Firms that offer niche or specialist services need to take a proactive stance in marketing such services, particularly when they are quite diverse from their normal offering.

Never assume that everyone, internally and externally to the business, knows about these services. You have to keep people aware of your niche(s) or risk it being the world’s best secret!

Below is a 6 point plan to help you maximise the exposure of your niche/specialist services.

1. Tell staff

Make sure your staff know about the new service. Explain to them what it involves, how it can be of benefit to your clients and who the key contact people are in the practice. Staff meetings are a good format for doing this as it gives people the chance to ask questions and for everyone to hear the answers. Throughout the year give them feedback on specific niche projects you have worked on and how this has helped clients. In doing so they get to know more about the service and it keeps it at the forefront of their minds, so they mention it to other clients.

2. Tell clients

Be proactive! Send your clients a letter, perhaps enclosing a leaflet about the new service. Alternatively send an email to them with a link to an article on your website which highlights the benefits of using your firm for this service. Whether it’s a mailing, email or meeting, the important thing is to tell your clients and keep giving them reminders.

3. Tell prospective clients

If you have a database of prospective clients, mail or email them as above. If you don’t have such a list you’re going to have to use a range of tools to help raise awareness of your new service. A well written article on your website, which includes key search words about your new service, will help drive traffic to the specific web pages. See the ‘additional marketing tools’ section below for more ideas.

4. Ask for referrals

Don’t forget to ask staff, clients, business contacts, family and suppliers if they know anybody who may be interested in your new service. To remind yourself to ‘ask’, add this as an item onto client, staff or general business meeting agendas. Also, add a ‘PS’ onto emails or letters mentioning the niche service and to pass on the information.

5. Keep reminding everyone

Marketing is all about being in the right time at the right place, i.e. when someone’s circumstances change so they now require your service. You will need to keep reminding clients, prospects and contacts and make sure they can find information about your niche service all the time. Repetition is key to successful marketing.

6. Additional marketing tools

We’ve already mentioned a couple of marketing tools to help you promote your new service. Below are a few more ideas that you may wish to consider as well:

• Regular updates on your social media posts.
• Press releases – take the article you have written for the website and rewrite it so it would be of interest to local and regional press (and more importantly their readership) and send to the relevant editors and reporters.
• Google Ad Words – don’t just rely on search engines for people to find you, a paid for campaign makes sure you always appear at the top of the page.
• Adverts – local press, parish magazines, regional lifestyle magazines etc.
• Case studies and testimonials from people who have used your new service and why they would recommend you.

When marketing a niche service you have to go that extra mile to make sure everyone is aware that you offer that specialism. So marketing communications and conversations need to be had with many different groups on an ongoing basis.