Companies that offer services to their customers must think of unique ways to market their services and gain the attention of customers who want to work with them.
When there are multiple services available, a customer may be uncertain about which services to pick or even the costs. And mixing and matching services can make things even more difficult.
For many companies, the idea of offering productized marketing services is a much better option. This idea will allow them to turn their services into a product and can allow for better marketing and customization for their customers.
Understanding how this works can be the key to your service company’s needs.
Traditional vs productized agency
A traditional marketing agency will have a list of services that they provide to the customer. Depending on the project, the cost and the delivery time will vary, which can make things difficult for the customer.
They want to know upfront what it will cost and how long it will take, without the hassle of negotiating and waiting for your answer.
When you offer productized marketing services, you can avoid this hassle. You will have a fixed scope from the beginning, with the services packaged into a new product.
The price is fixed as is the time for delivery because the project is always the same. Some companies may offer tiered options to the customer, such as one tier for Google Business Profile Management services, one for Social Media Automation, and one for Local SEO services.
But each package will have the same services inside of it for the customer to choose from.
What does it mean to offer productized marketing services?
Many service-oriented companies struggle to find their niche and get customers in the door. They can find a solution by offering productized marketing services instead.
A productized marketing service means the business will take their service and offer it pre-packed and hyper-focused, at a set price, for the customer to purchase. You will sell your services just like other companies would sell their products.
How agencies can benefit from offering productized marketing services
There are many benefits to offering productized marketing services that agencies can enjoy. Some include:
- Scaling your business: When your services are well-defined, it can reduce scope creep and you can delegate the tasks easily. This will free up your time so you can scale your business more.
- Easier to sell: These packages are often easier to sell to your customer compared to individual services. The prices are fixed and there is no need to negotiate the scope of the project, which makes it easier for both parties.
- Get paid upfront: These packages require the customer to purchase them before you start. This allows you to get paid before you start the project.
- Better client experience: Your goal is to provide the best experience for your client, and the productized service can help make that a reality.
Can local marketing services be productized?
All industries can benefit from offering productized marketing services, rather than the traditional model.
The trick is to narrow down some of the services you offer, create a package with those services with pricing based on what is offered, and then systematize the operations behind the scenes to make it easy for the customer to make the purchase.
The way that you organize your productized marketing services will depend on which services you offer in the first place. Many marketing agencies will include a few tiered offerings along with customized options for clients who need something more.
The customer knows exactly what they will get for the price and can choose what works for them.
Steps involved in creating a productized service
Developing a productized service that you can offer to your customers will take research and a true understanding of your target audience and some of their pain points.
You need to know what they are looking for when they hire you, and what things you could make easier or solve for them.
From there, you can create customized services, placed into packages, that the customer can order from, making it easier for them to choose you over the competition.
There are a few steps you can follow when offering productized services to clients. These include:
1. Pick a local business niche
The first step is to pick a local business niche. The productized service offering is less likely to work if you try to reach every local business across multiple sectors within your area. You need to pick one local business niche that fits the best with your services.
Who do you plan to serve the most with your services or who would benefit from your services the most?
Answering these questions will help you clearly define your marketing position which makes it easier for you to grow, scale and create a strong service offering.
2. Dive deep into understanding their pain points
Once you’ve decided on the niche, it is time to nail down on some of the pain points the local business in this niche faces.
What are some of the major problems they face, or the concerns they have, that your business can help solve? You may find just one or two, or you may find several that you can place together in a package to offer the customer.
Which brings me to the next point.
Develop a compelling offer that addresses their problems
You need to develop a compelling offer to provide your prospects which will most likely solve their pain points. This is your core offering, the one that will solve 90% of the problems local businesses in your niche face.
Some examples could include:
- Lack of leads coming into the business
- Inefficient methods adopted to manage the leads
- Inability to scale their operations
- Lack of systems and processes
Once you’ve identified which of these problems the majority of them are facing, you will create a service offer that addresses all or most of them.
Answer the following 3 questions to help you create an compelling offer statement:
- Who is it for?
- What do they want?
- How do they get it?
Here’s an example:
4. Create a service package with clear deliverables
Once you have formulated your offering, it is time to start creating a service package that provides clear deliverables to any local businesses that want to work with you.
The service package will include what you can offer your prospects to help address the problems identified in Step 3.
There will be a clear deliverable and by signing up to this service, clients can expect to get from their current state to the desired state.
In some cases, you may offer prospects multiple service packages to help them get to the desired state.
For example, some local business owners may want to generate leads in which case, you will offer a Pay-per-click service to address this problem.
Document and standardize the processes
Once you’ve identified the services packages on offer, you will map the tools and processes involved.
This is an important step to ensure that you offer a productized service that is scalable. The idea is to make a list of repeatable tasks that can be easily delegated to your team.
Use a mind mapping tool such as Whimsical to layout the end-to-end process.
This will help you clearly identify your deliverables and dump the ones you don’t need. During the entire process, you will refer back to the problems identified in Step 3.
The outcome of this step would be a process document that you or your team will keep referring back to when you onboard a new client.
List of productized marketing services you can offer local businesses
We’ve spoken a lot of the service packages that you could offer your prospects. Below are some examples of what you can offer specifically to local businesses. You can provide them as stand-alone services or bundle them up too.
Lead generation
This involves identifying and nurturing potential customers for a local business through various forms such as phone calls, website enquiries etc. The idea is to fill their sales pipeline and convert them into paying customers.
The team at AvenueHQ builds lead generation websites for real estate businesses.
On-page SEO
This service is particularly favored by many local businesses as it’s an organic way of getting traffic to their website. This is usually bundled up with lead generating websites as they go hand-in-hand.
It involves optimizing the website for organic search and companies like Growth Machine provided dedicated SEO services.
Authority Development
This refers to portraying the businesses as an authority in their domain. As a marketing agency, your services will include building citations, creating backlinks and generating valuable content in the form of blog articles.
Again, this can be bundled up with on-page SEO strategies and website building as they are interrelated.
Reputation Management
Managing company reputation is highly valued by local businesses as one negative review can drive away 22% of prospects.
As such, you can offer dedicated services that help them manage reviews across multiple platforms such as Google, Facebook, TrustPilot, Yelp etc. This can be offered as a stand-alone service or bundled up as well.
A good example of a company offering reputation management service is Webimax and NetReputation
Google Business Profile management
Setting up a listing on Google Business Profile is an absolute must for almost all local businesses. It’s a great way to boost online rankings and also provide valuable key local information to potential customers.
It’s very important that it’s kept up to date. However, many local business owners do not have the time or resources to get it done.
This is where your services come in handy!
GMB Gorilla and Whitespark are good examples of a productized service that manages GBP for local businesses.
Content Marketing
Most local businesses can benefit by creating valuable content in various forms like blog posts, videos, images etc. These can be repurposed and help rank the websites high on popular search engines.
PPC Management
This involves running paid campaigns for local businesses who wish to generate leads immediately. The role also involves managing campaigns and advertisements to ensure they are optimized for achieving the most cost-effective clicks to the website.
Should you be offering productized services?
Productized services model does not provide a guarantee that it would work. Afterall, you need to put in the time and effort at the beginning to formulate the right service package for your target customer.
Offering productized marketing services to local businesses may not be the ideal solution in certain situations. For instance, it’s far easier to start a productized agency from scratch than switching from an already established agency.
You will also need to look for a team that is willing to adapt to the new model and follow the SOPs that you have formulated. This may limit creativity and thereby cause some rift.
So it’s important that you consider these factors before jumping right in.
