Smart Marketing

Does Branding really work for your Consulting Firm?

Consulting firm marketers are always touting the value of establishing a brand…and now they have the data to back it up. RainToday.com found that consulting firms, that are well-known in their target markets, receive higher fees, see their revenue grow, and earn higher profits than their lesser-known counterparts.

Last month, RainToday published its Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report: Consulting Industry 2008 research, in which we surveyed 645 consultants to find out what challenges firms face when setting fee levels. They revealed hourly rates, profitability, discounting norms – a bunch of great stuff.

Check it out...

Market your Consulting Firm: A Tip for Promoting Your Consulting Firm

I just got off the phone with a consulting client of mine and we were devising ways to market her consulting firm. One of the tools she's using to market her consulting firm is article-writing. She writes numerous articles about her subject and includes them in mailers and collateral materials.

But I learned in our conversation that she was not listing a RESOURCE BOX at the end of each article.

What is a Resource Box?
A resource box contains a very brief bio of the writer and then includes a variety of ways the author can be contacted. It's very important to include this Resource Box in any articles you write when marketing your consulting firm, because you never know where these articles will end up. And if your articles contain valuable enough information, you can count on them getting passed around.

What should a resource box look like?
Here is my resource box that I include at the bottom of all my articles. You can see that it contains these 3 elements--1) My name and my consulting firm's name 2) My qualifications and any publishing citations and 3) A call to action (sign up for my e-newsletter). Any good Resource Box explains who you are, why you are an expert and a way for prospects to get in contact with you:

Author Bio
Jay Lipe is president of EmergeMarketing.com, a firm that has helped hundreds of small businesses and Fortune 500 clients grow through strategic marketing. He is the author of The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses and also writes the very popular e-newsletter “Marketing Tips & Tools” Sign up for it at http://www.emergemarketing.com/e-newsletter.shtml