Professional services marketing is ever-changing. There’s a lot that goes into marketing, and when a business is small, it’s not uncommon for mistakes to be made and questions to go unanswered.

Whether you’re a business owner or a marketer, you can use these tips to help properly market a service:

1. Social Media: How Does It Help?

Social media connects businesses to billions of people. A lot of traffic is driven to websites and turned into leads thanks to social media, and everyone is doing it. Businesses have social media presences just to avoid missing the trend, but a lot of professionals don’t know how social media is helping them attract new clients.

In fact, a lot of people are still:

• Posting non-relevant links
• Telling people what they ate for breakfast
• Writing irrelevant posts

Social media takes a lot of refinement and effort on your part, and this means:

• Post interesting content people want to read. Personal injury lawyers might post about the latest news pertaining to their industry or what to do if you’ve been hurt at work. Relevant, targeted information and posts can lure in potential leads.
• Consistent engagement and posts are the key to success. Find where your target audience is located and engage with them in any way that you can. Answer questions and give sound advice.

Thomson Reuters states that 54% of people surveyed and 69% of young consumers are likely to hire a professional who is active on social media.

2. Webinars: Do They Work for My Business?

Webinars are in high-demand. It’s true, some businesses benefit from webinars more than others. The nature of your business will dictate whether or not a webinar is viable for your business.

But a lot of professional services are using webinars to attract clients:

• Accountants are providing live tips on how to manage a small business’s books.
• Lawyers are providing tips on how to properly document car accidents.
• Marketers are providing viewers with information to boost their online visibility.
• Branding specialists give tips on brand awareness and cohesion.
• Landscapers are discussing tips on ensuring your lawn looks amazing all summer long.

Webinars work, and over 60% of marketers use webinars as part of their content marketing programs.

You don’t need much to start your webinar either. There are plenty of options that will help get the ball rolling, including:

• Join.me
• ReadyTalk
• ClickMeeting
• AnyMeeting

Set up a webinar and invite potential attendees via your blog, social media platform and through email marketing. If you present your webinar properly, you’ll build brand recognition and improve your chances of converting potential leads who are watching the webinar into clients.

Any business can use webinars to their advantage.

3. Millennials: How Do I Reach Them?

Millennials are a newer generation of consumers, but this age group is often mistaken for younger consumers. If you really want to target millennials, you’ll need to know that millennials are born between:

• 1981 and 1997

The generation is aging, but they make up a large portion (some 75 million) of today’s members. Say goodbye to the Baby Boomers being the generation that needs to be catered to.

When dealing with the millennial generation, you need to keep the following in mind:

• Marketing trends need to be tailored to specific locations and circumstances.
• Millennials, for the most part, rely on the Internet as their source of information.
• This generation requires a hard sell and will shop around.
• Millennials are open to alternative services and a DIY approach.

Start catering to your millennial demographic by ensuring your web presence is strong:

• Your website needs to be responsive and adapt to changing screen sizes.
• You must have a fast, mobile-friendly website.
• Review sites must be used to help strengthen your business as a solid choice for millennials.
• Online marketing and SEO practices must be followed.
• Social media is a requirement to lure in millennials.

Millennials are more likely to be influenced by your social media presence, and a few tactics to help convert these potential leads are:

• Strong social media posts.
• Answer client and potential client questions and concerns.
• Demonstrate customer service via responses to bad reviews or comments.

If you can reach your millennial audience, you’ll also need to have a strong sales funnel that will convince these hard-to-sell consumers that your service is the right choice for their needs.