“Why should we bother with social media?” We frequently hear professional services firms repeating some version of this question, but neglecting social media for B2B is a mistake. For B2B, social media is a professional workhorse that can play a wide variety of roles.

The 5 Roles of B2B Social Media

1. The Cocktail Party
Social media’s original intended role, as an online networking system, is still important for professional marketing firms. Treat Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook as an online cocktail party—a way to meet new people and develop important business and client relationships—but without the hangover. And, just like a cocktail party, social media is highly reciprocal. People expect replies to their tweets, comments, and questions, and there is an expectation that you will share other people’s content as well as your own.

2. Content Promotion
Social media is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to promote your firm’s content. Creating a B2B social media marketing strategy to promote your content via different channels will help build your reputation and visibility—i.e., your brand.  

• Twitter – Twitter functions as an industry-specific micro-blog community, so it’s a natural fit for blog posts and company updates. Twitter offers an easy way to promote your company’s blog posts, news, and ebooks by creating links to articles, with short taglines describing their importance.
   
• LinkedIn – LinkedIn offers a number of options for content promotion. Use your corporate LinkedIn page to post blog posts, e-books, and promotions, and join industry groups where you can contribute to the discussion, using your content to educate consumers and peers. Free apps that automatically post your blog posts to your LinkedIn profile make it even easier.
   

A word of warning on content promotion, though—it’s important not to overdo self-promotion. Social media is very reciprocal, and you need to balance self-promotion with the sharing of important content created by other industry thought leaders. At Hinge, we’ve modified the idea of balance offered by content marketing guru Joe Pulizzi. For professional services, remember the 4-1 rule: share 4 articles from other sources to every 1 self-produced article or offer.
 
3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Social media has become a valuable way to boost SEO, since search engines are using social media popularity as another way to gauge a page’s authority. When a certain page is shared or “liked” on social media, the authority of that page is being reinforced. So boosting your social media presence should also help your page rank. Another hidden benefit of social media is that its content is searchable—at least for Twitter and LinkedIn. That means that your tweet, linking back to your website’s blog, can be found by someone doing a simple Google search—a free opportunity to gain website traffic.

4.  Research
Social media is a great way to do research. Before you meet with a new client, interview someone for a case study, or hire a new employee, you should check out their social media streams. Regardless of whether it is a corporation or an individual, you will learn a lot about their personality, authority, reputation, and visibility. Social media is also an easy way to research and engage with the competition, keeping you abreast of their initiatives and, perhaps, allowing for advantageous collaboration.  

5. Recruiting
Social media is a natural recruitment tool, whether it be finding new employees or seeking out business partners. LinkedIn lets you post highly targeted jobs focusing on users with certain résumé attributes, and provides real-time analytics showing, among other things, who has viewed the post. Twitter, as a highly industry-specific community, offers great opportunity to engage with other industry thought leaders. In this way, Twitter becomes a valuable tool for gaining knowledge, having questions answered, and building business partnerships within the industry.

Social Media Gains Our Respect

For B2B, social media has gained our respect in its ability to play a variety of roles. Like other channels, social media works best when you have a deliberate utilization strategy in place, and someone dedicated to fostering the relationships that will naturally take place. We recommend that you give it consideration in your content marketing and brand building strategy.

For tips on incorporating a B2B social media strategy, check out our LinkedIn Guide for Professional Service Executives below.

When conducting market research for your professional services firm, there are several methods from which to choose.  Which methods are right for your firm will depend on your situation and specific goals.  In any case, if you want to paint the clearest picture of your marketplace and your brand, you’ll likely need to undertake both secondary and primary research as part of your market research process. Let’s take a look at what you can accomplish with these two forms of research and why each is necessary. 

Understanding Your Market with Secondary Research

Secondary research is the synthesis of existing research. Instead to conducting surveys or interviews yourself, you are searching informational resources (like the Internet) and compiling the data in order to tell a story.  This type of research can come in many forms, including:

• Searching Google
• Visiting your local business library and using their databases
• Reading books and articles
• Working with a research firm

Conducting market research in this fashion is hugely important for understanding your competitive landscape, market size, and target clients.  It allows you to be fully aware of the market in which you are competing.  Without this information, you will be making decisions in a bubble. 

