proprietary and confidential the brand-driven consulting firm… ponte vedra beach, fl november 13,...

PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL

The Brand-driven Consulting Firm…

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

November 13, 2014


Association of Management Consulting Firms

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Polling Question…

To what extent would you say your firm has “a brand?”

1 105432 6 7 8 9We don’t really have a brand. It’s basically our company name

We have a very strong brand. It differentiates us

in the marketplace

We have a brand. It has meaning beyond merely the

name of our company



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Myths I hope to debunk …

Brands are just for the big guys (McKinsey, BCG, Accenture)

Brand is all about communications (logo, tagline, visual identity)

Building strong brands costs millions of dollars…takes many years

Being highly specialized is suicide for a small consulting firm

If we’re small, it’s all about personal brands—not the firm’s brand

Social Media is not relevant/effective in professional services



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Recent FullSurge Research

Q: Compared to your competitors, how would you rate your company’s brand-building capabilities?

A: A great deal stronger than our competitors

B2B

79% more likely

to agree

>15% 3-year CAGR



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A Product

A Symbol

An Ad

A Logo

A Tagline

A Name

A brand is NOT



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A brand is…your strongest initial “reason to believe”

Awareness

Consideration

Engagement

Loyalty

Advocacy

Consulting Firm’s Brand

Partners’ Relationships

Relative Influence



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A brand is…a filter for strategic decision-making

Which clients/prospectsshould I target?

High-growth, middle-market companies in the technology sector

What should myservice offerings be?

Business strategy, supply chain, change management

What is my idealengagement model?

Highly iterative processes, deep client integration

What kind of experiencedo I want for my clients?

High-touch, senior partner involvement, knowledge transfer

Brand Strategy FilterQuestions Answers



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A brand is…the basis for operationalizing your strategy

Human Capital

Knowledge Management

Intellectual Capital

Practice Areas

Thought Leadership

Expertise Marketing

Client Experience

Market Offerings

Brand Strategy



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Operationalizing brand strategy—Illustrated

“Comprehensive

Solutions…”

Cross-functional talent capable of working with ambiguity and across

complex issue sets…

Lateral, big picture thinkers who “connect the dots,” and see multi-discipline integration opportunities

not evident to others…

Proprietary IP and methodologies that are flexible enough to accommodate multiple (often conflicting) issues…

Provocative points of view that challenge conventional wisdom and

that break down artificial, cross-functional silos…



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Case Study

“How we’ve begun to build our firm’s brand”



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Our Journey…

Target Selection

Brand Positioning

Voice of the Client

Strategic Intent

Brand Strategy

Client Experience

Content/Assets

Performance Management

Brand Operationalization

Go-to-Market Strategy

Professional Associations

Speaking Engagements

Proprietary Research

Content/Social

Practices & Offerings

Pricing Structure

Engagement Model

Du

e

Dili

ge

nce



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Due Diligence

Client Interviews Strategic Review Mapping & Mood Boards

2014

FullSurge

Business &

Marketing

Plan



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Polling Question…

How would you describe your approach to “targeting clients?”

It’s broad—we sell to pretty much anyone willing/able to buy

It’s very specific—we pursue certain buyers w/in select companies

So-so…we target companies, but not individual

buyers (or vice-versa)

1 105432 6 7 8 9



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Sectors

Target Selection

“The essence of strategy is sacrifice”

—Michael Porter

Companies LevelsFunctions Mindset*

Our Target Client

• Professional Services

• Consumer Goods

• Healthcare

• Middle Market Businesses

• Fortune1000

• Marketing

• General Management

• VP and above

• Corp/BU Leader

• Obsessed with driving business growth

*This dimension has the potential to trump all others



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Brand Positioning

Target Growth-driven brand and marketing executives

Frame of Reference A strategic consultancy

Benefit Helps clients achieve enduring business growth through brand-building, marketing and innovation

