How to attract new clients to your firm using traditional and digital marketing techniques.

1. Attract New Clients To Your Firm Traditionally & Digitally
Paul Banks – Standout
www.standout.ie

2. 6 Business Development Tactics
Brand
Brand
Nurturing
Courting
New
Clients
Existing
Superpleasing
Clients
Brand
Broadcasting
Listening
Brand

3. Marketing to New Clients

4. “Supply exceeds
demand for Professional
Services. Marketing has
become critical for
growth. The firm with the
best marketing culture
has the greatest chance
to survive and thrive.”
Bruce W. Marcus

5. “To compete the culture must shift from an
abstract professionalism to an aggressive
market centred orientation”
Bruce W. Marcus

6. Agenda
1. Strategy
Marketing vs Selling
Importance of needs
Positioning
•
•
•
2. Tools
Traditional
Digital
•
•

7. What‟s The Goal ?
To acquire new clients

8. How does a Professional
Service firm win new clients ?
One by One !

9. No marketing activity can
win you a client !
No seminar, no advertisement,
no Facebook page

10. Two Stages (skill sets) to winning a new client
Stage 1
Marketing that attracts enquiries and starts
conversations / sales opportunities
•
Stage 2
“Practice Development” or ssshh sales that wins the day
Always the professional that closes the sale !
Requires a new skill set - RAIN selling
•
•
•

11. Today‟s focus - Marketing
How to market a firm to attract enquiries and to start
conversations.

12. Client Acquisition Process
Prospect
Need
Prospect looking
for a solution/ open
to be marketed to
Service
Provider
Marketing
Sales
Meeting
Client Won
or lost
The need comes first. You might be the best divorce lawyer in the country but
(hopefully) you can't persuade a happily married couple to get a divorce.

13. The needs comes first.
The marketing challenge is to be
top of mind when the need arises !

14. Marketing a Professional Service firm starts
with understanding the prospects needs
David Maister calls it “Listening”

15. Needs drive your marketing
•
•
•
The fact that needs change is probably the single most
important issue for Professional Service firms
and … the reason that marketing has become so
important
So keep selling what got you to where you are today or
modify your practice to deliver a service that clients
need today and in the future

16. What are the changing needs ?
•
What are the needs of your prospects today
o
Start with your existing clients
o
Implement a client research programme for insights
•
How have they changed over the last five years
•
What will they be in five years time
•
Consider changes in the economy, technology, Social Media,
Hourly Billing, Importance of Marketing

17. What are the future needs of your prospects ?
Exercise 1

18. Positioning

19. Positioning
•
•
What do you want your prospects to think about you
Informed by your understanding of your prospects
needs
•
Foundation of your marketing programme
•
3D‟s - Distinct, Desirable, and Deliverable

20. Start with your Targets
and their needs
•
Who do we want ? Hand pick them if
possible
o
•
•
•
Your reputation will largely be based on the clients
you serve
Are there different segments ?
What do they need (Desire) in terms of your
service ?
What‟s your reputation?
o
Have they ever heard of you ?

21. Tailored Marketing Solutions
•
Different Targets require different marketing strategies
o
•
What do they need, want and value
How do we get them
o
Direct Calls
o
Build the right referral network
o
Client Introduction
o
Open an overseas office
If you don't know exactly
who you are targeting, what
marketing should you do ?

22. What makes you Distinct
•
Important to standout from the crowd
o
•
•
•
Why should a prospect give you their
business
Not much unique in PS world - so how
do you do it ?
Think of your competitors - Do an
analysis
Specialisation and focus are the
strongest sources of distinction.

23. People and Sectors over Firms
•
Its difficult to say interesting or unique things about a
firm without meaningless platitudes
At Standout we put our clients first (and so you should !)
At Standout we deliver results (I should hope so)
•
Promote the partners over the firm
o
•
Because clients don't work with a firm. They work with individual
partners who help them with their problems.
Market sector by sector

24. Reputation is the ultimate Distinction
•
•
•
In Professional Services Building a strong reputation is
the ultimate source of distinction
Hard to build reputation through traditional product
marketing tools eg advertising or brochures
Reputation management is achieved through word of
mouth but also blogging, speeches, writing articles, ,
books, careful PR ie through demonstration.

