Why Brand Awareness Matters More for Professional Service Businesses

Brand awareness is a term we hear a lot in the world of business. More often than not, it’s related to e-commerce brands or businesses that are selling a physical product. But brand awareness is arguably more important to service-based businesses, especially those that are offering professional services, such as a law firm or a consulting business. 

Introduction

Whether a business is selling a product or offering a service, the concept of brand awareness doesn’t change. It ultimately measures how aware people are of your brand. However, this measurement is infamously hard to gauge. Sometimes, brands may use questionnaires and surveys to measure brand awareness, but these don’t provide a concrete measurement like profit, ROI, ROAS and so on.

 

For professional service businesses, the challenge isn’t just measuring brand awareness, but increasing it. These types of businesses often find it harder to build large audiences or gain attention compared to consumer brands that are often seen as ‘sexier’. 

 

Below, we’ll explore why brand awareness should be a top consideration for businesses offering professional services and also discuss ways to increase brand awareness for these types of companies.

Why Brand Awareness Matters In Professional Services

Unique Challenge

Marketing professional services is a unique challenge. In a world where shareable content is often the marketing goal, it’s easy to see why these types of companies struggle to market themselves. Content coming from lawyers and accountants is naturally less likely to be humorous, but that doesn’t mean content can’t be successful.

Consider a fashion brand for example, their product naturally lends itself to grabbing attention. We all need clothes, and if we see an item that matches our style, then we’re likely to stop scrolling. Then it’s also worth considering how likely we are to follow these brands on social media. We actively want to see content around new fashion, so we don’t see that kind of content as intrusive or disruptive.

Now compare this to content from a legal company. Unless we are actively seeking their services at that very moment, it’s unlikely to get our attention. We’re also less likely to follow the company on social media. Even if we’re interested in their services, it doesn’t mean we actively want legal content infiltrating our news feeds, as these are often geared towards entertainment, news and our personal network.

These service-based businesses don’t have a huge following they can go to as a result, so having an audience that is already aware of your business is golden.

Trust 

Trust is important in most industries, but it’s doubly important when dealing with services relating to law, finance, HR and so on. The downsides of choosing the wrong professional service company can be catastrophic, whereas choosing the wrong consumer brand is just disappointing or frustrating most of the time. As brand awareness often equals trust, it explains why every business offering a professional service should consider it.  

 

People are far more likely to trust businesses that they recognise, maybe they’ve seen a TV ad for them recently or heard a friend mention them in conversation—both of which are ways to increase brand awareness.

But people aren’t just more likely to choose a professional service business due to brand awareness; they’re also more likely to pay more for a service from a name they recognise. Especially when you consider the implications of making a bad decision, as mentioned earlier.

Increases The Effectiveness Of Other Marketing Channels

The tricky thing about measuring brand awareness is that it’s impossible to say if a sale has been influenced by brand awareness, or to what extent brand awareness has played a part. As already mentioned, ads and social content can be hard in this sector of business, but they become far more effective if coming from a brand that you recognise.

How to Build Brand Awareness

SEO-Focused Content Marketing

When people are looking for a professional service, they’re also likely to be searching for information around certain topics. For instance, someone might want to know how much it costs to work with a business consultant. Answering these queries is a golden opportunity to be seen by the right people, and is done by creating SEO-focused content. 

 

Identify topics with a high volume of searches on Google and use your expertise to answer any common concerns with insightful blogs. If you can create valuable content that includes relevant keywords, you may be able to get your content to the top of Google’s algorithm and subsequently in front of a potential lead, increasing brand awareness.

Local PR

While professional services aren’t considered the most interesting of businesses, you could tap into your local community, where interest may be higher. Appearing in local newspapers and shouting about a recent community contribution or celebrating an exciting milestone often goes down well in the local media, and it’s a great way for local people to become aware of a business without feeling like they’re being marketed to.

This article highlights the growth of Bond Turner, a personal injury solicitors in Liverpool, and makes people aware of the business while also highlighting their capabilities.

Sponsorships

Whether local or national, sponsoring events is a great way for people to become aware of your brand. Obviously, your marketing budget will determine the size of the event you are able to sponsor. Global brands may sponsor huge sports tournaments or conferences, but sponsoring small, local events can also be good enough to increase brand awareness, especially as lots of professional services businesses get their business from the local area. Good local events to sponsor include things like marathons, sports teams and networking events.

Final Thoughts

Many people assume that building brand awareness is reserved for brands that are selling a product. But with it being harder to build in the professional services space, this could make it more valuable. Think about it, if someone asked you to name a chocolate brand, you would probably be able to name your top three pretty quickly. But what if someone asked you to name a legal company or a business consultant?   

But don’t fall into the trap of thinking brand awareness is just about being known. It’s about being trusted; only then will brand awareness actually move the needle of your bottom line. If you’re involved with a company that offers professional services, it’s definitely worth evaluating your brand awareness and also considering ways to increase it. The final consideration is making sure you are increasing brand awareness amongst the right people, which is why brand awareness requires a strategic approach. First, identify where the attention of your target market is, and then try to input your brand without disrupting their journey.