WIXLIB

3 Online Lead GenerationLead Generation and Firm ProfitabilityFirms thatProfitability is the other key aspect of financial performance. Does online leadgeneration impact firm profitability?generatea higherpercentage ofFig 7. Profitability and Online Lead Generationleads onlinegrow faster32.5%30.0%MedianCurrentProfitabilityas % -79%and are moreprofitable.80-100%% Leads Generated OnlineThe percentage of leads generated online directly correlates with profitability.Firms that generate less than 20% of leads online tend to be less profitable thanthe rest. Firms that generate 80-100% of leads online tend to be more profitable.WHY MORE PROFITABLE?Why are firms that generate a higher percentage of online leads more profitable? Our data doesnot provide a definitive answer, but one explanation is that over the long term, online marketingsimply costs less than traditional marketing. For example, consider a firm that makes an upfrontinvestment in search engine optimization. Once the firm achieves top search engine rankings,the leads continue to flow in without incurring high ongoing costs. Contrast this against traditionalmarketing techniques, which often come with sustained campaign expenses. Data supportingthis view have been published by Hubspot. They found that online leads generated from inboundmarketing had a 62% lower cost per lead than those generated using traditional approaches suchas trade shows, direct marketing and telemarketing. e Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing13

CASE STUDYHow Fortinet Uses Social MediaIt’s easy to dismiss Facebook and Twitter as a waste of company timeand a productivity killer. But in the case of Fortinet, a network securityfirm with an extraordinary grasp of social media, there’s nothingunproductive about it.CONNECT WITHFORTINETwww.fortinet.comMarketing Senior Manager Maeve Naughton and her team have foundunique ways to use popular social media tools to increase their brandvisibility in the marketplace. Here are a few of the areas in which theyconcentrate:Twitter: @fortinetFacebook: fortinetLinkedin: Enterprise NetworkSecurityYouTube: SecureNetworksTwitterNaughton spends one or two hours each daymanaging the firm’s Twitter account. The companyuses Twitter to answer customers’ questions — anincreasingly important way the company providescustomer support.FacebookNaughton devotes a similar amount of time tothe firm’s Facebook page. Facebook is greatfor relationship building: answering questions,engaging with visitors and establishing trustwith prospects. Fortinet received a tremendousresponse when they asked their Facebook fans tosubmit humorous pictures for the opportunity towin free T-shirts.Online Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing14

3 Online Lead GenerationLinkedInRun jointly by the HR department and Naughton, LinkedInhas been invaluable for recruiting at Fortinet. LinkedIn’sextensive jobs section and high credibility with the sorts ofpeople Fortinet hires, makes it a prime place to discovertalent. Fortinet also maintains a LinkedIn Group in whichmembers can discuss network security issues.YouTubeThe Product Marketing Team spends two hours each weekplacing and managing product demo videos on YouTube.They use the venue to showcase Fortinet’s latest productsand services.“Social media is absolutely paying off,” says Naughton. “We are far more visible,and our engagement numbers are going up.” She offers three pieces of advicefor firms that want to invest in social media:1. Involve the team — Social media doesn’t have to be a full-time job. Ifyou spread responsibility across multiple departments, it is often moremanageable. The more people you have involved, the more ground youcan cover.2. Keep it personal — People don’t want to buy from a company. They wantto buy from people. A lively Facebook page with active conversations andfriendly people encourages prospects to interact and build a relationshipwith your business.3. Be transparent — Authenticity is key. Welcome the people in yournetwork to explore your company page and get to know your culture. Postcompany pictures and videos, and be open to the world. People love acompany with personality.Online Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing15

4Online RecruitingTo what extent are firms using their online presence to attractnew employees?Prevalence of Online RecruitingIS ONLINE RECRUITINGA TREND?Recruiting is a key issue for many professional services firms. As thedata show, over half of the firms surveyed use their online presence, insome capacity, to recruit new employees.We do not havehistorical data on thistopic, but we expectmore and more firmsto use their websitesfor recruiting purposes.As young adultscontinue to enter thework force — and asbusiness search engineuse grows — onlinerecruiting is likely tobecome increasinglyimportant to professionalservices firms.About 25% of firms attract 40% or moreof their new hires online.In contrast, 45% of firms are not currently leveraging their sites for thispurpose and have attracted no new employees through their websitesor other online tools.Fig 8. Online Recruiting44.9%% of 79%80-100%% Hires Recruited OnlineOnline Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing16

4 Online RecruitingOnline Recruiting and Financial PerformanceDoes more online recruiting mean higher growth and profitability?Based on the current data, the answer is probably not. There does not seemto be a consistent relationship between the percentage of online hires andgrowth rate or profitability.The fastest growing companies recruit between 1% and 19% of employeesthrough their websites. At firms with the highest levels of online recruiting,growth tends to be a bit slower.Fig 9. Online Recruiting and Growth -79%18.5%Median2-YearGrowthRate80-100%% Hires Recruited OnlineThe relationship between online hires and firm profitability also seems to bequite inconsistent. While online recruiting may be a valuable tool, it does notseem to drive profitability to the same degree as online lead generation.Fig 10. Online Recruiting and %11.0%40-59%60-79%MedianCurrentProfitabilityas % ofRevenue80-100%% Hires Recruited OnlineOnline Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing17

