Professional service firms tend to do a poor job of tracking leads. At best, they ask prospects a single question about how they heard about the firm, but that’s where it ends. They don’t go deeper. Many also don’t keep the information in a database or regularly review the data they collect for insights.

Understanding what goes into getting new business can be complicated, but it’s crucial.

What made a prospect trust you enough to call?

In professional services, hiring decisions are built on trust. Prospects are rarely comfortable calling someone they’ve truly never encountered before.

More often, the path looks something like this:

– A prospect got your name from one of your contacts, saw your content (your article, presentation, LinkedIn post, etc.) or met you at an event.

– Later, they visited your website, looked you up on LinkedIn and Googled you. Maybe they signed up for your emails, followed you on LinkedIn or reached out to some of your LinkedIn contacts who they also knew. This could have happened immediately or months later because they weren’t quite ready to talk.

– They may also have compared what they found out about you with other professionals who were also referred to them, or they came across when searching online.

When asked how they found out about you, they answered Google because it was the final step and the one that confirmed your credibility. But a Google search didn’t create the trust. It simply validated it.

Why did your contact introduce or refer you?

Another common scenario involves referrals and networking. Many firms will say, “We get all our business from referrals.” At a high level, that’s often true.

But referral sources are reluctant to refer someone they don’t know, like and trust. When you look more closely, those referrals are usually supported by other efforts, such as:

– Email newsletters that keep your name top of mind

– A professional, up-to-date website that establishes credibility

– Social media posts that demonstrate how you think

– Articles, presentations, or media mentions that reinforce your expertise

Networking may spark the relationship, but it’s rarely the only thing sustaining it.

Referrals still need reinforcement, especially in competitive markets where your contacts know multiple firms that do what you do.

Why should you track the path to hiring?

Prospects and referral sources are cautious. They look for signs that they can trust you before making a decision. As a result, firms must consistently demonstrate their expertise and stay top of mind using multiple channels. Because of this, it can be almost impossible to attribute new business to one specific activity. Yet, many firms do just that. They pick one source.

The problem is that if you assume your business comes mostly from Google or networking, you may:

– Underinvest in content that builds trust

– Let your website or LinkedIn presence stagnate

– Rely too heavily on a single channel, missing other ones that influence hiring decisions

– Lose out to your competitors who invested in marketing

A single tactic isn’t likely to bring success anymore. Professional services marketing works best as an integrated whole, where each channel supports and amplifies the others.

How can you improve lead tracking?

Instead of stopping at “How did you hear about us?”, go deeper. Ask prospects:

– Who first mentioned our firm to you and when?

– Were you referred to us for your current matter, and if so, by whom?

– If you first found us through an online search, what terms were you searching?

– What made you feel comfortable reaching out now?

– Did you review our website or social media, or Google us before contacting us?

– Have you read any of our content, heard us speak or received our emails?

You don’t need every answer every time, and depending on the responses, you may want to ask other follow-up questions. The point is to uncover what influenced the prospect, not just the first or last touchpoint.

You can also check whether you’re already connected to the person on LinkedIn and if they are in your email database. If you have a CRM or other database, you should track all interactions with prospects and referral sources, even if you haven’t gotten business yet.

Pay attention to patterns. Where are people learning about you? What information have they gathered about you and from which sources? The most important question isn’t where a lead technically came from; it’s what created enough trust for them to reach out.

When you understand that, you stop solely crediting Google or networking and start investing in the channels that quietly affect decisions long before the first call.

Need  help with your marketing, contact us for a free consultation.

1. Update your contact list. People change jobs regularly or information is entered incorrectly and we never notice. If your data is wrong, it’s useless because your marketing won’t reach those individuals. Interns can take care of tasks like researching bounced emails and gaps in your data. They can also compare your social media and email contacts to find individuals that are missing from either list.

2. Create and send an email newsletter. A great way to stay top of mind with contacts is to send out an email newsletter every month. An intern may be able to help with creating an email template if you don’t have one, gathering materials that could be included in the newsletter, formatting the newsletter, and/or sending the finished product to your contacts and then reporting the results to you.

3. Post to social media. An intern shouldn’t decide what should be posted on your behalf but may offer suggestions. In addition, they can assist with the mechanics of scheduling posts, finding accompanying images, recording video, designing ads and monitoring and reporting on the results of your social media marketing.

4. Send social media invitations. If you’re not good about sending invitations to new connections, an intern may help. Further, an intern can assist with inviting your personal contacts to follow your business page on social media. In most cases, you want to have a separate presence for your business, but it means making an extra effort to get people to follow your business rather than your personal page.