25. and finally ….Can you deliver
•
•
•
What are your
competencies
What do you need to
change ?
What could change to
meet prospects needs
now and later

26. What's your Positioning
Exercise 2

27. Traditional
Tools and Techniques

28. Professional Services are
delivered by people !
As opposed to products where the buyer never meets the maker

29. PS marketing is most effective
when professionals
Demonstrate Competence
People showing that they know their stuff

30. •
•
•
•
Demonstration one to one and
face to face is the ideal
o Not always possible
Demonstration face to face but
one to many
One to one demonstration but
not face to face
Judge all activity against the
holy grail

31. Tier 1 Traditional - Tried and Tested
•
Small scale seminars
•
Speeches at target industry conferences
•
Articles in client industry media
•
Proprietary research - practical innovation
o
Forms a great platform for speeches and articles

32. Tier 2 - Traditional
•
Networking with potential referral sources
o
o
Bank Manager
Fellow professionals
•
Newsletters
•
Community / Civic Activities
Less direct & more time consuming

33. Tier 3 - Clutching At Straws
•
•
•
•
•
•
Direct Contact - Call, Mail, Call
o Do they have a need ?
o Have they heard of you ?
Advertising
Publicity/PR
Less effective because they fail to demonstrate competence
Brochures
Direct Mail
Sponsorship – sports or cultural events

34. “Professional services are not a mass business – clients are acquired
one at a time and any marketing programme must reflect this”
David Maister

35. What traditional marketing
activity will you do in 2014
Exercise 3

36. “Social Media is a medium not a message or a
strategy. However it has changed the world of PS
marketing because it puts marketing directly into
the hands of the professional”
Bruce W. Marcus

37. The Digital Bit
Attract New Clients
To Your Firm Digitally!

38. Social Media - The Big Picture
Social Media.
What is it?

39. What to cover?
➢ Facebook
➢ LinkedIn
➢ Twitter
➢ Youtube
➢ Google+
➢ Blogging
➢ Email Marketing
➢ Digital Advertising
➢ Podcasting
➢ Running Webinars
➢ Website Design

40. FACEBOOK

41. What is it:
Facebook Facts
● The largest Social Network
● Founded in 2004 (Zuckerberg, Saverin, et al)
● Floated 2012 - “FB”
● 120 Billion
● 1 in every 13
● 2.25 million

42. Why benefit from it)
Why Use It: (How professional services canUse It
● Young people
● Older people
● Human face on a professional presence
● Relatively inexpensive media
● Targetable | Measurable | Efficient

43. How it’s being used
●
●
●
●
●
Supplement to a formal website
Timeline to highlight firms history
Informative updates
Use „Events‟ to publicise presentations and client events
Use „Groups‟ to
○ Publicise an area of practice
○ Reach a target market
○ Interactive Newsletter
● Use the „Personal‟ elements of Facebook to put a human face on a
professional presence
● Efficient Advertising

44. International Best Practice

45. Local examples
From Facebook to Youtube

46. Local Examples

47. How you can use Facebook:
How it can
●
Internal groups | Intranet of sorts for staff
●
Demonstration of Competence
○
Sharing of reports
○
Sharing of relevant industry information
○
Sharing of Presentations (Slideshare)
○
Sharing of Short Form Video
○
Sharing general client advice
○
Showing the „human face‟ of the firm
○
Digital „contact‟ point
○
Vehicle for Testimonials
○
Recruitment
○
Community Involvement
be used

48. ‘Three Things’
● Sign up to Facebook
● Establish and populate
personal profile
● Establish a business
page and assign
ownership

49. LINKEDIN
LinkedIn has "become the de facto tool for professional networking"
- TechRepublic

50. LinkedIn Lessons
● The professionals social network
● Founded in 2002 | Launched May 2003 | IPO May 2011 - “LNKD”
● 20 Languages | 260 million members
● 175 million visitors globally per month
● 1 million Irish members
● Applications | Mobile | Groups | Jobs | Influencers
● Talent Solution | Marketing Solution | Premium Subscriptions

51. Why use LinkedIn?
●
Research
●
Networking
●
Obtaining Referrals
●
Contact Information
●
Obtaining relevant industry news
●
Obtaining leads
●
Getting hired
●
Demonstration of your expertise
●
Attracting visitors to your website
●
Recruitment tool

52. International Best Practice

53. HOW YOU CAN USE IT
PROFESSIONAL USE
● Introductions
● Joining Groups
○ Publish
■
■
■
● Research
ORGANISATIONAL USE
●
●
Articles
Papers
Getting involved
●
Increased Visibility
○ Brands, Services, Goals
Research
○ Competitors
○ Potential Partners
○ Suppliers
Tell the company story*
* Aligned with overall strategy
RECRUITMENT TOOL
●Post Jobs
●People Search
●Matching Specifics
Can be more effective than
traditional recruitment
techniques.

