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  • Digital Cookbook 2011

    By , and

    Posted on May 16, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    This year’s story is a refrain of the last: “Every time we, as marketers, think we’ve seen it all, we see it again; something new, that is.” Last year we were pounding the table about SEO and SEM—those ingredients simply had to be in your cupboard. Now, just as the services world is beginning to perk up and take notice, another challenge has risen to which we must attend…The world is going mobile. And much faster than we imagined.

    By 2013, the Internet will be accessed by mobile devices more often than by desktop computers. But what is your next step? Should you run to the kitchen and create another app to add to the millions already out there? Or is your time better spent elsewhere?

    (By the way, we’ve just begun with the metaphors. Hang on to your apron!)

    Digital Cookbook 2011 will tell you how to serve up the best menu, even with meager resources. Expect to keep hearing about the slightly more familiar eTerritory of websites, SEO and SEM. As with our Digital Outlook 2010, our goal is to bring you up to the minute so you can make a solid case for your next marketing step. We’d also like to alleviate your anxiety on the one hand while encouraging you to ratchet up your efforts on the other. Our groundbreaking study in 2002, Why Firms Fail, Why Firms Succeed, determined that only 43% of the business issues that firms thought critical to their survival really were. We want you to focus the right dollar on the right problem. Then, relax and enjoy the meal. You’ll have done all you can.

    To download your copy click here.

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  • How to Make Your Website an Interactive Experience

    By and

    Posted on October 5, 2010 at 8:52 am



    Websites have become much more technologically sophisticated, even before 2.0, but that does not mean firms are taking full advantage of the technology pains. Nor, sadly, does it mean that sites have really advanced beyond the undifferentiated online brochure.

    Most suffer from: (1) A paralyzing sameness in both style and function; and (2) Almost complete abdication of core communication goals. When we reviewed, site by site, the Am Law 200 law firm websites, and the largest 50 accounting firm and consulting firm websites, we saw the communication failure in stark relief. In fact, we were able to reconstruct Proto-Indo-European from a few word fragments.

    To be sure, it’s a website, but not much more. There’s “us” on the marquee; “us” on the left of three typical columns—news about “us” in the middle; and more about “us” on the right.

    And there is the first reason professional services firm sites fail to provide a satisfying interactive experience…

    Sites fail to focus on buyers
    Most sites focus on what their owners have to sell—hours, widgets, a mission, a cause—but this is neither what buyers want nor what they need. There is a succinct way to understand the difference between selling and marketing: Selling focuses on the seller’s needs, marketing focuses on the buyer’s needs. Think of it another way. Ask yourself, whom do you find attractive in a social setting? Is it people who drone on about themselves? Nope. “Not interested in me? Well, I’m not interested in you either.” The same is true of websites focused on “me.” Focus on the buyer.

    Sites fail to differentiate one from the other
    Tradition, fear and the lack of a clear purpose are three reasons sites fail to distinguish themselves from competitors—tradition because the professions are inherently conservative, following precedent or standard accounting rules. Also associated with tradition is the myth that trust can be gained only in the blue suit and tie. Fear challenges all marketers—being first is risky; standing out is risky; having a personality is risky. But remember, your firm is not the only firm in your buyer’s short list. Once the list is made, all firms have become, for the moment, roughly equal. Being selected from the list occurs only after you prove your difference. You may never get the chance if your site is the same as every other.

    Home pages are out of control, without focus
    The rule in our agency is “Quick, you’ve got three seconds. What’s your takeaway”? Actually, three seconds is much too generous. According to a study done last year in Ottawa and then again in London, people make decisions about the quality and likeability of your website in 1/20th of a second and carry that impression with them throughout their entire visit to your site.

    Because your website is likely to be the first tangible impression of your firm, your homepage carries a heavy responsibility. But the homepage is poorly appreciated. For example, homepages are cluttered with news about yourself that’s of interest only to you. Firms often allow interlopers, time-wasters and meddlers on that valuable space. Your homepage is both your storefront and your lobby. Would you allow anyone in your organization to put her favorite Elvis lamp or his beloved Redskins chair in your reception area? If not, then keep them off your home page, too.

