The M-Word
March 8, 2010
It was a real eye-opener to hear the perceptions people have about what it means to market professional services, as well as the anxiety the “m-word” (marketing) conjures up. It reminded me that, just because professional service providers have a lot of expertise in their chosen field, it doesn’t mean they have the same level of understanding about the business of growing a practice.
As a matter of fact, expertise can get in the way of being a good marketer. As a highly-trained professional, it’s easy and natural to communicate about what you know and how you do it. But it falls on deaf ears and glazed-over eyes when you use words, images, and language that are about your expertise, not about the problems you solve for your target audience.
What Marketing Professional Services Is Not
The most common misperception is that marketing is about wowing prospects with your expertise using slick brochures, advertising, websites, logos, press releases, flyers, networking, and “communications programs.” You are wasting your firm’s time and money if your approach to marketing starts and stops here. Why? Because unless you’ve clearly nailed (and tested!) your message to intended clients, investing prematurely in these things will only accelerate how much you’ll confuse them!
How to Put Law & Order into Marketing Your Legal Practice
March 5, 2010
First in a series of three articles
Regardless of your law firm’s focus ? criminal, civil, corporate, family, business, etc. ? the greatest challenge most small to mid-size firms face is the lack of a strategic and disciplined approach to business development. Relying on referrals does not a strategy make! And waiting to get serious about marketing until that major case is wrapped up is way too late.
Whether you’re frustrated with past marketing efforts that have been expensive, time-consuming, and haven’t paid off?or you think you can’t afford to take a sophisticated, results-driven approach to business development like the big firms do, guess again. While your firm may not have its own in-house marketing expert on staff or the generous marketing budgets that the larger firms enjoy, you can systematically and affordably attract more clients than you ever thought possible. It just takes a thoughtful strategy that leverages the laws of marketing, and an ordered approach to stay on track.
Laws of Marketing
First and foremost, marketing is NOT about brochures, websites, advertising or cold calls. These things may or may not be tools that make sense for your firm, once you’ve leveraged the laws of marketing.
The Role of Marketing for Boards of Directors
March 2, 2010
Small and emerging companies often do not put together a board of advisors or board of directors for many reasons. Some entrepreneurs believe that businessmen and women would not be willing to serve on their board of advisors for the little or no compensation that the new company can afford. Another reason small and emerging companies do not have boards of advisors is that often the entrepreneur does not want advice from others. In some extreme cases, entrepreneurs believe they do not need advice from others. GSI knows better.
GSI works with entrepreneurs, like Kelly O’Brien, President of TurningPointe Marketing, www.turningpointemarketing.com, who has hired our firm to assist her in putting together a strong board of advisors to help her grow her company. Entrepreneurs like Kelly O’Brien are finding out that having a board of advisors for your company that meets regularly can pay huge dividends.
Beginning with its first meeting on November 18, 2004, Turning Pointe Marketing’s board of advisors consisting of 6-12 members will meet quarterly for one year to help expand the company’s business model. Currently the company provides intensive marketing clinics twice a month for its clients where Ms. O’Brien, in a classroom/boardroom environment, helps create marketing approaches for each of the company’s clients.
Getting Your Services Used
February 28, 2010
Every day I talk with professional service providers who do great work, have a valuable service that really helps people?and struggle to get their services used as much as they’d like.
They get a lukewarm response after an initial conversation while networking, the referrals come in but don’t convert to real business as often as they’d like, and they can’t seem to get prospects to see them as that much better than other professionals offering similar services.
Or they may get some attention from prospects as a result of an ad, published article, or speech?but then the early attention kind of fizzles into phone tag and no real client, in the end.
So what’s the problem? In most cases, they’re not getting far enough with the prospect to reveal the quality of their work?so it’s not about their professional work. And some professionals DO have decent positioning and credibility-building things in place like client testimonials and case studies on their websites (although the latter — done effectively ? is rare, unfortunately).
Like Brushing Your Teeth
February 24, 2010
What do the following things have in common: brushing your teeth, regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, paying your bills on time, cleaning your gutters, spending quality time with your spouse and kids??
They’re all forms of regular "self-care" that, if you neglect them for a period of time or take the wrong approach, there will be costly negative consequences.
The same goes for marketing.
Do any of these symptoms sound familiar?
? Your phone does not ring regularly with new prospects.
? You don’t regularly hear, "Hey, I’ve heard of your company!"
? Your sales pipeline is dry, so you go to some networking events, get some leads, then stop.
? People don’t respond quickly to meet or talk with you after an initial introduction through networking.
? The leads you do get trickle in slowly.
? You spend a lot of time looking for opportunities, but aren’t getting the results you want.
? You can’t safely project your firm’s income for the next 6 to 12 months.
? You’re finding it hard to attract and retain top talent, even in a recently tough economy.
