Are you doing PR for a B2B company that provides a service? Yes, that means you, all lawyers, consultants, financial advisors, asset managers, software developers and search firms. In fact more than half of the US GDP has come from services companies since 1982 , which is why marketing intangibles is a critical skill in our world.
At a recent event hosted by the Association of Management Consulting Firms (AMCF) Walter Kiechel, former editor of Fortune magazine and author of The Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World, discussed how strategy’s great gurus influenced the development and implementation of ideas within their organizations and those of their clients.
How many times have you weighed the pros and cons of partnering with a traditional media outlet to conduct a survey? As B2B marketers, we know the benefits and drawbacks: partnerships come with a guaranteed media placement, the added credibility of the outlet’s brand and, often, access to a publication’s subscription lists.
Talking about management talent with an executive search pro is a little bit like listening to Joe Torre evaluate the Yankees or Dodgers. You know you can trust the source and you’ll probably learn something new.
No question about it, the marketing of professional services can be a frustrating way to earn a living. This holds true whether you’re an employee of a professional firm or a “hired gun.” Common complaints are (a) egomaniacal clients, (b) unreasonable expectations that often flow from “a.” and (c) a paucity of solid content.
I had the opportunity last week to visit with a friend from college whom I had not seen in 25+ years. We had a nice visit in his Park Avenue office, learned that our companies employ roughly the same number of people, and that we market in very much the same way.
Just a few years ago, the word “engagement” meant diamond rings to most of us. Today, that word represents a sort of business to business marketing nirvana: the ability to develop an ongoing, mutually beneficial dialogue with your clients, customers and prospects.
Anyone who spends time doing marketing communications for professional services firms will recognize some of these disasters in waiting. PR professionals can be ridiculed for making some classic rookie faux pas, like mass emailing reporters, not knowing what they’re pitching and to whom they’re pitching – you get the gist.
While the holiday season is behind us there is one more annual tradition to prepare for: the game of musical chairs in the finance industry. Most Wall Street firms pay annual bonuses to employees either at or shortly after the end of the year. Anticipation of these payments, which may account for the majority of total compensation, tends to cause employees to time their job hunts to minimize the amount of bonus money they leave behind with a former employer.
New legislation currently in the Senate creates a new agency that will police mortgages, credit cards, personal loans and home appraisals resulting in significant new liabilities for credit card and other consumer lending marketers— and their communications firms could be put in the line of fire, too.
