Feature
| From Electronic Brochure to Online Lead Generator: Powering Up the Professional Services Website
The vast majority of professional services websites are ineffective electronic brochures—static online publications that don’t let prospects easily understand firms' deep expertise. But by organizing their websites by the client problems they solve and demonstrating their deep expertise for solving them, a number of professional services firms have been using the Web to accelerate their lead streams.
In this article, The Bloom Group's Edwin Hastings and Bob Buday discuss the results of a recent Bloom Group study of professional services websites, including those of the largest consulting, law, IT services and accounting firms. Hastings and Buday explore the strengths and weaknesses of these websites, and then specify the steps for transforming any professional services website into a lead-generation machine.
To read more, download the full article here.
Industry Insight
| The Current State of Legal Marketing: An Interview with Susan J. Brelus, Chief Development Officer, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey
In
recent years, the legal profession—like the consulting industry 15 years
ago—has recognized the value of and need for marketing. Law firms
everywhere are rapidly building marketing functions and developing demand-generation
capabilities that just five or so years ago were difficult to find at all but
the largest firms.
One of those large firms is Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P., a multi-jurisdictional law firm with approximately 800 lawyers practicing in offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Founded in Cleveland in 1890, Squire Sanders has become one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing law firms. It also is on the leading edge of marketing in the profession, and can be seen as a role model for other law firms looking to create a more formal marketing discipline.
The driving force behind Squire Sanders’ marketing initiatives is Sue Brelus, chief development officer. From the firm’s Cleveland headquarters, Brelus directs a staff of marketing professionals who support Squire Sanders’ four major practice areas, numerous other areas of specialization, and 29 offices worldwide.
Brelus recently spoke with Bernie Thiel, a founding partner of The Bloom Group, about how marketing has changed in the legal world and in Squire Sanders, as well as the importance of thought leadership in a profession known for intellectual rigor and the art of constructing strong arguments.
Read the full interview here.
DiamondCluster, a $200 million management consulting firm, wanted to boost
its lead stream and raise awareness of its service offerings, and recognized
that achieving thought leadership would be an effective way to do so. One
of its services involved helping financial services companies optimize revenue
from payments. Having witnessed the radical changes occurring in the payments
market, DiamondCluster hired The Bloom Group to help develop a unique, compelling
point of view on the subject, as well as an integrated marketing and public relations
plan to bring the point of view to target executives.
The results? Approximately 150 requests for the study, placement of bylined articles about the point of view in nine target publications, and six in-depth conversations with prospects. Over the course of 2005, DiamondCluster sold three major consulting projects as a direct result of the insights in its point of view, and those insights continue to be a major magnet for prospects. DiamondCluster's experience clearly demonstrates how compelling intellectual capital can play a pivotal role in business development.
Click here to read more.
The Bloom Group recently polled management consulting, law and accounting firms on the effectiveness and functionality of their websites. While the majority of respondents believed that their websites are more effective than publications, they also indicated that websites are less effective as a marketing tool than seminars, telemarketing and PR. Also, while the majority of respondents described their websites as relatively less effective than other marketing activities five years ago, most (94%) also believed their websites will either be as effective as or more effective than other marketing vehicles five years from now. How they hope to achieve this goal is less clear.
For The Bloom Group’s perspective on how to make your website a more effective marketing tool that helps you generate new business, click here.
On February 7, Bob Buday, founding partner of The Bloom Group, moderated a panel of senior marketing officers from leading professional services firms. Panelists included Terrie Perella, national marketing director of Deloitte Services LP; Anne Malloy Tucker, chief marketing officer of Goodwin Procter LLP; and Robert Baginski, global director of integrated marketing-business consulting at Accenture. The session was sponsored by the PM Forum, a 4,000 member association dedicated to raising the standards of professional services marketing and to enhancing the credibility of marketers working in professional service firms worldwide.
Read some of the insights shared at the session here.
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.
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