    Beyond the homepage, the site falls apart
    In the typical professional services firm website, moving off the home to other pages is like driving off a cliff. Thelma and Louise would be proud, but you shouldn’t be. Most practice and industry pages are dead-end descriptions of the offering, with no connection to brand other than a templated look and feel. Take the cure: Treat every service area as a business unit. A business unit like litigation in many firms can contain upward to hundreds of professionals and support staff—a substantial business, worth millions. What’s it worth to support the unit? No corporation would treat a multi-million dollar business unit so carelessly.

    Few tell stories or illustrate them
    In more than 5,000 interviews with executive buyers of professional services, we always hear the same refrain about the things that get you on the short list: “Tell us who you’ve worked for, what you did and how it turned out.” In other words, you need to share your client experiences, but do so with more feeling than the representative client list. Marketing is all about telling stories. Your stories put your accomplishments in context. They reveal the organization’s personality, how it does business and how it understands its mission. They preview what it’s like to work with you.

    Sites are illustrated with meaningless images
    Valuable space is wasted with images of office buildings, lobbies, empty conference rooms, skylines and bridges and other meaningless visuals. We know your firm works in a building. We suspect you have conference rooms and lobbies. This type of imagery is a deflection from the message, a weak attempt at visual interest that simply contributes to the lack of differentiation of one site from the other. The belief that this constitutes communication is misplaced. And it leads us to…

    Sites rely on words to deliver information, creating ”information slaughterhouses” (Seth Godin)
    Our education has done us wrong. By the time our school days are over, we have come to believe that reading, writing and ‘rithmetic are the optimal forms of communication. But, in fact, we have no readers, only scanners. If you wish to get your message across today, then transform substantive data from text to visuals. Think of content as a salad bar. Instead of a heavy helping of text, deliver nutrients (substantive information) via lists, charts, tables, maps and diagrams. On the web, people read 25 percent slower. Words are processed by the brain relatively slowly, which is why a picture is worth a thousand words.

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  • Marketing and Sales Live Side By Side in Most Companies

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    Posted on April 8, 2010 at 4:08 pm



    Image Credit: The CMO Survey

    The pendulum between marketing and sales swings wildly in law firms, in particular—an exasperating “thituation,” as Sylvester would say. So it was gratifying to see these results from a CMO survey sponsored by the American Marketing Association and Duke University (thecmosurvey.org). There is no fight between marketing and sales any more than there is a fight between form and function. What is it with people who shout “content is king” and then present content as unreadable gibberish and in unappealing formats? If content were really king, magazines would be published as manuscripts.

    Are we always itching for a fight? Is this the same human tendency that has led to our paralyzed Congress? Hegel got it right when he proposed a spiraling dialectic, swinging from pole to pole. But the result is a lot of frantic and wasted energy. If you want your kids to go to sleep, challenge them to run from wall to wall as fast as they can and beat their last time, each time. If, however, you’d rather get something meaningful done, marketing and sales, figure out how to work together.

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  • Finding and Choosing Professionals on the Web

    By and

    Posted on March 24, 2010 at 3:35 pm



    You will learn how executive-level buyers:
    1. Search online, how often and why.
    2. Use search enginges and keywords.
    3. View and value your website.

    In less than 15 years, the Internet has fundamentally changed the way we do things: The way we shop, stay current, gather information, build relationships and networks, and do business. B2C marketers have reacted dramatically—reallocating budgets to invest in new ways to get found and connect with their buyers online.

    B2B service marketers and, especially, professional service marketers, have been slower to adapt their marketing strategies to this new brand world.

    Why? Because they do not believe executive-level buyers use the Internet to find or connect with lawyers, accountants and consultants. This erroneous belief can be put to rest based on a new research study of executive-level decisionmakers.

    Research that calls for new interactive strategies
    A newly completed survey by professional services branding leader Greenfield/Belser and its sister organization, The Brand Research Company, puts a spotlight on how, where and what executives search for online as they consider professionals and firms to advise them.

