Professional Services Marketing Part 16

Writing and publis.h.i.+ng a book is a time-intensive, laborious process that begins long before the actual writing of the book and continues through the lengthy editing, publis.h.i.+ng, and book marketing process. Aspiring authors may have to deal with finding agents, marketers, and publishers; negotiating contracts; and, ultimately, the marketing and publicity of the book-al while keeping up with their everyday business activities. This often leaves the professional service provider wondering, "Is it worth it?"

Being in the business of figuring out "what's worth it" in marketing for professional services, we at Welesley Hils Group and RainToday.com conducted research to find out. The result was our report, The Business Impact of Writing a Book. In this research we surveyed 200 professionals across industries who have themselves written a book, or books, in order to answer that al -important question: "Is the investment in blood, sweat, and tears required to write a book worth it to my practice?"

Our conclusion: a definite and resounding "yes." While the report did not evaluate the merits or quality of the books the partic.i.p.ating authors had written, the vast majority of authors who partic.i.p.ated in our research realized a significant positive impact on their business or practice as a result of publis.h.i.+ng one book or multiple books.

Typically good for: * Thought leaders.h.i.+p and credibility.

* Al components of Brand RAMP enhancement.

* Lead generation.

* Generating speeches.

* Opening doors to write for prestigious publications.

* Publicity.

* Pa.s.sive revenue generation.

Words of wisdom * Write a good book. This may go without saying, but many a contribution to the business bookshelf has been less than stel ar. Al things being equal, a good book wil sel more and reflect better on you and your practice.

* Publish with a major publisher first. There's a lot of buzz about self-publis.h.i.+ng, but our research and experience strongly suggest that publis.h.i.+ng with a major publisher for at least your first book has more positive impact than self-publis.h.i.+ng.

* Sel as many books as you can. Authors who sold more than 10,000 copies of their first book had much more positive impact across their businesses than those who sold fewer copies. Authors who sold more than 20,000 copies of their first book had significantly greater impact on their businesses than those who sold between 10,000 and 20,000 copies. (See Chapter 15, "Research results," pp. 208-210.) * Get al the leverage you can from your book: Articles placed in major publications. Speaking engagements. Marketing campaigns.

Webinars. Clients. Books are platforms that you can use to buoy al of your other marketing and client relations activities.

* Expect to be the one to do a good portion of the marketing for your book. The biggest factor that publishers look for from new authors is their marketing platform. How many books wil you sel yourself?

Common mistakes * Poorly written books; sales pitch masquerading as a book.

* Thinking your good idea and good writing wil get picked up by a major publisher on its merits. Publis.h.i.+ng is a business. Typical y your ability to get a book accepted by a major publisher is a reflection on your marketing and sales platform and what you'l do to sel books, not your content or skil as a writer.

* Believing your content has to be 100 percent breakthrough new. It just has to be helpful. The "what's different" request from most publishers is more for how they can position it for sale, not that they care if it's the first time anyone has written about the subject.

* Self-publis.h.i.+ng disappointments. Sure, it seems easier to self-publish. And you can make $25 per book instead of only $1! But the folks we know, and the partic.i.p.ants in our research, who did not have at least their first book with a major publisher did not get the sales or the ancil ary benefits to nearly the same degree as folks who got a book contract with a reputable publisher.

Seminars Seminars are one of the most powerful marketing tactics for professional services firms. You can get paid for attendance at public seminars, and your fabulous delivery and value should yield leads for both on-site seminars and consulting services. Many a firm has build up a major consulting operation on the back of its seminar engine. The chal enging part is getting a paid-seminar engine up and running. Many firms have tried and failed.

Regardless of how you get it done, if you can get it done, it can be a major compet.i.tive advantage.

Running paid seminars is not the only path to success. You can offer free seminars produced by your firm. You can deliver seminars for major seminar companies, as many of them subcontract delivery.

Whatever your path, keep in mind that after referrals and brand, seminars are the top method buyers are likely to use to identify potential service providers.52 Typically good for: * Lead generation.

* Thought leaders.h.i.+p.

* Brand RAMP.

* Offering that goes along with outreach (advertising, direct mail, e-mail, telephone, etc.).

* Getting paid for marketing.

* Initial service to offer to a company that can lead to additional services.

Words of wisdom * Seminars require commitment. It's rare to find a company that can run a successful seminar just here and there.

* Be paranoid about attendance. Most firms believe they can do a good job delivering. Most firms have the cash to deliver in a decent venue. Getting decision makers to attend your seminars-that's tricky.

* Know the metrics of seminar attendance generation. It's different from almost any other type of marketing. What many books say about generating seminar attendance is misleading.

* Make the content draw irresistible.

* Include clients and other credibility enhancers like guest speakers.

* If you don't want to run your own seminars, consider delivering for other companies. It's not that easy; but if you work hard enough at it, and if a seminar company exists in your s.p.a.ce that uses subcontract facilitators, it's worth the effort to work your way in.

