Two Marketing Strategies Every Service Provider Should Use to Grow their Business

I’m typically hesitant to use absolutes, because I happen to dislike absolutes. So, when I say that there are two marketing strategies that every service provider should use to grow their business and book more clients, I mean it.

Now, I’m certain that you’re already using one of these two marketing strategies. It would be impossible to run a successful service-based business without doing so. But I’m almost certain you’re not utilizing one of these two marketing strategies, either.

Why? Well, most people don’t. When we started our creative businesses, we traveled down similar paths. We made Instagram accounts, and read the tips and tricks that other more successful business owners had to share. After smooshing the amalgamation of those tips and tricks into a something, we called that our marketing strategy.

What we didn’t realize was that that term needed to be plural: marketing strategies. 

Running a service-based business is tough stuff, and in order to run a successful, healthy and constantly-growing service-based business, we need to use two contrasting marketing strategies that work together symbiotically.

But before I keep talking, I need you to tell me that you’re open to implementing both of the marketing strategies I’m about to share. Go ahead, tell me you are, I’m listening.

Great! Let’s get to it.

Two marketing strategies for service providers

Marketing Strategy 1: Content Marketing

Remember when I said that you were undoubtedly already using one of the marketing strategies I had to share? Well, this is that one. 

In this day and age, it’s only natural that you’ve been marketing your online business via blog, email marketing and social media content creation. In fact, you might be so well acquainted with this specific marketing strategy, that you’ve found yourself reading this blog, searching for another way (any other way, really) to spread your business’ wings and let it fly.
Content marketing includes:

• Blogging

• Pinterest marketing

• Email marketing

• Social media (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok)

And while it can be toilsome, content marketing as a service provider is necessary because it allows you to have an online presence. Your content is your storefront, your billboard and your digital business card. Without that content, you’re almost completely unfindable. 

I liken content marketing to passive marketing. Because you are creating content for others to come, find and read, you’re marketing your business more passively than, say, going out and searching for clients and projects directly (more on that soon). 

The great thing about content marketing and its passive approach is that your content can live on forever… unless it’s on social media. In all actuality, your blog, email and Pinterest content will live on forever - like lovely little digital seeds that harvest and grow in their own time. 

Marketing Strategy 2: Outreach Marketing

Have we established the fact that you’re already a master of content creation? Yes, yes I believe we have. Which leads us to marketing strategy 2: outreach marketing.

Eight out of ten creative service providers opt for content marketing in lieu of outreach marketing. I personally believe that this can be attributed to the fact that content marketing, while it involves a process of “putting yourself out there for the entire world to see on a digital stage,” is still somehow less horrifyingly scary than, say, directly emailing a brand or business you’ve been dreaming about working with.

The logic is completely backwards (“backerds” as I like to say), and yet, here we are. We creatives have the tendency to feel that showing up and creating for the faceless tens of thousands > directly communicating with someone we really, really want to work with.

So, we skip it. We skip the outreach marketing, and we pretend that it isn’t that big, scary catchall closet that we walk by daily and haven’t opened in years. 

If you’ve ever tackled a project like a big, scary catchall closet (or junk drawer) and finally gotten it organized and sifted through, you’ve probably realized that you should’ve done it a long time ago. Because it wasn’t that bad, and it wasn’t that scary.

That is how it’ll feel when you finally implement outreach marketing in your service-based business.

Outreach Marketing: Reengaging Previous Clients

You know those clients you loved working with, the ones you were sad to see go? Why not send them an email to reopen that relationship? What’s the worst thing that might happen?

We creative service providers have the tendency to move on to the next, biggest idea - in doing so, we neglect the business seeds we’ve already sown. As the head salesperson for your business, you already won the business of those past clients and projects. Then, as the chief creative, you took that business and carried it through to completion. Finally, as head of customer service, you packed up your client’s digital package, and sent them on their way. 

All of that work was already done. So, you’d be crazy to skip working with them again, right? 

Whether you plan on working it into your monthly, quarterly, or annual calendar, make a plan to email your previous clients and revitalize your relationship. Offer a new service, or a discount on a previous service. Ask them how things are going for their brand, and what creative needs will be coming down the pipeline. 

Read now: Rebook your favorite clients with these simple strategies.

Outreach Marketing: Cold Emailing Dream Clients

The idea of emailing your previous clients might not scare you, but I’m willing to bet that the idea of emailing someone you don’t have an existing relationship with probably does. 

When done the right way, cold emailing should look, sound and feel like a polite digital wave and introduction. It should be the online equivalent of walking into the lobby of a business, saying hello to the front desk, dropping off your business card and grabbing the card of the decision maker. It should not be the equivalent of you cartwheeling into the lobby, knocking over the business card holder, shouting down the hallway to say “hellloooo!” and running out.

(This is how many cold emailing strategies can come across.)

So, I don’t want you to cartwheel or shout, or do anything even close to making you (or the recipient) that uncomfortable. Just send a nice, friendly email. That’s not so bad, is it?

Every, and I mean every service provider should implement cold emailing (AKA active marketing) in their marketing and outreach strategy. Regardless of if you’re fully booked for the next year, or are working project to project while barely making ends meet, it’s my belief that everyone needs to continue to sow their business’ seeds by cold emailing their dream clients.

Of course, I’d never send you off to try out a new strategy without preparing you first. So, here are two resources to help you painlessly learn how to cold email! 

FREE: A Guide to Cold Emailing for Business Owners | Cold Emailing Templates $37

Content Marketing vs. Outreach Marketing

So, your service-based business needs content marketing, because it needs passive, evergreen marketing. But the beauty of using two marketing methods instead of one lies in the fact that you have more options, and more flexibility. 

Prior to this blog, you might have been relying entirely on blogging, email marketing, Pinterest marketing and social media to grow your business and book more clients. Relying solely on content marketing probably resulted in content burnout (how could it not, right?). Implementing outreach marketing by cold emailing new brands and businesses and reengaging clients you’ve already worked with not only ensures that you’re covering your bases, but it gives you a bit of breathing room, too. 

By spreading out those marketing eggs across two baskets, you have the ability to step back (a bit) in your content marketing strategy, while revving up your outreach marketing strategy. Creating less content won’t just save you time, it’ll protect your creative energy, too! 

The two keys to a growing and balanced service-based business are passive marketing (content creation) and active marketing (cold emailing & rebooking past clients). Both are important, and neither should be skipped… so, what’s holding you back?

Learn how to cold email in just 15 minutes

Free video tutorial!