5Industry GroupsDoes your industry affect the prospects for your firm’s success?In this section, we look at industry differences from the perspective offinancial results, lead generation and recruiting.Growth Rate and ProfitabilityManagement Consulting firms enjoy the highest growth rate and areleaders in profitability.Fig 11. Growth Rate by Industry45.0%40.0%36.4%Median2 YearGrowthRate36.1%18.5%0.7%Management TechnologyConsultingServicesOtherMarketing/ Accounting/Communica- FinancetionsA/E/CWant to learn moreabout your industry?Download a FreeSupplemental Reporton Your Industryhingemarketing.com/industry-reportsOnline Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing18

5 Industry GroupsTechnology Services are also fast growing and enjoy relatively high profitability.Marketing/Communications is enjoying relatively strong growth and hasmoderate levels of profitability.Fig 12. Profitability by Industry25.0%24.5%20.0%17.5%12.0%Management TechnologyConsultingServicesOtherMarketing/ Accounting/Communica- Financetions10.0%MedianCurrentProfitabilityas % ofRevenueA/E/CThe A/E/C industry group is lowest in terms of both growth and profitability.Within each industry group there are varying percentages of governmentcontractors. In our sample, government contracting is not conducive to eitherhigh growth or high profitability.Fig 13. Growth Rate and Government ContractingFig 14. Profitability and Government tProfitabilityas % ofRevenue20.0%18.4%12.0%10.0%17.1%0%1-49%50-100%% Revenue from Government ContractingOnline Marketing for Professional Services Firms0%1-49%50-100%% Revenue from Government ContractingHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing19

5 Industry GroupsThis finding contrasts with some of our previous research in which governmentcontractors enjoyed high levels of growth and profitability.* This trend can beattributed at least in part to recent widespread government budget reductions.Online Lead GenerationClosely paralleling their financial results, the A/E/C community trails otherindustries in online lead generation, while Marketing/Communications leadsthe pack. Technology Services is in second place.Fig 15. Online Lead Generation by Industry31.4%% ing/ TechnologyCommunica- ServicestionsOtherManagement Accounting/ConsultingFinanceA/E/CFig 16. Lead Generation and Government Contracting% LeadsGeneratedOnline18.5%14.5%Firms that are most committedto Government Contractingalso generate the lowest levelof online leads.10.1%0%1-49%50-100%% Revenue from Government Contracting* http://spiralingupbook.comOnline Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing20

5 Industry GroupsOnline RecruitingWhen we turn to online recruiting the pattern changes. In this arena, TechnologyServices leads, followed by A/E/C. Accounting/Finance attracts the lowestpercentage of hires online.Fig 17. Online Recruiting by Industry27.7%24.4%22.2%% esA/E/CMarketing/ Management Accounting/FinanceCommunica- ConsultingtionsOtherIn the online recruiting sphere, Government Contractors are clear leaders withboth mixed and pure private-sector-focused firms trailing by a wide margin.Fig 18. Online Recruiting and Government Contracting30.1%17.6%14.3%Want to learn moreabout your industry?0%1-49%50-100%% Government ContractsDownload a FreeSupplemental Reporton Your Industryhingemarketing.com/industry-reportsOnline Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing21

CASE STUDYPrimePay’s 10 Tips to Breakinto Online MarketingPrimePay, a firm specializing in payroll, tax, HR, insurance and benefitservices, is doing things right on their website and in their socialmedia strategy. To find out what lessons they have learned, we spokewith Nancy Mullin, PrimePay’s Manager of Marketing and InteractiveServices. She offered these ten tips:1. Take Your Website from IT and Give It to Marketing – PrimePaygave the car keys to the marketing team and let them use thewebsite as a living, breathing communication tool. Today’scontent management tools make it easy.CONNECT WITHPRIMEPAYwww.primepay.comTwitter: @PrimePayPayrollLinkedin: primepayYouTube: PrimePayPayroll2. Zero In on High Impact Activities – Nancy and her team cannotpossibly cover every aspect of online marketing. Instead, theyfocus on the things that will make a difference. For example, theirkeyword-rich blog posts are having a huge impact on PrimePay’sbusiness.3. Determine Your Conversion Actions – PrimePay tracks specificgoals on its site. For instance, they want visitors to fill out theircontact form and download educational content, such as theirEmployee Handbook. Having trackable goals is an important stepto building a lead generating website.4. Eliminate Friction – PrimePay’s old website had one majorproblem: it made it difficult for people to contact the company. Onthe new site, simplified web forms and clear calls to action haveled to an influx of leads.Online Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing22