For example, let’s say you are thinking of introducing a new type of consulting service offering. You have a hunch that clients will want this service but you don’t know for sure.  Secondary research will help you understand how many people are searching for this service in Google, whether this type of offering is trending upward or downward in demand, and how much competitors are charging. Without this information how could you responsibly make a decision?

The following are common types of data that professional services firms collect during the secondary research process:

• Market trends around demand for specific services and industries
• Insights on which niches are saturated and which are open
• Sizing of industries and niches in terms of revenue and number of consumers
• Data on social media and search engine activity within certain industries
• Data on which marketing methods are resonating with clients within certain industries

After putting time into getting to know your market landscape, you should feel more comfortable making decisions about your brand and how it fits into the big picture.  Primary research will then help to inform the specifics of your brand’s position.

Developing Your Brand with Primary Research

While secondary research is important for setting the stage in the market research process, primary research is where you’ll really discover the DNA of your firm’s brand.  In primary research, you are collecting data directly from your clients, prospects, and other stakeholders by way of interviews, surveys, and focus groups. 

As a business owner or marketing executive, you likely have a good idea of how your firm is different from competitors and what sets you apart in the marketplace.  However, there’s a good chance your perception of the brand is pretty different from how the rest of the world sees you.  Conducting custom research is the most effective way of understanding your brand’s perception, both externally and internally within your company. Evaluating how those internal and external perceptions align (or don’t) is a key step in figuring out what your firm is and should be known for.

When doing primary research on your brand, look to capture the following kinds of data:

• How your clients, prospects, and got-aways (prospects that didn’t choose your firm) perceive your brand
• What these same people believe to be important in a service provider
• Who people believe to be your competitors
• The key benefits that your firm offers over competitors
• How people found out about your brand
• How people prefer to receive marketing information (i.e. email newsletter vs. a telephone call)

Talking directly to the people that have interacted with your brand in some way is a proven way of understanding who you are as a firm.  Your unique selling points will become very clear after receiving direct feedback and your position in the marketplace will begin to take shape. 

Putting it All Together

A combination of secondary and primary research will allow your firm to both understand the landscape you live in and also determine how your brand fits into the scheme of things.  Without either type of research, your decision making process is going to be much tougher.  Avoid making assumptions and guessing what the market is like and how your brand is being perceived.  Spend the time up front working through a thorough, well-rounded market research process and you will make better decisions and market your company more effectively.

To learn more about research for professional services firms, download our free guide below.

Valuable content written? Check. 

Content optimized for search engines? Check.

Now it’s time to sit back and let the traffic roll in. Right? No!  Just because you have a worthy site doesn’t mean people are going to find it right away.  It’s your job to proactively connect your site to the rest of the world. 

Your website right now lives on a quiet country road.  You are in the middle of nowhere and besides your own employees, nobody knows your site exists.  Living in the country is great if you’re looking for peace and quiet, but that’s not what you want.  You are looking to turn that country road into a super highway with constant traffic.  It’s time to open your website up to the rest of the world. 

Using Social Media to Bring Your Website to Life

Social sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest have one important thing you don’t: people.  Lots and lots of people.  By finding ways to connect with niches on these sites, your firm can tap into new visibility.  Each of these channels is another opportunity to cross link your website and generate new visitors. 

Which social networks are right for your firm depends on where your audience is hanging out online.  If you’re in professional services, there is a high probability that your target clients have a presence on LinkedIn.  But Twitter, Facebook, and other highly trafficked sites can lead to new eyeballs as well.  There are also niche social sites such as GovLoop in the Government space or Houzz in the home construction space.  Find out where your prospects are communicating online and connect that network to your website. 

When building out your lead generating website, here are three methods for incorporating social media elements into your design:

1. Social Media Icons – Having social media icons at the header and/or footer of your web pages allows visitors to connect with your social profiles whenever they want.  Link these icons to your company social media pages. Often visitors will click through the icons, connect with you on the social sites, and then receive your updates moving forward.
 

