If you are trying to carve out competitive space as a professional services provider, you know: marketing your services online is not quite like any other type of online marketing. Whether you offer accounting, legal, brokerage, or other professional services, you face unique challenges in the digital environment that you need to overcome in order to be successful.
The good news: you're not alone. Other companies and individuals like you face similar challenges, which gives us plenty of pointers on how to be successful online marketers in the professional services industry. Keep reading to learn about four major challenges and how you can overcome them.
Lack of Positioning
Especially small companies in this industry often face a problem that permeates all of their online marketing efforts: they don't know how to position themselves as unique in the digital space. And indeed, running a vibrant social media presence is much more difficult for an accounting firm than it would be for a local restaurant.
Still, positioning is as crucial for professional service providers as it is for all other industries. If you can't differentiate yourself from your competition, you risk losing significant business from clients who simply go with the cheaper option.
Overcome This Marketing Challenge By: creating a Strategic Positioning Document. This document will include your unique value proposition, and should guide all of your online marketing efforts. The goal is to create a consistent online presence, from your website to digital ads, that represent what your business is about. A positioning statement helps you do just that. And a positioning statement is often helpful when your compliance officer asks what you intend for your online marketing to do for you.
2) Generating Referrals
As a marketing study found just last year, referrals take on a higher priority for professional services firms than other industries. Because contracts are often long-term, clients value recommendations from others on which firm to go with.
That, of course, presents its own marketing challenge: how do you strategically encourage referrals?
Overcome This Marketing Challenge By: nurturing your clients. As it turns out, 72% of your existing clients don't give referrals simply because no one asked them to. So seek out your most successful clients, and ask them to share their stories. This can happen by way of direct contact with potential clients, more regulated channels such as a webinar, or case studies on your website.
The Marketing / Sales Disconnect
Engaging with a professional services provider is a major decision made by your potential clients. So, if your initial marketing message differs from what your sales team tells them, that cognitive dissonance may be enough for them to go with a more congruent competitor instead.
A marketing / sales disconnect can happen in any industry, but because of the need for mutual trust in the professional services industry, this challenge is particularly evident here. What do you do?
Overcome This Marketing Challenge By: Developing core message points. Your marketing and sales messages should always line up, particularly if you have different people or even departments engaging in each activity, it's crucial for these entities to follow a more formal structure. That includes a document which clearly outlines your “selling points.” Your sales team should also know exactly the types of marketing messages you are putting out, in order to follow up on (and, just as importantly, avoid contradicting) them.
Avoiding Attrition
For professional service providers, marketing does not stop when the contract is signed. Clients may decide to jump off at any point, deciding to go with a competitor if they don't feel your services are what their company needs to succeed. Avoiding this type of attrition can be a true challenge.
Overcome This Marketing Challenge By: Creating a marketing plan specific to current clients. Ideally, you should adopt a “continuous selling” philosophy in which you view even existing clients as being in need of marketing. This marketing to existing clients can take on several forms:
- Social media efforts (such as LinkedIn groups) designed specifically to create a community of current clients and encourage approved information exchange.
- Webinars and other types of content marketing that establish you as a thought leader in your industry, while simultaneously helping clients gain industry knowledge.
- increased transparency on your website and throughout your digital presence that allows current clients to get in touch with someone at any time.
Has your professional service marketing experienced any of the above challenges? Or do you experience other online marketing challenges you're seeking to overcome? If so, contact us. We'd love to have a chat about optimizing your digital marketing efforts for your industry and business.
