and 12 questions a good marketing professional should be asking.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
and now a word to accountants who think they know marketing. unless you’re that rare bird who’s had some successful experience because you have some kind of inborn talent for marketing – and there are some of you like that – you don’t know beans.
and you won’t know beans until they start teaching marketing in accounting schools, which is long overdue. or until you’ve had long experience with a terrific marketer on your staff. but if you don’t have a natural affinity for it, there are things you should know that will result in your competing successfully in this wildly competitive market. or until you hire marketers who know their stuff, and can teach you what you should know.
to be fair, there is emerging a new kind of accountant who is of a new generation. this individual is part of the new trend of professionals who are not constrained by the traditions of elitism that segregated the professional from the marketer – who understands the dynamic of marketing professional services, and, as well, understands that marketing is an essential part of firm management. this new professional is part of the dynamic of the new marketing 3.0.
still, you should know, first, that the mechanics of marketing — the media relations and the writing and the direct mail and seminars and such – are not marketing. marketing, in the final analysis, is an art form. the mechanics and tools are not the art. and as i’ve often said, when you’re hiring a marketer, don’t look for a mechanic – look for an artist.
ok, then, how do you hire an artist to do your marketing? even before you talk to your first interviewee, or read your first resume, you need to know this:
- understand and respect the skills of marketing. you can understand a lot, if you don’t try to gum it up with trying to do what you’re not trained to do.
- don’t take seriously the opinions of non-marketers about technical marketing matters. they’re not likely to know. some of the best articles, brochures, and other written marketing material wouldn’t pass muster for a 7th grade grammar teacher. but know that marketing writing isn’t designed for grammar teachers. it’s designed to communicate ideas clearly and persuasively, with credibility and passion. writing ain’t wordsmithing, any more than fine cabinet making is just hammering and sawing. it’s communication of ideas.
- at the same time, know the difference between promotional activities, such as activities that enhance name recognition and reputation, and actually getting clients to build a practice. the difference is strategy, and a range of practice development activities that get you in front of prospects. promotional activities are important, but won’t do much to get you clients if you don’t follow up with practice development activities.
- either trust your marketer’s judgment, or get a marketer you do trust. no, your wife, who has a degree in english and did a fine job of raising your children, can’t write your brochure. she doesn’t know how. and the consensus of your partners about marketing copy is about as useful as your marketing team’s consensus about an audit or a brief.
- read resumes carefully, and know (or find out) the differences between different kinds of marketing professionals. in the early days following bates, one big eight accounting firm hired its first marketing director from an ad agency. but the guy had been in ad traffic, and knew nothing about professional firm marketing, or how to write press releases that someone would publish, or a brochure. “but he worked for a major ad agency,” was the excuse.
- make sure that both you and your prospective marketing hire both understand the same things about your marketing objectives, and that both of your objectives are realistic.
- make sure you both understand what you’re willing to do – or not do – to achieve marketing success. most marketing activities, particularly as prescribed by good marketers, might not be within your experience. but they should be within your marketer’s experience. again, either trust your marketer or get a new one.
- understand that it’s a distinctive quality of professional services marketing that it can’t be done without the full participation of the professional.
- listen to what your marketer has to say. listen carefully. if you can’t live with what’s being said, either don’t hire that person, or forget about marketing. you’ll waste your money and the marketer’s time.
- if you don’t know how to hire a marketer – and if you’ve never worked with one before, why should you? – then learn. there are good books. there are articles. you can speak to marketing professionals in other firms that have successful marketing programs. there are the marketer’s associations – association of accounting marketers.
it sometimes helps to judge a prospective marketer’s experience by the questions he or she asks you in an interview.
a good marketer should ask:
- how many practice areas do you serve?
- is there a marketing committee? how often does it meet?
- which are your strongest practices? which are your weakest?
- to whom will i report?
- how many partners are sympathetic to marketing and supportive of the marketing operation?
- how strong are your cross-selling activities? (this will tell whether the partners cooperate with one another, or whether the firm is a collection of individuals who think of themselves first and the firm second.)
- what are the industries you’re strongest in, and which are your weakest?
- do you use client service teams? how many? which practices? how are they organized and how are they monitored?
- will i be able to regularly attend practice group meetings?
- how large is the marketing department?
- how large is the marketing budget?
- how will marketing success or failure be judged?
any marketing applicant who doesn’t ask these questions – or questions like these – is going to be gone in 18 months or less. don’t waste your time or the applicant’s time.
at the same time, it helps to hire the best marketers if you consider:
- whether the applicant asks the foregoing questions.
- the resume is only the tip of the iceberg. if it merely lists jobs, ask what responsibilities each job actually entailed, how they did it, and with what success.
- get an assessment of how much they actually know about your profession. it may or may not be much, but the longer the experience the greater the knowledge.
- successful marketing requires a great many different skills – writing for many different kinds of media, from brochures to press releases; networking; strategy; media relations; planning and running seminars; list management; and many more. ask which skills the interviewee has, and in which he or she is the strongest. don’t ask about weaknesses and expect a straight answer.
thinking in terms of the foregoing, and not what you think you know about marketing but probably don’t, will more likely get you an effective marketing operation – and knowledgeable marketers as well.
bruce w. marcus is a pioneer in professional services marketing and coauthor of “client at the core.” this is adapted from his new book, “professional services marketing 3.0,” available for purchase here.
copyright. used by permission.