Your company provides an amazing service at a competitive price, so why do you find yourselves struggling to compete against much lower quality rivals?
It’s a situation faced by many companies and it’s all down to how effective you are at marketing your business. Because there’s no point building up a great company – if nobody knows about it.
While word-of-mouth is a tried and tested way to attract new business, it’s only one of the tools available. Just as digital technology has transformed the way we’re able to manage our mobile workers, it has also revolutionised how we’re able to marketing ourselves. Meaning, with the growth in technology, people are moving away from word of mouth and are now using word of 'mouse'.
It doesn’t require London based marketing agencies or eye-watering budgets, just a basic understanding of digital communications.
How to market your field service business:
- Home on the web
- Digital word of mouth
- It's good to talk
- Creating a community
- What makes you different?
Home on the web?
These days, you would think that every company would have its own website. But research carried out by RedShift Research and GoDaddy found that 59 percent of small businesses still have no online presence.
It means that they’re missing out on a free marketing tool which gives you access to around 1.52 billion users each day. With a basic website able to be set up in around 20 minutes and for a cost of less than £100 – it provides an incredible marketing bang for the buck.
Digital word of mouth
In the real world, attracting customers via word of mouth is an agonisingly slow process which can take years or decades to bear fruit. But the process can be rapidly accelerated if you allow it to take place online.
By signing up to online review sites relevant to your sector, you can provide a public platform for your positive feedback. A survey by Vendasta found that 80 percent of people trusted online customer reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Of course, it also means that negative online reviews can have a harmful effect on companies. It’s a particular risk for businesses who provide field services because of customer’s high expectations when it comes to reliable deliveries. Here's why customer reviews can be good for your business... even if they're bad.
It’s good to talk
With so many different ways to communicate now, it’s frustrating for customers and clients when they find themselves struggling to contact your company. In 2017, they don’t expect to have to leave a voicemail message or wait around for an email to be replied to.
With online services, you can always make yourself available via website contact tools and the use of social media messaging provided by sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Creating a community
Social media isn’t just a great way to let people contact you, it’s also a way to build up a community around your organisation. By allowing people to ‘follow’ your business on social media, you can build up a much stronger relationship with your users.
By giving them relevant updates and engaging content, you can create a stronger bond between your business and your customer base. And it’s a two-way process with the interaction helping you to get a better feel for what your users want.
What makes you different?
Yes, it’s a horribly cheesy marketing term but to effectively promote your company, you need to work out its unique selling point (USP). It’s that core reason people should choose your service over your rivals.
And if you’re struggling to think of what your USP is – that’s a problem that needs to be tackled. For companies providing field services, there’s one simple way to keep yourself ahead of the competition – moving over to a digital workforce management system.
