In my on-going blogs on Entrepreneurial Alchemy I am focussing on Professional Services Businesses, which,
in general have a poor marketing strategy and mainly rely on word-of-mouth referrals or walk in the door business to grow their businesses. Very often the principals of a professional services firm say that they have too little time to spend on marketing and advertising and feel that it is “beneath them” to be involved in this as they have are too busy looking after other things or clients to get too involved in this very important aspect of the business.
But “Tibor” I hear you say ” how can I be more effective in my marketing if I have so much work to get through?”
Well it is all about setting up a system or systems of finding the right customers you wish to serve and then setting out to get them. This is done by way of your marketing plan and – system so that you have some involvement but not overwhelmingly so.
It is generally assumed by the public that professional services firms deliver a quality job so how do you make it easier for them to decide to choose you?
Here are some common errors that professional services businesses make:
1. Unrealistic expectations for the marketing tactic used and results obtained.
2. Spending money on campaigns that are “vanity exercises” or don’t produce ROI.
3. Relying on one tactic only, e.g. local paper advertising.
4. Lack of decision making to implement marketing tactics.
5. Poor implementation, e.g. weak copy
6. Not sustaining a marketing effort over the longer period.
7. Not communicating value in their marketing pieces.
8. Not nurturing leads or dropping them.
9. Poor planning for lead generation.
10. No or poor marketing integration tactics.
These errors can often be overcome with a proper plan and implementation process. This process, if implemented well, will ensure that you will always have clients and more importantly, the clients that you want.
