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Wellesley Hills Group is pleased to announce the addition of marketing expert Rachel Hayes to the consulting team. Rachel brings thirty years of experience in professional services marketing to the firm. Particularly skilled in strategic planning, her work has included building and executing marketing strategies for clients such as Goldman Sachs, Andersen, Mercer Human Resources Consulting and the law firms of Hill & Barlow and Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (now K&L Gates).
As a service firm leader, you need to make decisions about marketing that will shape the future growth and success of your firm. In this interview with Rachel, she shares key strategy insights that will help you increase ROI on your marketing efforts in 2008.
What are common mistakes you see service firms make when planning / implementing their marketing strategies?
Many services firms all build marketing strategies based on anecdotal market input or what the most persuasive person inside wants to do. These are no substitutes for rigorous market analysis. Poorly informed strategy leads to short-sighted, inconsistent effort and expectations that are disproportionate with investment or misaligned with tactics.
What does it really take to make your marketing work?
There is no magic bullet to marketing success. Successful implementation of your marketing strategy is contingent upon many factors. Some of these include:
- A clear business strategy: You need to understand the big picture, and always keep in mind what you are trying to accomplish in the long run. Everything can sound tempting when you are in the planning stage. Staying focused on the goal will ensure your marketing efforts are not in vain and will help you get to where you want to be as a company.
- Appropriate time and budget: Like the snowball effect, marketing efforts increase in effectiveness the longer they’re sustained. Persistence and investment in initiatives that work are critical success factors. Many services firms underestimate how many impressions it actually takes to make an impact on the market. They’re quick to discontinue efforts that don’t produce an immediate ROI, which undermines any success (e.g. brand awareness) gained thus far.
- Discipline: Marketing must be a part of everyone’s fiber. Everyone is invested in the overall success of the company, and marketing is one tool to achieve that success. Everyone helps market the company and must therefore know the language, offers and messages that resonate with the market, and speak in one voice.
What is often missing from marketing strategies?
Many services firms don’t understand what causes a prospect to buy, and often neglect to address the prospect in their language, with offers and messages. You must remember you have a short time to make an impression. Your first point of view must always be that of the prospect. Ask yourself, “Why is this person looking at your website, brochure, etc. in the first place?” Your prospect has a problem, an issue, a need, and you must demonstrate your understanding, as well as your belief that it’s serious and immediate enough to solve. And then you must support your capabilities claim with success stories, testimonials, etc.
You can contact Rachel Hayes at 508-626-9991 or rhayes@whillsgroup.com if you have additional questions or would like to discuss your firm's marketing strategy.
Rachel’s thirty-year career in professional services marketing includes key roles in higher education, consulting, accounting, investment banking and law. She is particularly skilled in strategic planning, having developed local, regional, national, and international marketing initiatives and programs designed to address specific industry and/or practice group objectives for clients such as Goldman Sachs, Andersen, Mercer Human Resources Consulting and the law firms of Hill & Barlow and Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (now K&L Gates).
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