2. Social Sharing Buttons – On blog posts include buttons that allow readers to easily share your content in social networks.  This will increase the chances of a visitor alerting his or her network of a valuable piece and introduce your content to new viewers.  Typically these buttons include counters that allow readers to know how many shares a content piece has received.

3. Social Calls to Action – Instead of just icons, take it a step further and entice people to join your networks.  Give them a reason to click through and connect.  Here are a few examples:

• Like Us on Facebook for exclusive content
• Follow Us on Twitter for our tip of the day
• Join our special group on LinkedIn!

Once these social networks have been integrated into your lead generating website, visitors will be able to connect with you via a number of different channels. But for social media to truly benefit your firm and drive significant new web traffic, you must go out and engage on these networks. 

On a regular basis, interact in the appropriate niche groups within each network, share your expertise, and develop connections.  Just like a real networking event, the point isn’t only to promote your company.  It is to create relationships, add value using your knowledge, and when appropriate link back to blog posts and other relevant content.  As you do this, your once quiet website will begin to feel alive and noticed. 

For more tips on incorporating social media into your lead generating website, check out our Lead Generating Website Guide.

If there is such a thing as marketing dogma in professional services, it is that cultivating personal relationships is the best way to market. “It’s all about relationships” is the battle cry.

The influence of this belief is pervasive. Many, perhaps even most, marketing budgets are built around networking opportunities and personal contact. Golf outing, anyone?

But is it true? Is developing personal relationships the best way to market professional services?

Reputation vs. Relationship

As it turns out, there is an answer to this question. We recently conducted a major study of professional services buyers (Buyers) and the professionals who sold services to them (Sellers). The 822 Buyers were matched with 533 Sellers to allow us to look at both sides of the relationship.

As part of the study we asked both Buyers and Sellers to identify the best way to market professional services to the Buyers. The results were both clear and compelling.

Reputation Trumps Relationship

Figure 1 tells the story. By a wide margin (47% vs. 27%), professional services Buyers identified developing a reputation for producing results as the best approach and more effective than developing a personal relationship with them.
 

Figure 1. Best Way to Market as Identified by Buyers and Sellers

The view of the Sellers is also very revealing. While their view of the value of a personal relationship was quite similar to that of the Buyers (25% vs. 27%), there was a big perception gap around the value of reputation marketing. Buyers were over 3X more likely to cite reputation than were Sellers (47% vs.14%).

The dominance of reputation over relationship doesn’t stop there. We also looked at what factors tipped the scale in the final selection of the services provider. Here again reputation more often proved to be the deciding factor, albeit by a smaller margin (21% vs. 18%).

Why Reputation Marketing Matters

Why is reputation so important for professional services? On one level it is quite simple. Put yourself in the Buyers' shoes.

You have an important challenge facing your organization and you need professional help to solve it. You have narrowed down potential vendors to two firms. One is well known as being the best in the business at solving that very problem. The other is one with which you have a good personal relationship with one of the partners but they have no reputation for solving your important challenge. Which firm would you choose?

In most cases Buyers have no direct way to assess the competency of a firm. They are compelled to rely on indirect indicators, such as reputation.

Perhaps your golfing buddy could solve your problem. But are you willing to take the risk? What if you are wrong?

Unseating an Incumbent

One of the biggest challenges facing a professional services business developer is how to unseat an entrenched incumbent. It is usually very difficult to overcome the familiarity and trust established in an existing relationship.

But the data points to a possible approach. Of all the potential marketing approaches, developing a reputation for producing results is the most likely to be successful.

No wonder reputation marketing is gaining so much favor.

Do Relationships Still Matter?

Of course they do. After you develop a reputation for producing results your personal relationships are the next most important criteria for the final selection. And in some specific circumstances your personal relationship may well be more important.

The point is not to ignore relationship development. Rather it is to recognize the value that reputation marketing can play in the overall mix.

Remember that your reputation and your visibility are the essence of your brand. The new research gives a clear indication of just how important that brand can be in developing new business.

