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

13

Building Brand and Marketing Messages

The poet is the sayer, the namer, and represents beauty.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once you have a sense of the differentiators that you can claim and the value you want to convey, you begin the task of announcing who you are to the market in a manner that is compelling, distinct, and to the point. Unfortunately, too often, the following is the result:

If you're looking for a different kind of accounting firm, look no further than Smith and Jones. With our focus on specific client industries, our energetic and hardworking professionals, and our deep financial experience, we help our clients achieve what they truly need: results. While results are the goal, it's our commitment to building relationships and delivering value-added service that helps our clients succeed and sleep better at night. At Smith and Jones, your success is our number one priority. When it comes to your unique accounting needs, we have you covered.

You might be thinking as you read this value proposition positioning statement:

The book's authors visited my website and used our marketing copy for inspiration! Those sneaky little devils.

In truth, we did and we didn't. Over and above visiting service firm websites every day for this book's research, we routinely visit thousands of websites across professional services fields, including law, accounting, consulting, architecture and engineering, technology services, and others. For the most part (but not always), firms sound ...