Professional Services Marketing Part 15

* Introducing new services and entering new markets.

Words of wisdom * What you do before and after the show makes a big difference. At many shows, you can get the list of attendees for preshow marketing activities. Many people go to a show with 1,000 attendees "hoping to meet 20 or so of the 100 bigwigs who wil be there." Why not cal the 100 bigwigs beforehand and set meetings with 20 of them?

* Your fol ow-up from the show can often mean the difference between success and failure.

* Work the trade show with the same focus and persistence you bring to everything you do.

* Aggressive and forward-thinking companies can make running trade shows a part of their strategy. But beware: Many a company has lost a lot of money and spent a lot of time for little return because it wasn't careful.

Common mistakes * Being there because the other guy is there; being there because you have to "do something," so you sign up to go to or exhibit at a trade show. You've got to have a strategy for each show. Don't just go.

* Not working the show. Too many people show up at a trade show and look forward to a vacation away from the office. Trade shows are for working.

* Focusing solely on trade shows to the detriment of other marketing tactics. Make sure trade shows fit in your marketing and sel ing mix in balance with other tactics.

* Setting unrealistic or no expectations. Shows can be good for lead generation and exposure, but you have to work to get the most out of them.

* Picking the wrong shows. Make sure your target buyers are in attendance.

Ident.i.ty, Collateral, Presentations "Sounds interesting-can you send me something?" "Wil you need a projector for slides?" We al get these questions, and we al like to have good answers for them. We al like to look good as we put our first foot forward.

Brand ident.i.ty and colateral material play a large part in al of our marketing and business development activities and can make a big differerence in a firm's ability to get in the door and win new business.

Typically good for: * Creating emotional connections and positive impressions on buyers.

* Competive positioning.

* Connecting with and educating clients, prospects, and internal team members.

* Brand recognition and articulation.

* Providing a backdrop for deeper interaction for your firm.

Words of wisdom * Your corporate ident.i.ty and graphic design define what league you're in. Buyers need to connect with you before they buy. Regardless of the specific messages you want to communicate, does the quality of your brand look and feel world-cla.s.s or simply cla.s.sy or done on the cheap?

* Calibrate the amount of col ateral material with the actual needs of sel ing at your firm. For some firms, al they have is a business card and a web site. No other materials are necessary. For other firms, elaborate presentations and various pieces of support materials are necessary.

* Use a good graphic designer and art director, and let them do their jobs. While you wil undoubtedly have suggestions, don't try to take over the design process yourself. If you don't like their work, dismiss them and get a new team. Don't try to do their jobs yourself. That doesn't usual y turn out wel .

Common mistakes * Using col ateral materials as crutches. Especial y people who are new at business development feel the deep need to go in with a lot of high-quality materials. People usual y err on the side of bringing too much when they don't need it.

* Excessive pitching. Professionals often feel the need to walk people through their materials, and then they find themselves going on for 40 minutes without stopping. This typical y isn't helpful for connecting with people and developing business.

* Too much energy and focus on design and wordsmithing. Firms can spend a year of energy and debate on new logos, new web site designs, and new materials. Then the materials are done and n.o.body ever thinks about them again. Col ateral materials are something to get done, get done wel , and get out of the way so you can focus on activities that wil actual y make a difference in your firm's growth.

* Overreliance in the sel ing process. Buyers might say to you, "Sounds interesting. Can you send me some info?" This can be serious, but it can also be a brush-off. When you send material, don't think, "Okay, they'l read it and then get back to me." Send it. Wait the appropriate amount of time, and keep on the task of building the relations.h.i.+p and winning business. Don't expect col ateral materials to sel for you.

* Calibrating your design needs incorrectly. If you're sel ing to world-cla.s.s firms, your materials should look the part. Perhaps a commonplace logo and a trifold brochure are enough, and you don't need to spend serious budget money on design. But keep in mind, as Dad always said, "Dress for the job you want, not the one you have."

* Paying too little attention to your web site. For most firms, far and away most of the effort should be spent making their web sites as good as they possibly can be.

Advertising Traditional advertising is typical y broken down into five major areas: TV, radio, print, outdoor, and direct. Now, of course, there is also online. We cover direct marketing and online marketing in other areas. For our purposes here, the questions are: Should you advertise in traditional media? If so, what should you be aware of?

Typically good for: * Brand recognition and articulation.

* Overal firm and company branding.

* Larger firms, or firms needing to reach a large, hard-to-pinpoint, diverse audience.

Words of wisdom * Choosing to advertise in print, TV, radio, and so on at al is the first important step. Most firms should not consider advertising to be a main part of their marketing mix. Yet, when they feel the need to market the firm, this is one of the first tactics they engage. Typical y that's a mistake.

* Creative is important. You'l find advertising campaigns that failed due to poor creative and advertising mechanics.

* Media choice and placement are of extreme importance. Many firms don't investigate media options with the zeal they should. They end up making poor choices in easy-to-identify publications that may not be the best for them. Choose your media wisely.