When Google+ first launched as a social network, those who were brave enough to venture beyond LinkedIn were virtually overwhelmed by amazing features that Google+ had to offer – all in one social networking site.

As of March 2013, the awesome Google+ features are even more attractive to the professional community through Google+ Pages. Google+ Pages is something that businesses and professionals should get excited about. The tools and features that Google+ offers are not only engaging and easy to use, but they are powerful marketing and lead generation tools as well.

Circles

The first exciting feature that Google+ users interact with are Circles. Circles give you the ability to segment your connections and audiences. For everyone involved in marketing a business, this tool is incredibly powerful. Google+ has given everyone the ability to tailor messages to a specific audience with incredible ease.

This level of audience segmentation opens the doors to creating specific communication strategies for every type of connection you might have. For instance, you might want to share a project portfolio with your clients, but you would rather send your premium content to potential prospects. This can be accomplished very easily by creating different circles for each target group.

Communities

Many of the Google+ features are similar to other social networks and Google+ Communities have a great deal in common with LinkedIn Groups. Communities allow you to join other Google+ users in discussions around specific topics that are interesting to you. They are a great way to share content and build connections. Google+ users tend to be active and willing to participate in discussions and are eager to make those connections.

One advantage that the Google+ Communities has over LinkedIn Groups is usability. The Google+ interface is incredibly user friendly, which means finding new communities to join is simple. Google+ will also suggest other communities that relate to your interests. Communities provide Google+ users with the potential to actively increase their social influence and share their content to a broader audience.

Photos

Photo sharing is one of the most popular activities in social media. This is a Google+ feature that truly sets the social network apart. On the personal side, there is great attraction Instagram because it’s easy to use and users can apply a cool filter effect to photos. Google+ lets you edit photos directly in Google+ before posting them.

This provides an interesting opportunity to professionals who share photos. The Google+ app can link directly with the photos you take on your phone as well, enabling users to instantly share images with their network away from their computers. The Photo feature of Google+ gives you an added edge in social media by sharing great looking photos and showcasing your personality. In particular, the use of Instagram can be useful in projecting a professional services firm’s culture.

Events

Corporate events, speaking engagements, and trade shows are all important parts of a marketing plan. Google+ Events makes it very easy to share events online in a really cool way. It is a great feature where you can post your upcoming events on Google+ and notify your various circles about the events they might be interested in.

But the best part of Events is how they can take an event and maximize its social benefit. Other users can join your event in Google+ and post pictures from the event to that event page. For instance, you could run a promotion from a trade show that would reward the best picture from the event that was shared. This allows you to boost engagement and increase your social visibility.

Events has the potential to showcase a professional event in the social networking world, reaching a far greater audience than would be possible otherwise.

Hangouts

Probably the most impactful tool in the Google+ arsenal is Hangouts. Google+ is the only social network that has live video conferencing, a free tool through Google+ Hangouts. This is a truly fantastic feature for professionals to connect with clients, prospects, and partners.

You can use Hangouts for anything from a regular conversation to a full presentation with screen sharing. Using Google Drive, you can open and review documents live in Hangouts. Hangouts are also recordable and can be posted directly to YouTube. As an example, a savvy professional could use Hangouts to create a series of client testimonials or even a webinar presenting their latest research findings.

Many recognized thought leaders and celebrities use Hangouts to facilitate a live conversation or interview, which is recorded and then posted. The applications for free video conferencing through social media are truly only limited by your creativity. Take advantage of the fun effects that will make your hangout entertaining with added personality.

While there is a huge novelty factor associated with this platform, determining which aspects of Google+ are most suited to your firm’s outreach goals is critical. Google+ features many different and powerful tools that can provide a significant benefit to a firm’s social media strategy. The features and tools provided by Google+ are enough to warrant its inclusion into every professional service’s social media strategy.

For tips on social media networking, check out our Online Lead Generation Guide.

A primary characteristic that sets a lead generating website apart from a typical branded website is the type and quality of the content.  Nearly all professional services websites include written content about the company—home page, about page, services pages, etc.  But the lead generating website does not stop there.  It attracts targeted visitors with an extensive library of educational content, as discussed in our Lead Generating Website Guide.  

