Professional service firms are abundant across many different industries, including lawyers, accountants, architects, financial advisors and engineers. And though the industry focus may differ, these service firms tend to have similar marketing pain points. Let’s explore three common marketing pain points and solutions for each.
Being Known and Standing Out
The Problem: Whether you’re a law firm, an accounting firm or another type of professional service firm, you may struggle with how to market your firm and stand out from competitors.
The Solution: Branding can help organizations of any size better understand what they stand for—not just what they do—and how clients perceive them. Branding will also identify disconnects between how the organization views itself and how other audiences view the organization. For example, if your firm touts that it’s a fun place to work, but clients feel you’re stuffy, there’s a big disconnect.
Conduct an audit of your existing marketing and note the key messages your firm uses. Ask a few clients to share their thoughts regarding keywords they would use to describe your firm. Compare your marketing messaging with client feedback to identify areas of alignment and disconnect. Areas of alignment are where your current messages are resonating with audiences. Reevaluate areas of disconnect to determine where changes in your internal and external messaging are needed. Marketing consultants or firms that specialize in branding are a great resource and can lead you through the process to find the right branding cure for your organization.
Being Found
The Problem: The American Bar Association’s annual study found 14% of law firms had no website.1 That number is likely similar for accounting and financial advisor firms, architect firms and other professional service organizations. According to a Legal Trends Report, 37% of clients use an online search engine to find a lawyer.2 Again, similarities abound across other types of professional service firms. If your firm doesn’t have a website, you’re missing out on a healthy percentage of clients who search that way. If you have a website, you need relevant keywords for search engine optimization (SEO) to obtain priority placement when clients search online for your business.
The Solution: Websites for professional service firms should be essential and need not be complicated. In addition to telling prospective clients about your organization and what you do (and stand for—see branding points above), websites can help eliminate calls to your office for contact info, directions and documents. Websites are also a great recruiting tool for hiring. Start with the basics—who you are, what you do/stand for, where you are, how you work with clients and how to contact you.
Make sure to write your website copy using relevant keywords for SEO. If you’re an accounting firm, words such as accounting, accountant, financial advisors, financial services, tax consulting, financial audits and bookkeeping are all relevant keywords. Law firm SEO keywords will depend on the type of law you’re practicing but could include divorce attorney, personal injury lawyer, family law, real estate attorney or tax attorney.
Lack of People Resources
The Problem: A large number of professional service firms use small marketing teams. Typically this is a team of 1-3 people depending on the company’s size, which means marketing professionals in these organizations wear many hats. They’re responsible for marketing to gain new clients, external communication to help retain current clients, internal communication to keep colleagues apprised of what’s happening in the firm, branding and reputational management, issues and crisis management, etc.
The Solution: There’s no need to be an expert in all disciplines of marketing and communication. Seek out marketing agencies who specialize in:
- Branding
- Marketing communications (direct mail, brochures, trade show graphics/materials).
- Digital communications (websites, social media, search engine marketing, search engine optimization).
- Advertising (print, digital, radio/TV, outdoor).
Agencies bring specialized knowledge in multiple areas, and they are experts in expanding and contracting to meet your firm’s seasonal needs.