Guide to Marketing Your Small Professional Services Business

Marketing your business is one of the hallmarks of being a successful entrepreneur, but to a small business owner, advertising and other traditional sales tools can be cost-prohibitive. Save your money by developing a strategic communications program that supports your business goals while gaining positive exposure for your firm.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Understand Your Business Goals

Your marketing plan should support your business plan. Identify specific business objectives that will enable you to grow and prosper over the next year, and make these the foundation of your marketing plan.

I recommend: If you haven't done so already, make sure you have a written business plan. This is a living, breathing, fully-amendable document that serves as a road-map for your business and forces you to identify business targets, competitors, strengths and weaknesses, all of which are essential to defining your value proposition.

Create a List of Marketing Targets

Once you have identified your business objectives, make a list of five targets that you want to hit in the next three to five years that will support your plan. These can be potential clients, types of projects, or even geographic areas in which you want to your firm to experience growth. In the professional services industry, it's easy to identify prospective clients or markets by getting involved in networking organizations and and reviewing industry-based or topical publications and "top ten" lists.

I recommend: In the Washington, DC area, the Washington Business Journal is a great resource for identifying area newsmakers and plugging into future business opportunities. Networking organizations are usually industry-specific or market-specific. Examples include SMPS, AIA, and local chambers of commerce or boards of trade, such as the Greater Washington Board of Trade.

Research Marketing Opportunities

Research opportunities to gain positive exposure for your firm that will allow you to reach your target audience. These include articles, awards programs, conferences, and speaking engagements.

I recommend: Contacting publications that are read by your target audience and asking for their editorlal calendars (many of these are published online), and conducting online searches for calls for entries for relevant awards programs as well as calls for speakers. Positioning yourself as a topical expert, either by publishing an article in a well-regarded publication or appearing as a conference panelist, is the single best way to promote your firm to your target audience. When researching publications, don't forget about major newspapers and even local "lifestyle" publications that may be thirsty for article ideas.

Create a Dynamic Communications Program

Based on the research you've amassed, begin to create a year-long communications program that outlines activities that you will take over the next twelve months to raise your company's profile and increase your exposure to your marketing targets.

I recommend: Judiciously picking just a few activities to pursue (i.e., for the first year, you may only commit to taking on one or two awards programs, two or three articles, and monthly press releases) so that you don't become overwhelmed, and so that it's easy to track whether you are receiving a response from your efforts. Your program should also include any other communication vehicles that you employ regularly, including press releases, company website, marketing brochures, paper newsletters, e-newsletters, post cards, etc.

Measure Your Return on Investment

As often as possible, as new business comes in, take the time to identify where and how people learned about your firm, and try to tie this to specific elements of your communications program to determine what's working for you.

I recommend: Reviewing your communications program at least once a year to note successful outreach achievements, identifying areas that have not achieved the desired results, and tweaking your program to better reach your target audience and support your business objectives.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Maximize your effort. If you've worked hard to put together a stellar presentation on a hot topic, try to turn the content into a feature-length article or white paper. If you typically issue press releases through a newswire service, be sure to publish a link on your website, and send the link directly to your client database via an email to share your good news. In each of these instances, you're achieveing multiple exposure opportunities through minimal effort.
• Understand the process. Many industry publications prefer to receive full-length submissions on different topics, while national publications may have staff or freelance writers who conduct interviews with prominent experts, and then write the articles themselves. Editors of local or daily publications may prefer to receive queries, rather than full-length submissions, and may only review those from trusted sources. Try to get a handle on what the process is for different types of submissions, and then go after those that fall within your comfort zone.
• When in doubt, hire a marketing consultant. Consultants can provide a la carte marketing services ranging from market research to ghostwriting, and they have great PR experience as well. If you need help developing a program, writing and placing an article, or creating and delivering a spectacular presentation, find a trustworthy consultant to partner with you.
• Just do it! The biggest mistake small business owners make is getting overwhelmed by the idea of marketing, and giving up. Creating a simple, easy to achieve plan of activities over a twelve-month period that supports your short and long term business goals will make a world of difference in the growth of your firm. Don't wait until you think you might have time; start now!