Consistently publishing value-packed articles and other useful content pieces positions the firm as a thought leader and also acts as a magnet for drawing in prospects.  As the content is published to the site, it may likely be found via search engines or social media sites by your targeted readers. Instead of going out into the market and advertising, your firm sits back and allows prospects to find you through your thought leadership. 

Content Options for Your Firm

Educational content can come in many shapes and forms.  Let’s take a look at a few popular formats used by professional services firms today.

Blog Posts – Short, sweet, and easily digestible, blog posts are a favorite in the B2B world because of their brevity.  Firms will publish posts on a weekly basis and use them as bait for new web visitors. Great as ammunition in social media groups and ideal for indexing in search engines, blog posts are a key part of most libraries. 

Guides/Kits – 10 – 30 page downloadable PDF documents that resemble short ebooks, guides or kits require more effort than blog posts.  Usually these pieces are designed professionally and focus on a hot topic (like lead generating websites!).  The main purpose of guides or kits is to secure leads by having visitors fill out a web form.

Research Studies – Also a downloadable PDF, a research study is meant to show your visitors that your firm knows what it’s doing.  By collecting market data, drawing insights, and presenting your findings in an easy to absorb format, you are positioning your firm as a primary source for inside knowledge.  Research studies are also useful because they can be broken down into smaller content pieces such as blog posts and infographics. 

Books/Ebooks – If you want to be viewed as an expert, write a book.  Whether it’s hard copy or electronic, having a longer format piece (50+ pages) that is professionally designed and edited is an instant credibility builder.  Books are often sold on Amazon (another revenue stream for you) but often firms will give e-versions away for free in exchange for an email address.  This is a proven lead generation technique. 

Webinars – A seminar conducted over the internet, these hour-long presentations are perfect for both generating leads and nurturing existing prospects.  Webinars have the visibility benefits of a live speaking event without the hassle of travelling and spending an entire day at an event.  They also present a good opportunity for partnerships if you can find another firm that compliments yours. 

White Papers – These technical content pieces are long articles that focus on a specific topic area.  Although a bit outdated in some industries, white papers are still very appealing to certain audiences, such as technology and government contracting.  Similar to guides and kits, white papers can be used to generate leads through web form fills. 

e-Newsletters – Although newsletters have been around long before the digital age, their meaning has evolved.  Long, drawn out letters describing the state of the firm is not what readers are looking for now.  Instead, use an e-newsletter to offer educational information on a monthly basis.  This is often done simply by linking to your best blog posts, webinars, or other content pieces on your website. 

Videos – As technology rapidly improves, so does the use of online video.  There are many uses of this content format including case studies, company overviews, service descriptions, or weekly blog posts.  Having a videos section in your library is becoming standard for professional services firms today. 

Which Content is Right for Your Firm?

Which content formats you choose to publish to your site will depend largely on two factors:

1. Resources – Some content formats are easier to produce than others.  If you are short on time and cash, focus on writing blog posts and sending out e-newsletters.  When your capabilities pick up, consider exploring a guide, book, or webinar series. 
    
2. Audience – What you produce is dependent also on who you are marketing to. How does your audience prefer to consume content? Are they old-fashioned and prefer a hard copy book in their hands? Or maybe they only have time to check a quick email once per month.  You won’t find these answers right off the bat, but after experimenting and talking to your audience members, you’ll develop a unique set of formats that work for your readers. 

Whatever content formats you choose, make sure you have a combination of shorter-form and longer-form types.  Short, flowing content that is published often (like blog posts) is essential for drawing in traffic on a weekly basis.  Longer downloadable content (like guides) is key for enticing action and generating leads.  If you have these two basic fundamentals covered, your content marketing should provide a sustainable flow of both traffic and leads. 

To learn all that you need to know about creating a lead generating website, download our Lead Generating Website Guide.

