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The Seven Levers of Lead Generation and Marketing Planning
Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.
—Alexander Graham Bell
Over the past several years, we've seen a shift in thinking about how marketing dollars are spent at professional services firms. No longer is the quarterly ad spend or the “we have done it every year” trade show getting automatic sign-off. The question asked more and more, and one you should ask about all of your spending on marketing and lead generation, is, “If I spend x on this marketing tactic, what should I expect in return?”
Ten Tactical Mistakes Made by Professional Services Firms That Good Planning Can Solve
1. Spending on marketing activities that don't produce return on investment (ROI) or that are vanity exercises (for example, over-the-top graphic design and image advertising)
2. Holding unrealistic expectations for which marketing tactics can produce which results
3. Not implementing marketing because of inefficient decision making (committees)
4. Not sustaining implementation over the long term—giving up too soon
5. Relying on one tactic to do the job
6. Poor implementation (for example, poorly written marketing copy, poorly designed websites, or poorly targeted campaigns)
7. Dropping leads and failing to nurture leads
8. Not communicating value in your marketing
9. Not integrating the various marketing tactics
10. Planning poorly for lead generation—all the steps in the ...
