Digital marketing is no longer the buzzword prevalent among enterprises and online businesses. It is the need of the hour, not only for online businesses but also for local stores and outlets.  But, being a Digital Marketing Company in USA, selling your services to local business owners can be challenging.

While most SMBs are aware of the importance of digital marketing, they’re too busy undertaking their marketing and advertising initiatives on their own. So, how do you break the shell and get your prospects talking about your services? Let’s find out.

Understand their business (better than they do)

Most small business owners are not essentially entrepreneurs. They’re someone who stumbled into starting a business because they either became unemployed or joined a family business. So, they might be awesome at what they do, but other aspects of business, like growth, scalability, ROI, marketing, etc. may not click in their heads.

Besides, most business owners have no idea where their business comes from and how to grow it. You need to understand your prospects’ business better than they do and educate them on how you can help. Your primary objective should be to make your target consumers listen to what you say.

Help them instead of being salesy

No one likes being sold to, especially small business owners who are bombarded by marketers trying to sell their Digital Marketing Services USA. You don’t want to be another fish in the pond. Instead of trying to sell them your marketing package, offer to solve their problems.

Small business owners are experts in solving problems but they’re not accustomed to someone helping them resolve their issues. Instead of being a typical salesperson, become a guiding light for them.

Ask a lot of questions

Another important tip for selling your services is to get your prospects talking. The more they share their problems and experiences, the better chance you have of closing them. The best way to make them talk is by asking questions. So, ask them as many questions as you can.

Learn about their business – their objectives, and the challenges they’re facing. Ask about their existing marketing strategies and ongoing campaigns. Also, find out if they’ve worked with a Digital Marketing Agency USA before and how their experience was.

Also, make sure to provide value. For instance, if they say their SEM campaigns are not working, give them insights into what they could be doing wrong.

When interacting with your prospects for the first time, your objective should be to understand their challenges and pain points. Then, instead of telling them your services are the solution, get involved in their marketing efforts and provide them with free value. If they find what you did helpful, they’ll ask for more. Then, you can go ahead and pitch your services.

Don’t sell with business jargon

“Our business-centric digital marketing services are driven by data and ROI. We understand your business requirements to devise a result-oriented strategy that helps you achieve your organizational objectives.”

This pitch can work well if you’re trying to sell to a CIO or CEO of a mid-sized business or enterprise. They have MBAs and business experts to make sense of your jargon-heavy sales pitch. However, small business owners aren’t MBA grads. They might not relate to terms like data-centric, 5:1 ROI, customer retention, etc. Instead, follow the traditional rule of selling benefits and not features, benefits that trigger emotions.

Let’s say your prospect owns a bakery in Brooklyn, New York. He has rented the place for his bakery and aspires to invest in real estate. What’s holding him back is a lack of revenue. You can explain to him how taking his business online can attract customers from all across New York City. Moreover, he can partner with online food delivery businesses for increased profits.

Selling your Digital Marketing Services USA will become easy if you make your prospects envision success using your services.

Send them reminders

Small business owners can be unreliable – missing appointments, overlooking messages, and not answering calls could be normal. This doesn’t mean they’re bad customers or clients.

“It’s just the hard reality: when it comes to purchasing or investing, people tend to procrastinate.”

Be empathetic and remind them gently. Some small business owners may seem like flakes, but they aren’t. Unlike enterprise owners, local business owners work 7 days a week from morning to night. They’re always occupied, so likely you don’t hear from them.

You shall aim that they have business with you effortlessly and painlessly. Give them a nudge if you don’t hear from them. Be concise and to the point, and don’t waste their time.

Provide value first, then seal the deal

Don’t talk about what you can do. Instead, demonstrate by adding free value. Give your prospects a small demo of what you can do for them as a Digital Marketing Company USA.

Here are a few ideas:

➤ SEO: Show them how much traffic their competitors are getting. Also, show them case studies of how you have helped similar small businesses.

➤ Web Design: Design a PSD mockup for their site and show them how it would improve the user experience and conversions.

➤ Lead Generation: Help them generate a few leads for free and show them you can help them to produce more.

➤ Paid Ads: Run a few ads for them on search engines and show them the results.

➤ Email Marketing: Create an email marketing campaign for them at no cost and show how you can help them retain customers with email.

➤ Social Media: Run a small Facebook ad campaign and generate a bunch of leads for them for free.

Conclusion

Selling your services to local business owners can be difficult, especially if you’re a new Digital Marketing Agency USA with not many testimonials to back you up. The key here is to put yourself into your prospects’ shoes and figure out their goals and challenges. Instead of hard-selling them, show empathy, and provide them with a helping hand.