* If you're planning on making money with your public seminars, that's not easy to do. You might strike gold and get margin from public seminars, but the money wil come (a.s.suming you can get the public seminars up and running) in the form of on-site seminars and consulting engagements.

Common mistakes * Believing most of what the "run seminars and grow rich" books tel you about attendance generation. Most of them are extremely optimistic.

* Engaging in spreadsheet fantasies. Don't play the "Wow, we'l make so much money if we just get X attendees" game. Attendees are tough to come by, and marketing and sales costs at seminar companies can run very high.

* Underestimating what it takes to generate attendance. Poor targeting, lists, and databases are usual y the main culprits in low attendance. If you don't have great lists to leverage, you're at a major disadvantage.

* Getting caught up in the "it's new, it'l be huge" trap. There are thousands of leaders.h.i.+p seminars for a reason: People buy leaders.h.i.+p seminars. Do something total y new and you have to ask yourself, "Is there a market to support this?" Oftentimes, no.

* Not fol owing up after the seminar. Don Schrel o noted in How to Market Training and Information 53 (the only worthwhile book we have ever read on the subject of seminar marketing) that results from fol ow-up are best in the first two days after the program. Your ability to generate fol ow-up meetings after the seminar drops off significantly after a few days. "Let's wait a week and then cal them al " is not a good idea.

* Pitching while delivering. The best sel ing you can do is to deliver an excel ent seminar. Weaving in your capabilities and how you can help is a subtle nuance. Pitch too hard too fast, and you'l turn people off. Once you've done a great job delivering, most attendees give you license to mention what you do.

Variations on Seminars: Webinars and Teleseminars The same uses and advice apply for webinars and teleseminars as for seminars, but the personal and emotional connection isn't as strong.

Common mistakes * Boring, poor delivery. Delivery is different than in seminars and live speeches. You need a lot more energy to keep people's attention.

* Technology problems. There are many new technologies for running webinars and teleseminars. If you want a smooth delivery, use a major provider. You can always find great, unknown niche players, but you are taking a chance.

* Overestimating how many people wil come. Not only is attendance as hard to come by online as it is for live programs, but it's also hard to get them to show up and stay once they've registered.

* Not using modern fol ow-up methods such as automated e-mail sequences based on attendance activity and area of interest.

* Poor slides and col ateral material. Slides do become more important for webinars, and teleseminars run more smoothly and generate higher satisfaction when you provide quality material for attendees to fol ow along.

Public Speaking Along with seminars, public speaking is the marketing linchpin of many a professional services provider. Buyers use speeches to identify service providers quite a bit.54 Like seminars, with speaking you can get paid for your marketing. Build a reputation as an expert and an excel ent speaker, and the fees you can garner can be significant. Nothing beats getting paid to generate leads while you touch many people and build your reputation as a thought leader.

Typically good for: * Lead generation.

* Thought leaders.h.i.+p.

* Brand RAMP.

* Offering that goes along with outreach (advertising, direct mail, e-mail, telephone, etc.).

* Getting paid for marketing with speaker fees.

* Sel ing books and other products.

* Building a platform that wil help you be attractive to major book publishers.

* Creating an initial service (in-house speeches) to offer to a company that leads to additional services.

Words of wisdom * You've got to make speaking a strategy. "Let's get some speaking engagements" isn't usual y enough to make the best inroads into good events.

* Finding the events and getting on event planners'radar screens is no easy task. Like any marketing and lead generation activity, the strength of your targeting and list development underpins your ability to succeed.

* It's great to generate paid speaking engagements. Many consultants suggest that you shouldn't accept speaking engagements unless you're getting paid. However, we know many a service provider that has generated mil ions of dol ars' worth of revenue from unpaid speaking engagements. You've got to make your own decisions about your speaking strategy and what wil work for you.

* If you want to generate speaking engagements, you have to build up your sparkle. Event planners want to know why, especial y if you're not wel -known, you wil make their event that much better. Like any kind of marketing, you've got to stand out and get your message across.

* Until you're a highly sought-after speaker, getting speaking engagements takes marketing and sel ing. You need to develop relations.h.i.+ps with folks at the conferences, put together good speaker and press kits (including wel -done video clips of you speaking), and the like. You'l be able to get engagements at some places without these; but the better the event, the more chal enging it is to jump the hurdle to get in.

Common mistakes * Poor delivery. Everyone thinks they did a good job at their speech. That's what their friends tel them, after al . Ask people there and they'l say, "You did great." If you want to real y know how wel you're doing, you need to find someone who knows what top speakers do and then wil evaluate you with brutal honesty against that standard.

* Poor event selection. Your audience has to be fil ed with buyers, influencers, and referral sources.

* Not matching your brand to your event and your speaker slot. Most top speakers wil speak at schools and charities for less than their corporate fees, or even for free. That's okay. But if you're speaking at smal , local events, you'l probably be viewed as smal local talent. The keynote speakers at the general sessions at conferences establish stronger, longer-lasting impressions from a speech and a brand perspective than speakers not in keynote spots.