Content marketing is rapidly becoming a "must have" component for professional services firms. This growing acceptance is probably driven by several key considerations:

• It helps firms to better communicate their expertise
• It gives potential clients a feel for how a firm approaches problems
• It provides education and thought leadership
• It helps potential clients find a firm through search engine optimization and social media
• It is a cost-effective way to generate new business leads
   

The net effect of these benefits is that professional services firms that generate at least 40-60% of their leads online grow up to 4X faster and are up to 2X more profitable, according to our recent study of online marketing for professional services.

While many folks are familiar with content marketing as an approach to generate and nurture new business leads, there are other roles that a well-executed content marketing strategy can play in the business development process.  In this post we want to focus on how it can help you with the daunting task of qualifying leads.

Qualifying Leads and Business Development

At first glance it may not be obvious why content marketing is so effective at lead qualification.  After all, most of us think of qualifying leads as a sort of screening function. 

A lead comes in and someone or something (in the case of automated lead scoring algorithms) determines how qualified that lead is.

Often the criteria applied to a fresh lead is meant to gauge how "sales ready" the lead is.  If the lead is qualified (i.e., sales ready), then it is forwarded to a person with business development responsibilities. Typically, about 70% of  new leads fail to meet the criteria for a qualified lead.

The Content Marketing Alternative

There is another way of qualifying leads.  By carefully crafting your firm’s content, you help potential new clients qualify themselves.

In essence, this "self-qualification" is built into content marketing.  If a prospect finds your content of continuing interest, they are likely to be a good match with your firm.  If the content does not appeal to them, they will likely not develop the relationship further.  In a very real sense, this latter category is showing themselves as a poor match (i.e., not a qualified lead).

When you stop and think about it, it makes a lot of sense.  If people are not attracted to the way you solve problems, they are unlikely to be a good fit for your firm.  That’s a pretty sweet deal indeed.

Content Marketing as Lead Qualification

Sadly, this does not happen by accident.  You must be deliberate and mindful when you are developing your content strategy.  Here are five guidelines to keep in mind:

1. Write your content for your target industries. Many topics are relevant to almost any industry.  But just because a topic could apply to all industries doesn’t mean that you should write it for all industries.  You can easily narrow a piece of content to speak specifically to industries that you are targeting. That way, it is more relevant and appealing.
   
   Just as that type of industry-specific tailoring will help you attract appropriate leads, it will also help you screen out leads from non-targeted industries.  The more narrow the targeting, the more powerful the qualifying.
    
2. Target the size of firm you are trying to attract.  An article aimed at solo practitioners can be very different than one aimed at a Fortune 100 firm.  There are many ways to target different sized firms.  The title you choose, the examples you include and the solutions you recommend are all part of targeting by size.
    
3. Target by positions or roles.  An article written for a CEO will have a very different tone and cover different topics than the same content written for an IT professional.  If you don’t have a specific target in mind while writing a piece of content, there is a high probability that the article will attract the wrong (i.e., unqualified) leads. Here again you can be quite explicit about who your content is for.  Well-targeted content attracts the right prospects while screening out the unqualified.
    
4. Communicate your approach and style.  While not quite as obvious as the aforementioned ways of targeting potential clients, this strategy is essential to getting well-qualified clients.  By clearly communicating how to analyze and solve a particular problem, you are telling the prospect what you might do to help them. Those folks who are attracted to the approach you communicate will find your services appealing.  Those who are uncomfortable with your style or approach will select themselves out.
   
   This approach is a bit tricky.  You do not want your content to become an overt marketing piece for your service.  If it is, many potential clients will be turned off.  So you must find a way to communicate your approach without turning it into a commercial.  Not impossible, but it does take some careful writing.
    
5. Focus on the buying stages. Content that is appropriate to the early stage lead (e.g., problem identification) will not resonate with a lead in the final stages (e.g., vendor selection). So you can tell a lot about where a lead is in the process by what type of content they are consuming.
   
   Most content strategies involve developing different content for each stage of the buying process. This approach helps you determine a prospect's level of qualification and how you will respond to them.  I’ve seen many firms falter by trying to close early-stage leads.  It seldom works.  By the same token, ignoring late-stage leads may also decrease the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy. 
    

A Final Thought

The professional services sales process is complex.  It involves developing a trusting relationship as well as offering a complex and expensive service.

