Selling digital marketing services can be tough. Business owners get bombarded every day with spam and people bothering them about digital marketing. In order to stand out – you have to go the extra mile and be smart with your outreach and how you propose your services.
Selling internet marketing services might be tough, but it is possible. To succeed you need to do research, build a relationship with your customers, and make sure that they have the best experience when working with you.
How to Sell Internet Marketing Services
1. Find the Right Local Business
The RIGHT business is so important. But the RIGHT depends on what you have to offer. Is it someone who may be advertising in PPC but not ranking in SEO? Ranking page 2? Do they not have a Google Pixel or Facebook Pixel on their page? The RIGHT local business all depends on your offer. You need to figure that out.
2. Identify an opportunity to help them solve a problem they are having with their marketing or sales strategy
Following up on the RIGHT business from above – seeing a gap, or seeing a real problem with a business marketing whether it be a typo in their ads, broken links on their site – whatever you can identify to make a quick improvement is super important.
3. Meet with the business owner and Introduce yourself and your company to them
Face-to-face business is still super important for local businesses. Main street businesses for the most part aren’t up on digital marketing yet. Face-to-face relationships drive a lot of business so make sure to meet the business owner, and introduce yourself and why you are reaching out to them.
4. Understand the buyer’s needs
Understanding the needs of your customer is absolutely critical. Business – particularly marketing – isn’t about YOU (the provider) it’s about THE BUSINESS. How can you help them if you don’t understand their needs? If you can meet with the owner and get some numbers – you will be able to better understand what the business owner will see as a successful engagement and tailor your efforts to meet those benchmarks.
5. Create a marketing plan that will help the potential client meet their goals
After you understand the buyer’s needs, put together a proposal that is focused on their goals. Everything should be based on the buyer’s goals.
6. The proposal for the marketing services needs to include a timeline and deliverables
The TIMELINE and expected outcome is super important for not only meeting goals, but also satisfying the client and proving to them that you are aligned with their goals. When you make clear goals and attach timelines and deliverables the potential buyer will know what to expect out of the marketing services..
7. Make sure they understand what you’re selling them
Using buzzwords and talking over people who may not know what they are talking about is not the way to move forward. Ask them questions. Ask them what benefits they expect from working together. Ask them if it’s clear what you will be doing to help them achieve their goals.
8. Create a clear value proposition
Be very clear with them on the specific goals you are shooting for. Don’t create a dozen goals – start with a few concrete goals that you know you can impact and when relaying this info about the goals be clear, and focus on issues you can actually solve.
9. Prepare for objections and overcome them with compelling benefits
Every business owner will have an objection. It’s just part of the business. Whether it’s to get more for the agreed-upon price or to receive a discount – there will always be a bit of back and forth. Knowing your market, your offer, and what specific benefits you have over other service providers and answering objections with optimism and how you intend to overcome the subject of their objections will help. Don’t go in blind. Roleplay. Practice.
Hint: You may want to offer small tasks for free – such as an audit, or fixing something small that you know will give benefits. Audits and small fixes can help you close deals because you are no longer saying general information, but relevant info, and even helping them out of the gate which will make you more of an ally vs someone trying to get their money.
10. Deliver what you promised to seal the deal
Whatever you promise them – deliver them in a timely manner. In fact – you should underpromise and over-deliver on everything. This is a key part of the referral business – underpromising and overdelivering will make you look like a rockstar. If you tell them you will have the proposal to them by a certain day – ensure that you deliver it on that day.
11. If they don’t want to hire you, follow up after six months
Sometimes the timing just isn’t right. If they deny you make sure to follow up in six months with examples of successful engagements. “Good Afternoon – a few months ago we spoke about doing this for you – since then we have seen great results with other clients. Check out the results we got them Here, Here, and Here. A gentle follow-up with some examples is a great way to close a deal that may have been off due to budget, timing, etc.
After Closing The Deal
Now after you close a deal – the hardest part is done! But now is where the work begins. It’s SUPER important to deliver if you want to maintain new clients and turn them into loyal customers.
12. Get started on your work and make sure you’re meeting deadlines!
Meeting deadlines is so important. How can a business owner be confident in your services if you can’t meet delivery deadlines? Not meeting deadlines is like sabotaging your business and all the efforts it took to get the client.
13. Send out monthly reports about progress made and any changes related to the original strategy
Keeping business owners updated with the execution, outcomes, goals achieved, and upcoming plans and next set of goals is super important to keep the project rolling. If you are doing a bunch of great work, but the owner doesn’t know what you are doing – you are likely to lose the client. Be your own biggest cheerleader and show them all the great work you are doing!
How to package digital marketing services
Unfortunately – although we can provide you with a step-by-step process on how to sell digital marketing services, how to package them – is 100% up to you, and your offer. Each instance and business is unique – so you need to create a custom offer for each of your clients. What you offer a nail salon vs a lawyer will be completely different because they each require a different output to be effective. It may be smart for you to consider niching down so you can put together packages that really impress your clients and impact their business.
Selling online marketing services can be a struggle, and it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day rejections. But with these 13 tips above you will have better luck at overcoming objections, closing deals, and being more successful overall when marketing your products or services online. The most important thing is that you stay confident in yourself – whether you are selling brick-and-mortar goods or digital downloads! Let us know if we can help; our team of experts is ready to partner with you to create an SEO plan tailored specifically for your needs.
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