* Have an offer, and make it worthwhile. It's not enough to say, "c.o.ke is it" or "Wendy's-It's better here." Take a cue from the Tiger Woods ads from Accenture. Each of those ads has an offer similar to, "For a deeper look at our research and experience with the world's most successful companies, including our landmark study of over 500 high performers, visit accenture.com/research."

Common mistakes * Spending too heavily on advertising. Firm after firm spends thousands to mil ions on advertising for the benefit of "getting our name out there." Even the most basic marketing tactic choice a.n.a.lysis points to greener pastures elsewhere.

* Advertising that is focused only on brand. If you're going to advertise, you should combine brand implementation with lead generation.

* Disproportionate amounts spent on the creative and design aspects versus media and outreach.

* Weak design and advertising mechanics.

* Weak copy or copy focused on messages that are too broad (e.g., "We are a different kind of firm," "We offer solutions, not just services," or "Here are our 15 practice areas").

* Poor media choices.

* Advertising not connected to the rest of the media mix.

The list of common mistakes is long and keeps going. Few firms, even those firms that should be doing it, get advertising right.

Publicity "I'm a thought leader," says the person from the firm. "Oh, where have you been published, and what media have picked you up?" asks the buyer.

"Oh, I've been published on our web site, but I don't have any media mentions."

Publicity can play a big role in the professional service firm marketing mix, as it can lead to a veritable cornucopia of positive outcomes. Mostly because good publicity is expensive and hard to come by, the pitfal s of generating publicity can be great.

Typically good for: * Building credibility in your target markets.

* Creating col ateral for other marketing activities.

* Compet.i.tive positioning.

* Building a reputation as a thought leader.

* Generating actual leads (sometimes, but difficult to plan for).

* Driving Web traffic and overal impressions of you and your firm.

Words of wisdom * Make sure your content and stories are of supreme interest to the media, prospects, and buyers-news has to be newsworthy. What many firms think is newsworthy the press doesn't.

* Implement each public relations (PR) tactic wel . How bloggers pick up your stories is a different process from how you get a mention in major business press. How you get a story placed in trade magazines is different from getting links to your web site.

* Implement intensely and rigorously. It takes financial and human effort over a long period to get the most out of publicity efforts.

* Keep at it over long periods of time.

* Develop relations.h.i.+ps with the media you're targeting, or hire people who have them already.

* Use PR in the rest of your marketing. If you get a great mention or interview in the press, you can use this in your other marketing efforts for years to come.

* The stronger your brand, the more strongly your publicity efforts wil work. When a Harvard Business School professor has something to say, it's much more likely to get picked up than when a professor from Jim's House of Higher Education has something to say. Brand matters in PR as wel .

Common mistakes * Expecting results quickly. It can take a long time to get a PR engine working.

* Going dark on PR efforts. If you get started and then stop, you wil probably need to rebuild the foundation before the efforts wil gain traction again. If you have a good press strategy in play, discontinuing it can often send you back to square one if you want to restart later on.

* Equating publicity with putting out a press release. Press releases are a tool, not an outcome. The outcome is publicity, and a press release (unless people track your firm closely already) typical y does nothing, even if released on a major wire with al the bel s and whistles the wire service offers.

* Expecting more leads than you get. It's quite possible that your publicity effort wil yield a major flurry of leads and leads for years to come. If you get the right story in the Wal Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, or on the CBS Evening News, that may happen. More often, even if you make it into a major publication in a major way, little in the way of leads fol ows. Many of the "I got flooded with business after publicity"stories are business-to-consumer. While you can expect leads from publicity to happen over time, you should take leads from publicity as a bonus.

* Expecting to get into the Harvard Business Review, BusinessWeek, and the Wal Street Journal right out of the gate. Once again, unless you've got something real y special or you're already a wel -known thought leader, don't expect to get into the top publications right away. Even thought leaders with a track record have to lobby and work hard to get into the right publications with the right content.

* Focusing only on traditional media. Online publicity is up-and-coming and can yield major benefits. The right blogger mentions can get you links into your web site. The links into your site can yield conversions for your offers and higher Google weighting (meaning that someone searching for keywords that are on your site might be more likely to find yours versus some other site). Keep abreast of what's happening currently in PR before you decide on the specifics of your strategy.

Offers, Content, and Experiences Articles Many a professional has built a reputation and a fol owing as a thought leader by writing and publis.h.i.+ng articles. Articles, whether published in newsletters, the trade press, or industry web sites, are a staple of most firms' communications tactics with the market.

Typically good for: * Presenting a point of view.

* Connecting people to your personality and thought processes.

* Al components of Brand RAMP.

* Providing the base for longer intel ectual capital, such as white papers and books.

* Marketing col ateral.

* Generating credibility and thought leaders.h.i.+p.

* Generating publicity.

Words of wisdom * Come up with an idea and start writing. Many a writing strategy is thwarted when the would-be author simply doesn't sit down and start typing.