Done right, content marketing can build that trust and communicate your expertise. It can also help you focus your precious time on those leads that are the best fit with your firm and at the appropriate stage of the buying process.  Get that part of the strategy right and everything else will be easier. 

Top Professional Services Marketing Content from April 2013

Each month, an enormous amount of content is published on marketing. This monthly column will help you keep up with the best marketing articles on the web. Enjoy!

The Best Tools to Manage Your Next Social Media Campaign

By Jamie Turner, 60 Second Communications via V3

There are nearly as many tools to manage your social media campaigns as there are social media channels! Check out this comprehensive list of 32 of the most important tools out there.

Writing for Websites

By Sharon Tanton, Valuable Content

Does your website copy sound a bit…forced? Use these six quick tips to improve your website’s content. Our favorite? Keep technical language to a minimum!

15 Online Lead Generating Techniques to Spark Your Next Marketing Campaign

By Sean McVey, Hinge Marketing

Hinge’s Director of Online Marketing, Sean McVey, reviews 15 lead generating techniques and answers, “What is this” “Why might I need it,” and “When should I do it?” If you’re starting your online marketing campaign or looking to spruce up your current approach, start with this post!

An Editorial Calendar for Facebook? Absolutely.

By Jason Miller, Marketo

Ever run out of things to tweet or post about? (Hard to imagine, right?) But, it can be challenging to keep your social media audience engaged and the conversation flowing. Jason Miller shares Marketo’s Facebook Content Calendar strategy.

How to Increase Email Click-Through Rates

By Jim Dougherty, Vocus

Your email campaigns may look great – and your open rates may be top notch, but what to do about a low click-through rate? Check out Jim Doughtery’s article on improving your click through rate by reviewing if your content is click-friendly and optimized to deliver the links.

When you think about the number of benefits from Google+ for business, you may wonder why the social network has not caught on more quickly. Google+ is here to stay and it is time for professionals and businesses to start using Google+ as the powerful social networking and marketing tool that it is.

I’ve heard people say that Google+ would fade away, but more than 500 million members are active on Google+. While that number is less than Facebook, it is a significant number that continues to grow. It is also important to remember that Google+ is Google’s social network and they are undoubtedly determined for it to be a success. One way Google is ensuring that it will be successful is by providing so many benefits in Google+ for businesses, in addition to easily connecting with customers and clients.

Google+ Local

If you have a local business or if you want to be found locally, you will want to have a Google+ Local page. Google+ Local has replaced Google Places as the local listing for businesses. Having a Google+ Local page greatly helps businesses to appear in organic search results when a customer or client is searching for something locally. Whether it’s a search for a sandwich shop or a local law or accounting firm, every business should have a Google+ Local page.

Authorship

Authorship is one of the most important benefits of Google+ for businesses, especially if your business has a blog and or a content marketing campaign. Authorship allows you to link your Google+ page to a piece of content that you have written. At first this might not sound like a big deal, but it can significantly help organic search and clickthrough rates.

When you set up authorship, Google will consider the content you produce to be more trustworthy because it has been authenticated by your online profile in Google+. This means that there should be a slight boost in your organic rankings. Your Google+ profile picture will also show up next to your listing in search results. This will differentiate your content from other listings immediately, and has been show to positively effect clickthrough rates in Google’s organic search.

Authorship creates links between your Google+ profile, your company page profile, and the content you produce. These links will increase traffic to your website from Google+ as you begin to build a network and share content in the social network.

Google+ > Facebook + LinkedIn + Twitter

This simple equation really illustrates how businesses benefit from Google+. Google+ incorporates important elements and benefits from the major social networks. Hashtags are used to track trends and mentions are used to communicate directly with another user, similarly to Twitter. Google+ has a built in photo editor so that you can edit photos before you share them (an improvement to Facebook’s photo capabilities). The communities in Google+ operate much like the groups in LinkedIn, allowing users to share articles and start discussions.

