online marketing for service firms

Online Marketing for Professional Service

FirmsGrow your professional service firm by generating leads and acquiring clients

online.

R.C. ThorntonPresident, RCJ Creative Group

860-812-4341 x500rc@rcjcreative.com

The numbers prove your web presence can be an extremely powerful tool to generate business

• Stats:• 85% of consumers are searching for local business online, but 63% of small

businesses don’t have a website.• 91% of people use Google & other search engines to find information they

need on the web.• Local businesses are spending exponentially more to advertise online, with a

growth from $21.2 billion in 2011 to an estimated $35 billion in 2015; a 65% increase in 4 years!• Traditional advertising growth is expected to stagnate during this time period.

• Your customers are already online; shouldn’t you be too?

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.comStats Source: 150 Smart Stats about Online Marketing

A search for “Connecticut accountant” rendered 7 million results; wouldn’t it be great to be #1?

Here’s why it matters:

-75% of searchers never go beyond the first page,

-32.6% of people will click on the first Google result, the second one only gets about 9%...imagine what lower ones get!

“But referrals / Chamber of Commerce events / something else have done a great job in the past! Why do I need the internet?”

• Your goal isn’t to eliminate other lead-generation methods.• Your goal is to open up a new method; one that can work for you

even without you actively promoting it (compare with traditional marketing like cold calling; only works when you’re doing it!)

Example:SCORE- Most business comes from word-of-mouth, but internet referrals come in a strong second place.

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Why marketing on the internet works:

• Get in front of people who are already looking for you.• Targeting people is substantially easier.

• Very easy to measure the ROI, compared to other forms of advertising.• Marketing on the internet is mostly inbound marketing, which is

lower cost and more effective than traditional marketing methods.

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

What is inbound marketing?

• Providing value before asking for something in return.• Think about when you search online: you’re looking for answers to

your questions. Can you provide those answers for others?• Compare this with traditional outbound marketing (next slide)• Why?• People are more in control of what information they receive.• E.g.: “Do Not Call” list, SPAM filters, 86% of people skip TV ads, 44% of direct

mail never opened.• Make them want to receive your information!

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Inbound v. Traditional Outbound MarketingInbound Marketing• Customers come to you (already

interested).• Marketers provide value.• Marketers seek to entertain and/or

educate.• “Earn your way in”• Examples: Blog articles, social media,

presentations (like this one!)

Inbound marketing is friendly, fun, and a perfect approach for the internet.

Traditional Outbound Marketing

• Customers are sought out (hope they’re interested).• Marketer provides little to no added

value.• Marketer rarely seeks to entertain or

educate.• “Bug your way in”• Example: cold calls, purchased ads,

door-to-door sales

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

How does Inbound Marketing Work?

• Use your website to position yourself as an expert.• Educate your visitors.• Make it easy for people to get in touch with you.

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Case Study-

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Eager to share important information.

Video highlight key information without forcing prospect to look through site.

Issues that matter to clients clearly highlighted.

Actively collects e-mail addresses in exchange for newsletters (these become leads).

Easy to find on a variety of social media.

www.macpas.com

Compare this with a more basic professional service website…

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

• Generic, text-based site with piles of hard-to-sort-through information (hard for prospect to differentiate this firm from competition.)

The cost per lead of inbound marketing is lower than traditional marketing methods, and the effectiveness is proven.

• Inbound marketing costs 62% less than traditional outbound marketing.• Percentage of companies reporting customer acquisition through

these channels:• Company blog: 57%• LinkedIn: 57%• Facebook: 48%• Twitter: 42%Source: Mashable.com

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

How to Build a Powerful Web Presence

Key thought: how can I add value to my visitors?

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Elements of a Powerful Web Presence using Inbound Marketing

Powerful Web Presence

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Useful Website (Content creation and layout).• Content creation is the most important aspect of internet marketing.• Excellent content provides free, useful information that:• Is easy to understand• Easy to share• Gets people asking more questions.

• Examples are blog articles, short videos, whitepapers, and podcasts.• Excellent layout makes it easy to find this content, and to interact with

prospectives.

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Example:

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www.genspring.com

Key questions laid out on homepage.(Content creation)

Can scroll through other key questions.

Firm’s value-added concisely described.

Easy for prospectives to get in touch.

Example:

Hosted a webinar (content creation)

Articles on topics people care about (content creation).

Articles divided into relevant categories that are easy to sort through.

Example

Commonplace topic that a large number of people would care about

Over 5,000 views

Company is directly branded on the video.

Videos don’t have to be overly-theatrical, as with this video, which was filmed at a desk.

Promoted Well

• How are you going to get people to your site?• Social media• Guest writing• Have a strategy for how to do this.

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Does social media matter for my firm?

• 340 million tweets are sent out daily• 61% of LinkedIn users use LinkedIn as their primary professional

networking medium.• 1 of 7 minutes online is spent on Facebook• 1 billion people are on Facebook.• 48 hours of footage are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

What social media can do for your firm.• Keep customers informed of company news• Makes it easier to get word-of-mouth referral• Makes it easy for interested people to find out more information.• Builds links• Useful as a customer service tool.

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Example:

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Logo and other branding / information easily included.

Easily share updates with followers.

Those who like your page are able to easily follow your firm’s progress

Followers can interact directly with your firm.

Guest Writing

• Make it easy to promote yourself and your firm.• Write for your industry or target-market publications:

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Industry Publications:

Target Market Publications:

Here’s how it benefits you:

• You’ll get this at the end of an article:

Your nameA link to your website

Contact information.

• Build yourself as an expert while directly getting credit for doing so.203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Easy to Find

• Search engine optimiziation:• At its core, SEO is very simple: how do you know what people are looking for,

and how do you optimize your web presence to be easily found?• Example:

• What do your prospectives search online to find you? “Hartford CT accountants”, “Hartford Connecticut accountants”, “Hartford CT CPA firm”, etc.

• When you know what people are looking for, you can create your content to match what people want.

• Suppose you found out people usually search “Hartford CT CPA firm”. You can write an article called:• “The Top 5 Things to Look for in a Hartford CT CPA Firm”

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

How to Do This- Google Keyword Tool

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You type in a search term to analyze how many people search it…

Results appear, showing # of searches Other keyword ideas

are given.

adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool

Engages with Prospects

• Actively tries to collect information, and offers exchanges for doing so.• Interactive elements.• Comment boxes• “Email us if you have any questions”• Asks for input.

• Goal is to build a sense of community!

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

ExampleFree deck of branded cards for sharing information.

Prospectives exchange their information for the deck of cards.

• The Genspring example is slightly elaborate, but the model works with exchanging e-mail addresses for whitepapers or other similar downloads.

Free e-book for sharing name and e-mail address

Where do I start?

• A long-term plan is the first step, answering questions such as:• What’s my ultimate business goal? (Delight current clients, generate new

leads, become a well-known expert on a particular subject matter, or something else?)• How much time am I willing to devote to this?• What are my 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 12 month benchmarks?• “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

• Don’t be fooled into thinking you can “do this all yourself”; work with a professional who understands your business model and will take some of the work off of your back.

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com

Thanks much for reading!

Feel free to contact:

R.C. ThorntonPresident, RCJ Creative Group

203-920-0922rc@rcjcreative.com

203-920-0922 rc@rcjcreative.com