what 

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Marketing for Leads
How to Get New Business to Come to You

So how well is your marketing working? Few technical consulting and design firms can answer that question with any certainty. Some pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into activities to promote and position their firm in the marketplace, but can produce little evidence that the investment is paying off. Others choose not to spend much at all on marketing, concluding that the apparent benefits fail to justify greater expenditures.

The problem starts with low expectations. Most firms in our industry seem to think that marketing, while helpful in raising their visibility, shouldn't be expected to produce measurable results. They believe it brings intangible benefits such as better name recognition and a stronger reputation. But they don't really expect it to generate new business.

I'm convinced that effective marketing produces a very tangible outcome—clients call you. Companies in other industries who spend millions on advertising and promotion don't do it in pursuit of some nebulous goal such as "better name recognition." They have long recognized that good marketing brings customers to their door. It directly generates sales opportunities. So why should we expect less in our business? Because it doesn't work the same in professional services? Or because we don't market effectively? I believe it's the latter.

First, Let's Define Terms 

Before we go further, I need to clarify what I mean by marketing. In our business we commonly use the term "marketing" as a euphemism for sales. I suspect that's because many of us are uncomfortable with the concept of selling, so we call it marketing to make it seem more palatable. But marketing and sales are two distinct, yet complementary, activities:

• Marketing is the indirect client contact that drives prospective clients to your door. This includes activities such as publishing, speaking, direct mail, advertising, and public relations. The primary goal is to gain the client's interest.

• Sales is the direct client contact that pulls prospective clients through your door. This includes activities such as sales calls, sales presentations, proposals, and negotiations. The primary goal is to gain the client's commitment.

Marketing sets the stage for sales. It helps build your reputation, define your brand, and create a comfort level by making you a known entity. Marketing also incorporates the research and planning that enables you to determine what markets and clients you should be pursuing.

The Key: Serve the Client

Probably the biggest shortcoming in the way most firms market is the characteristic self-serving focus. "Look at us!" the succession of glossy brochures, project briefs, newsletters, and website copy scream. This all-too-common strategy seems to ignore the obvious: Clients don't see significant differences between firms and aren't interested in the hype. So even the flashiest marketing materials are mostly ignored.

A better approach is to concentrate most of your marketing efforts on serving existing and prospective clients with helpful information and insights. You don't need to tell people how qualified your firm is; demonstrate it. Create "stealth" marketing materials that, rather than focus on your firm, provide content that clients want to read. I can tell you from experience, that marketing from a service-centered perspective generates leads. Prospective clients will call you.

Here's some successful approaches that I'm personally familiar with: 

u Create a newsletter that has news clients care about. Forget news about your firm; only your most loyal clients are interested. Instead assemble an editorial board, made up of both internal and external experts, to help you identify the topics that matter most to clients. Write articles that cover emerging trends, new regulations, best practices, innovative solutions, and expert insights.

Don't limit yourself just to those issues or projects your firm has worked on. In fact, even where you have experience, avoid the show-and-tell approach that plagues many newsletters created by firms in our business. If sharing a case study, it's better to talk about what your client did than what your firm did. Other clients identify with their peers, and self-promotion only detracts from the value of the information. It will be evident that your firm had a key role without that being the centerpiece of your case history.

What medium is best for your newsletter? Readers are divided over whether print or electronic is preferred. So I'm inclined to lean toward electronic since it's cheaper and more convenient to distribute. A tremendous advantage of email-based newsletters like this one is the ability to link to the incredible wealth of internet content. In fact, you don't necessarily have to do any writing, although I think it's best to demonstrate your expertise by creating at least some of your own content. 

u Place articles in the publications your clients read. Who are the most notable experts in your field? Well, they're not necessarily the smartest or most accomplished, but those who market themselves best. They get published. You can do the same. Target a few key magazines, journals, and external newsletters that your clients read and set a goal for getting a certain number of articles published over the next year. Draw on the same topics that your editorial board identified for your newsletter—in fact, you can often use the same articles!

u Hire a writer to keep the content flowing. I recommend a contract writer rather than a staff position, unless your firm is large enough to absorb the overhead. The best people for this job are often former reporters. They know how to do the research, interview the experts, cover a wide range of topics, and complete the work efficiently. Their rates are often quite affordable. Some even have good contacts with the publications you want to place articles with.