    The findings are drawn from an online survey of executive-level buyers of accounting, consulting and legal services across the U.S. The study is called Finding and Choosing Professional Service Providers on the Web. The survey findings constitute a clarion call for offline marketing efforts to be integrated with online strategies.

    Below is the distribution of annual revenues of our corporate respondents in this survey. They actually match the typical client roster of a professional services firm.

    Highlights include these facts…

    Executive-level buyers are online, in droves:

    • 94% are online daily for purposes other than email.
    • 83% report the Internet has replaced other methods of researching almost completely.
    • 76% told us the Internet has replaced other methods of receiving news almost completely.
    • 37% indicate the Internet has replaced other methods of securing business purchases almost completely.
    • 78% surveyed say they go online to search for outside legal, accounting and consulting professionals, but the majority (59%) do so less than monthly on average.

    Search engines are a key tool for learning about professionals:

    • 50% of executive decisionmakers say that search engines are important.
    • 48% say being listed near the top on Google matters.
    • When they use search engines, one in two decisionmakers always include keywords with specific expertise and industry.
    • Other critical, but less important keywords include general practice areas, city and state.

    Newer media tools gain traction:

    • Two-thirds of executives surveyed use social networking sites. For business, LinkedIn tops the list.
    • 75% read blogs, with 37% reading them on a daily or weekly basis.
    • Mobile phones are ubiquitous, but only 28% of executive decisionmakers view or listen to online content of any type on their phones; those who do most often use it for news.

    Firm websites matter more than ever:

    • 85% of executives consider professional services firm websites important sources of information in their search for professionals.
    • Three in four say the quality of a firm’s site influences whether they put a firm on their short list.
    • 53% have put a firm on a short list based on the information found on the firm’s site.
    • Specific-industry experience tops the list of things executives find important on sites, with 78% saying it is must-have information.

    While these and other study findings clearly require professional services firm marketers to adjust and refine their interactive branding and marketing strategies, executive buyers were also clear about the need to balance online with offline efforts.

    Your buyers are changing, but whatever their age, they head to the web for resources.

    Projected Workforce 2012

    Younger generations are growing up to be decisionmakers as the chart above proves. But no matter what their age, people go online weekly or less for research.

    For the complete report, download your copy of Digital Marketing 2010.

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  • Healthier Communications

    By

    Posted on March 24, 2010 at 9:15 am



    Whether you like the landmark U.S. health care bill or feel otherwise about the legislation (and politics behind it), BBC’s online reporting of the news does a fine job of using information graphics to frame and explain the problem. Follow this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8580192.stm; and have a look at the series of three illustrations at the bottom of the article. The BBC has chosen to deliver substantive information graphically—a lesson for B2B marketers who strive to reach busy executive decisionmakers. Too often, these communication efforts are presented simply as endless narrative—in print, online, in face-to-face PowerPoint and in pitchbooks. A mistake, we believe.

    We’ve long advocated a USA Today scanning-reader style—now emulated by all media outlets—where charts, tables and graphs are combined with photos, illustrations and words to deliver key messages. Why? Because we have no more readers, only scanners. Honoring this fact is both respectful and courteous. And when it comes to the web, this approach is also healthier since eyes tire reading buckets of text online. You can learn more about our perspective by listening to our webinar, Designing the Interactive Experience, on YouTube.

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  • Digital Marketing 2010

    By , and

    Posted on March 22, 2010 at 4:28 pm



    Download your copy of Digital Marketing 2010, our latest research on Finding and Choosing Professionals on the Web.

    Webinar series
    Earlier this month, Greenfield/Belser (and The Brand Research Company) completed a three-part webinar series on digital marketing. View the seminars on YouTube from your own desktop:

    Finding and Choosing Professionals
    Designing the Interactive Experience
    Pioneering the Digital Relationship

    Select “Play All Videos” to play each video in the playlist in succession.

    Contact us
    Have a question? You can contact us a variety of ways:

    Call us at 202.775.0333 to request a tailored seminar on digital marketing for your organization.

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