5. Identify speaking and writing opportunities. It’s time-consuming to pitch yourself as a speaker or get an article published. An intern can research organizations and publications where you may want to appear; find out the requirements; and prepare, send and follow up on your proposals.

6. Write/proofread marketing copy. It can be useful to have a fresh perspective on the promotional materials you prepare. If your intern is a good writer, have them draft copy, provide feedback on your materials or proofread.

7. Get reviews from happy clients and referral sources. Reviews carry a lot of weight. Even when prospects have been referred to you, they will still google you and check reviews. If you don’t regularly ask for reviews, have an intern help send out requests for a review on Google and/or your social media pages.

8. Run marketing reports. Marketing involves significant trial and error. An intern can run social media, email, phone, google website and advertising reports to help determine what activities and campaigns are working better than others so you can make adjustments.

9. Design marketing materials. If you are fortunate to have an intern with graphic art and design abilities, make effective use of it. They can help spruce up your ads, flyers, invitations, PowerPoint presentations, social media posts, blog posts, website and other materials.

10. Update your website. It’s easy to forget to update your website, but it looks bad when a prospect visits the site and sees that all the “News” and activities are a few years old. Interns can review the site and add information on anything that has occurred in the intervening period, such as articles, speaking engagements, press, awards, community involvement, etc. In addition, the copyright information on the site should be updated.

This is not a complete list but provides suggestions for how you can leverage your marketing intern to promote your firm. Remember to give your intern adequate training and supervision so you both get substantial value out of this experience.

If you need assistance with your marketing, including training interns or other staff, contact us. We offer social media and email marketing training as well as writing and consulting services.

1. Do focus on your unique value proposition. What sets you apart from your competition? How do you solve your clients’ problems? Your marketing needs to make it clear why clients should hire you over someone else.

2. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Too many professionals define their business and their skills broadly, afraid of turning away potential business. However, when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up with a generic message that gets lost among a sea of competitors. People want specialists, not generalists.

3. Do know your target audience. Take the time to identify your ideal client or referral source. Understand their demographics, interests, needs and pain points so you can craft a compelling marketing message and promote it in the places where you are likely to find them.

4. Don’t pitch to clients; educate them. Providing useful information that helps people with their problems is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and build trust and credibility with your audience. Writing and speaking helps you attract new attention and stay top of mind with the people you already know.

5. Do use a mix of marketing channels. You get the best results from engaging in several different types of marketing, such as networking, writing, speaking, email, social media, public relations, search engine optimization, etc. The more ways you get your name out, the more likely someone is to see and remember you.

6. Don’t neglect social media. At a minimum, use it for market intelligence to stay abreast of business, industry, competitor and client issues. However, it is most valuable as a tool for increasing visibility and demonstrating expertise. Every time you share information you have the ability to reach new audiences as well as stay top of mind with your network of contacts.

7. Do test marketing tactics and measure results. Marketing involves trial and error. There will always be some things that work better than others. It’s important to test your marketing tactics. However, make sure you put in a real effort to make it work and give it a reasonable amount of time to see whether it is making a difference. Then as you gauge your results, you can make adjustments as needed.

8. Don’t expect an immediate ROI. Give it time. Marketing is a long-term investment where many activities build on each other to get you results. Just like going to one networking event isn’t likely to get you a client; one speaking engagement or mention in the press won’t bring in business by itself.

9. Do have a written marketing plan and budget. Write down what you want to accomplish with your marketing. Who are you targeting and why? What are your specific goals and how will you go about achieving them? Then set aside time and money to get it done. Even if you’re doing most of the work in-house, you need to understand what resources will be needed – whether you have the bandwidth and the skills to implement your plan and what trade-offs may be needed. (Time/money spent on one thing means time/money away from something else.)

10. Don’t start with a big marketing initiative. If you haven’t done a lot of marketing in the past, then begin with a smaller scale campaign so you get a sense of what will be needed. A lot of firms have ambitious plans, but then other obligations get in the way or they realize they don’t have the resources and it all starts to fall apart. What’s worse is that everyone gets discouraged and it’s hard to get going again because it seems easier to abandon the whole thing instead of trying to scale back.

Whether you are new to marketing or have been doing it for years, apply these dos and don’ts to your marketing to improve your results.

If you need help with your marketing, contact us.

With 86% of B2B marketers using content marketing, you would think making a business case for investing in it would be easy. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

Content marketing is a long-term strategy and successful professional service firms realize that returns are measured in more than just dollars. What are some of the benefits these firms are realizing? Here are 5 success stories to inspire your own investment in content marketing.

