Working at the intersection of brand, visibility and results, Matter helps security, fire, HVAC and other facility service companies improve local visibility, generate better leads, book more customers and grow. The strategies behind creating marketing plans for service-based businesses, while geared to learnings from our experiences in the facility services industry, reflect the best practices that Matter brings to the table for any service-based brand to stand out in competitive markets, attract the right customers and drive measurable business growth.
Why “More Leads” Mentality is Leaving You Wanting
Every service business wants more leads. Your challenge is to generate them consistently.
As we walked through in my previous blog, Measuring What Matters, many organizations find themselves stuck in a relentless cycle of inconsistent lead flow: too many leads one month, not enough the next.
Much of this struggle stems from customers no longer following a simple path from search to conversion, especially with AI platforms now becoming integral at every step of customer decision-making before you ever see them click on your website.
In this blog, we’re going to walk you through the footsteps of your customers so you can better understand how to design a marketing plan for your service-based business that (1) builds trust and familiarity, (2) stays top-of-mind and (3) is right there when someone switches into customer mode.
Before You Start: Don’t Be Fooled By Quick Wins
Capturing existing demand is always the quickest win.
For service businesses, paid search remains one of the most effective ways to reach high-intent prospects by getting in front of people actively searching for your services. Here’s the catch: search only reaches people who are in-market today. It doesn’t help you build relationships with future customers who may need your services next month, next quarter, or even next year.
The quick wins are more and more incomplete as we see customers in all categories shifting into AI-generated answers, where only a handful of providers are surfaced, showing up consistently (and credibly) becomes even more critical. Taking stock of how AI discovery is changing the way businesses need to approach their marketing plans, now is more critical than ever to make sure your business is well-reviewed, has easy-to-find information and consistently represents itself in the places where AI is sourcing answers for your potential customers.
To get a better sense for how AI adoption is changing customer discovery behavior, check out our blog on evolving your brand for zero-click search.
The Key Takeaway on Clicks:
Search ads are critical for your business to win customers seeking out your competition but relying solely on search limits growth because you’ll wind up chasing a narrow set of customers every month.
Step One: Build Visibility & Recall Before Customers Need You
The businesses customers often choose are the ones they remember first.
Even if you’re operating a search campaign, fixating immediate conversions will leave competing forever in a limited pool of fickle prospects. A strategic marketing campaign needs to incorporate an awareness-building stage that introduces your brand to future buyers before they necessarily know they’re in market for your services. Here, too, it’s increasingly important to know that customers may even be gaining familiarity with your business when they turn to AI for research and recommendations.
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes by thinking of a new drink on the menu at a coffee shop chain you like. Can you remember one that you heard about for a few days before you were close enough to a location where you could try it? There’s a good chance you even asked ChatGPT, “do people like this new drink?”.
You might not be selling seasonal lattes, but the same kind of familiarity and interest you can build beyond your first impression gives your business a leg up when prospective customer ultimately enters the market.
The Key Takeaway on Awareness:
Your marketing goal needs to be bigger than racing to drive an immediate conversion. That’s already coming in, so you need to take a step up to establish familiarity and trust long before a search ever happens.
Step Two: Don’t Let a Customer Forget About You if They Don’t Convert the First Time
While each of these event marketing approaches serves a different purpose, their effectiveness stems from one common element: integration.
The most successful PR events are not standalone tactics. They are built to support broader communications objectives and work in tandem with media relations, influencer engagement, social media, brand design, digital marketing and content strategies—just to hit the tip of the iceberg.
The Key Takeaway on Retargeting:
When brands align experiential moments with strategic storytelling, they create opportunities that give journalists compelling stories to cover, provide influencers with engaging content to share and offer consumers a powerful way to connect with the brand on a deeper level.
Step Three: Expand Your Marketing Mix Beyond Google Ads
While search remains dominant in converting customers, you’re also cutting your marketing short if you’re exclusively meeting them in search results.
Again, you need to put yourself in the footsteps of the customer. Do you spend all of your time on Google or do you read, watch and listen to content on different platforms throughout your day? You should be staying in front of your prospective customers multiple times, but also in multiple places.
A balanced presence across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TV, Radio, outdoor displays, YouTube, Spotify, streaming networks and even ChatGPT Ads all help keep your business visible in the places where your audience is already spending time
The Key Takeaway on Your Marketing Mix:
Generating consistent lead flow requires more than simply increasing your search budget. It takes attention to the places they’re spending time, both online and offline, and being present to build familiarity in the channels where they seek information and entertainment holistically.
Full Circle: Bringing Customers Across the Finish Line Starts Before They Say “Go”
The last mile to conversions is undoubtedly important and we hope you now have a better sense of how to get your customers from A to Z along the path to the finish line before they even begin shopping in market.
To run, you first need to walk with your customers, creating familiarity with them and nurturing their attention over time and across multiple touch points so that you are the first and only listing they’d click on when they’re actively in market.
When every step of your marketing plan works together, it becomes more than a collection of ads and clicks. It becomes a demand generation engine designed to drive your business’ long-term growth.
How to Get Started:
At Matter, we help service businesses build integrated paid media programs that generate qualified leads, improve visibility, and provide clear insight into what’s driving growth. If you’re looking for a more predictable approach to customer acquisition, we’d love to start the conversation
Check out our latest webinar, “Measuring What Matters” to learn how to optimize your marketing throughout the funnel!
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