Professional Service Marketing
Professional services are
occupations in the service sector requiring special training in the
arts or sciences.
Some professional services require holding professional degrees
and licenses and they also require specific skills such as architects,
accountants, engineers, doctors, lawyers and teachers.
The marketing and selection of professional - service providers may
depend on factors such as skill, knowledge, experience, reputation, capacity,
ethics, and creativity. Large corporations may have a formal procurement process for engaging professional services.
Prices for services, even within the same field, may vary
greatly. Professional-service providers may offer fixed rates for specific
work, charge in relation to the number or seniority of people engaged, or
charge in relation to the success or profit generated by the project.
Professional services firms
exist in many different industries. They include lawyers, advertising professionals,
architects, accountants, financial advisers, engineers, and consultants, among
others.
Basically, they can be any organization or profession that
offers customized, knowledge-based services to clients.
There
is no definitive list of occupations in professional services, but examples
include the following:
·
Engineer
·
Lawyer
·
Physician / Doctors
·
Veterinary physician / Doctor
Effective Marketing for Professional Services
Today, lawyers, accountants, management consultants, architects,
engineers, dentists, doctors, and other professionals must do extensive
marketing to maintain and build their practices.
Professionals of all types now
aggressively use marketing tools. For example, many newspapers, magazines, and
Yellow Pages directories are filled with advertisements for lawyers, dentists,
and accountants.
At the same time, dental, and
tax-preparation clinics have become accepted as part of the suburban shopping centre
scene. Furthermore, newsletters, press releases, and other public relations
tools are widely used by accounting, law, architectural, engineering, and
management consulting firms. And, in a less visible way, professional service
firms of all types and sizes are employing marketing research and strategic
planning with increasing frequency.
Professional
Services Marketing Today
1)
Specialization and niche targeting
The fastest-growing firms tend to be specialists in a
carefully targeted niche – an area of the industry that they
understand thoroughly.
2) Visible
Experts
Visible
Experts are exactly what they sound like: high-visibility experts in your
industry. They are leading figures who advance big ideas and draw clients
through the sheer power of their names.
These highly
visible experts generate more leads, command billing rates that are up to
thirteen times higher, and close sales more easily.
There are two
sides to publishing blogs and articles: maintaining your own firm’s blog, and
also contributing blogs or articles to outside industry publications.
4) A lead-generating website
A lead-generating website is carefully crafted to serve as
the hub of your online marketing efforts. Attractive, easy-to-find content is
served alongside relevant offers designed to convert visitors into leads, all
integrated into a comprehensive lead-generating and nurturing ecosystem.
5) Search engine optimization (SEO)
Going hand-in-hand with a lead generating website is a
thoughtful strategy for search engine optimization. SEO is really an umbrella
term for a variety of techniques designed to make sure that your valuable
content gets in front of the right audiences online.
6) Speaking
engagements
Speaking
engagements are one of the most powerful lead generating techniques of
high-visibility experts – and a great way to build one’s reputation. Speaking
engagements confer credibility and often put you in front of a highly-targeted
audience, presenting an excellent opportunity for generating leads.
7) Trade show
participation
Trade shows
are a great way to get a high concentration of potential clients all in one
place at same time.
One of the
major advantages of trade shows is that they allow organizations to come
together around a common theme. This means that your audience can be truly
targeted.
8) LinkedIn
When it comes
to networking, trade shows are an efficient offline technique. But you can
achieve many of the same aims in the online space with LinkedIn. As the premier
social network for professional services, it is a rich source for influential
and engaged professional contacts.
Other social
media like Twitter are also helpful, but LinkedIn is really the top of the
social media food chain for the B2B world. It’s not only a way to connect
one-on-one, but a hub of focused professional services communities.
9) Online
video
Online video
allows for many of the benefits of face-to-face interaction. You can “meet” the
people you’re working with, get a glimpse of their world and give them a
more personal impression.
With live
streaming video you can also pick up on visual cues like body language. Video
also allows you to share detailed, highly visual tutorials or demonstrations
easily.
10) Develop a
signature piece of content
When you
produce an authoritative work on a topic in your industry, it is a major source
of credibility for your firm. You are demonstrating what is the most important
criteria potential clients look for in a new firm…expertise Think of it as a
short cut to the short list.
The most
widely recognized and effective form of signature content is a book about your
specialty.
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