LinkedIn Strategy For Professional Services Executives: 3 The 10-Minute-a-Day Plan

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

If you are like most professional services executives you are strapped for time. And while the benefits of social media sound appealing, the process also sounds very time intensive (which it is). Does all of this activity justify the time devoted to it?

The answer, in my experience, is to start small and determine if it is a good match for your disposition and target client group. Here’s a plan to make that happen.

Step 1. Find your 10-minutes a day.
Consider substituting this “online networking” for a piece of your traditional “offline networking” — perhaps a networking event that isn’t producing results. Or you may want to carve out 10 minutes in the evening or morning.

Step 2. Aim low.
Don’t expect too much at first. Consider LinkedIn as an investment in networking — one through which you may uncover new prospects, referral sources, business partners, or market information. Success may come from any direction. At this point don’t be too picky.

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LinkedIn Strategy for Professional Services Executives 2: Top Tools To Use

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

So you’re on LinkedIn but not really sure how you should be using it. Is it a good use of your time? What exactly should you be doing when you are there?

In the first post in this series, we made the case that LinkedIn is both a widely used tool and is seen as effective by those that know and use it well. We also reviewed the most realistic goals for a LinkedIn strategy. In this post we’ll explore the top “tools” that LinkedIn provides with its free accounts. These tools will provide all the functionality that most professional services executives are likely to need. (If, however, you are planning to use LinkedIn as a recruiting tool, may want to consider exploring some of the platform’s premium account features.)

So let’s hit the basics.

1. Your Profile
Your profile is the single most important component of your LinkedIn strategy. People you meet at networking events, prospective clients, and referral sources will check you out on LinkedIn. As a result, your profile is arguably as important as your bio page on your firm’s website. Make your entry complete and use appropriate keywords to get your point across. Always include a professional photo that is consistent with the image you want to project. Don’t forget to ask people for references. Linked has a handy little bar that tells you how complete your profile is.

2. Your Contacts
This is the list of people that you are connected with on LinkedIn. You can communicate directly with these folks, if you wish. In addition, they receive regular updates on activities that you choose to share. Having a robust list of contacts is important. This is your professional network and, as in the offline world, it is important to grow and nurture it. How many do you need? I find that getting over 200 is a good target to shoot for. 

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LinkedIn Strategy For Professional Services Executives: 1

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

If you are a professional services executive there’s a good chance that you’re already on LinkedIn. You may love it, hate it, or not even understand it, but you can’t ignore it.

So what is the appropriate LinkedIn strategy for you and your professional services firm? Let’s start with the basics.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the premier social media site for professionals. With its laser0like focus on the business side of life (as contrasted to the more personal focus of Facebook), it may be something of a misnomer to call it a social media platform. Think of it instead as an online professional networking platform. And as you will see, it is a powerful tool with a wide variety of strategic uses.

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10 Brand Development Blunders: A Guide for Professional Services Firms

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

Whether you are developing a brand new brand (a brand launch) or updating and repositioning an existing firm (a re-branding), there are several common blunders that can cost you dearly. Falling prey to them can kill the effectiveness of your brand development efforts and waste precious time and money.

Let’s begin with a definition of brand development.

Brand Development Defined

Brand development, as we use it here, is the process of creating or updating a professional services brand. It typically involves three phases.

• Getting the brand strategy right. The opening phase often involves client and target audience research, brand positioning, and brand or messaging architecture.
• Building the brand. In this phase, a firm develops a new identity and business development tools, such as a name, logo, tagline, stationary, website, marketing collateral, proposal templates, and a content marketing strategy.
• Rolling out the newly developed brand. Here, marketing plans, internal staff training, and a wide range of promotional techniques are brought into play to increase the visibility of the brand with target audiences (from potential new clients to referral sources and prospective new hires).

The brand development process can be daunting. The payoff is huge and the costs are significant, so the stakes are high. All the more reason to avoid costly blunders. Here is my list of the top 10 mistakes:

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Infographic: How Online Marketing Techniques Grow Your Firm

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.; Infographic by Brian Lemen

(Click image to see full-size infographic)

Just when you thought it was safe to get back on the golf course, you hear the news. A new study shows that professional services firms that use online marketing techniques to generate 40% or more of their leads grow 4X faster and are 2X more profitable. Well, now I’m listening.

This infographic tells a dramatic story — how firms are using online marketing techniques to change the professional services marketplace. Increasingly, how you use online marketing will affect how successful your firm can be. While face-to-face networking is still important, it is no longer the only — or even the best — path to new business success.

Learn which online marketing techniques are most effective and how multiple tools work together to deliver the strongest results. And find out where online marketing budgets are headed (UP!) and why your firm may want to move in that direction…  faster.

The world of professional services marketing is changing quickly. So stop driving golf balls and start driving new leads online.

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How to Develop an Online Recruitment Strategy that Works

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

How do you find new hires? Is it through employee referrals? Advertising in trade publications? Recruiters?

If you are not already using online recruitment strategies there is a good chance that you will be in the future. The reasons why are both compelling and simple.

• People are spending more time online to do a variety of tasks, including finding a new job
• Like it or not, job candidates will check out your firm online and draw conclusions
• It is arguably the least expensive form of recruiting

 
These reasons and others are driving more professional services firms to use online recruiting. The chart below, taken from our recent study of online marketing for professional services firms, shows that about 55% of firms recruit at least some employees online.

 
Further, about one in four firms gets 40% or more of its hires online. Clearly, something is working here.

Let’s take a closer look at the seven steps involved in developing an online recruitment strategy:

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