54. THREE THINGS
o Improve/Update your profile
o Publish a paper / article / PDF
o Join an Industry Group

55. TWITTER

56. TWITTER TEACHINGS
● MicroBlogging site that sends „Tweets‟ (or text messages) online
● Founded in 2006 (Dorsey et al) | IPO Nov 2013 - “TWTR”
● 500 million registered users in 2012
● 340 million tweets daily
● 1.6 billion daily searches
● One of the top ten most visited websites
● “the SMS of the Internet”

57. WHAT IT DOES
● Breaking News
● Tracking Trends
● Company / Brand Contact
● Mostly used by
○ Politicians
○ Journalists
○ Celebrities
○ Tech Industry
○ Early Adopters

58. Top 10 Twitter Accounts in Ireland!
Irish Twitter Accounts - The Top 10
( and why I think it not suitable!)

59. YOUTUBE

60. You Tube
● The Video Sharing Website founded by two guys from Paypal
● Est. in Feb 2005 | Bought by Google Oct 2006 for $1.65 billion
● 1 billion unique visitors per month
● 4 days worth of video uploaded per minute
● YouTube Partner Program
● 4 billion views per day | 25% of those on mobile devices

61. WHAT IT DOES
● Provide useful and relevant content (and dumb stuff too!)
● SEO (videos keywording)
● Grow your audience
● Powerful branding tool
● Advertise ( as part of Google Adwords)
● Relatively Inexpensive to produce
● Videos play better on mobile

62. HOW IT IS BEING USED
● Information
● Client Testimonials
● Short Form Advertising
● Public face of the firm
● Create engagement
● Share it across many platforms
● Google loves YouTube!

63. BEST PRACTICE
Alan Lewis Accountants YouTube Channel
Lavelle Coleman online advert

64. THREE THINGS
● Sign Up
● Record a short video
● Upload it

65. BLOGGING

66. BLOGGING
Simply put, it’s a website (or part of a website)
containing articles, observations and opinion
alongside relevant images and links to other
websites
TWO WORDS:
CONTENT & FREQUENCY

67. HOW IT IS BEING USED
Benefits of Blogging
1. Connect with customers
2. Connect with partners
3. Generate traffic / SEO
4. Establish authority
5. Increase reach
6. Email Capture
7. Get (and stay!) customer focussed
8. Generate publicity
9. Give your company a „controlled voice’

68. THREE THINGS
Establish a wordpress blog (or talk to your web guy)
Establish a Blog calendar
Assign responsibility

69. EMAIL MARKETING

70. Newsletters & Email Marketing
Benefits
1. Reduce time & effort
2. Real-Time messages
3. Personalised messages
4. Segmentation of database
5. More frequent communication
6. Test Marketing
7. Information spreading
8. Reduced overhead
9. Ability to track sales/user engagement
10.Save the planet!

71. THREE THINGS
• ESTABLISH A CLEAN DATABASE
• First Name
• Surname
• Email
• SOFTWARE
• DETERMINE
• FREQUENCY
• CONTENT
• RESPONSIBILTY

72. DIGITAL ADVERTISING

73. DIGITAL ADVERTISING
Top 5 PLATFORMS
●Google Ads
●Facebook
●LinkedIn
●Twitter
●YouTube

74. BENEFITS OF DIGITAL ADVERTS
●
Reach
○
●
Mass or Niche audience
Brand Building
○
Build your brand in the most engaging environment with pre and post roll ads around video
content.
●
Relevance
○
○
●
The right ad for the right audience at the right time
Contextual | Demographic | Content | Behavioural | Location-Based
Creative
○
●
Endless opportunities now vs „12k GIF banner Ad‟
Engagement
○
Online can gets attention and retains it
„Volvo & Van Damme‟
Nov 13th / 30 million views
„Wheelchair Basketball‟
Sept 3rd / 7.5 million views

