As a CEO, a president, a managing partner, you are the figurehead for your company. You are the leader, the north star, and the light to which your employees look to show the way.

Today’s business leader is under great pressure to grow revenues and profits. The economy, the Internet, globalization, and deregulation have teamed up to push us to move faster and grow more quickly, something much easier said than done.

So how does today’s business leader embark on a path of growth? Where does here or she turn for the science, strategy and support to move the company forward? It the past, the first step was leaning on sales. Maybe you push them a little harder. Maybe you try to incentivize them a bit more. These strategies can and do typically work—temporarily. We’ve learned that you can only push sales departments so far before they break, and then you’re worse off than you started. A quick read of Daniel Pink’s Drive, a great book about what really motivates people, teaches us that the old “carrot and stick” approach is quite limited in its effectiveness. In fact, it can train employees to actually perform worse.

During the recent economic down turn CEOs increasingly turned to the CFO for assistance. When the top line isn’t growing, squeeze the books to improve the bottom line. Cut here, cut there. Heck, slash and burn if you have to. Many companies were able to increase profits, but those profits did come at a price to the firm. In the wake of cuts, company morale, benefits, inventories, R&D, and vendor relationships paid a dear price.

At a certain point, the business leader really must find a way to steer the ship toward more profitable waters, where revenues can grow and so can the company as a whole. That path is most direct when the CEO focuses his or her efforts on strategic marketing as a growth initiative. (Marketing, in this sense, is different than sales. Sales is the direct action of interacting with clients and customers to generate a sale. Marketing is the collective set of all activities, short term and long, that creative all of your business activities and driving revenue.)

The challenge for many CEOs, company presidents, and business leaders, is the same as that in our schools. Great teaches know how to teach, but when they are “promoted” to become school administrators, they often lack the skills necessary to run a school. They’re out of their element.

Today’s business leader has most likely come up through either the financial ranks or sales. While bringing lots of important and valuable knowledge and experience to the C-suite, those resumes also have their downfalls, and we’re witnessing that more and more in today’s business world.

As CEO, president, or managing partner, you rely on your management team to help you execute plans and assist with strategic decisions. To work with your financial team, you need to know how to read financial documents, balance sheets, cash flow projections. To work with sales, you need to know your accounts, your products, services, and pricing.

But to create, initiate, and drive a successful marketing strategy in today’s business world, you really have to understand three key marketing factors.

Marketing Strategy Is Not A Luxury—It’s A Necessity

There was a time when a great new product or service could “sell itself.” Word of mouth was all it took. In the past there were fewer product offerings, less marketplace clutter, and less opportunities to advertise.

Not so much anymore. There are new products, new services, new companies popping up all the time. Some are near, and some are far, but thanks to the Internet, they all seem just a click away.

This has force everyone to have to fight harder to get customers and clients. Some professions, such as medicine, law, and accounting, have learned this in painful measure. For a long time, marketing and advertising in these professionals was frowned upon, unethical, and even illegal. Now we see these fields “catching up.” Who hasn’t seen the banner across a bus saying, “Accident?” or the magazine ad offering to reduce wrinkles, increase bust size, or restore sexual vitality.

As people rush to advertise products and services, unfortunately it creates huge amounts of wasted expenditure. John Wannamaker’s famous quote, “half of all my advertising is wasted…I just don’t know which half,” comes to mind. Without research, knowledge, or a good strategy, I’d bet that more than half is waste.

Rather than “just trying something,” today’s business needs to have a specific marketing strategy. Where as “advertising” refers to just placing an ad, marketing is sum of all your marketing activities, including advertising, PR, promotions, networking, pricing, R&D, and distribution.

A good marketing strategy will look at both the short term and longer needs and goals of the company. All to often CEOs are reactive with short term tactics, which sometimes harm long term strategies. Done correctly, research into customer needs and wants should dictate a clear marketing strategy that is then implemented through specific tactics. Jumping prematurely into tactics results in the classic “Ready, Fire, Aim” mentality.

Another common error that often accompanies a lack of strategy is the lack of action. Many companies that are playing marketing “catch up” become confused, indecisive, and slow to implement. It’s the “paralysis by analysis” syndrome.

