How Much Should a Professional Services Firm Spend on Marketing?
This is one of the most popular questions asked among practice leaders and marketers in professional services. An agency colleague told me recently that the correct answer from most marketers is always “more.” Yet, most partners and busines…
How Professional Services Firms Can Evaluate Marketing Budgets
As firms divvy up budgets for next year, I thought it a good time to share a framework that firms and practices to evaluate and prioritize marketing programs before money starts flying around.
Don’t Make This Big Mistake With Your Brand Values: Branding Mistake No. 11
Many firms don’t formally define values until an agency tells them during a branding initiative that it is important to articulate “brand values.” Of course, all agencies have some methodology to facilitate brand values discussions and build consensus (See...How to Avoid Mismanaging Personal Brands: Branding Mistake No. 21
You can tell a lot about a firm when the topic of “personal brands” comes up. Among intelligent, driven people, discussions about personal brands can get a little heated. There are firms that quash personal brands and firms that buy them as a growth...The 3-in-1 Drivers of Brand Preference
Attributes that drive brand preference are akin to biblical laws. The Old Testament laws numbered 613. When Jesus was asked which of the laws was most important, he consolidated them all down to one; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul...Marketing Strategy or Marketing Calendar: How to Tell the Difference
As firms finalize accounting of last year’s performance, sort through bonuses and deliver employee reviews, partners are turning their sights to this year’s revenue bogey. Many are wondering where the revenue is going to come from and turning to their marketing...When Your Market Shifts and Kills Your Strategy
How do you know when your market is shifting? It is a fundamental question that should be asked in most firms much more often than it is. Signs that your market is shifting include slowing sales, a remix of your service revenue, declining profitability, changing buyer...What is Marketing’s Role?: 2 Schools of Thought on Professional Services Marketing
What is Marketing’s Role in Your Firm? Every year about this time cyclists ramp up an enduring argument. If you are a cyclist, you know where I am going; it’s the great base-building debate. There are two schools of thought. The first is traditional, laid...Are Your Firm’s Values Any Different Than the Local Dry Cleaner’s?
When I shop at Target, eat at McDonald’s, buy a new bike at a local bike shop or even get my shoes shined, I expect the people I interact with to have integrity, provide great service, give me a quality product and be accountable for delivering what the company...Is marketing technology helping or hurting your firm’s growth?
Technology is dramatically shifting marketing, and most professional service firms are being left behind just as the broader market—both B2B and B2C—are applying decades-old professional services marketing tactics to their own. If your understanding of marketing...Shocking the Soul Out of Your Firm’s Culture
Professional services firm leaders often have ambitions to create “innovative” or “client-centric” cultures. Unfortunately, many act in ways that shock the soul out of their firms and prevent them from ever realizing their visions. In 1967, Martin Seligman, a...About the Author
Listen to Latest Podcast Episodes
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- Breaking Through Growth Ceilings with Dev Patnaik, CEO of Jump Associates
- Brand Breakdown – Clarkston Consulting
- Selecting Your Ideal Client In 5 Steps
Is your firm achieving its full growth potential?
