No matter your line of business, service will always serve you in the long run. I’m not talking about offering services (yet those are important), but instead serving your audience. Let me explain what I mean.

Whether you’re a business owner in a brick-and-mortar shop, online business entrepreneur or government agency, you have the ability to serve your audience in a variety of ways.

And no matter how you choose to serve your audience, you are building a relationship.

And let me tell you, relationships matter. They matter when it comes time to sell or ask for something, such as a referral. Or in the realm of public safety, avoiding the collision that will result in them sitting in traffic and putting those on scene at greater risk. The service you focus on for most of your business ultimately leads to a strong foundation and audience you can then sell to.

It’s not all about sales and money, though. “Selling” can refer to a behavior, whether you want them to act upon or change one. You want to build a relationship with your audience through service, so that when it comes time to ask them for something, they are willingly ready to listen and do what you’ve asked.

Building these relationships is incredibly important. When you put in the work and take the time to serve your audience, you’re doing so much to move the needle. You’re strengthening your platform, using your voice by giving expert advice (because that IS what you are) and creating a two-way street for your audience to turn into potential customers.

7 ways agencies can serve their audience:

• Write emails that offer great information
• Ask questions of your audience on social media and answer them (whether on social or turn it into another piece of content)
• Engage with other social media accounts like yours to build trust and relationships. #CommunityOverCompetition
• Plan your social media content with the intention of offering your audience something, which can simply be your expert opinion on something
• Create blog posts that solve a problem for your audience
• Make yourself relatable to your audience to create strong relationships and build trust
• Offer something for free (like an PDF you created to help them solve a problem) in exchange for their email address

There are a variety of ways to show up and serve your audience regularly. Being that voice they want to hear from will become more frequent, which increases your credibility and authority to ultimately “sell” the behavior you want them to act upon or change.