An effective marketing strategy can and does make the difference between a successful professional-service firm and an unsuccessful one. (Professional-service firms can include attorneys, accountants, insurance agencies, financial-planning professionals, consultants, and engineers, among others.)

At the end of the day, your clients can’t procure your services unless they know who you are and what services you offer. It’s a simple concept but, as we know, can be terribly complicated in terms of real-world execution. That is, after all, why marketing professionals have jobs in the first place. However, in the world of professional services, it takes more than one person to market your firm.

The work of trusted advisors is built on the ideals of trust, knowledge, capability, and value — ideals that cannot be exclusively communicated through advertising and other standard marketing vehicles alone. Stating in an ad, for example, that your firm is knowledgeable or that its services will add value will never truly build that perception in the eyes of your target market. Instead, it is through the actual demonstration of your competencies that these perceptions are built.

It is the ability of the firm’s trusted advisors to build relationships, trust, and understanding with their potential clients that matters most. They are the ones on the front lines, and at the end of the day, they are the ones who will ultimately make these connections. Based on this fact, it is essential for the trusted advisors of any firm to constitute a major element of its marketing program and strategy. To be able to leverage this particular component, the efforts of everyone involved must be aligned, working toward mutual goals.

Marketing Culture: What Is It?

A firm where all professionals’ marketing efforts are aligned will reach its goals faster and more efficiently by working together. This is the foundation of a marketing culture, and is best accomplished by setting a course with a plan built on specific and meaningful goals, education, and consistency.

Developing Firm Goals

Before a successful marketing culture can be implemented, you must have a well-defined and foundational understanding of what your goals are and be able to communicate them clearly and concisely to your professionals. Certainly, things like increased revenue or growth in market share are admirable, but they are too vague to stand on their own and inspire action from your team. You must break your goals down into specific strategies and actionable endeavors. If growth is your main goal, you may choose to focus on a few areas or even just one well-defined niche, allowing your firm to concentrate its efforts in that area.

Further, you should build specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (SMART) goals that fulfill the parameters of success, as they relate to the growth of that niche. Once this occurs, you can develop a marketing strategy that works specifically to help you achieve your goals.

Education and Training

The notion that everyone will do their part and work together is a gross oversimplification. In order to build a genuinely effective marketing culture, each person involved must truly understand the firm’s goals, subsequent marketing strategy, and, most importantly, their role in it. With this understanding, each individual is armed and capable of taking actions on a daily basis that support their role in the marketing program. Without this understanding, their marketing activities will equate to little more than daily transactions and task items.

Most people aren’t natural marketers. You must work to arm your advisors with the tools and skill sets they need to achieve marketing success on a day-to-day basis. Consideration should be given to the soft and interpersonal skill sets, strategies to close a sale, and competencies regarding both your industry and your professionals’ ability to help their client understand and feel assured by the solutions that your firm offers.

Training can be accomplished in a number of ways, including the use of an industry-specific consultant, internal ‘lunch-and-learn’ staff sessions, and even industry seminars revolving specifically around marketing.

When You Win, Celebrate

Buy-in doesn’t happen through education alone. Changes in culture can be difficult, and oftentimes, the value of that change isn’t immediately perceivable by everyone involved.  That’s why it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate the successes that your program has.

For example, every time you earn a new client through your new marketing efforts, share with the firm how it happened, what events preceded the sale, and who was involved. If you can demonstrate, with hard facts, the success of your program — and, more importantly, the success of those individuals buying into and succeeding in your program — you’re far more likely to develop a cohesive and actionable understanding among your team.

Also, when you celebrate, don’t just make a mention of it — make it a big deal. If someone has earned a new client, shout it from the rooftops. Or at least make a distinctive and determined effort to make sure that everyone understands why it was a success and to give credit to the person who initiated that success. A few examples might include making a special acknowledgement at a staff meeting, sending a company-wide e-mail and acknowledging the professionals involved, or, if the client won is especially significant, hold a staff party.

In every instance, be sure to make the connection between the behavior that earned the sale and the final result.

Consistency

Change takes time, but more importantly, it takes consistency. If you’ve done your planning and goal setting, you know that achieving your objectives will be beneficial. However, in order to effect permanent change, you must have consistency. If you celebrate wins in your firm only when it’s convenient, or expect marketing efforts from your advisors only when there’s downtime, you will never see a shift in the culture and mindset of your firm.

Instead, hold steadfast to your goals and objectives, and hold everyone accountable to their responsibilities. Building a specific and measurable process to carry out the day-today marketing efforts of your staff can help build accountability and ensure reliable execution in the long term, even when you’re in your industry’s busy season.

Establishing a marketing culture is far more than a mindset; it is a specific and measurable process that, when achieved, can yield significant results. A true marketing culture requires SMART, meaningful goals, the education of everyone involved, the willingness to celebrate and appreciate those who achieve success in your marketing program, and a commitment to consistency and accountability.

By staying the course and being committed to success, you will you see tangible and meaningful results.

John Veit is the marketing coordinator for Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.; (413) 322-3546; jveit@mbkcpa.com