The benefits of Google+ for business make the social network impossible to ignore. You can give your business an advantage in organic search results by setting up a business page and devoting some time to be active in the network. There are plenty of reasons to use Google+ for businesses alone. And if you enjoy using social media yourself, give Google+ a try. I promise you will not be disappointed.

There are many reasons why a professional services firm might consider rebranding. Most of them are firmly rooted in a need to reposition the firm in the marketplace. 

It could be as simple as the merger of two firms or as complex as a major shift in target clients or business strategy. But whatever the reason, a firm eventually faces the question of how to rebrand in a way that yields the desired business result.

That is what we are going to cover. What is the right strategy to rebrand your professional services firm? (For a more in-depth exploration of these issues, download our professional services rebranding kit.)

1. Start With the Business Reason. Any rebranding strategy should start with a thorough understanding of the business reason behind the rebranding. Is it driven by a need to accelerate growth? Does your firm need to compete with larger, more established competitors?

Some of these business cases are very easy to make, such as a merger of two firms. Others are more subtle, such as outgrowing your image. If you are not clear about the business reason driving the effort, you run the risk of wasting a tremendous amount of resources. We’ve covered this in more depth in an earlier post on choosing rebranding strategies.

2. Research Your Firm and Your Target Clients. When you are clear on the business case for the rebranding, the next step is to conduct independent research on your firm and your clients. If you are attempting to move into a new market, that research should include your new target clients as well. The goal is to have an objective understanding of your current brand perception and competencies.

Without this research, you will be operating from an internal perspective only. Our own research on professional services buyers and sellers shows that virtually all firms have blind spots and distort how the marketplace sees them. After all, we are all human. Without objective research, you will build a brand on false assumptions.

3. Use Positioning and Messaging to Capture Your Brand Strategy. As you develop your firm’s market positioning and messaging architecture, you will uncover the essence of your brand strategy. Your market positioning is a brief description of where you fit into the market space. Are you an innovative leader or a low cost provider?

This positioning will drive many of your subsequent decisions. But you can’t just make something up. It needs to balance who you are as a firm and who you want to become. You must be able to support your positioning or your brand will be hollow.

Your messaging architecture articulates your messages to each of your main audiences. These messages must be consistent with your overall brand and supportable. This is not marketing copy. It is the skeleton upon which marketing copy is built.

4. Build Your Brand Identity. This is the part of the rebranding strategy where you develop the visual elements that will communicate your brand. Think firm name, logo, tagline, colors, business card design, stationary, and the like. These elements are often described in a brand style guidelines document, which provides a set of parameters to ensure your brand is implemented consistently across all of your marketing materials.

Many folks confuse these elements with your brand. Your brand is your reputation and your visibility, not your firm’s name or its logo. Your brand identity is a sort of visual shorthand for your brand. 

5. Build Your Website and Online Presence. Your website is your single most important communication tool. It is the place where you can tell a compelling story to each of your audiences. It is the first place a prospective client or employee will turn to learn more about your firm.

It is no exaggeration to say that a website and your online presence are the heart of a modern professional services firm. All rebranding strategies eventually involve your website. In a very real way, a website is built on the framework of your messaging architecture. Together with your remaining online presence (think social media, for example), it is the full expression of your positioning.

6. Marketing Collateral. At this point in your rebranding strategy, you will develop all of the marketing materials that you need to communicate your brand and services messages. Think pitch decks, proposal templates, brochures, one-sheet fliers and trade show booths.

These are the tools that you will use to communicate your message. They should be firmly anchored in your brand strategy.

7. Brand Building Plan. The final element of your rebranding strategy is to develop a plan to promote and strengthen your new brand. How will you launch it internally? In professional services, it is essential that your employees embrace the new brand. After all, they are your product.

It’s also important that you build the brand in a way that communicates your firm’s reputation and expertise, as well as its name. It must communicate your market positioning. Brand building is different for professional services.

Some rebranding strategies fail because they try to shortcut the process. Others fail because they picked the wrong partners to work with. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Start with a sound rebranding strategy. Find an experienced partner. Give rebranding the attention it deserves and the rewards will follow. A well-positioned firm that clearly communicates its brand is a formidable competitor indeed.