Getting your marketing message clear

We get to meet really interesting professional services firms. What we find particularly fascinating about these businesses is how each one is different. Even when we meet firms that offer broadly similar services they are still fundamentally different. The senior people we meet are accomplished professionals who are clearly experts in their chosen field of specialism. Yet one of the most common issues which quickly becomes apparent is how difficult these firms find it to articulate succinctly their key marketing message. We typically get two different styles of weak messaging in these meetings that fall neatly into what we call the 'brand agency' response or the 'consulting speak' response.

The 'brand agency' response is a carefully crafted form of words that had their agency partner's creative juices flowing. Sadly, despite the best intentions, it is aspirational brand mumbo jumbo that tells nothing of any interest to a potential buyer. It is vanilla. In our business we applaud creativity. However creativity detached from reality is fundamentally flawed.

The 'consulting speak' response on the other hand is best described as a soliloquy where the message clearly means a lot to the orator, includes very interesting terminology, but is largely indecipherable. It may sound impressive but leaves the listener wondering what it is all about.

Our clients are familiar with our passion for getting their brand positioning statement right. For us it is very easy to tell when it is right because it meets three important criteria:

1. It provides clarity of what you do
2. It positions you in the market
3. It highlights the benefits you bring to your clients.

Simple. The more specific each of those aspects are, the better the brand positioning statement. Some marketers advocate that this is an internal statement that is not shared externally. We disagree. This is exactly what your prospective clients want to hear. You can tell if you have got it right from the reaction you get from prospects.

Admittedly, this is your top level marketing message. From this you can build the rest of your value propositions around each individual service offer. The critical success factor is that they are all written for your clients and prospective clients perspective and not from some brand ego.

On a related subject, we previously wrote about how firms struggle to find something distinctive to say. In case you missed that, you can read our White Paper on Differentiation in Professional Services here.

The real cost of not living your brand in professional services

It was fascinating to see the resignation letter of Goldman Sachs’ Executive Director, Greg Smith, published in the New York Times this week. The letter wiped $2bn off the market value of the firm in one day.

Greg joined Goldman Sachs as a graduate twelve years ago and ultimately became head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. What makes the letter special is that this does not appear to be the rant of a disgruntled employee. Instead, it reads like a considered analysis of a fundamentally changed environment by a key management team member who was actively involved in the recruitment and mentoring of graduates.

In his letter, Greg laments the “decline in the firm’s moral fibre” where he claims the rising stars are rewarded for “ripping their clients off” with no regard for the “client’s success or progress”. His assertions have already been backed up on social media channels from existing clients who feel their investments are locked in to underperforming funds with a perceived lack of transparency in dealings.

This will undoubtedly add fuel to the fire for those calling for increased accountability and social responsibility amongst executives in the financial services sector. It also begs the question, has nothing been learned from the financial crisis we are experiencing globally? When it comes to running a successful professional services business any focus on short term financial gain may deliver results in your year end accounts, but the impact could be detrimental to your brand reputation longer term.

As Peter Doyle articulated in his book Value Based Marketing,

Managers confuse maximising shareholder value with maximising profits. The two are completely different. Maximising profits is about short term management; cutting costs, reducing investment and downsizing. It is totally antithetical to developing long-term marketing strategies and building world class businesses.

In professional services, it is easy to talk about ‘client focus’ and ‘adding value’, but the ultimate test is to be able to demonstrate how those organisational values pervade every aspect and every level within your business.

For me, Greg Smith succinctly hit the nail on the head with his observation “If clients don’t trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn’t matter how smart you are.”

Social Media Stage 1: Leveraging LinkedIn

Our previous blog post highlighted a Social Media Roadmap for Professional Services firms. Now we are going to build on that by sharing the practical steps you can take to build your firms visibility through social media. The first stage is all about leveraging LinkedIn. Most professionals have a profile on LinkedIn however it is surprising to see how many have failed to use this powerful tool to increase awareness of their firm or harness its potential to generate business leads.

LinkedIn has over 100m+ professionals around the world with 20m+ members in Europe, 5m+ in the UK and more than 2m companies have LinkedIn Company Pages (June 2011). It is a rich source of information on prospects, hot topics and recommended service providers. The following practical guidelines outline current LinkedIn best practice:

1. Ensure your staff have built professional looking, complete personal profiles on LinkedIn and have connected to known contacts/relationships and embedded links to company websites, Blogs, Twitter etc.
2. Build a full company profile for your business on LinkedIn that addresses the needs of staff, potential staff and potential clients. LinkedIn automatically links all current/former employees, new hires/promotions etc.
3. Seek recommendations as individuals and service providers and make recommendations where appropriate.
4. Consider adding a link to your LinkedIn profile in your email signatures. LinkedIn provides a useful tool to generate a html signature for your email with a link to your profile.
5. Share valuable content with your network by posting status updates from your LinkedIn home page. This is where some professionals get it wrong. Remember value is from a recipients perspective and not from your perspective.
6. Identify, join and engage in groups that are relevant to your knowledge area and target prospects (roles and markets). Integrate this with your lead generation campaigns to post links to suitable (valuable) content in your blog or on your website.
7. Participate in relevant group discussions and start discussions within groups. Treat any postings the same as you would treat any professional face-to-face discussion. Be professional and courteous. Demonstrate and illustrate your knowledge and capability. If you select to be updated on the discussion you participate in LinkedIn will automatically email you when someone posts a comment. This is great for building online conversations and ultimately business relationships.
8. Research target prospects through LinkedIn, look for 2nd & 3rd level connections and identify how you can get warm introductions through your professional network.
9. Use the Inmail function to access key prospects with a concise and compelling opener to engage them. (Requires a subscription to LinkedIn).
10. Monitor the Questions & Answers in your defined topic areas for opportunities to contribute answers and ideally ‘get rated’ by the person who asked the question.

Some professionals tell us that they never know what to post on LinkedIn discussions or status updates. Our advice is to find out what your target audience is interested in, what would be valuable to them and what they are currently discussing. Google Reader and Google Alerts are useful resources for identifying current blog postings and news in topic areas.

Our final tip for professionals is to be proactive on LinkedIn to build your profile and target your prospects. Think of it as continuous virtual networking and make it part of your daily routine.

The social media roadmap - Five key principles

From breaking super-injunctions to successfully launching new products and brands, the power of social media is undeniable. Yet many professional services firms are unsure what elements of social media, if any, are relevant to their businesses. Some firms have already reported successes. Yet most have struggled to achieve any significant impact, despite a considerable investment in resources and time.

At Shaping Business we have concluded that there are five key principles for successful social media marketing in professional services:

Principle 1: Be clear about your objectives
Principle 2: Tailor your strategy
Principle 3: Adopt a phased approach to implementation
Principle 4: Open up and share the value
Principle 5: Remember it's a journey, not a destination.

Read the full article by downloading our Social media roadmap for professional services.