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| Feature
Article | Outsourcing
Marketing: Can it Work in Professional Services? |
A March 2005 article in the Harvard
Business Review discussed the rise of outsourcing of the
marketing function. Citing data from Forrester Research, the
article said more companies than ever are farming out parts
of their marketing operations and analytics to marketing specialists.
In fact, 53 percent of B2B marketing executives plan to outsource
more than half of their marketing activities. The article raises several interesting points, not the least
of which is the contention that many recent marketing outsourcing
arrangements are driven by companies’ desire to build greater “left-brain
marketing expertise”—i.e., skills that, the authors
contend, are in short supply in departments populated by “creative
types” trained in the art, rather than science, of marketing. While we agree with this point, we wouldn’t necessarily
limit outsourcing to left-brain activities. In fact, we’ve
seen examples of how professional services firms have benefited
greatly by outsourcing certain aspects of intellectual capital
development—arguably one of the most creative exercises
in a professional services firm—as well as marketing planning
and execution. To read more about how some professional services organizations
are benefiting from the outsourcing of key “right-brain” activities
as well as more traditional marketing activities, download the full article by Bloom Group Founding Partner Bernie Thiel here.
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| Industry
Insight | How Clients Are Forcing Consulting Firms
to Focus: An Interview
with Consulting Industry Authority Fiona Czerniawska |
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Fiona Czerniawska is an
authority on the consulting business. Since 1997, she has
written six books (including Value-Based
Consulting, Management
Consultancy in the 21st Century, Management
Consultancy: What Next? and The
Intelligent Client), numerous articles and
several research reports on |
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the industry.
Her work has explored how consulting firms organize their businesses,
determine their strategies, generate awareness and leads, recruit
talent, create new services,
and deliver advice. |
She
is one of the industry’s biggest proponents—and
critics. Her well-researched views on how the best consulting
firms deliver significant client value, retain their best people,
articulate what they do, and attract clients and new employees
provide strong and necessary lessons for an industry that lived
a decade of tumultuous times.
In June, she talked to Bloom Group co-founder Bob Buday about
her latest book, Business Consulting: A Guide to How it Works
and How to Make It Work, which she wrote with Gilbert Toppin,
an independent consultant who most recently was chief operating
officer for European consulting at Deloitte. Read the full interview here.
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| New
Team Member | Sam N. Brown Joins The Bloom Group |
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The Bloom Group is
pleased to announce the hiring of Sam
N. Brown as an associate
consultant in our Cleveland office. Sam has 10 years of experience
developing strategy on both the ad agency and client sides
of the marketing business. He has built and executed marketing
plans within a wide range of |
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industries, from paper
manufacturing to insurance to software development. |
Prior to joining The Bloom Group, Sam was an account executive
at Howard, Merrell & Partners, an advertising agency in
Raleigh, North Carolina.
At The Bloom Group, Sam will be responsible for overseeing
the firm’s marketing activities as well as working on
a wide range of market positioning, intellectual capital development
and marketing communications projects for clients.
Sam is a 2005 graduate of the Weatherhead School of Management
at Case Western Reserve University, where he earned an MBA with
a concentration in marketing, and a 1996 graduate of the University
of Virginia.
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Now
Available | The Best of Thoughts
on Thought Leadership |
Due to popular demand, all of The
Bloom Group’s lead articles published in past issues of
Thoughts on Thought Leadership are now available in a single
document. This 40-page booklet, which was recently mailed to
all subscribers to Thoughts on Thought Leadership, features
articles on the critical aspects of creating demand in a professional
services environment, including:
:. The importance of case study
research in developing superior intellectual capital
:. The seven elements of a compelling point of view :. Using surveys to generate market demand :. Generating awareness through public relations :. Creating a winning sales deck The booklet is free, but supplies are limited. If you haven’t
received your copy, or if you want additional copies for your
management team, please send an e-mail to Bernie Thiel at bthiel@bloomgroup.com
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| Opportunity
| Participate in Research for an Upcoming Consulting Book |
Two colleagues of
The Bloom Group — Fiona Czerniawska and Sarah Taylor — are
conducting research for their forthcoming book on management
consulting. As part of that research, they are conducting a confidential
survey on the consultant-client relationship — specifically
the implications of culture and of the use of methodologies. If you would like to take this 10-minute online survey, please
click here. Participants will be entitled to view the results of
the survey and receive a summary report of the survey findings.
Fiona Czerniawska — the subject of The Bloom Group’s
Q&A this quarter — is director of the Management Consulting
Association’s (MCA) Think Tank and the founder of Arkimeda,
a firm specializing in researching and consulting to the consulting
industry. Fiona is also a program director at London Business
School's Centre for Management Development. Sarah Taylor is director
of the MCA, and has been actively involved in the management
and promotion of both industry bodies and consulting firms.
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| Spread the Word |
The Bloom Group,
based in Cleveland and Boston, specializes in the marketing of
professional services firms by helping to determine clients’ best
growth opportunities, creating integrated sales and marketing
plans, developing robust intellectual capital, and executing
critical marketing programs that build awareness and client relations.
The Bloom Group’s services include market positioning,
marketing strategy, thought leadership research and development,
and marketing communications. For more information, send an e-mail
with your inquiry to info@bloomgroup.com or
visit us on the Web at www.bloomgroup.com.
Feel free to pass along this newletter to those who you think
would be interested in it.
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