Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines, and Cultures of Business Development Success, 2nd Edition

Book description

A proven approach to revenue-generating marketing and client development

Professional Services Marketing is a fully field-tested and research-based approach to marketing and client development for professional services firms. The book, now in its Second Edition, covers five key areas that are critical for firms that want to grow and become more profitable: creating a marketing and growth strategy; establishing a brand and reputation; implementing a marketing communications program; executing lead generation strategies; and developing business by winning new clients. You will also read real-world case studies that illustrate major points, as well as quotes and stories from well-respected professionals in the industry.

  • The Second Edition features new research and updates throughout, including new chapters on social media and online marketing, as well as new case studies and interviews

  • Authors Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr are the coauthors of the Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine bestseller Rainmaking Conversations and Professional Services Marketing; Lee W. Frederiksen is coauthor of Online Marketing for Professional Services

  • Will be widely promoted via multiple online routes and direct mail marketing

Firms of any size can use this proven approach to marketing and client development to attract new clients and grow their professional service businesses.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Introduction
    1. The Rise of Online Marketing
    2. Traditional Marketing—Alive and Kicking
    3. The Professional Service Firm Brand
    4. Closing the Almighty Sale
  7. Part I: Strategy and Planning
    1. Chapter 1: What Marketing Can Do for a Firm
      1. Inside the High-Growth Professional Services Firm
      2. The Revolution in the Professional Services Marketplace
      3. Generate New Conversations with Potential Buyers
      4. Improve the Odds of Winning New Client Engagements
      5. Higher Revenue and Higher Fees
      6. Increased Affinity with Workforce
      7. Offer the Right Services to the Right Markets
    2. Chapter 2: Marketing Planning
      1. A Marketing Planning Process for Services Firms
      2. Two Helpful Tools
    3. Chapter 3: Keys to Building a Terrible Marketing Strategy
      1. Build the Strategy from the Top Down
      2. Don't Consult with Expert Tacticians
      3. Look Only at Your Own Industry and Competition
      4. Don't Create an Environment of Fervent Execution
      5. Don't Plan for Behavioral or Organizational Change
      6. Form a Marketing Committee, Then Take Them to Abilene
    4. Chapter 4: The Seven Levers of Lead Generation and Marketing Planning
      1. Make Outcomes Assumptions
      2. Playing with the Assumptions
      3. Only Seven Levers Matter
    5. Chapter 5: How to Think about Fees and Pricing
      1. The Basic Landscape of Pricing Structure
      2. Getting the Fees You Deserve
      3. Top Challenges Focus on Value
    6. Chapter 6: Don't Worry about Your Competition (Let Them Worry about You)
      1. Mistake 1: Over-the-Top Competitive Research
      2. Mistake 2: Market and Service Offering Reluctance
      3. Mistake 3: Clichéd Competitive Differentiation
      4. Mistake 4: Unique Methodology
      5. Forget General Marketing Advice
      6. Don't Worry about Crowded Markets
      7. Change the Question from Competition to Clients
      8. Drop the Clichés
      9. Overcome Your Greatest Competitor—Client Indifference
      10. When Competition Is the Order of the Day
  8. Part II: Focus on Branding
    1. Chapter 7: Brand—What It Is; Why Bother
      1. Your Brand Defined
      2. How to Think about Service Brands
    2. Chapter 8: Three Elements of Well-Crafted Brand Messaging
      1. What Buyers Want to Know
      2. Foundation of Developing Your Value Proposition Messaging
    3. Chapter 9: Uncovering Your Key Brand Attributes
      1. Nine Questions: Finding the Strength of Your Value Proposition
      2. Brand Attributes: The Building Blocks of Brand Messaging
    4. Chapter 10: Your Firm, Your Brand
      1. Who Are We? What Do We Deliver?
      2. Competencies and Assets: The Building Blocks of Capabilities
    5. Chapter 11: RAMP Up Your Brand
      1. Recognize
      2. Articulate
      3. Memorize
      4. Prefer
    6. Chapter 12: Differentiating Your Firm
      1. Is Differentiation Important?
      2. On Being Unique
      3. Some Common Differentiators
      4. Differentiation Based on Your People
      5. Differentiators Based on Your Process
      6. Differentiators Based on Client Characteristics
      7. Differentiation Based on Expertise or Special Knowledge
      8. Some Other Differentiators
      9. The Case for a Collection of Distinctions
    7. Chapter 13: Building Brand and Marketing Messages
      1. How to Think about Brand Messaging
    8. Chapter 14: On Becoming a Thought Leader
      1. Two Keys to Thought Leadership
      2. Implementing a Thought Leadership Strategy
      3. Thought Leader Mind-Set and Motivation
      4. What Thought Leaders Can Expect
  9. Part III: Generating and Nurturing Leads
    1. Chapter 15: Content Marketing
      1. The Content Marketing Model
      2. Giving Away the Secret Sauce
      3. The Case for Content Marketing
      4. The Case against Content Marketing
    2. Chapter 16: Marketing Communications and Lead Generation Tactics
      1. Traditional Marketing Techniques
      2. Online Marketing Techniques
      3. Content for Online Marketing
    3. Chapter 17: Introduction to Lead Generation
      1. Clients Are Waiting to Buy—It's Your Move
      2. What to Expect from Lead Generation Done Well
      3. Keys to Professional Services Lead Generation
    4. Chapter 18: Value and Offers in Lead Generation
      1. Steps to Demonstrating Value
      2. Marketing and Selling the Invisible
      3. Why Use Offers and Experiences
    5. Chapter 19: The Case for Sustained Lead Generation and Relationship Nurturing
      1. Why Sustained Lead Generation Is So Hard to Do, and Why It Matters
      2. Sustained Lead Generation Keeps You Top of Mind
      3. Nurture the Leads You Already Have
      4. Marketing to Current Clients
      5. Why Market to Current Clients
      6. What Marketing Can't Do
      7. What Marketing Can Do
    6. Chapter 20: Targeting
      1. Target Your Best Prospects
      2. Know Your Market
      3. I Want Names
  10. Part IV: Making the Sale
    1. Chapter 21: RAIN Selling
      1. Selling with Integrity
      2. RAIN Selling BasicsSM
      3. Applying RAIN
    2. Chapter 22: Creating Essential Relationships
      1. Creating Essential Relationships
      2. Getting Access to Hard-to-Reach Senior Executives
      3. When Executives Are Particularly Skeptical
      4. Skeptical Steve—Code name “Guardian”
    3. Chapter 23: Building a Culture of Business Development Success
      1. Challenge 1: Lack of Performance Readiness
      2. Challenge 2: Disconnect with Reality
      3. Challenge 3: Lack of Will
    4. Chapter 24: Selling with Hustle, Passion, and Intensity
  11. About RAIN Group
  12. About RainToday.com
  13. About Hinge
  14. About the Authors
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines, and Cultures of Business Development Success, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Mike Schultz, John E. Doerr, Lee Frederiksen
  • Release date: June 2013
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118604342