If you rely on your technical experts to write articles...well, you know how well that usually works. Most are too busy and often are lousy writers. A better approach is to have your professional writer interview your expert, add some additional research, and create a draft for the expert to review and revise. The published article should bear the name of both your expert and the writer.

I've found that having a writer on board to produce articles for your newsletter, magazines and journals, and other assignments is the best way to publish regularly. And that's key to making a name for yourself and your firm.

u Pursue regular speaking engagements. If you attend conferences and trade shows with any regularity, you undoubtedly know of a few speakers who routinely show up on the program. That recognition is gold for them in terms of developing new business. While I'm hardly a well-known speaker in our industry circles (yet), about 80% of my new clients have come through speaking engagements. It's one of the better ways to market your firm while providing information and insights that clients value.

Unfortunately, unlike writing articles, you can't have someone "ghost speak" for the colleague who lacks either the time or the talent to do it himself. You have to pick among your better speakers, get a commitment, help them prepare the content, and coach them when necessary. The selling point? Public speaking is not only good for the firm, it also elevates their personal profile among clients and their peers. It's worth the investment of time!

By the way, I recommend getting on the program of every conference and trade show where your firm will be exhibiting. I've found that your success at enticing new clients at trade shows increases substantially when you speak (especially when the speaker is made available at your booth afterwards for follow-up questions and discussion). For more insights into maximizing your participation in trade shows, see the article "Getting the Most Out of Trade Shows." 

u Provide free online seminars for clients. While virtual seminars will never replace the real thing, they are becoming increasingly popular. They are affordable (especially when free!) and convenient. But they often lack the interaction that helps make onsite seminars more effective. I suggest using a service that provides telephone conferencing—in conjunction with transmitting visual content via the web—so that participants can converse with you and other participants. Having done a few one-way "webinars" myself, I'm not sure they're even as effective as a simple conference call with participants clicking through the PowerPoint slides themselves. (If you want a really affordable way to do the latter, look into telephone bridge services.)

Keys to doing an effective online seminar? Choose an appropriate topic—one that will not only attract interest but lends itself to being conveyed in this format. Avoid complex or potentially controversial subjects that are better handled in a face-to-face setting where ample discussion is important. Don't try to cover too much content (a problem I tend to have). You should pick only your firm's better speakers for online presentations. I've found that participants tend to be much more critical of your vocal delivery when they can't see you.

u Sponsor a best practices roundtable. My former employer, an environmental consulting firm, had success with an annual roundtable for their clients. They invited a select group to meet together over a couple of days to discuss best practices for corporate environmental management. A consultant who had done extensive benchmarking was brought in to facilitate the meeting and share his findings. Participants also valued being able to meet and share ideas with their peers from other companies. 

This kind of event is obviously a substantial undertaking, but it can pay substantial dividends if executed well. It further establishes your firm's reputation as a leader in your field and committed to helping your clients succeed.

u Provide a client-oriented resource website. You may assume that clients visit your website to learn more about your firm, but research conducted by PSMJ found that only 6% of all visitors to the average A/E firm website are clients or potential clients. If you want your website to really support your marketing efforts, you'll have to offer content that clients care about, not the usual promotional hype.

As marketing director for the aforementioned environmental firm, I helped launch a site called EHS Gateway, which was designed to connect visitors to the best resources on the internet for environmental managers. The site attracted quite a bit of use from clients, regulators, and other consultants. Of course, it included a link to our corporate website, which provided other resources such as articles and white papers.

Obviously, properly maintaining a site like EHS Gateway is labor intensive. We addressed this challenge in part by hiring college interns to do most of the legwork, which was an affordable option. Still, EHS Gateway proved to be more of a commitment than the firm was willing to make over the long term and the site was eventually taken down. But there are less ambitious yet still helpful alternatives that you might consider.

My own website (www.bizedge.biz) doesn't generate a lot of traffic yet but is still a useful marketing tool. I often refer clients and prospects there for a particular article or link. The Consultant's Toolbox, which contains various forms and templates, is especially popular. If I can maintain such a site on my own, surely it's an option worth considering for your firm.

Undoubtedly, you can think of other service-centered marketing strategies beyond the ones described above. The important thing is to create content and activities that clients will value. Don't tell them about your expertise and experience; demonstrate it in various ways designed to help clients. That's the best possible marketing, and a sure way to help bring new business to your door.

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