Architecture Firm Finds 90% of Leads Online

By Sean McVey

My recent conversation with Derek Leavitt, founder of Modative Architects, yielded some interesting stats on the firm’s lead generation:

• Approximately 90% of the firm’s leads come through its website
• They receive around 4 warm leads per week online
• The firm’s web traffic increased from 10 visits a week to 400 per day in a short period of time

 
My two reactions to these shocking numbers were:

1. Wow!
2. How?

 
Find the Right Keyword Opportunity

Derek and his team were able to use search engine data to find some great keyword opportunities. They were careful to select terms that receive heavy search traffic but which don’t appear on many websites. Often these are highly specific keyword phrases, such as:

“small lot subdivisions”

This is a niche keyword that they felt they could own.  It accurately describes one of their core services so it was ripe for the taking. Ok, now what?

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Hinge’s Fab Five: January 2012

Top Professional Services Marketing Content from January 2012

Each month, an enormous amount of content is published on marketing. This monthly column will help you keep up with the best marketing articles on the web. Enjoy!

 How Google’s Social Search Shift Will Impact Your Brand’s SEO
By: Erin Everhart, Mashable Business

 How changes in Google’s search will affect your SEO strategy.

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LinkedIn Strategy for Professional Services Executives: 4 Building Your Online Brand

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

In this series we’re exploring how LinkedIn can help busy professional services executives achieve their objectives. So far we’ve covered the basics of LinkedIn, explored the tools that are available, and laid out a basic 10-minute-a-day plan.

In this installment we’re going to cover the basics of using LinkedIn to develop your individual brand. There are a couple of fundamental reasons that you may want to attend to your online brand.

• To help drive new business to your firm
• To find a new position
• To avoid having someone else define it for you

 
In achieving any of these objectives, LinkedIn is a good place to start. As the premier business oriented social network it is often where people start when checking you out.

Here are the basic steps to building your online brand:

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Website Planning Guide Part 7: Develop Messaging and Content

By Sean McVey

Your firm’s messaging and content will make or break your website.

An obvious point? Perhaps to some.  But when I look around the web it amazes me how many sites present messages that are:

• Generic
• Stale
• Wordy
• Unclear

 
And content that is:

• Way too long
• Filled with jargon
• Formatted as thick, un-skimmable paragraphs

 
Before you sit down and write a novel of fluffy jibber-jabber for your new site, take these three tips into consideration.

1. Find a Unique Position that You Can Support

Often your first and only chance to connect with web visitors will be through the main message on your homepage.  Your goal should be to quickly communicate your unique value as a brand.  What is your brand’s position in the market?

Stay away from generic descriptors like “high quality,” “the best people,” or “unmatched value.”  Instead, find what truly sets your firm apart from competitors and let visitors know right away.

Not sure what differentiates your firm? Successful professional services companies conduct brand research to identify how they are perceived in the marketplace.  Uncovering differentiators in this way will allow you to communicate unique value with confidence.

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The Digital Revolution In Professional Services Marketing

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

Whether you are prepared for it or not, there is a wave of change ready to break. The world of professional services marketing is about to change in ways that many folks have not anticipated.

There will be new winners and new losers. Some firms will rise to reshape the industry. And it is likely to happen very quickly.

Some people believe that professional services are inherently local. You must be face to face to build trust and provide service — ergo professional services will always be local. As it turns out, there is another path to trust and that path involves building credibility and trust through sharing valuable content and expertise online.

Here are the factors driving that change:

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Three Questions for Marketing Plan Success

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

If yours is like most professional services firms, this is the time of year when you are scrambling to finish up your marketing plan for the new year. I know, you had intended to have it wrapped up by the end of last year, but here you are.

In the spirit of helping you make those last few decisions, I thought it might be helpful to pass along three questions that may give you a better perspective. At Hinge, we have been doing a boatload of marketing strategy reviews, and we have found that these questions help put things in perspective. If you answer them honestly they may make your choices clearer.

Question 1. How well do you really know your target client group?

Try to resist the easy answer here. I’m not talking about the kind of knowledge that comes from working with individual clients or attending industry events and reading trade pubs. I’m talking about the knowledge that comes from systematic, structured research. 

Our own research shows that firms that do this kind of research grow faster and are more profitable. Why? Because they uncover trends in the market that their competitors don’t know about. They can adjust and anticipate. They can talk about issues from the perspective of their potential clients.

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