WE’VE SEEN IT RUN, BUT DOES IT WORK?

Evaluating A Marketing Program

If I put in ad in the paper that says, "Come to my house for free lollipops," then all I have to do is count lollipops to know if the ad worked.

But in professional services, in which no marketing program is likely to persuade somebody who doesn’t need one to get an audit, or to file a law suit, how do you measure whether all that time and money is accomplishing anything?

The short answer is easy – count new clients after a couple of months. But the short answer is usually the wrong answer, as it is here. One reason is that there’s a difference between building and shaping a practice, and accumulating clients. If all you want to do is accumulate clients, then the short answer is the right answer – except that you wind up with a bunch of clients you may not really want after you’ve gotten to know them better. If you want to build and shape a practice, then the answer is longer and more complicated.

The best way to look at it is to start with realistic objectives, and then measure the progress of your marketing efforts against those objectives. For example, if you find a growing number of high tech companies moving into your geographic area, and your objective is to build a practice in high tech companies, and your marketing program is designed to do that, then you come closer to knowing what’s working and what isn’t.

Ultimately, and even before the clients come in, the market will tell you what’s working and what isn’t. You’ll find yourself talking to more prospects in the target group. You’ll find your name showing up in more places in the target industry. You’ll find yourself on more industry panels, and speaking before more industry groups. And if all this happens, you’ll find a whole bunch of new clients.

Only, be sure that part of your objectives includes a definition of the right client for you. As regular readers have often heard me say (or write), client retention begins with getting the right client.

The subject of measuring the effectiveness of a marketing program is too complex to reduce to a bunch of bullet points in a short article, and will be dealt with extensively in The Marcus Letter in coming months. But in an interesting article by the marketing consultant John Graham, of Graham Communications in Quincy, MA (http://www.grahamcomm.com), published in Accounting Today in its October 26 issue, Graham makes some interesting points worth considering.

The article is entitled, "Eight Ways To Evaluate Your Marketing Program." His points are important ones, although not always quite in the context of evaluating whether the program is working. But as a guide to what your program should be when you develop it, this is a fine checklist. Here, with his permission, are the points…

1. The successful marketing program differentiates a company from the competition.

2. An effective marketing program creates a flow of new business leads

3. An effective marketing program keeps the company in the minds of customers and prospects.

4. An effective marketing program will give the company a strong hold on the marketplace.

5. An effective marketing program will communicate a company's expertise and knowledge.

6. An effective marketing program will give a company a long-term orientation.

7. An effective marketing program will be customer-oriented.

8. An effective marketing program will be a vital force in customer retention.

Graham, a seasoned and thoughtful consultant, is on target. Certainly (point 1), any program that doesn’t differentiate itself from its competitors is going to be sledding uphill. This is what positioning is about (click here to see a good working definition of positioning). Differentiation in a profession is difficult, and may be coming at the problem from the wrong angle. I wonder if the differentiation, ultimately, doesn’t come from demonstrating the ability to understand a client’s problem, and to demonstrate that you have an innovative and imaginative solution, rather than from trying to persuade somebody that you do better audits or write better briefs.

Creating a flow of business leads (point 2) is, in a sense, the answer to the marketing prayer – so long as they are the right leads. Keeping the company in the minds of the customers (point 3) is crucial, so long as the reputation is for the right things, and not merely name recognition. A strong hold in the marketplace (point 4) is a significant objective of any marketing program, and should be understood and considered. Communicating expertise (point 5) is what it’s about, as Graham rightly points out. You don’t get retained for cosmetics – but for your expertise – your ability to help the client.

The long-term orientation (point 6) brings us to the difference between building a practice and accumulating clients, and being client-oriented (point 7) is more than just a good idea – it’s a philosophy that should be inherent in any marketing situation. And finally, the role of client retention is significant (point 8). As the old saw goes, it costs more to get a new client than to keep an old one.

Graham writes often for Accounting Today, and says good things. He’s got some good stuff on his Web site, too. It’s worth looking at.

In the early days of professional services marketing, measuring the value of a marketing program was a vast mystery, for some good and complex reasons. But now the marketing programs themselves are complex, and so the mystery – at least on some levels – deepens. We’ll keep chipping away here.