Getting Started with Security Services Marketing

Security services customers are unique. Your marketing strategy should be, too.

Here, you’ll find:

• What makes security marketing different
• How to approach audience targeting in this industry
• The importance of local efforts
• Expert tips for organic and paid digital marketing

With the number of companies that provide security services nearing 16,000, the competition in the industry is fierce. 

Since these services are different from other run-of-the-mill offerings, so are the marketing tactics.

Security services marketing requires a thoughtful, strategic approach when it comes to lead generation, conversion, and retention. 

Security services can include businesses such as:

• Private investigators
• Security guards
• Security camera companies
• Residential and commercial security systems
• Video surveillance operators
• Bodyguards
• Online security services

Let’s take a closer look at getting started with security marketing.

The goal is to establish your potential customer’s trust by demonstrating the reliability of your product or service. (Image: Unsplash)

What’s unique about security service marketing?

The key difference between security marketing and traditional digital marketing is the target audience. People seeking security services often have specific fears, concerns, or worries they’re reacting to.

To promote security services to this audience, it’s especially important to stick to facts and figures. This helps build trust in your brand. 

By the same token, you want to and avoid leaning too much into fear mongering or sensationalist claims. Don’t take advantage of people who might be in a vulnerable state.

Security services brands can create successful marketing campaigns that focus on:

• Trustworthiness
• Credibility
• Earnestness
• Privacy
• Protection

The goal is to establish your potential customer’s trust. You can do this by demonstrating the reliability of your product or service.

7 elements of successful security marketing

These are the top factors to consider when building your security marketing plan.

1. Identify your target audience

A common mistake many security companies make is trying to target a huge variety of audiences. In reality, to achieve success in the first stages of your marketing campaign, you need to pinpoint only a few segments.

Take the time to dig into your target audience’s security needs and pain points. This can help you design a personalized campaign for potential clients. Once the strategy starts working, you can expand to cover other audience segments.

Pro tip: Don’t hesitate to analyze what your competition is doing. Look into which audiences and keywords they’re targeting that could be useful to your brand as well.

2. Maintain a high-quality website

To find a local business, 97% of people do an online search. 

Word-of-mouth marketing is still a highly effective method. However, some people would rather ask Google than consult someone they know about security services is their situation is sensitive or more personal.

A high-quality website is the pillar of your digital marketing strategy. It’s often the first or second impression people will see.

It should accurately reflect your company while also making it easy for visitors to determine what you’re about, what you offer, and how they can contact you or learn more. 

3. Leverage local SEO

While traditional search engine optimization (SEO) tactics can yield positive results, security companies often benefit most from local SEO. 

You’re likely to target clients in a specific area, depending on your service. Because of that, it’ll benefit your brand to build a comprehensive local SEO strategy. This often includes:

• Creating, claiming, or building out your Google Business Profile
• Listing your company in local applicable directories
• Emphasizing local keywords with location extensions
• Focusing on the searcher’s intent along with exact keywords

Increasingly, Google has been honing its algorithm to better understand the user’s intent. This means, when a searcher looks for “private investigator near me,” the search engine tries to find websites that:

• Have pages dedicated to private investigation
• Contain NAP (name, address, phone number) details of a local company

Trying to suit the searcher’s intent can yield much better results than simply relying on local keywords.

Your competition is likely using more than one marketing channel — so you should too. (Image: Rawpixel)

4. Publish valuable content

Particularly with things like data sharing and third-party cookies, people have a lot of questions about security. And they’re searching online for answers. That’s where quality content marketing comes in.  

A pillar of strong SEO lies in publishing accurate, well-written content that educates and informs your target audience.

In the security realm, this content can include anything from extensive service descriptions to “how-to” articles. To achieve better results, consider using different forms of content, including videos, images, and infographics.

5. Explore a multi-channel approach

Your target audience probably it’s just on Google. They likely also use social media, email, and apps. Not only that, but your competition is likely using more than one marketing channel — so you should too.

While you’re building a high-quality website and creating content, you can start exploring avenues like social media (organic and paid) as well as email marketing, like a newsletter.

The effort you can put into these various channels will depend on you and your team’s bandwidth, of course.

But you can at least claim profiles on the main social channels (if it makes sense for your audience). You can also create lists from your existing contacts to potentially use later, as long as the email owner has opted in.

6. Take advantage of paid search advertising

Paid search (also called pay-per-click or PPC) is one of the most effective marketing tactics we’ve seen in terms of ROI and how quickly you can see results.

Paid ads don’t just help you catch the attention of your target audience. They also allow you to expand brand awareness, gain search engine visibility, and increase your leads.

What’s more, paid search lets you analyze a campaign’s performance in real time so you can make changes accordingly. 

Pro tip: Once you pick a paid search platform to focus on (such as Google, Bing, Facebook, etc.), explore that platform’s numerous useful features. Knowing what’s at your disposal can help you maximize your ad’s potential and minimize ad spend.

7. Have proof points to back up your claims

Let’s circle back to the importance of trust in the security services industry.

People are understandably dubious about claims made by companies themselves. But evidence that comes from third parties (such as a credible review site) or customers will hold more weight. 

You can leverage positive customer reviews on places like your website, ads, landing pages, and social profiles. You can also request reviews from satisfied customers in a tasteful, bribery-free manner. 

Security customers might be wary of attaching their names or faces. So you might want to consider accepting anonymous or alias testimonials as well. Just make sure they can be verified.

Pro tip: The security services industry is unique in terms of the requirements for different jobs in this field. Some states require minimum hours of training, while others don’t. For this reason, showcasing experience, training, and other qualifications can help you stand out.

The takeaway

Marketing for security companies comes with important specifics that need to be implemented into the campaign. 

By keeping your target audience’s needs in mind, you can design an effective strategy that helps you outrun the competition and build a happy, secure customer base.