In my experience as a marketing and brand consultant, almost any strategy is better than no strategy. Companies with wrong strategies are often disciplined enough to change and improve strategies, while companies lacking a clear strategy tend to wander aimlessly in the marketplace.

Jack Welch, when asked about strategy and vision, admitted it was important, and that GE had worked hard on it. He then went on to say that once you have the strategy you’ve got to, “implement like hell.”

A good marketing strategy should identify who your target audience(s) is/are, and how your product or service will address a want or a need of that target audience. It should also identify key strengths and weaknesses, both yours and those of your competitors. And finally, it should reflect what makes you and your brand different, interesting, and valuable to your target audience. Once you’ve determined these important bits of data, your marketing strategy needs to find the best way(s) of communicating that with your customers.

To Focus On Marketing, Focus On Your Customer

James Carvel will forever be remembered as the guy who orchestrated Bill Clinton’s presidential election strategy with the simple line, “It’s about the economy, stupid.” In marketing a product or service, we just need to change it to, “It’s about the customer, stupid.”

Companies tend to focus too much on themselves. They focus on what they have done, what they want, and how they want to do things. Well, again, the Internet has made that attitude a death wish for many companies.

Today’s customer controls the information flow. The public, via the Internet, chooses where they go, what they read, and what information they want to find. They have also found a voice that formerly didn’t exist. Now they can write, post, blog, comment, and review just about any kind of product or service. And don’t think those don’t matter. Reading those customer comments have become an very important part of the customer “shopping” experience.

Today’s successful companies have adopted a customer-centric point of view. Rather than creating a product or service and trying to sell it to the public, they do research into what the public wants and needs, then delivers. Today’s marketing posture is about solving problems, filling needs, and delivering upon wants.

While we’re on the subject of wants and needs, lets be clear. Most companies try to sell things people need. Most people buy things that they want. Only sometimes do the two intersect. Selling needs is about logic, whereas wants are about emotion. We may need socks, but if we’re not emotionally attached to them, we just buy the first pair that fills the need. But shoes? Marketing shoes is all about fashion, and fashion is about emotion. We want them to look good, feel good, and most importantly, we want to feel good in them!

To create a customer-centric marketing strategy, you must learn everything you can about your customers (and potential customers). What do they like? What do they need? How old are they? How and where do they shop? At then end of purchasing your product or service, what will make the transaction successful?

A recent survey of investment professionals revealed something most brokers didn’t know. When the economy tanked, many investors began switching brokers and wealth managers—not because of losses, but because their trusted advisors didn’t return phone calls on a timely basis! The study also found that most investors would gladly give up a little in earnings in exchange for a bit more security. Those are critical bits of information you would want before creating a marketing plan for wealth managers.

One more aspect to becoming customer-centric is to provide customers with ways of communicating with you. Having an 800 number and a street address are just not enough. Communications through websites, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are becoming the preferred places for customers to begin conversations Today’s marketing is less about telling, and more about two-way conversation. Make sure your strategy involves listening to what your customers have to say.

Perception Is Reality

It’s a sad truth for many, but a truth nonetheless: perception is reality, even if it’s not the truth. Are you perceived as being a top lawyer or accountant, of making a better product, or delivering a better service experience? If you are, that’s great. If not, can you achieve that position before your competition does?

I recently saw a demonstration of this. A speaker told a group that Apple was coming out with a new coffee cup. It was going to be made by Apple, and would cost around $20. When asked who would buy it, without any additional information, most people in the audience raised their hands to say they’d purchase it. When asked why, one response summed it up: “Because it’s Apple, I know it would be the coolest coffee cup made.” That coffee cup doesn’t exist, and no one had ever seen one, but they all had the perception that it would be worth $20.

I had the recent experience of consulting with a law firm about websites. I identified competitive firms, as listed by the local business journal. I then showed the managing partner a few of the best competitive websites. He saw one, and jumped out of his skin shouting, “You can’t compare us to them. I know that firm and they’re half our size.” I then showed him how his large firm’s “little” website was dwarfed by the size, content, and design of the smaller firm’s website. The perception was that the smaller firm was much bigger, much better, and much more progressive than the older, larger firm. It was perception, not reality, but to those looking at the website, that perception became their reality.

