Expertise Marketplace - Professional Service Firm Marketing Blog

Making it real

I think I'm on an "authenticity" jag. Yesterday, I blogged about the possibilities of using live webcams in the professional services environment, deliberately, as part of an experience-oriented marketing program.  Today, I read Tom Peters' post on the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog in which he publicly admires Robin Wolaner's book, Naked in the Boardroom ("the best book on strategy and tactics for women aiming to make it big in business" ). Unbelievably, I have never heard of this book; I usually gobble up books about women in business and women entrepreneurs. 

Several of Wolaner's nuggets, as cited by Peters, are fantastic endorsements of my reality-as-marketing-strategy kick:    

• "NAKED TRUTH # 2: Business is personal."
• "NAKED TRUTH # 9: Showing honest emotion usually helps you in the workplace." 

I know professional service firms work hard to find the sweet-spot of their cultures, and then to build awareness about those cultural sweet spots through their marketing programs.  I know PSFs have accepted the importance of manifesting their trustworthiness -- which of course requires authenticity.  Professional service marketers don't need a lecture about my "be-who-you-are" infatuation. 

Nevertheless, I challenge all of us to find a way to harness our firms' authenticity to create a compelling client experience.  Marketers, ask yourselves:  in our firm's focus to manage its brand identity, have we lost something uniquely "real" in the process?  Are we packaging our firm too slickly, too professionally?   What's personal about our company, and how can we let our clients see it?   

New targeting efforts - are PSFs ready?

Adweek this week cited a Forrester Research report that marketers are wary of emerging forms of online marketing, including this sexy-but-murky thing called social networking. 

For professional service marketers, this is not new news, just confirmation of what they already know.  Hey, it's hard enough right now to manage all the marketing programs across our matrixed businesses!   Tap me on the shoulder next year, when the digital landscape has shaken out a bit!

Buried in the Adweek article, though, is a fascinating tidbit:

While marketers expressed reluctance to try the newest forms of social media, they plan to beef up their spending on new targeting options for finding customers. Nearly three quarters said they either use or plan to try behavioral targeting in the next year.

Mark my words: Targeting and Segmentation are the next big PSF marketing strategies.  The firms that improve their effectiveness in this arena will take huge leaps in their competitive landscape. 

Social Networking or Communities of Practice

A client recently asked what I know about an arena that she calls "communities of practice."  She was interested in hearing about how professional service firms are intentionally facilitating peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges amongst clients, prospects, sector influencers and other thought leaders. 

Talk about a unique way to build client loyalty!  Call it what you want:  Communities of practice . . . social networking . . . guided conversations . . . whatever.  No matter if it's undertaken both in person and through electronic means, and if your firm doesn't "fear having all the answers," it can offer substantial benefits ("reciprocal value" as articulated by a leading firm in the field, Tapestry Networks) to everyone involved.  And, happily for marketers, facilitating a social network inevitably positions the group's sponsor (in this case my client's firm!) favorably in front of each of these audiences. 

If your PSF has begun creating its own set of social networks, and you can offer some insights about this type of initiative, please share your comments here.  Specifically,

• Provide a few details about the network.  What's it about, who belongs, what's its format?
• What were your expectations about building a "community of practice" or a "social network?"
• What are your lessons learned, especially those relevant for a professional services firm?