Complexities of Crafting a Positioning Strategy for A/E/C Firms

By Sylvia Montgomery

These are exciting and scary times for marketers of architecture, engineering and construction firms. In A/E/C, we have previously competing firms that are now fighting to stay alive, mid-sized firms disappearing and established firms that have plateaued and are seeking growth. What’s a marketer to do? Marketing is fluid in today’s economy. So, dream big, I say!

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Content Marketing Planning for 2013: Webinar Recap

By Sylvia Montgomery

This past week Hinge offered a webinar on planning a professional services firms’ content marketing.  This blog post is an overview of what was covered in the webinar.  A complete Content Marketing Guide is available as a free download.

The webinar focused on three primary areas:

• Create the Content
• Create the Content Marketing Calendar
• Create Visible Experts^SM  with Your Content

According to our webinar poll, 69% of webinar attendees did not have a content marketing plan. (Note: At the time this webinar was offered, it attracted 400+ registrants with approximately 50% live attendance).

Having read this blog post, you will likely conclude that content marketing definitely needs careful and thoughtful planning. This overview will help you start the process of developing it. Let’s dive right in.

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5 Steps To A Better Consulting Firm Value Proposition

By Katie Sanner

By Katie Sanner

I think most marketers would agree that one of the hardest things for a firm to do is to actually create a solid consulting firm value proposition.   You need something that is truly unique, meaningful and actually differentiates their firm from the pack.  If your firm is considering starting the process, or you’re currently mid-stream, here are five important steps to consider.

1 – Research

A key ingredient to a successful value proposition is research.  Take the time to properly research several types of individuals to get a well-rounded perspective of your firm.  Your representative pool could be a mixture of leads, existing clients, prospective clients and even clients that got away.  You might be surprised to learn that the consulting service you thought was your strong point, is a service most prospects don’t even know you provide. 

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The Strategic Marketing Process for Professional Services

By Lee Frederiksen

If you’re like many professional services executives the whole concept of a strategic marketing process may seem a bit alien. Even for classically trained marketers, concepts such as the marketing mix or distribution channels seem a bit out of place in a professional services context.

And it’s no wonder. The classic strategic marketing process models were developed for advertising-driven consumer products. Professional services are quite different in their nature and how they are marketed.

What we need is a process tailored to the realities of modern professional services firms. Try this process on for size:

Strategic marketing process defined

The strategic marketing process is how you align your firm's overall strategy with your day-to-day business development efforts. It allows growth to be driven by a deliberate strategy.

For many firms, growth is a result of luck and individual partner efforts. Marketing is often reactive and short term oriented. “Hey, we were just asked to sponsor a golf event. Should we do it?” or “We need some new clients. Let’s send out a mailing describing our service offerings.” You get the picture.

We all want to grow our firms. But how can you do it strategically?

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5 Trends in Promoting Your Content: Social Marketing for Professional Services

By Sylvia Montgomery

By Sylvia Montgomery

Our recent webinar, Promoting Your Content: Social Marketing for Professional Services, focused on content promotion techniques that work. We were joined by Jennifer Abernethy, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Social Media Marketing (now in its 2nd Edition) and founder of The Sales Lounge, who provided a wealth of ideas for promoting your content through social media.

When you create fresh, educational content for your target audience, your firm can benefit in many ways:

• Attract high-quality search engine traffic
• Use content as currency in social media
• Educate and nurture prospects
• Attract qualified leads
• Build trust and loyalty
   

For professional services firms, “being your own publisher” is no longer an option. It's a necessity. Below is a recap of Jennifer’s “trends to watch” for promoting your content. Each is accompanied by a brief take on its relevance to professional services.

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What is Brand Positioning and Why Does it Matter?

By Aaron Taylor

At Hinge, we’ve helped a lot of professional services firms position themselves in the marketplace. But if you’ve never been through the process before, the whole concept of brand positioning could sound a little too good to be true. After all, it would take more than a little marketing fairy dust to push your firm in a different direction. Right?

In fact, repositioning your brand may not be as difficult as it seems. And it will make it much easier for you to develop new business.

You see, most professional services firms float more or less aimlessly through the marketplaces. They pursue whatever business opportunities come their way, spreading their net of services ever wider to increase their chances of catching new clients. These firms become indistinguishable from the majority of their competitors, and they find that more and more often they compete on price.

It doesn’t have to be that way. And positioning your firm is the answer.

Brand positioning is nothing more than a way to help prospective customers make sense of your business. When you position your firm, you begin to stand for something — something distinct and useful. Not everyone is going to want what you have to offer. But to those clients that need your services, your positioning will make your firm extraordinarily attractive.

So how do you develop an effective market position? The process is laid down in layers:

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