Professional Services Marketing That Wins More Clients

It depends on your vertical (real estate, financial services, insurance, life coaching or nonprofit), your market and your goals. Most firms run an SEO campaign as the long-term foundation, paired with paid search to drive immediate inquiries.

We'll right-size a plan to your firm, your competitive market and your growth goals. There's no one-size-fits-all answer, and we'll tell you exactly where each dollar goes.

Very. At the typical professional services firm in the calls we've listened to, 38% of calls went to voicemail or were never picked up: 38% during business hours and 47% after hours. And most of those callers do not try again: 75% of callers who reached voicemail did not call that business again within a week.

That is why we track every call from your campaigns, flag missed calls, and help you set up call routing, after-hours coverage and fast call-backs, so the leads you pay for are not lost at the front desk.

Based on calls to 11 professional services firms we market, Apr to Sep 2026.

We classified a sample of 297 new-customer calls to the professional services firms we market by what the caller wanted. The most common reasons to call were booking an appointment or checking availability (46%), whether a specific service is offered (23%), a consultation or estimate (8%) and insurance, financing or payment (6%).

Typical questions: “Do you have availability, and can you fit me in soon?”, “Do you offer this specific service?”, “Can I schedule a consultation or site visit?”. Your website, ads and Google Business Profile should answer these before the phone rings, and your team should be ready to answer them when it does.

Based on calls to SmartSites clients, Apr to Sep 2026; questions paraphrased, no caller or client identified.

Mostly business hours: 22% of calls came outside Monday to Friday 9 to 5 (7% on weekends), and the busiest day is Monday. Of the calls that were answered, 51% were new-customer inquiries, 36% were existing customers, and 14% were sales pitches or wrong numbers.

That mix is why we report on qualified calls, not raw call counts.

Based on 14,000 calls to 23 professional services firms we market, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 (timing) and Apr to Sep 2026 (call types).

Across the Google Ads accounts of the 29 professional services firms we manage, the median cost per lead over the last 12 months was $70, with a median cost per click of $3.00 and a median conversion rate of 6%.

Your number depends on your market, services and how well the landing page and phones convert. We use these medians as a starting benchmark, then work to beat them.

Source: Google Ads accounts managed by SmartSites, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026; a lead is a tracked call or form conversion as set up in each account.

For the 31 professional services firms whose Google Business Profiles we manage, the median profile got about 790 views, 9 calls and 49 direction requests a month over the last year.

Reviews, photos, accurate hours and categories move those numbers, which is why local SEO is part of every plan we build for a professional services firm.

Source: Google Business Profile performance data for profiles managed by SmartSites, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026.

You don't have to choose. The best results come from doing both, with experts who know how to use AI responsibly:

• AI-assisted audits: our initial and routine audits combine years of human expertise with AI to spot opportunities a person alone would miss.
• Enterprise-grade data: professional SEO and ads tools give us visibility into organic, AI and paid search. You get the insights without the bill.
• Always human-in-the-loop: every output is reviewed by a strategist before it ships, and you own all work product.

A good in-house marketer is only one person. With SmartSites you get a whole team (strategist, SEO specialist, paid media lead, web designer, email specialist and social manager) for less than the cost of a single hire, with no recruiting, no PTO and no learning curve.

No, and we'll always be straight with you about that. Effective marketing in professional services takes time, and firms that expect instant results from SEO are usually disappointed. Here's what to realistically expect:

• SEO compounds over months, not days.
• Paid search typically drives new inquiries within the first 30 days.
• Web rebuilds pay for themselves in higher conversion rates.

Real estate brokerage NJ Lux Real Estate saw site traffic up 178%, and manufactured-housing operator Cambio Communities saw leads up 250%.

Yes. We optimize for generative engines (GEO) as well as traditional search, so professional services firms show up in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and the AI assistants prospective clients increasingly use to find and vet a firm. Our tracking includes AI mentions and citations, not just rankings.

Local relevance and reviews win more often than budget size. We optimize your Google Business Profile, build location and service pages, and set up review requests after each new client win, so your firm shows up for “near me” searches even against larger competitors. For real estate advisory firm eRealty Advisors, that kind of foundational SEO work lifted conversion rate 480%.

Paid search usually produces inquiries within the first month. SEO builds over several months and keeps compounding as your firm earns more authoritative content and reviews. We report every result plainly, so you always know where you stand.