Marketing pros working in the professional services sector get the shaft in a lot of ways. Often we're dealing with small budgets, clientele or management wildly out of their comfort zone and, let's face it, nothing incredibly exciting to sell. In the eyes of target audiences, professional service firms are regularly seen as just another office schlump peddling their crap which is exactly the same as the next guy's crap. Yuck! I wouldn't want anything to do with that either.
What's a company to do?
a) Sit back and do nothing. EHHH!
b) Do a bunch of crap and hope something sticks. NOPE!
c) Painfully write a check each month going towards things that don't work. WRONG!
d) Work with a strategic partner that knows the marketing side of things as well as you know the industry (consulting, law, accounting, HR, etc., etc.) side of things and is the ideal complement to your objectives. DING DING!
John Doerr wrote an excellent article about many of the pitfalls that our professional service clients challenge us with everyday: http://www.servicesmarketingblog.com/top-10-lead-generation-mistakes-made-by-professional-services.
Excellent points, Mr. Doerr, and so true. A line of thought that I encounter frequently is the idea that in professional services customer relationships and leads are so heavily based on a personal relationship that marketing is altogether pointless. How silly. For starters, marketing can and should involve tactics to retain customers. So, what are you offering loyal customers to stay around, beyond the convenience of not having to switch providers because you do a "fine job"? And how long can that really last? Secondly, to Doerr's point, what happens when your personal network runs out? If a business owner is satisfied to maintain a certain size company, number of employees and revenue, there's no marketing tactic I or anyone else can offer that they'll find value or purpose in doing.
One thing that a professional services firm CEO with any reservations or skepticism can agree to is that some level of marketing is essential to company growth. Yes, there are many challenges in marketing professional services, but wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to worry about those challenges much at all? Think about this, all businesses hire an accountant, a payroll company, a law firm and so on to manage matters that are beyond your roles and breadth of expertise (clue: marketing agencies are also in that bucket).
There is something to be said for the b-to-b companies that make branding, company image, customer communications, lead generation and marketing strategy a priority. They look good, stand out and people notice. Don't be just another fill-in-the-blank type of b-to-b schlump making cold calls and running ads to no avail, get marketing that works!
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