Case Study: Consulting Service Scores With Niche Marketing
September 21, 2018
This Marketing 360® business consulting client discovered that sharing their expertise with a targeted, niche audience was better than trying to advise everybody on everything.
Consulting services can be tough to market. The act of “consulting” has an intangible quality that makes it hard to visualize what you (as a client) will get out of the services.
This is made worse by the fact many consulting businesses have hard time being specific about what they do. Consulting agency websites are often awash in general claims about their ability to guide the betterment of clients. But these lofty claims ring hollow when they’re vague and wishful, built on platitudes we’ve all heard one too many times.
I appreciate that you’ll “take me from where I am to where I want to be”. But how, exactly? What will that mean for my bottom line in 6-months?
This type of content doesn’t motivate visitors to convert. We audit many consulting company campaigns with conversions rates under .05%. That means one out of every 200 visitors converts. You have to do better if you’re going to make a living at this.
The Power of the Niche
The general claims of many consulting services – both personal and B2B – correspond to the offer. There is a “we do everything for everybody” sentiment that rarely works with website marketing – in any industry.
The answer to this problem is the unique value proposition (UVP), which is marketing content’s main way of cutting out deadwood. The UVP:
Communicates something specific of value.
Clarifies the benefit(s) customers derive from your offer.
States or implies why you’re the best choice.
You provide answers to these questions:
What do you do? Can you help me?
What’s in this for me? Why are you worth it?
Why should I choose you instead of another service or method of solving my problem?
For example, this B2B consulting service, supported by Marketing 360®, could offer their solutions to any type of small business. But instead, they focus exclusively on spa and wellness industries.
These are concrete, essential concepts that new businesses need to get a handle on. This level of detail is better than many business consulting sites, but it’s even more targeted because they specialize in working with spas. If you were opening a spa or yoga studio and needed consulting to help you lay out your business plan, who would you call?
In the last 60 days, their conversion-rates through all channels are at 4.19%, with an excellent 8.78% through paid channels:
These changes are the result of content refinement and targeting adjustments we’ve made over time. The more we’ve been able to target a receptive audience with detailed, specific content, the better their results. You can see how over the course of this year, their conversion rates have trended up while their cost per conversion trends down:
This business works with Marketing 360® to refine their ads and make sure they’re reaching their target audience. When that audience gets to the website, they have a clear idea of what the consulting service is and what their business can gain from it.
That’s content that converts.
*Results are based on past client performance. Individual account performance may vary. Results are not guaranteed.