Whether you’re selling hardware, software, swimwear, or services, there are four ways to increase revenue:
- Acquire new customers
- Increase purchase frequency
- Increase order size
- Increase prices
This article will focus on three ways to pull all of these levers to increase service revenue.
Go Fish With Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is like fishing. You cast your lines in the form of marketing campaigns, and when you feel a nibble, you try to reel in a big one.
How Inbound Marketing Works
Inbound marketing campaigns are permission-based and content-driven. Instead of intruding on prospects’ daily lives through interruptive ads, you’ll create valuable content that prospects want to receive.
This content should provide helpful information to potential and current customers at each stage of the buying process. HubSpot refers to these stages as the Buyer’s Journey.
- The first stage is the Awareness stage when someone becomes aware of a problem.
- The Consideration stage follows. A person in the Consideration stage is considering different ways to solve the problem.
- Finally, in the Decision stage, they’ve decided what approach to take and are ready to choose a company to implement that approach.
This approach increases the perceived value of your brand by building your credibility with your target market and improving brand awareness.
How Inbound Marketing Increases IT Services Revenue
Inbound marketing influences each of the four revenue factors. They enable your team to:
- Acquire new customers by filling your pipeline with new leads.
- Increase purchase frequency by educating customers about new problems, opportunities, products, and services.
- Increase order size by educating prospects about new problems, opportunities, products, and services.
- Increase prices by educating prospective customers about the value you provide versus competitors and increasing brand value.
Hunt Big Game With Account-Based Marketing
If the fish won’t bite, try big-game hunting with account-based marketing (ABM). ABM is a proactive B2B marketing strategy. Instead of waiting to see what bites, you’ll develop a list of target accounts and begin pursuit.
How ABM Works
ABM requires a high level of collaboration between your sales and marketing teams. They will work together to:
- Determine which accounts belong on your target account list (TAL)
- Engage with influencers and decision-makers at those accounts
- Close deals with companies on your TAL
Inbound marketing is an effective complement to ABM because the content you create for your inbound marketing campaigns can be used for ABM as well. And, like inbound marketing, ABM will increase the perceived value of your brand, build your credibility, and improve brand awareness.
How ABM Increases Services Revenue
ABM influences each of the four revenue factors. They enable your team to:
- Acquire new customers by pursuing ideal accounts with highly personalized sales and marketing campaigns.
- Increase purchase frequency by continuing to educate customers about new problems, opportunities, products, and services with highly personalized sales and marketing campaigns.
- Increase order size by targeting accounts with larger budgets and the need for more services.
- Increase prices by targeting accounts that will get the most value from your unique offering.
Try Trapping With Native Advertising
Native advertising is more tactical than inbound and ABM, but it’s a cost-effective way to supplement either strategy (or both).
You’ve seen native ads, though you may not have realized it. They’re all over the web on sites like CNN, ESPN, and USA Today. You’ll generally find them along the periphery of the content you’re reading.
How Native Ads Work
The ads match the look and feel of the site they’re on, so it’s not immediately apparent that they’re sponsored content. Publishers are required to indicate that native ads are sponsored content, but the way most of them do it isn’t very noticeable.
This camouflage makes native ads the perfect way to lure your ideal prospects into a marketing trap.
Native ads look like normal content, so people expect interesting content after the click. Your inbound marketing and ABM content will come in handy again if you decide to run native ads.
Promote your Awareness stage content at the top of the funnel, and then use remarketing campaigns to drive traffic to content in the Consideration and Decision stages.
How Native Ads Increase IT Services Revenue
Native advertising influences each of the four revenue factors. They enable your team to:
- Acquire new customers by scaling your marketing efforts to reach a larger percentage of your target market.
- Increase purchase frequency by delivering educational content at scale to inform customers about new problems, opportunities, products, and services with highly personalized sales and marketing campaigns.
- Increase order size by promoting content that educates prospective and current customers on the need for additional services.
- Increase prices by targeting accounts that will get the most value from your unique offering.
Pull All the Levers to Increase Service Sales
Each of the methods we’ve covered here allows you to acquire more customers, get them to make larger purchases, encourage them to purchase more frequently, and persuade them to pay more. And, since they can be combined to support each other as part of an omnichannel approach, you can start with one and add the others as your campaigns gain traction.