* Wanting speeches immediately, and then realizing that speakers for major events often get booked a year in advance.

* Wanting speeches, but not doing what it takes to go after them.

* Expecting speeches when you have no book, no platform, no fol owing, and no history of speaking.

Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Advertising There's no question that most roads in marketing wil lead clients and prospects to your web site. Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine advertising (SEA) can be your version of a superhighway leading right to it.

Search engine optimization is the process of getting more and better visitors to your web site through the natural (unpaid) search results in search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. Getting indexed on these sites doesn't mean much unless your site shows up very high in the results for specific keywords that prospects for your services might key in to a web search. You don't have to pay to get included in the natural search results (so it's not a tol road to your web site), but it takes a lot of work to obtain a high listing for good search terms.

Search engine advertising is the process of purchasing certain keywords and keyword sequences so you can show up in the paid search results on search engines. The ability to show up only in the results of searches using specific keywords makes for highly targeted marketing for professional services firms.

While (like most tactics) they're not for every firm, SEO and SEA are gaining importance and influence in many professional services marketing mixes.

Typically good for: * Lead generation.

* Gathering prospect contact information for further marketing.

* Brand recognition and articulation through the SEO and SEA themselves.

* Brand memorization and preference through the conversion activities on your web site.

Words of wisdom * If you're going to engage in SEO or SEA and you don't have an in-house expert, get someone else who knows what he or she is doing to guide you. What you need to do to get results is changing al the time; and little things that you might not see can get you higher in the rankings, produce more results for your keyword spend, and save you months of time.

* While it happens here and there, don't expect people to go from Google search to client in droves. However, they wil go from Google search to white paper download; and from there, you can fol ow up as wel as engage an ongoing conversation through e-mail and other tactics to draw them into the seduction of your services. (Note: If your services are not major purchases, you may find that you wil go from Google search to client often because the risk of engaging you is on the low side.) * Send people to landing pages, special pages on your web site designed to get visitors to take the action you want them to take. Send them to the front of your site, and your chances of getting them to do something diminish significantly.

* Integrate SEO and SEA with the rest of your marketing. Have white papers? Use SEO to generate downloads. Publish a major industry newsletter? Use SEO and SEA to generate subscriptions.

* Keep up with the evolutions. SEO and SEA need constant attention, as change is the order of the day.

Common mistakes * "Let's get someone to fix the metatags on our site!" is something I stil hear here and there. Metatagging was very important . . . in 1998 when AltaVista was a premier search engine. Unless you real y know what you're doing or you've done your research wel , what you think wil get you to the top of the search engine rankings is likely to be off target.

* No conversion activities.

* Weak web site.

* Poor application. For example, if you're an accounting firm in Duluth, you don't want to purchase the term accounting firm or you'l overspend, getting clicks from al over the country when you can serve only a 75-mile radius around your office. Accounting firm Duluth might get fewer clicks, but it wil work better for those that you get.

* Not giving SEO and SEA constant effort.

* Beginning to spend on SEA or hiring an SEO firm to help you and then just letting money flow out the window. You've got to evaluate whether you're gaining traction and getting what you want out of it. Don't just spend because it seems like a nifty new tactic.

17.

Introduction to Lead Generation

If I can get in front of a decision maker at a company that fits my target profile, I've got a great shot at winning it as a client. If I get 10 at bats, I'll get my fair share of hits! The trouble is, it's hard to get the at bats.

-Almost any experienced professional services provider Clients Are Waiting to Buy-It's Your Move In our How Clients Buy research, we found that 52 to 72 percent of business-to-business professional services buyers are wil ing to switch to new service providers across professional services specialties.55 These buyers are indifferent, at best, in their affinity to their current providers. While you may be the exception to the rule, this probably includes you. Consider the specifics of your field in Figure 17.1.

Fortunately for the weak service providers, clients typicaly find it a risky and painful experience to switch. They don't know if the provider down the street-or across the country-wil treat and serve them better. They may not know who the other players in the field are. So, while buyers perceive that they're not getting everything they can from their current provider, at least with someone familiar they can predict what they wil and won't get. "Perhaps that's enough," they might think. Thus most buyers don't switch.

Figure 17.1 Likelihood of Buyers to Switch Providers * N = > 30 The fact remains: Buyers are ready to switch. Their openness to consider switching to a new provider represents a huge opportunity for the leaders of professional services businesses. It's an opportunity for those who are wil ing to do what it takes to convince buyers to work with a new firm: them!

Switching, however, is only part of the story. Many buyers aren't using any services from your field of expertise at al, or they are tackling problems internal y rather than seeking outside help. You may know the amazing positive effects, the mil ions of dol ars you can save, the growth your services can create for the clients in your market; but those buyers don't yet see the value of working with a firm like yours (or, specifical y, your firm). To gain them as clients, you have to help them to see that value.

The first step in converting these potential buyers into clients is to get them interested in what you have to say. In other words, first you have to generate them as leads.