Marketing Strategy
Get the Best Return for Your Marketing Investment (and Make Sure Your Plan Doesn't Flop!)
In the past few years of my career developing marketing programs and strategies for professional services firms (and working closely with them in executing their plans) I've noticed very common threads among all types of firms. These are so important because no matter how great a plan, the approach and commitment, the internal processes can greatly impact the marketing plan execution and return on investment.
Keep in mind these key best practices to allow the plan to "do its job" for your firm:
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8 Effective Ways to Improve Your Firm's Niche Marketing Strategy
In the increasingly competitive world of professional services, targeting a specific industry sector or niche audience is among the most effective ways for a firm to differentiate itself from the competition and build its bottom line. By focusing on a small, healthy market segment, your firm can become a market leader within that niche. You’ll be sought after for your skill and expertise in dealing with a specific set of problems and become the “go-to guy” for firms within the targeted industry.
While this type of strategy has become popular as of late, many firms lack the knowledge or commitment to truly connect with their targeted audience. It’s simply not enough to slap “Industry X” on the specialties section of you website or to sit in a booth at the “Industry X Annual Conference” once per year. For one thing, it's probable that dozens of competing firms are occupying dozens of booths at dozens of similar conferences each year, and many of them just may list “Industy X” on their website somewhere, too! To effectively establish your firm as the leader in your targeted industry/niche, you need to consistently engage your audience with content that your ideal prospect is interested in and to showcase the right expertise in their industry. You need to prove you understand their business as well as the challenges and opportunities they face.
To help you get started, I’ve compiled a list of 8 effective ways to engage any niche industry in a meaningful way.
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The Art of the Follow Up: Why Professional Services Marketing Can Sometimes Feel Like "Professional Nudging"
In the past week alone, I have had at least two clients point out my follow up tactics and patterns. I guess it’s safe to say that after a year of working with me, my clients are on to me with my approach to following up on pending and overdue items. It’s true. My list of tried-and-true tactics for following up with clients and colleagues on projects has been perfected over my time in professional services marketing.
Let’s face it; any professional services marketer worth their salt knows that you are bound to hit roadblocks with projects when you are waiting on another party to deliver a response or piece of the project to keep things moving. I have talked to countless other B2B marketers who have lamented the same issue. And when tight timelines and budgets are involved (especially in looking out for a client's best interest) in this equation, it makes getting a response even more crucial. So while subtlety may not be my middle name when it comes to follow up, I do pride myself on getting things done and doing so in a positive manner.
Whether you’re an in-house marketer working for a B2B firm or an outsourced marketing consultant like me, here are my tips for gracefully following up with hard-to-reach clients:
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4 Ways Inbound and Outbound Marketing Can Work Together
It’s not exactly breaking news that inbound marketing is the reigning king of conversation (and recommendations) in the marketing world as of late. So, does that mean that good ole’ outbound marketing is dead? Not the way I see it! While inbound marketing has tremendous benefits and a lower cost per lead compared to outbound marketing, I believe the two approaches can work together. Like peanut butter and jelly, inbound marketing and outbound marketing enhance each other, resulting in a more successful marketing strategy than either could produce alone!
People often think of these two marketing approaches as silos, operating as separate entities, but you would be surprised at how perfectly they work together. Below, I've outlined four of the best ways to enrich your marketing tactics by uniting inbound and outbound marketing.
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Can You Handle the Truth? Realize Greater Future Marketing Success with a Comprehensive Marketing Assessment
A Few Good Men…..
Kaffee: Colonel Jessup, did you order the Code Red?!
Judge:You don't have to answer that question!
Jessup:I'll answer the question. You want answers?
Kaffee:I think I'm entitled.
Jessup:You want answers?!
Kaffee:I want the truth!
Jessup:You can't handle the truth!
A Few Great Marketers…..
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Moving out of Your Comfort Zone: Embracing Marketing Plans and Tactics to Take Your B2B Organization to the Next Level
What feels great to some firms may be “over the top” for others
Take a trip back to the late 1980s (yes, even if you were just a baby) to the classic scene from the movie When Harry Met Sally. Sally Albright and Harry Burns were on the path to prove that men and women can “just be friends.” Well, that is until Sally decided to rev their friendship up to the next level. She was ready to venture into the unknown, take some risks and score a return. Harry, who wasn’t ready to “Partake in the Pecan Pie,” was comfortable to stick to the status quo and savor the benefits of a straight-forward and comfy relationship.
Sorry Harry - In the B2B marketing world of today, company management need to have their eyes wide open, embrace change and push their comfort zones to the limit. As B2B marketers, is it our job to ensure annual marketing plans always make our colleagues feel at least slightly uneasy! And this year, the Marketri team has plenty of innovative ideas on tap to do just that. Here are a few of the tactics that we are including in many of our recent B2B marketing plans:
Marketing Myself: How the Right Marketing Plan Got Me Hired
The Problem
"Oh, jeez, good luck with that!"
That was the common response when I said I studied marketing.
“So you plan on flipping burgers, huh…” was another popular sentiment.
You see, on every college campus there are certain classes you KNOW won’t get you a job. They include: basket weaving, art history, animal husbandry, and Marketing 101. It’s commonly believed among the student population that marketing jobs disappeared alongside boy bands and palm pilots.
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A Pinch of Content, a Sprinkle of SEO and a Dash of Social Media
The Perfect Inbound Marketing Recipe?
145,000 – that is the number of results that I got when Googling, “chicken parm recipes.” My guess is that excluding duplicates, there are recipe variations well into the six figures. I’ll bet there are some fantastic ones that only the gourmet types – and that wouldn’t include me – can make as well as some that can be whipped up by a novice in a flash. The bottom line is that the recipe chosen will depend on the need, preference and skill set of the cook. The same dinner bell rings true for Inbound Marketing programs – there is no one perfect recipe that every firm should use.
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“You Want a Piece of Me?” – Evaluating the Value of the Fractional CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)
Have you ever wandered by the cookie stand in the mall looking for samples? Just one little bite that is virtually calorie-free is all you need! After all, the first taste is the most powerful, tickling all of your taste buds and leaving you, for the most part, pretty satisfied. Recently, the concept of Fractional CMO has come to my attention. This blog post explores its value proposition and whether getting a piece of a senior marketing professional has the same effect as that “oh so wonderful” bite size morsel.
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Delivering the B2B Positioning TKO (Technical Knock Out)!
I love a good healthy marketing debate over a Cobb salad lunch! Last week, I went a few “rounds” during a discussion about the optimal positioning of a mid-sized professional services firm. On one side of the ring was me – the experienced and competitive B2B marketer. On the other side was a people-oriented Partner with over 30 years under his belt. On the ropes - a business development professional who was new to the firm and to the professional services industry. In the middle of the ring was the referee disguised as the firm’s Managing Partner. We hadn’t even ordered our salads as the first round began!
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