1.  InsideOut – 388% more leads

The global provider of leadership, management and corporate training began focusing on content marketing last year. The company developed visually appealing “bite-sized” chunks of information, including slide decks, articles and videos. It put special emphasis on featuring material from the company’s thought leaders to give its content a unique perspective. Content was pushed out via email, social media, website and third party publications and press releases.

Results:

Email distribution of the content showed the most significant results. Compared to its sales-based emails, content-based emails had a 20% higher click-through rate, 87% lower opt-out rate and generated 388% more leads.

Takeaways:

• Your content has to be compelling and unique to stand-out from the crush of information your readers receive.
• Make the information clear and simple to digest. Focus on giving the reader the most critical points.
• Even if you’re getting solid results with your current approach, content marketing can bring better results.

2.  Fisher & Phillips – 51K page views

The law firm was part of a 2 month pilot project with LinkedIn’s publishing platform. Before being selected for the pilot, the firm was already actively creating and pushing out content and had embraced online content as a core part of its marketing strategies. The firm promoted the posts via its social media channels and encouraged attorneys to do the same through their individual accounts.

Results:

During the pilot, its 25 posts generated 51K page views, 5.5K interactions (likes, shares, etc.) and 380 followers. LinkedIn pulse channels picked up nearly half the posts. It was well received by potential clients. Within the firm, more attorneys are now publishing and sharing content.

Takeaways:

• Use LinkedIn as a platform for thought leadership and to build your network and credibility. It provides a great way to share knowledge and reach others who are interested in or need your expertise.
• Be consistent to build readership. You’re more likely to be noticed if you’re regularly putting out informative content.
• Introduce new hires to the publishing platform and encourage them to write and share content.

3.  Medix Dental – 37% open rates

The IT company, which provides technology solutions for dental offices, wanted to maintain a close relationship with clients as the company grew. It decided to commit to creating a monthly newsletter that would improve client retention and brand awareness. The goal was to make the newsletter friendly, personable and interesting and get clients reading it.  An important element of the newsletter was sharing relevant industry news and knowledge. Distribution was to clients and subscribers who signed up for it.

Results:

The company doubled its recipient list by promoting sign-ups via social media. The open rate for emails was 36.9%, which is 10% higher than the professional services industry average and got click-through rates of 10% compared to the industry average of 3.21%. Client feedback was also positive.

Takeaways:

• Clients appreciate a more personable conversational tone. Don’t sound like you’re announcing or selling them something.
• Focus on getting subscribers to read the content and on staying top of mind. You don’t want to get too focused on high click-through rates.
• Offering your industry knowledge for free shows you’re knowledgeable and helpful and when clients need someone, they will think of you.

4.  Crowe Horwath – $250K in revenue

The public accounting and consulting firm won the 2013 Killer Content Marketing Lead Nurturing Award for its content program targeting C-suite leaders at financial institutions over $1 billion in assets. The company developed 48 pieces of content in four different topic areas, including executive briefs, case studies, infographics, checklists, Q&As, and a video. The focus was on helping marketers to identify key prospects and track and nurture them until they were ready to make a purchase.

Results:

The campaign engaged almost 800 contacts with a 70% open rate and 2 engagements worth $250,000 in revenue.

Takeaways:

• Understand why your clients need your services, who makes the buying decisions and when, and what your competition is offering. You want to target the right audience with the right content at the right time.
• Start by looking at all the data you already have on what people are interested in reading and when, where and how they read.
• Use a variety of content formats. Different formats appeal to different readers.

5.  Heron Financial Group – 40% growth rate

Over the last few years, the RIA firm has been expanding its social media presence and making it an integral part of its marketing strategy. Social media drives traffic to its website and amplifies its content marketing efforts. Each piece of content is leveraged to reach a broader audience. For example, a 15 minute appearance on Bloomberg was shared via social media to thousands of followers resulting in 50 customer leads.

Results:

Heron has doubled its assets under management and has been growing in the 40% range since adding social media to its marketing strategy. Prior to its efforts, the firm’s growth was in single digits. The firm attributes its growth to multiple factors, but credits social media with being “a force multiplier” for a good marketing plan.

Takeaways:

• Dedicate at least 30-60 minutes a week posting content on social media platforms and use the top 4 social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
• Ask yourself if you would want to see your content on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. If not, don’t post it.
• Social media makes a good marketing plan better, but it won’t fix a bad marketing plan.

Hopefully these case studies will inspire you to look at the short and long-term benefits of content marketing to support your own investment. For more examples of metrics to help measure the success of your own initiatives, see Understanding ROI. Want more case studies? Here’s a good compilation from B2B Marketing Experiences blog.