So how do you control perception? For one thing, you need to have a significant “share of voice”. People who don’t do marketing aren’t heard in the marketplace. In today’s business world, customers what to see you, hear you, find you, and reach out and touch you. So make it easy by letting your voice be heard. Websites, blogs, press releases, articles, and social media are great at keeping your voice in the marketplace.

One way of boosting perception is to find ways of gaining “3rd party” endorsement. You can say how good your product or service is, but it will be much more believable if someone else says it for you. Getting testimonials, write-ups, and endorsements from experts are incredibly powerful ways of gaining perceived stature.

Another way of controlling perception is “shape” conversations. People don’t want to be dominated in conversations, but they do like learning and being guided to new understanding. A family law mediator, for example, may write an article or blog on the high cost of litigation, and discuss advantages about mediation. Accountants can talk about changes in tax laws. Product manufacturers can have engineers or researchers create white papers or reports on product issues customers are concerned with.

Shaping perception is easier when you are able to position yourself of your company as experts. If you become a source or information or insight, customers and potential customers are much more likely to listen to you. Writing articles, teaching, and public speaking are good ways you push information out, and they typically help you gain perceived because the magazine, school, or organization sponsoring it is, effectively, endorsing you.

As a business leader, you don’t have to be an expert at marketing, provided you have a good marketing director or a good marketing consultant, and provided you have a good understanding of what these three key forces that are affecting today’s marketing efforts. By using them, you can put the power of marketing on your side.  •

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Valuation

FACEBOOK AT $90+ BILLION

As of our release date for this issue, Facebook was in the final prep stages for its initial public offering (IPO), and puts valuation on the social media site a little north of $90 billion. Investment experts are predicting this will add about $17 billion to Mark Zuckerberg’s personal worth.

Going Mobile

Global Cellphone Subscriptions: 6 million

Mobile Web Users Worldwide: 1.2 billion

Percent of Global Website Hits from Mobile Devices: 8.49%

Global Mobile Advertising ­Revenue in 2010: $1.6 billion

Global Mobile Advertising Revenue in 2015 (est.): $20.6 billion

* Source: mobithinking.com

Ones To Watch

TUMBLR.COM

This microblog social network platform is a real up-and-comer. Launched in 2007, Tumblr is now averaging 13 billion views per month (yes, billion with a “B”). Why do people like it? Users say it’s like all the others rolled into one easy-to-use site, it’s app friendly, and best of all, it’s cool.

PINTEREST.COM

Pinterest takes the ease of photo posting from Instagram and combines it with the posting of comments like the Facebook “wall,” to create a surprisingly new and fun social experience. On paper, it doesn’t sound like much (what social media does?) but users seem to get addicted very quickly. You can “pin” images, websites, and just about any content to your “pinboards” in a virtual bulletin board environment. Companies are quickly jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon, and while not confirmed yet, some Internet reporting agencies are indicating Pinterest, which was a startup in 2009, may already be the third largest social network in the U.S.

Global Social Media

­­WORLD’S BIGGEST SOCIAL SITES (estimated users)

Facebook: 900 million

YouTube: 789 million

QZone (mainland China): 480 million

Twitter: 300 million

Habbo (global, launched in Finland): 200 million

Google+: 170 million •

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Cindy is the CEO of Blackman Rakowitz Public Relations, and is  a highly respected, award- winning executive with years of experience in crisis management, branding and marketing. Rakowitz contributes as an expert analyst to several news organizations. She is the co-author of the new book Emergency Public Relations, Crisis Management in a 3.0 World and is currently enjoying her speaking tour.

The show is broadcast live at 7:00 am Pacific Time on VoiceAmerica internet radio. Click here for more info: http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/971/stars-of-pr.

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Today, professionals have to market themselves more than ever before. Barriers, whether legal, cultural, or otherwise, have been torn down. And whether professionals like it or not, their competition is doing it. Lawyers, accountants, and other professionals are all seeing erosion in their client rosters.

