Where should professional services invest their digital marketing budget for the best ROI?

In the professional services industry, where trust and expertise are paramount, effective marketing is crucial for attracting and converting clients. While traditional marketing methods can still be valuable, investing in digital strategies that align with the customer journey and leverage the power of content can deliver significant returns on investment (ROI).

Establishing expertise and trust through quality content

The customer journey for potential customers in the professional services industry is far more complex than that of industries such as eCommerce or travel. Often times when someone is reaching out to a professional service provider, such as a financial institution, law service, or real estate agent, they are putting the well-being of major life changing decisions in your hands; in order to make this final life-altering decision, people need to be sure that they trust the expertise and knowledge of your institution.

For this, professional services need to establish a reliable and trustworthy reputation for themselves in a way that is clearly visible to their target audience.

Through investing in content creation, professional services can position themselves as industry leaders and attract potential clients seeking expert guidance to their website. User-focused content directly addresses the needs, questions, and pain points of your target audience. By understanding your clients’ challenges and providing solutions through informative, engaging, and high-quality content, you can build trust and establish your firm as a reliable authority in their field and drive long-term ROI.

It is also crucial that this content is in line with Google’s E-E-A-T and YMYL guidelines. Google’s emphasis on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) and YMYL (Your Money Your Life) content underscores the importance of creating valuable, informative, and accurate content. By demonstrating deep industry knowledge and a commitment to providing reliable information, professional services firms can build trust with their audience and improve their search engine rankings.

Driving organic traffic

Whilst it is a lengthy process that might take some time to see noticeable results, investing in organic search can be highly rewarding for professional services. Aligning your website and the content on it to relevant keywords, and the search intent of your target audience can increase your website’s visibility in relation to these keywords and your associated industry – appearing in a higher position on search engines, and increasing organic traffic to your website.

This aligns nicely with the above segment about high quality content. A strong relationship has developed between high-quality content and SEO success. This is because Google has evolved to value user-experience above all else – and therefore rewards high-quality content that is helpful to users with a higher position on the SERPs. By creating valuable, informative, and engaging content that addresses user needs, you can improve your website’s authority and relevance in the eyes of search engines. This, in turn, can lead to higher rankings and increased organic traffic.

Building authority through external validation and endorsements

Building on the above, investing in a strong digital PR strategy is a great way to not only establish expertise, and drive organic traffic – but it also builds authority through external validation from credible publications. Digital PR can drive high E-E-A-T signals through a number of methods:

• Brand awareness: having your brand feature in well-known and respected publications, and news headlines encourages conversation around your brand, increasing brand awareness
• Establishing expertise: having voices within your organisation contribute to press coverage and featured insights, on trending topics within the industry boosts the reputation of professionals within your organisation
• Driving brand searches: appearing in press coverage can prompt people to directly search for your brand name
• Building a backlink profile: digital PR can help your brand secure high-quality links from reputable sources such as press coverage, guest contributions, expert opinions, or influencer collaborations

Nurturing leads

As mentioned previously, professional services often have a longer sales cycle than other industries such as eCommerce; this means when someone shows interest in your services through downloading website content, or signing up for a newsletter, it is important to find ways to keep your brand in the forefront of their minds.

Email marketing continues to be a successful tool for lead nurture. It allows you to send regular communications to your database, giving you the opportunity to send new and valuable content on topics they have previously shown interest in, special offers or discounts for services, and company news or updates.

Whilst customers might not directly convert through an email itself (though many do), email marketing gives you the opportunity to provide frequent touchpoints with your database of potential clients – making them more likely to search for, or reach out to your brand directly when they are in need of those services.

Enhancing brand awareness & audience engagement

With the number of people using social media as a search engine, or a source of finding practical or educational information increasing daily it has become commonplace for people or brands with a more academic or professional background to share content on social media that engages and educates their target audience.

This approach also makes a professional setting somewhat relatable and human. This gives professional services another way to connect with an audience that needs nurturing; by sharing content that is both informative and accessible, it becomes easier for your audience to understand complex topics related to your services.

Summary & final remarks

Effective marketing for professional services requires a strategic approach that leverages the power of digital channels to establish trust, drive organic traffic, and nurture leads. By investing in high-quality content, building authority through external validation, and leveraging communication and engagement tools, professional services firms can enhance their brand awareness, engage with their target audience, and ultimately achieve a significant return on investment.