Professional services firms are changing. Here’s what you can do about it.

For many years, established small and medium-sized solicitor and accountancy firms have relied on word of mouth, loyalty and location to ensure a regular supply of custom. Multi-generational client relationships – the stuff of Charles Dickens novels – ensured that wills, conveyancing, small business accounts, tax returns and other always-needed activities provided steady and predictable profits for firms and their partners.

• You may like: The 7 key phases of trade show strategy

Today, these reliable sources of income have been undermined by the disruptive power of the web. A specialist law firm marketing consultant can help legal firms fight back on the three main battlefields…

Proximity

There was a time when a business would look no further than the end of the high street to find an accountant. Similarly, home buyers would engage a solicitor for conveyancing on the recommendation of their estate agent, or simply because a firm had a presence in their area.

Thanks to the Internet, however, proximity is no longer such a big part of the selection criteria: professional services firms are no more than a Google search away. Recommendations, reviews and word of mouth have moved online, but the principle of presence hasn’t changed. You need to be where people are looking – which means the front page of Google results for, say, “solicitor near me”. An Internet marketing consultant can help you get there.

Self-service

Knowledge that was once highly specialist in nature, such as arcane tax legislation or setting up a Power of Attorney, is now in the public domain. Accessibility laws – and best practice in search engine optimisation – demand that it’s more clearly worded.

The result? More and more potential customers are going it alone with such activities, either solely using the guidance available to them online, or using low-cost template packs, offering standard wording for wills, tenancy agreements and the like. Producing and delivering a pack like this could be part of your marketing mix – but a good marketing consultant with insight into law firms’ work will find a way to make your service indispensible.

Hyper-specialism

For those who don’t want to go it alone, there are firms offering a limited number of specialist services, such as conveyancing or will writing, which online providers are turning over in large volumes at knockdown prices. The most extreme example of this are PPI firms, which operate a fixed, repeatable process at often pro-bono rates. While they may branch into reclaiming packaged bank account charges or flight delays, they will only do so because new low-cost processes can be created.

What does this mean for you? Well – you may need to diversify. At the very least, you’ll need a marketing strategy for competing with this low-cost by-volume approach to legal affairs.

So where does this leave high street professional services firms?

Richard Hancock, the Marketing Centre’s Regional Director for London, has seen the professional services landscape changing. 

“It’s fast becoming apparent to younger staff being made partners that the traditional professional services culture cannot reliably provide the steady and predictable profit shares their predecessors enjoyed. In turn, these younger professionals are searching for new sources of growth.” In other words – follow the money.

In many sectors, the response to a change like this is business development and remarketing, with the help of marketing consultants or interim marketing directors. Law firm marketing consultants are harder to come by, though. Richard has a theory: “Marketing has been a dirty word within the traditional professional services fraternity. It was seen by many as a few branded pens in client meeting rooms, and an annual client cocktail party supplemented with a day out to Ascot.”

Not a dirty word: Marketing is far more than simply corporate Ascot trips…

So how has Richard addressed this ‘dirty word’ in the law firms that The Marketing Centre's part-time marketing director's work with? By focusing on long-term strategy. “This starts,” he says, “with getting a common understanding of what they are really good at, and which client segments represents the best long term opportunities for the firm.”

This introspection leads professional services firms to build a marketing strategy that ensures their proposition is clearly understood by staff, clients and the wider industry, and the difference between them and their web-based competitors is crystal clear.

Brand and purpose

It’s not only small to medium professional services firms that have made the shift towards more active business development strategies. Sarah Bogue, part of The Marketing Centre team in London, has seen professional services heavyweights make similar moves. As she explains, “it becomes increasingly difficult to deliver a consistent experience as firms grow – as a result, brand and purpose become far more important.”

Incorporating purpose into an organisation that inspires both its own people and the outside world will reinforce the brand values, the experience at the heart of the marketing mix. It also helps engage, attract and retain talent, which is notoriously tough for professional services firms.

Sarah is clear about the strategies that can cement brand success and define purpose. “Being seen as a thought leader and trusted advisor will inspire confidence in turbulent times and is key to business development success. With this focus comes larger investments in brand activities like thought leadership, PR, social media, strategic sponsorships and events.”

We asked Sarah the key questions she, as a marketing director, would ask to help a professional services team define their market position and brand. Her answer was simple:

1. What do you want your company to be known for?
2. What is distinct about your company?

Sarah argues that you should ask that second question to clients and non-clients alike. The answers should provide an invaluable guide to help shape the branding and business development activities of any firm.

The power of perspective

Richard and Sarah both agree that the cornerstone of professional services marketing activities – and therefore the cornerstone of future growth – is a healthy dose of self-awareness.

How does the firm see itself? How does it want to be seen by others? What distinguishes the organisation from its competitors? Answering these questions will form the foundations for a marketing strategy that encompasses new ways of working and new marketing methods – in turn helping firms redefine themselves and survive in competitive markets.

Are you fostering innovation in your firm?

Are you a professional services firm grappling with leaner, cheaper competitors? A part-time marketing director could be the solution.