots then you need to of course get on the social media front. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are three of the big players in this sphere but it’s something you can’t be passive about. If you set up a Facebook page, make one offer for a limited time and then fall off the face of the earth you’re going to lose the interest of your subscribers. You shouldn’t make hourly notices either; that’s the other end of the extreme. But if you’re a bar, restaurant, or masseuse and you make a weekly post about your service business, that’s fine. If you’re an accountant you probably want to ramp up your social media and Internet marketing campaign around the end of the year and during tax season. That is something you may not have time for but doing so will only enhance your Internet marketing presence. Tip: Social media is the place to play, offer contests, and get customers sharing with their networks! Don’t be overwhelmed by contests, there are lots of different platforms that can help you successfully launch social contests and drive traffic and generate leads and sales. One platform I’ve tried is HEYO. It’s really easy and has had a lot of success, especially on Facebook. Create Some Content Once you’ve had some success with social media marketing then you can start a blog. This is where you can “pull back the curtain” so to speak and really begin to let your devoted customers get a peek at how things run. People love videos so YouTube is a good place to get familiar with as well. But you can post notes about specific deals for customers on your blog for that night. You can also show people the prep for some of your favorite dishes, the mixing of your best cocktails, or the best tricks which have been turned at your skate park. Brainstorm with the youngsters; they know what’s up! Tip: Don’t worry, you don’t have to be overwhelmed by creating a ton of content. Brainstorm a list of topics and then you can create a variety of content around the same topic. Write an article, turn it into a podcast or video, interview an expert or a customer on the same topic. The possibilities are endless!. Be Consistent, Persistent, and Creative Once you begin Internet marketing it’s like the scarlet letter; you’ve got to keep doing it or your business will become stale. The problem with this is that the online marketing world is always changing; you have to “keep up with the times” or your business is going to be as stale as a buggy whip! Tip: Your marketing has got to keep pace with the current trends! My favorite source for the latest trends is Trendwatching.com. They do extensive research on consumer trends and report on them. But here’s the other sneaky tip. Their web site is ALWAYS state of the art. So you’ll kill two birds with one stone with this one. Baby Your Brand It may seem like you’re constantly talking about your business, product and services, it’s new to your customers. Just when you think you’re repeating yourself and being boring — keep at it at least another five times! This means that your brand has to have a solid logo, an easy to repeat and remember message and a way to stick in your customers brain. Protect your brand, feed it and nourish it. It’s worth the effort. Tip: Is your logo stale or too complicated? You may need to do a redesign. When I need a logo on a budget, I go to 99Designs where you can submit a project and for one price you can see dozens of potential new designs. Get your customers involved in helping you choose your updated look, it’s a great way to engage with your customers and build your brand at the same time. Service businesses are so focused on delivering on great customer experiences, there often isn’t time to bulk up your marketing or your brand. Just remember, don’t make your marketing a drudgery or just one more thing on your to-do-list. Make your marketing an opportunity to engage and enroll your customers in with your business. It will not only build loyal customers, it will attract even more new customers. Image via Shutterstock Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on ChamberofCommerce.com and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Author: Connor Brooke Connor is a Scottish financial expert, specialising in wealth management and equity investing. Based in Glasgow, Connor writes full-time for a wide selection of financial websites, whilst also providing startup consulting to small businesses. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and a Master’s degree in Investment Fund Management, Connor has … View full profile ›More by this author:ACH Crypto Price Prediction 2022 – Is it a Buy?Lucky Block Partners with Dillian Whyte ahead of Heavyweight Showdown with Tyson FuryNFT Pixel Art – The Best NFT Collections for 2022