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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What’s Your Online Marketing Priority?

By Sean McVey

Imagine you are the VP of Marketing Communications at a major supply chain management software company.  Your job is to figure out how to get the most out of your firm’s marketing dollars.  You know online marketing has a place, but you really don’t know where to focus.  Do you hire a social media guru?  Do you invest in video?  SEO? A blog? The possibilities are really endless… but your budget isn’t.  So how do you spend?

Kirsten Watson from Kinaxis was in this very situation.  And after a long digital journey, she now finds herself leading one of the most successful online marketing teams in the technology industry.  With an estimated 35-40% of the firm’s leads coming from the web, there’s no question Kinaxis has found a formula for success.

While chatting with Kirsten, I began to realize how important prioritization is to her strategy. Today, Kinaxis deploys a number of online marketing tactics, but the firm began by focusing on a just a few foundational techniques.  After mastering those techniques, they gradually expanded their repertoire.

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Brand Launch: Creating a Brand New Professional Services Brand

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

Branding a professional services firm comes in two flavors, rebranding an existing firm or service line and launching a new one. They are similar in overall process but distinct in their twists and turns.

Rebranding, by definition, involves an existing firm with ongoing clients, staff and valuable brand equity. Not so much with a brand launch. There, you are starting from scratch with nothing but that big empty flip chart. Your brand equity is zero. And cash is always tight.

When faced with this scenario, most firms botch the opportunity (please forgive me if I’m offending you here). Their firm name often incorporates the founders names or a generic service-related term (think “professional,” “systems,” “technology,” “services” or “associates”). The resulting name is long and promptly get abbreviated into an acronym that lacks any meaning or memorability. The name spills over to the web, where their URL is difficult to remember. And when you finally get to the website, it looks like it was built on the cheap.

When they need credibility the most, many startups miss all the opportunities to build it. It’s the equivalent of showing up at the senior prom in your sweat pants. Yes, there is a better way.

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Cultivating a Powerful Differentiator

By Sylvia Montgomery

Last week I hosted a lunch program for the DC chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS). The panel explored trends and interesting perspectives facing professionals in the A/E/C industry, as related to design-build, alternative energy and SITES (Sustainable Sites Initiative). The panelists also discussed how service providers were leveraging these techniques as part of their value proposition and differentiation efforts.

Peter Rigby, PE and Principal at Paciulli, Simmons & Associates, focused on design-build, post marketplace adoption. He explained how teaming partnerships in the industry had dramatically shifted from architect led to contractor led. His perspectives really brought home the importance of considering unanticipated strategic partners as a normal course of business.

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Meet the New Professional Services Buyer

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

This last week I had the opportunity to present to two distinct audiences of professional services executives. One was technology executives and the other executives from the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. The most interesting observation was how both industries were experiencing a similar change in the behavior of buyers.

Indeed, I think that some of the observations cut across all the professional services and will have a lasting effect on how we market and the basic strategies we pursue.

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Launching a Brand New Brand: 5 Steps That Will Make It Better

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

You are starting a new firm from scratch.  Or perhaps you are launching a new product or service with its own distinct identity.  What exactly does it take to get your brand new brand right?

It’s a good question and not a small challenge.  With so many options available, it’s sometimes hard to know where to begin. You face the tyranny of a blank sheet of paper.

The natural inclination is to start making decisions about the brand name, the logo or the look and feel of the website.  Stop.  Step back and focus on these five steps first.

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