Marketing should feed off the business to feed the business. But that’s best possible when the business is well-specialized. In this article, we share how specialized services make sales and marketing easier.
Marketing is a lot like fungi.
Yes, I said fungi. Like mushrooms. Stick with me here.
Fungi are an important part of our ecosystem. But they don’t ingest food like animals nor create their own food like plants. Instead, they feed off of their environment. But they also feed their environment, breaking down complex organic matter to release nutrients for other organisms to use.
Marketing is similar. Marketing feeds off of the business (service) to feed the business (sales).
Many service providers don’t understand this and end up burning themselves out trying to market their business in every way imaginable—social media, email marketing, PR, you name it. But more marketing won’t lead to more sales if it can’t ‘feed’ off of an environment of well-executed and defined services.
A specialized service—i.e., a specific solution for a single customer—is like warm and damp soil. It has the richest nutrients for mushrooms, or your sales and marketing, in this case, to grow.
In marketing, we call this positioning. Here’s an example to illustrate my point.
Stage 1: Service
Let’s say in the past year, you designed three cafes.
With each client, you saw patterns. You caught on to their vernacular and mannerisms. You saw similarities in their businesses and what they needed from you as a designer. Maybe you built relationships with industry vendors or picked up on well-known industry names. Then, based on these patterns, you adjusted your process and communication.
By the time you work on a fourth cafe, you’re more prepared and efficient.
Stage 2: Marketing
All three projects are photographed and in your portfolio. Three is a good number. It’s enough for people to see and believe that you know how to design cafes, but maybe not enough to call yourself an expert just yet.
With three projects, you have enough marketing material to last six months — given that you documented it all. Through blog posts and social media updates, you share the final results and process along with design sketches, construction photos, and even practices you developed specifically for cafes. You even created a service page on your website and a section in your portfolio dedicated to cafe design. Maybe you run ads and optimize for Google.
Doing so attracts other cafe owners looking to renovate or open a new location.
Stage 3: Sales
Your marketing is working. Word has gotten around that you design cafes, and high-quality sales inquiries have started trickling in. You didn’t chase them; they came to you.
These leads have seen your work and want to chat further. When you meet with them, you ask precise questions and impress them with your know-how. You leave them thinking, “She knows what she’s talking about.” They’re highly engaged in the sales process. They value your services and respect you as an expert. Your close rate is high, but even if they don’t sign with you, they regard you enough not to ghost you.
Specializing Makes Sales Easier
Every time you go through the cycle, you become more confident and skillful at wearing the title “specialist.” Your operations run neatly, your marketing attracts better clients, and your sales go smoothly.
Marketing isn’t just an afterthought but something that you always keep in mind. With every project, you get better at documenting the process—taking photos and notes or thinking about the PR hook—and planning photoshoots with every project. Making marketing decisions and choosing priorities becomes easier because your positioning creates a clear path and vision that cuts out all the noise.
Sounds great, right? Well, it is. But there’s a catch.
This marketing approach only works if you have the experience and expertise to back it up.
If you want to specialize in cafe design but haven’t done any, simply writing “cafe interior designer” across your website and posting inspirational photos of cafes on social media isn’t going to cut it. Your potential clients are smarter than that. They want to see your portfolio and experience, or at least hear about it, all of which takes time and discipline to create.
It also means you might need to land some of the ideal projects the old-school way—going out and knocking on doors—before marketing can bring those projects to you.
But once you do get those first key projects under your belt and feel confident in your specialization, you’ll find that your marketing:
- Stops feeling like throwing spaghetti on the wall and becomes a much more manageable task—maybe even something you look forward to doing.
- Starts to flow, integrate nicely with the rest of your business, and become much easier—not easy, but easier.
- Most importantly, starts to work. It brings you better and more sales.
Ultimately, the point I’m making is this: if you want sales and marketing to come easy, niche down your services before you double down on marketing.
But if you’ve already done the work to specialize in a specific vertical, horizontal or geographic location, and you’re ready to add some fuel to your marketing fire, give us a call.
How to Work with Us
We help design-build firms increase website traffic by 5 times and sales inquiries by 3 times. Hire us to train you on our program, or do it all for you.
Check out the five questions to ask yourself before hiring an agency. If you think we’d make a good team, contact us today!
The Specialist vs The Generalist Designer