Reasons To Believe

Strategy-first Philosophy on

Brand

Zero-in on Issues that Matter Most

Dedicated, Senior-Partner

Teams

Flexible Business

Model

• View brand as a lens for business strategy

• Relentless focus on only core business issues

• Highly experienced and engaged delivery team

• Adaptable to clients’ organizational realities



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Practices/Offerings

MarketingReinforce the value customers see in your brands and boost financial performance

• Segmentation

• Value Proposition

• GTM Strategy

• Experience

InnovationEnsure brands maintain relevance, even in the face of challenging marketplace dynamics

• Demand Generation

• Product Development

BrandEstablish and maintain meaningful and long-lasting customer relationships

• Brand Positioning

• Brand Architecture

• Brand Extendibility

• Brand Metrics



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Client Experience



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Engagement Model

Project Approach:

• Voice of Customer (VOC) orientation

• Iterative processes

Staffing Configuration:

• Small teams of highly experienced and deeply engaged senior partners

Client Integration:

• High degree of client integration (vs. “black box”)

• Senior-level sponsor and ongoing involvement

• 25-50% dedicated core team member



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Pricing Structure/Fees

Philosophical Approach:

• Price based on value of work to client (as opposed to cost of work to FullSurge)

Terms:

• Fixed Fees based on agreed-upon SOW (as opposed to Hourly Rates)

For Innovation Work:

• Consider contingency-based fee structure

• Based on pre-determinedin-market metrics

• Accounts for downside and upside potentials



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32 28 16

Content/Assets

Case Studies Articles/Papers Presentations



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Content/Assets (cont’d)

Blog Guest Posts



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Performance Measurement

Behavior Metrics Perception Metrics Performance Metrics

Articles/Papers

Presentations

Intellectual Property

Awareness

Consideration

Brand Associations

Revenue

Profitability

Bus. Development



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Go-to-Market Strategy

1

Professional Associations

2

Speaking Engagements

Content Marketing/Social

Media

3

ProprietaryResearch/IP

4



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Polling Question…

How well does your firm market itself today?

1 10Not well…we don’t do very much in the way of marketing

Extremely well…we’re active in both traditional

and online marketing

5So-so…we speak and

write, but don’t do much online (or vice-versa)

432 6 7 8 9



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1) Professional Associations



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2) Speaking Engagements

Keynotes, Presentations, Workshops, Tutorials, Webinars



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3) Proprietary Research/IP

Target: Brand and Marketing Executives

Research Objective: How do Brand, Marketing and Innovation drive Growth?

Cost: ~$7,500

Growth Gu-rus

All Others

>15% 3-yr CAGR

21%

79%

+

541 Respondents 16 In-depth Interviews



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3) Proprietary Research/IP (cont’d)

6-month Editorial Calendar



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4) Social Media

Groups Content

Analytics

Events

Blog Posts

Content



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VERY Preliminary (2-month) Results

Online and social activity has driven NEW visitors

• 81% increase in session traffic in September

• Total referring domains improved 200% in September and October

• Total referring pages improved 150% in September and October

• Backlink domain rank increased from 36 to 46 (30–70 = average)

• Domain rank is equal to or greater than competitive benchmarks

• Several high-potential, qualified client leads

Since social campaign began in September 2014…



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Lessons Learned

• For a small consulting firm, your brand is your business

o It should ultimately define and drive everything you do

• Voice of the Client (VOC) is critical

o You need independent, objective, and unfiltered input from the market

• You need to “sacrifice” to win

o Define your expertise narrowly…and dominate it

• Choose your agency/consulting partners carefully

o They need to really understand your business

• You need to have a strong online/digital profile and presence

o Although engagements aren’t won online, they can easily be lost online



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1603 Orrington Ave. Suite 600

Evanston, IL 60201

T 312.239.8985

[email protected]

www.fullsurge.com

proprietary and confidential the brand-driven consulting firm… ponte vedra beach, fl november 13,...

Documents

highgrowth companies

companys brand

b2b companies

year cagr proprietary

growth gurus2myths

research study

innovation perspective

small consulting firmif