I am a professional services firm. Why do I need to market my services?
First and foremost, for a professional services firm, marketing is different. There is a fine line between marketing aggressively to build your client or patient base, and still maintaining a professional tone and demeanor with your efforts. For a long time – advertising from attorneys, dental and medical practices was almost unheard of. However, the days of completing your education, hanging up a sign and waiting for the customers to arrive are long gone. Today, there are 1.1 million attorneys, 884,974 doctors and 175,705 dentists in the U.S. alone. That’s a lot of competition. Marketing is part of every professional firm and practice and it is essential to your success.
So, what is the most effective way for me to grow my practice or firm?
There are lots of choices when it comes to marketing – however, they can all be divided into two categories: internal and external. Both are important and both require some thought, planning and ultimately a system. Random acts of marketing that have no cohesive strategy are a waste of time and money because they rarely work. We recommend that you find a mix between internal and external marketing, set up a strategy and then give it some time to work. Having said that, the cornerstone of any marketing strategy should be a concerted and focused effort on referral business. Your best sales prospects will always come from your current clients or patients.
How do I build referrals?
The best way to receive referrals is to “be referable.” Obviously referrals start with providing a quality service and a positive experience with you and your staff. Beyond that, referrals begin and end with relationships. It is about who trusts you enough to refer business to you... It is also essential that you come to mind, when the subject of your professional services comes up. The best way to “be referable” is to keep in touch with your clients or patients. Communication – consistent communication is key. One of the best ways to keep in touch with your customer base – in a professional and personable way is a newsletter. A marketing strategy with a client or patient newsletter as a core piece is a proven strategy for success.
Won’t a newsletter take a significant amount of time from me and my staff?
It doesn’t have to. Especially if you use our company, newsLINK Professional Publishing Services, to help. Our services are turn key – we provide relevant editorial specific to you and your firm or practice, we handle the graphic design and layout, we print, manage your database, mail, send you copies for hand delivery and then, do it again the next quarter.
There are lots of newsletter services. What makes newsLINK different?
Yes, there are many newsletter services. However, we are one of the few – if not the only one that provides our clients with a completely custom newsletter. We believe that your clients or patients do business with you – because of you. When your newsletter looks like everyone else’s you are telling your customer base that you are just like everyone else! That makes no sense. All of our professional newsletters are completely different because all or our clients are completely different.
Isn’t completely custom expensive?
We suspect that our services are a bit more than a standard newsletter, offering generic topics with only your logo, name and contact information to differentiate you from your competition. Our newsletter format is very high-end and meant to keep you and your services in front of your customers in an educational, memorable and relevant way. Just like you – we are not a one size fits all strategy! At the end of the day, it will cost you the same to mail something mediocre as opposed to sending out something that is representative of you and the quality service that you provide to your patients or clients. We are happy to provide you with pricing and we believe that you will be pleasantly surprised.
What’s the next step?
You may want to look at the various professional tabs on our home page. We have additional information and samples for you to review. Beyond that – the best way is to pick up the phone and call. We’re here to help.