How to Profit from Your Expertise (Part 1 of 2)
February 19, 2010
Are you looking for a natural way to market your professional services? What if you could exponentially multiply the number of motivated, pre-qualified prospects you reach in a fraction of the time that networking and referrals require?
Now what if you could be the person in a crowed room with whom everyone wants to talk about your services? And no, they don’t want to sell you something?they want to buy what you’ve got.
Too good to be true? Not if you know how to leverage the knowledge you get paid for every day as a professional service provider. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, sharing what you know is the #1 fastest way to attract more clients.
Hands-down, the two best ways to do this are by writing articles and giving talks.
In this month’s e-newsletter, I’ll give you detailed guidelines for packaging your knowledge that really work. Next month, we’ll cover where to look for knowledge-sharing opportunities and how to make them happen.
STEP 1: Get Inspired
If you’ve been reading this e-newsletter since at least February, you may recall that issue was all about how to get started with using your expertise to attract clients. Get inspired by re-reading your February issue or read it on my website at http://turningpointemarketing.com:8080/icms/icms.php/cs/21/linktarget.html?cs_news_ref=14&COMP=dated_items.
Differentiate or Die
February 16, 2010
Sounds pretty harsh, doesn’t it? Well, I can tell you from personal experience with both my own business and with my clients, "differentiate or die" is not an exaggeration. Whether you’re a small one-person shop or a large government agency, solvency and the future of your business rely on you standing out in a competitive marketplace.
Everyone is vying for the same client dollars, whether your clients are consumers, other small businesses, major corporations, or federal agencies. Your target clients are overwhelmed with too much information and too many choices. The bottom line? You still need to stand out from the crowd.
Coined by Jack Trout, the father of "positioning" products and ideas in the minds of consumers, this notion is particularly relevant for professional service firms. The problem is that your clients have a choice?and they need your help to understand why to choose your firm over others offering similar services.
And just because you currently have a client, doesn’t mean they’ll stay. There’s a big difference between their satisfaction and commitment. Did you know that more than 40% of customers who claimed to be satisfied switched to a new service provider?1
The M-Word (Marketing) Phase 2
February 13, 2010
Last month we looked at what you need to do before you spend money on marketing brochures, a website, advertising or even go out to network. During Phase 1, it’s all about crafting your message. Key steps include getting clear about your market niche, developing a clear message about how you solve your target clients’ problems, articulating what makes you their best choice, packaging your services so clients will buy, and demonstrating why they should trust you.
Skip Phase 1 and chances are you’ll do a really good job at spreading the wrong message about your firm in the marketplace. Not only is this confusing for prospective clients, it’s a waste of your firm’s time and resources. You can learn more about these crucial steps in last month’s e-newsletter at http://www.turningpointemarketing.com:8080/icms/icms.php/cs/9/Articles.html.
So let’s say you’ve done your Phase 1 homework and are ready to communicate with your marketplace. Where do you start and what should you consider? In Phase 2 you have a number of communication channels to tap, all of which should be working together. The basics include a business card and stationery, a website, a keep-in-touch system (ideally an e-newsletter, but a paper version works too), perhaps printed materials or leave behinds, a core set of articles and other freebies, and a basic talk you can give (i.e., at an industry networking event, local conference, or Chamber of Commerce event).
Your Secret Marketing Weapon
February 8, 2010
As a professional service provider, you’re paid for what you know. People come to your firm for the expertise you offer, first and foremost. Did you also realize that this is also your secret marketing weapon?
By sharing what you know, you actually attract people to you and build their confidence in you as the right solution for their problem. Now many professionals are afraid to "give away" trade secrets or expertise for free, but that’s not what I’m talking about. This is about putting content regularly out into the marketplace that is of enough value that prospects will automatically think of you when they have a need.
It seems paradoxical ? the more you give away, the more people are willing to pay for your services ? but it’s true. This exact approach has worked quickly and effectively for me for years. The key is that it’s got to be good and of high relevance to your target audience. This builds people’s confidence that you consistently know your stuff and that you can be counted on for long-term value. People soon realize that if you’re willing to give away such valuable expertise, think how great the solutions they pay for will be!
Marketing Brain Trust
February 6, 2010
Rest assured that no matter how smart you are, you do not know everything about marketing. You don’t even know anything about marketing your product! You can’t figure everything out yourself, or see all the angles, or provide every bit of critical thinking.
The solution? Create a marketing brain trust.
Use the mastermind principle which says more brainpower brought to bear on an issue means more ideas and greater insight. Gather together a mixed bag of thoughtful, intelligent people who have an interest in helping you create breakthroughs in your enterprise.
Adding brains to the brain trust produces non-linear results. Breakthrough results. Unreasonable results. Quantum Results. Because of the interactions among several people’s ideas bouncing off each other, the increased thinking- effectiveness can be multiplicative or even exponential.
Enroll people into your marketing brain trust. Find people who have a vested interest in your success, or the success of your business. You can’t have a great brain trust unless people are truly committed.