What can you do to attract more new clients as well as retain the clients you currently have? There are lots of ways to approach the problem, many of which involve more phone calls, more advertising, and more networking. There is one way that has proven over time to help people in many professional service industries build their practices without feeling like they have sold their souls to sales. When you are able to position yourself as an “expert,” selling comes easier and clients stay longer.

Perception Vs. Reality

The marketing of professional services is all about ­perception. It really has very little to do with how good you are at your craft, and while that always puts a few off, it’s a marketing truth.

So if marketing is about perception, how do you get people to perceive you as an expert? The trick is to find a way of getting someone else to do it for you. This gives you what PR professionals refer to as “third-party endorsement.”

It’s a very simple concept: When a potential client sees someone else who recognizes you as an expert, it makes it easier and more reassuring for them to engage you for your services. Simple, right? Yes, but not always easy.

There are three ways you can jumpstart the perception that you are an expert. They take a little effort, but any one of these strategies can have a dramatic impact on new client generation.

Strategic Speaking: How, What & Where

Public speaking puts you in front of others in a way that physically and mentally places you in a position of authority. Experience has shown that even people who see themselves as awkward or uncomfortable in social situations can often be powerful speakers.

How do you use speaking as a strategic marketing tool? The first thing is to do what Nike tells us and “Just Do It.” If you’ve never spoken, you need to start. Find a Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, or networking group that would like to get a free speaker. Test the waters in terms of your speaking abilities and your subject matter. Use every speaking opportunity, big or small, as a chance to sculpt your message and hone your speaking skills.

What should you speak about? Professionals typically make one of two types of public speaking mistakes: 1) They are way too technical, or 2) They try too hard to “sell” in their speech. In order to avoid these mistakes, there are a couple of ways to create understandable content. One solution is to think of yourself on some sort of public transportation, say a bus or subway, and speak at a level that the average person will understand. Another solution is to limit your speech to three key points or less. It’s far better to connect with the audience on one thing really well than to pepper them with too many concepts that they have little chance of remembering.

On the point of selling, you don’t need to sell. Instead, give a small amount of valuable information freely. People will come back to you wanting more, and then they’ll pay you for it.

You want to be prepared for people to come up to you after the speech or presentation, and you want to be sure to have business cards and brochures handy. But even then, use them strategically. For example, don’t just shove something in their hand. Point to the website on your brochure and say something such as, “We’ve posted some information about that on our website. If you just go to myweb.com and click on ‘resources’ you’ll find it.” That personalizes it and makes the other person feel that you value their question.

Regarding business cards: A great way to get more mileage is to take a card out, then point out a direct line or extension or e-mail, and say something such as, “Feel free to call me on my direct line, and we can set up a time to go over how this might impact your estate plan.” When you make it personal, you’re not selling. You are responding to their needs and driving the conversation to the next level, a meeting.

Another aspect of public speaking is creating your own event. While this has more cost and effort involved in the planning and implementation of the event, you also get complete control over the content.

Teaching & Training

Signing on to teach or train is another excellent way to gain third-party endorsement. I teach one night class a semester at a local university, and with that I will always be able to say that I’m a member of the university’s adjunct faculty.

Teaching positions are not easy to come by, but they are available. You may choose to start small with a community college. If teaching is something you’d like to do, you can also start by contacting a university’s department head and offering your services as a guest speaker. At the university I teach at, we frequently get emails about professionals who are open to speaking in our classes.

The value of teaching, as a marketing tool, doesn’t just come from teaching in a school setting. Continuing professional education is an excellent way of gaining a training title on your CV. Teaching MCLE or CPE courses are great ways for attorneys and accountants to become involved in training. This works particularly well when you have an area of specialization.

To maximize the impact, make sure to update your website, personal one-sheet, and other marketing materials to reflect your teaching experience. It is good to add a line about teaching or training even in the shortest of bios.

As mentioned in the discussion on public speaking, you can also create your own training or seminars. One variation on this theme is to create a Webinar. Using a third-party service, you can create Webinars where you teach or train on a topic of your choosing. The best part: Unlike seminars in person, if no one shows up, it’s no big deal. In fact, I know people that have created and recorded Webinars and posted them just to gain credibility as a trainer, not to charge money or try to get clients.

