With business planning for 2016 just around the corner, try these nine marketing strategies to ratchet your firm up to the next level of success in the new year.
1. Focus first on your clients’ businesses. To be truly effective, your marketing efforts must be based on a planned strategy that focuses on the business needs of your clients, not on the resume of your firm. At the same time, your strategy must position your firm so that prospects see you as offering something they can get nowhere else.
2. Conduct an internal analysis to clarify management issues. An in-depth understanding of your business and of your managers’ roles, as well as across-the-board agreement on your firm’s direction, are vital components of a healthy business. You can accomplish this by conducting an internal analysis of your key managers and staff members.
3. Develop a marketing plan based on facts rather than supposition.Your marketing plan needs to have accurate information about the strengths and weaknesses of your firm and those of your competitors. It also needs to be clear about your target markets and the threats and opportunities within these markets. It must have a plan of action to counter the threats and take advantage of the opportunities.
4. Clearly identify clients’ needs. You should regularly conduct quantifiable surveys of your clients. Just because you have been working with them for several years, don’t assume you know what your clients need. Always ask, and keep asking. The marketplace changes daily, and your clients’ needs change accordingly.
5. Use the Internet to expedite research and to be competitive. Business is a competitive enterprise, and the Internet can give you instant information about your competitors as well as more information about your prospective clients.
6. Create a 12-month public relations plan. A 12-month PR Plan incorporates all the publications in which your firm wants to publish. It establishes the focus of the articles and the target dates for submittal. Just as a marketing plan defines your markets and sets a strategy for implementing your tactics, the PR Plan regularly educates clients and prospects about the strengths of your firm. Beyond publishing, your PR Plan should include hosting informative seminars. Scheduled regularly, these will keep your clients and prospects interested and increase understanding of your firm’s capabilities.
7. Know your client, and be original and creative when presenting your firm’s qualifications. When you’re presenting to a new client, the number one rule is to know what the client wants and to demonstrate exactly how you will provide it. After that, show your prospect what makes your firm unique: they’ll want to know. They will also want to see excitement and originality in your design team. Don’t be afraid to be creative. This will set you apart.
8. Brush up your marketing skills to increase confidence. If you find that, when making presentations, your principals or PMs tend to stumble or have trouble making eye contact, consider starting an in-house training program to build their skills and confidence. Or arrange for them to attend some of the numerous outside marketing seminars.
9. Avoid being “invisible” to clients. Many design services components—especially engineering services—are “invisible” to clients, who don’t understand the value of the services to them. It is essential that you make these “invisible” services real in your clients’ minds by showcasing all of your firm’s service offerings as well as your reliability, and problem-solving skill.
Looking for more info on how to market your firm and grow you business, check out PSMJ's complimentary ebook The A/E Business Development Bible, a concise overview of the essential “must-knows” of business development, direct from PSMJ’s marketing and business development experts.