* Edit your work meticulously. Errors and ambiguity can quickly turn someone off to you and your writing.

* Be a tyrant about thought leaders.h.i.+p quality. Your writing might be clear and straightforward; but if someone reads your writing and says, "So what?" or "That's not helpful," then your efforts are for naught. (See chapter 15, "Eight Pil ars of Intel ectual Capital Quality.") * You don't have to come up with something new. Many would-be authors think, "Everything I'd like to write already has something good on the topic." Perhaps you have a good way of positioning the same topic. Perhaps folks in your industry need to hear about something widely used elsewhere but not yet in your field. Much like being a professional services provider, buyers don't need you to be total y different from what else is out there; they just need you to be helpful.

* If you're looking to publish in other people's publications, read their editorial guidelines careful y and craft articles that they'l accept.

Editors are short on time. If you provide them what they need and it's good quality, they'l publish it. If they look at it and say, "This isn't bad, but it doesn't meet content guidelines 3 and 6," then they'd have to put more work into it. That might kil your insertion in their publication.

* Market your articles. Once you have something written, you can use it in direct mail, on your web site, in your col ateral materials, and in your newsletter. Articles can endure, but they'l endure only if you use them.

Common mistakes * Bad writing. Nine out of ten articles submitted to us at RainToday. com for publication by would-be authors are rejected due to subpar writing. You have to write wel .50 You might think your writing is good, but it stil might not meet the standards someplace else. While sometimes you get rejected because the editor just didn't see the beauty and quality of what you wrote, more often your writing quality kil ed you.

* Ghostwriting that takes away your own point of view. If you have something to say, the best way to say it is to get your ideas down on paper. A good developmental editor can turn your good thoughts that have not been cleaned up yet into a good article. Unless the ghost-writer is extremely skil ed, the process of "interviewing an article out of you" tends to lead down a fruitless path.

* Trying to write here and there. Like anything, the more you write, the better you'l get at it. Writing is a craft that takes time to develop.

Keep at it, and you'l get better over time.

* Not leveraging what you write. Once you have the article, use it over and over. Get the most out of it. Don't let it sit around gathering dust on your web site.

White Papers A white paper is an educational tool in the form of a persuasive essay. At its best, a white paper provides the kind of useful information about your service, thought process, or methodology that wil bring you new clients.

It is best to think of a white paper as a credible source of information for your clients that wil reach them before they need to make decisions.

Reading a paper that contains logical arguments backed by facts fuels interest and desire.

In RainToday.com's research report, What's Working in Lead Generation, we surveyed 731 leaders of professional services firms. In it, we asked them, "What offers are most effective in generating new leads?" White papers were among the most effective offers, as 28 percent of respondents rated white papers as "very" or "extremely effective."

Another industry study confirmed the folowing information regarding how white papers get pa.s.sed along: * 69 percent of prospects who download and like your white paper PDF wil actively pa.s.s it on to their col eagues.

* 36 percent of total downloads wil be pa.s.sed on to a direct supervisor.

* 57 percent of IT purchase decision makers said a white paper influenced at least one buying decision in a yearlong cycle.51 Typically good for: White papers have the same uses as articles, plus: * Lead generation in the form of an offer that people can request or download, and as an inquiry-generating tool after people read it.

* Foundation for speeches, books, and publicity.

Words of wisdom The same advice applies as for articles, plus: * Choose the right topic and t.i.tle. Getting nuances right with the topic and t.i.tle can mean the difference between thousands of people downloading or requesting it and virtual y no interest.

* White papers are versatile marketing a.s.sets. Use your white paper for lead generation, lead nurturing, and thought leaders.h.i.+p development.

* Make sure your white paper gets to as many people as possible. Like advertising and graphic design, some firms spend months and years developing the a.s.set and then get no use out of it. If you're going to write white papers, make sure you get them out to the world through your own lists, through third-party lists, though white papers syndication, through placement in other people's publications, and a whole host of other outreach methods.

Common mistakes * Same as articles-poor writing, not interesting, no reach and leverage, and so on.

* Sales pitches thinly veiled as white papers. Make sure every word has value to the reader and isn't puffery for your firm. At the end of the white paper, you should let folks know what you do and how you can help, but don't mix your sales pitch inappropriately with the content of the piece.

* "That's not a white paper." While parameters of white papers do vary widely in terms of length and content, many things (like two-page marketing col ateral pieces) are erroneously labeled white papers.

* Not targeting or marketing your white paper. As you seek publicity, downloads, and requests for your white paper, make sure you target wel . You can spend months trying to get people to pay attention to your white paper who wil simply have no interest in it.

Books Commonly heard advice on the street: "Write a book. It'l do wonders for your practice. It's perhaps the best marketing tactic you could ever employ." Alan Weiss cal s a book the gold card of lead generation.

What the advice giver often fails to mention is that the act of writing a book is an enormous investment in blood, sweat, and, al too often, tears.