Publishing As An Expert

The third strategy of positioning yourself as an expert is to do it through writing and publishing. When you author an article or a book, it places you in the public eye as someone recognized for his or her knowledge, skill or talent. The subconscious thinking is that an editor hired this person to write for his or her knowledge and skill, and therefore must be good.

Book publishing takes time, but can pay dividends in business generation for years. On the other hand, articles take far less time, but can have a similar impact. An ­article can shine a light on a problem common to your clientele, offer insight into remedying the problem, and give them cause to contact you for more information.

Once articles are published, they can be reprinted, copied, posted on websites, and sent out as PDFs. Marketing people call these “DOKs” or “Displays Of Knowledge,” and they work very well with both new and existing clients. While some articles are very timely, others have an “evergreen” quality, and can last a long time.

Publishing does come with challenges, which include topic selection, finding the time to write, editing, finding publishers, and promoting your articles after publication. But getting published is one of the most effective ways to gain standing and stature as an expert in your field.

When writing in professional journals, one needs to be very careful with writing, source citation, and resisting the hesitation to “practice” your craft in writing. When writing for consumer publications, the concern is typically more about being interesting and discussing “hot topics.” Likewise, articles for consumers tend to be less technical, and often designed by editors as providing more general information.

Getting More Marketing Mileage

Once you’ve begun teaching, speaking, writing, or some combination of activities, you will want to begin promoting what you’ve done. Some recommended ways include updating website bios, placing notices in calendar sections, linking to website articles, and having copies or reprints readily available.

A great technique to get more marketing mileage is to make copies of articles or summaries of speeches and put them in a mailing to existing clients. It’s best done with a personal note that says something along the lines of, “Hey, I recently wrote this piece for a magazine, and thought you might find interest in it.” I have seen a mailing of articles generate thousands of dollars in billings. And what’s really nice is that mailing articles often triggers clients to call about something else. Even if you don’t think they need the article for their situation, it may stimulate some conversation that will result in work for you.

Rise Above The Clutter

Our firm has seen a significant increase in professional service marketing over the past five years. Professionals who never did anything other than a holiday card and an occasional client lunch are now faced with changing websites, creating promotional materials, and finding new ways of getting (or keeping) clients.

By positioning yourself as an expert in your field, you can begin to rise above the clutter. You may find that you don’t have to market as much, as often, or expensively, and that your marketing efforts are more focused toward the kind of clients you really want to approach. •

Speaking and Publishing Resources

Speaking & Presentation Help

A great read on the topic is Own the Room: Business Presentations that Persuade, Engage, and Get Results, a book by communications consultants and business advisors Deborah Shames and David Booth. The book combines their years of expertise at their firm Eloqui, where they work with professionals, CEOs, and others on being more effective in speaking, presenting, and persuasion through verbal communication. Find the book at leading bookstores or online at Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com. For more information on the book, the authors, or their consulting practice, visit www.eloqui.biz.

Webinar Assistance

GoToWebinar is the Webinar arm of GoToMeeting, the online meeting service. GoToWebinar is an easy-to-use Webinar service that lets you conduct very professional Webinars. It has great features like guest registration, custom branding, recording, and even a question and answer feature for your attendees. Best of all, you can try it absolutely free for 30 days to see if it will work for you. For more information visit www.gotomeeting.com/fec/webinar.

Publication Marketing Services

Want to write an article or book? Do you want help promoting something you’ve already created, such as an article, book, Webinar, or seminar? NGI Publishing Services at Newman Grace Inc. can help you manage your message across the entire spectrum of your marketing and media universe. Together with its sister company, Newman Grace Inc., the team creates traditional marketing and social media campaigns for law firms, accounting firms, financial professionals, consultants, and business professionals. While NGI Publishing Services creates publications and publication support, Newman Grace’s services include the creation of promotional materials, website, and Facebook and Twitter campaigns. For more information, visit the websites at www.ngipublishing.com and  www.newmangrace.com. •

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