75. BENEFITS OF DIGITAL ADVERTS
●
Social
○
●
Accountable
○
●
Enables brands to respond to consumers
Real-time
○
●
online offers measurement of campaign effects and ROI of every euro
Interactive
○
●
Online has found its feet overtaking radio and TV
Update and improve campaigns in real-time, unique to online
Mobile
○
Building your brand in the palm of their hand
„Volvo & Van Damme‟
Nov 13th / 30 million views
„Wheelchair Basketball‟
Sept 3rd / 7.5 million views

76. DIGITAL ADVERTS

77. DIGITAL ADVERTS

78. DIGITAL ADVERTS

79. PODCASTING
& WEBINARS

80. Podcasting & Webinars
Podcasting
Webinar: (web+seminar)
is the creation of audio and/or video files for distribution
to subscribers.
Podcasts today are what underground zines were in the
'90s. They can be produced and packaged at home (or
surreptitiously at work), just about everyone seems to
have one, they are distributed free or at low cost, and
there is the promise, if not the reality, of making money
with them.
The attraction of podcasting is that you can create
content which people can receive easily and
automatically.
A presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is
transmitted over the Web.
A key feature of a Webinar is its interactive elements -- the
ability to give, receive and discuss information. Contrast
with Webcast, in which the data transmission is one way
and does not allow interaction between the presenter and
the audience.
Podcasts today are what underground zines were in the
'90s. They can be produced and packaged at home and
they are distributed free or at low cost.
The cost comes in the production time!

81. BENEFITS OF PODCASTING
●Reach a new audience
○
People like to consume media differently, so including another media option could help you reach
new audience.
●Build a relationship with your listeners
○
Podcasts put a voice to your company/website and help you avoid being just another logo.
●Highlight your authority
○
Giving away useful information can highlight your expertise in your field.
●Respond to customer feedback.
○
You can use your podcast as a chance to address any customer concerns or feedback you‟ve
received.

82. Benefits of Webinars
●Short Lead Time
○
No physical planning etc
●Numbers don’t matter
○
No parking, catering or venue issues. Run a webinar with small or large numbers
●Loyalty build with existing clients
○
Easy, low cost leveraged way to add value and maintain relationships
●Conduct Market Research
○
Prior to webinars questions, concerns and issues can be submitted. This provides invaluable research for your business.
●Create instant products
○
Record the webinar and suddenly its a DVD, video podcast or online video!

83. Benefits of Webinars
●Invite prospective clients
○
Let potential clients „experience‟ you before they „buy‟ you.
●No geographical boundaries
○
No physical constraints so you can reach beyond borders
●Provision of service support
○
Answer customer questions and get feedback for future service provision
●Expose attendees to guest experts
○
Bring guest presenters and experts. Same market but a different area of expertise.
●Makes you more accessible
○
An inexpensive way to interact with many people at the same time whilst still offering value.

84. WEBSITE DESIGN

85. WHAT IS GOOD WEB DESIGN?
Content
Visual Design
●Who is the website for?
●What do they want from the website?
●What can you realistically provide and maintain?
Does everything
have a purpose?
Accessibility
Tone tells the world what kind of business you are.
Formal
Think about
graphics!
Colours reflect
personality
Tone
Easy to read
Academic
•Avoid Flash!
•Use alt attributes for relevant graphic images.
•Don't rely on icons or images to communicate,
especially in navigation.
Creative
Business
•Enlist differently-abled people to test your site and
give feedback on its usability.

86. WHAT IS GOOD WEB DESIGN?
All roads lead to Rome
www.YOU.com

87. SO WHAT NEXT?

88. SO WHAT NEXT?

89. SO WHAT NEXT?
X
X
X
X

90. IN SUMMARY
Profile Refresh
Publish something
Explore Industry Groups
Sign Up
Record something
Upload to You Tube
Establish a blog
Decide on frequency
Assign Responsibility
Conduct Website Audit
Define Keyword List
Link to Blog

91. THANKS!
QUESTIONS
Cormac O‟Kelly
@cormacokelly
(087) 6811507
(01) 4930123
Paul Banks
pbanks@standout.ie
086-2352054