Get Back to the Basics: Services Marketing 101 (photo by drp)
Back to School;
Back to Marketing Basics
It’s that time of year: back to school time. You can’t visit a mall or department store without seeing kids fighting over backpacks and picking out their first day of school wear.
This is also the time of year when vacations wind down and professionals return to their offices recharged and ready to kick off new initiatives to carry them through the end of the year, as well as set the table for a strong 2011. (Can you believe we’re already thinking about 2011?)
As students get back into their school routines, we’re getting back to the marketing basics for professional services firms. Here are seven foundational elements that should be a part of every services firm’s marketing plan:
1. Writing: Writing articles is a great way to increase your reach and your authority. Look to publish your articles in industry and association publications, business journals, on your blog or newsletter, and on industry websites. It takes time for this tactic to take hold. You can’t write one article, publish it on a website, and expect the leads to start flowing in. You need to write and publish on a regular basis. Do this and you can start to build a real guru status for yourself in your particular niche.
2. Speaking: Public speaking goes hand-in-hand with tip #1. Speaking engagements are an incredibly powerful way to share your expertise, boost your credibility, and meet new prospects. I know of professional services firms that have been successful in building their entire firms simply by getting their professionals out and speaking on a regular basis.
3. Networking: When it comes to marketing and selling professional services, it’s all about relationships. The first place to look for new business is from the relationships you already have with family, friends, colleagues, past clients, etc.
You should work constantly to build up your network and to strengthen your relationships. Find two or three industry groups or associations that your clients and prospects are members of. Attend events held by these groups. Better yet, speak at these events (see #2), write in these industry publications (see #1), and then network with the members.
4. Referrals: This is an oldie but a goodie, and it’s something that often gets overlooked. Diligently ask for referrals. Your clients want to help you succeed, so help them help you.
5. Warm and cold calling: Warm and cold calling are tremendously effective tactics to generate leads with prospects. While many professionals shy away from making calls—and it’s certainly not for everyone—if you have a good list and strong message, it can get you in the door of prospects who may not have even known you existed. For tips on how to get started, check out these three Cold Calling Scripts.
6. Direct mail and email: Warm up your cold calls by sending a direct mail letter in advance. I’ve found that a letter, call, email, call sequence works very well to warm up cold prospects. Use value based offers such as a recent article you wrote (see tip #1), information on an upcoming speaking engagement (see tip #2), or an upcoming networking event (see tip #3) that they might like to attend.
7. Lead nurturing: You can implement all of the above tactics and generate a steady flow of new leads, but if you don’t have a lead nurturing plan, all’s for naught. Don’t let the prospects that you’ve worked so hard to get fall through the cracks. Stay in touch and walk them through the sales process.
While there are many tactics (too many to list in one blog post) that can, and do, generate leads for professional services firms, these seven will help you build a strong foundation for additional marketing activities. The key is to not rely on one tactic alone. You can see how each of these tactics work together to help you build credibility, boost your authority, and generate new relationships that ultimately lead to new business.
So this fall, get back to the marketing basics, and you’ll start to see the new leads and new business begin to flow in.
What Works For You?
Have you already built a strong marketing foundation? What tactics helped you establish it? What kind of results have you seen? What efforts flopped?
