From Overwhelmed to Organized: How to Develop a Marketing Strategy for Local Service Companies

A solid marketing strategy is essential for any business, especially for local service companies. A well-designed marketing strategy can help your business reach your target audience, increase brand awareness, and ultimately drive sales.

However, developing a marketing strategy can be overwhelming, and it can be challenging to know where to start or how to prioritize different ideas.

Grab pen and paper, or open up your Google docs, and get started today on your marketing strategy.

1. Identify your target audience: The first step in any marketing plan is to identify your target audience. This will help you tailor your marketing messages and strategies to the people who are most likely to become your customers. Consider demographics such as age, gender, income, and location.
2. Conduct market research: Conducting market research can help you gain a better understanding of your target audience, their needs, and their preferences. This can help you develop marketing ideas that are more likely to resonate with them.
3. Set SMART goals: Set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your marketing strategy. This can help you prioritize ideas that align with your goals and eliminate those that don’t. Examples of marketing goals could include increasing website traffic, generating leads, or increasing sales.
4. Analyze your competition: Analyze your competitors‘ marketing strategies to see what’s working for them and what’s not. This can help you identify gaps in the market that you can exploit and avoid duplicating efforts that aren’t effective.
5. Competitive Advantage: Strategize for your competitive advantage. It is important to differentiate yourself from your competitors and gain an edge in the marketplace. 
6. Develop a budget: A marketing budget is essential for implementing your marketing plan. Determine how much you can realistically afford to spend on marketing activities and allocate funds accordingly.
7. Create a marketing message: Your marketing message should be clear and concise, and it should resonate with your target audience. Develop messaging that highlights your unique selling points and benefits to potential customers.
8. Create a map: Map out your marketing ideas based on factors such as potential impact, cost, and ease of implementation. This can help you prioritize ideas that have a high potential impact, low cost, and are easy to implement.
9. Utilize digital marketing: Digital marketing is an essential component of any modern marketing strategy. Consider optimizing for search engines (SEO), doing pay-per-click advertising (PPC), upping your social media marketing game, and prioritizing your Google Business profile.
10. Leverage local marketing opportunities: Local service companies can benefit from local marketing tactics such as sponsoring community events, participating in local trade shows, and networking with other local businesses
11. Measure and adjust: It’s important to regularly measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and adjust your strategy as needed. Use analytics tools to track website traffic, social media engagement, and other key metrics to help inform your marketing decisions.
12. Use a SWOT analysis: Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis to identify your company’s strengths and weaknesses. This can help you prioritize ideas that build on your strengths and opportunities while mitigating weaknesses and threats.
13. Assign responsibility: Assign responsibility for implementing specific marketing ideas to team members. This can help ensure that the right people are working on the right tasks, and that everyone knows what they are responsible for.
14. Outsource: Outsourcing can help speed up the process and help you avoid procrastination.
15. Regularly review and adjust: Regularly review your marketing strategy and adjust it as needed. This can help you stay on track and adapt to changing market conditions.
16. Audit: Stay ahead of the game by conducting regular audits on your website, SEO, competitors, marketing efforts.

By following these steps, local service companies can develop a marketing strategy that is well-organized, effective, and aligned with your business goals & objectives.