5 Industry Groups5. M eet Your New Best Friend: The CRM – The team benefits greatly fromusing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool called HubSpot.This type of software allows you to easily create new web forms andoffers, track leads by source and segment your list of prospects. This toolhas dramatically increased PrimePay’s efficiency.6. P luck Low-Hanging Fruit – When it comes to ranking in search engines,PrimePay’s strategy is to find keyword opportunities that haven’t yet beensaturated. Rather than target high volume, highly competitive phrases,they target many more-attainable keyword phrases. The traffic theyreceive from these highly targeted “long-tail” keywords adds up.7. D eclare Yourself the Authority, Then Back It Up – In the world ofprofessional services, trust is everything. PrimePay not only declaredthemselves a thought leader, but they support that claim by stepping uptheir effort to publish educational content for business owners, payrollprofessionals, accountants and brokers. This long-term strategy has led toa brand that prospects can trust.8. B log on Topics that Lead to Leads – When producing educationalcontent, PrimePay always has a specific target demographic in mind. Theyare careful to write posts that speak the language of their target readers.9. G ive and Thou Shalt Receive – Nancy spends a portion of her day usingGoogle Reader, a tool that allows her to skim through online publicationsquickly. She browses sites such as Forbes and Entrepreneur Inc. andshares interesting stories on her social media networks. This activity helpsposition PrimePay as a trusted industry resource.10. Stick. It. Out. – “It’s tough in the beginning,” explained Nancy. “You’rewriting all of these posts, you don’t have many subscribers and you startto think is this worth it? We stuck it out, however, and it paid off.” Youcan’t climb this mountain overnight. PrimePay made it through the hardtimes and now they are reaping the rewards of perseverance.If you take away only one point from this story, it should be this: online successis within reach. Whether your focus is social media for payroll, HR, or any otherprofessional service industry, you don’t need an army to prosper just a smartmarketing team with a good strategy.Online Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing23

6Budgeting and ResourcesFollow the money.As new marketing trends continue to emerge, a key decision facingprofessional services firms is whether to increase spending in a givenarea and by how much.66%of firms plan toSpending TrendsParticipants were asked whether they planned to increase or decreaseonline marketing spending or whether they anticipated no change. Onethird predicted no change while the other two thirds planned to increasespending. Less than 1% planned to decrease spending.How much will firms increase or decrease spending? Those that areplanning to increase anticipate a much larger magnitude of change.Fig 19. 12-Month OnlineMarketing Spending Planincrease onlinemarketingspendingwithin the next12 months.30% Averagedecrease0.6%will decreasespending33.8%anticipateno change65.6%will increasespending56% Averageincrease% of FirmsThere is a clear intention to boost online marketing activities. 66% of firmsplan to increase online marketing spending within the next 12 months.Firms that plan to increase spending will do so by an average of 56%.Online Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing24

6 Budgeting and ResourcesOutsourcing vs. Keeping It In-HouseFig 20. Outsourced Online Marketing68.9%% 79%80-100%% Online Marketing OutsourcedThe majority of firms do not currently outsource any part of their onlinemarketing efforts. However, 31% of firms do contract outside help for at least partof their efforts.Very few firms completely outsource their online marketing. Why is this? Certainaspects of online marketing require the firm’s involvement to be successful.Often, tasks such niche blog writing and social media engagement need at leastsome in-house participation. Other activities, such as keyword research and webdesign, can be outsourced completely.Online Marketing for Professional Services FirmsHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing25

6 Budgeting and ResourcesWebsite Redesign and UpdatesNearly half of professional services firms have redesigned their websiteswithin the past 12 months. On the other hand, almost one in five has notdone so in more than three years.Fig 21. Latest website redesign46.3%21.9%19.0%% ofFirms12.9%Within the past12 monthsWithin the pasttwo yearsWithin the pastthree yearsNearly half ofMore than threeyears agoprofessionalAnecdotally, many professional services firms are transitioning their websitesfrom passive online brochures to more dynamic, interactive marketing tools.A growing demand for lead-generating websites may explain why a largepercentage of firms have undergone redesigns in the past year.This new type of website, built for publishing a stream of fresh content thatcan be promoted in social media, requires frequent content updates. As ourdata illustrates below, over 40% of firms update their site at least weekly.servicesfirms haveredesignedtheir websiteswithin the past12 months.Only a quarter of firms update their site once a year or less.Fig 22. Frequency of Website Updates31.1%34.3%24.6%% ofFirms10.0%DailyWeeklyOnline Marketing for Professional Services FirmsMonthlyOnce a yearor lessHow Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing26

6 Budgeting and ResourcesMethod of ContactWHY ARE FORMSUSEFUL?How are web visitors contacting you? Direct email and phone callscontinue to be popular channels. But online contact forms are the secondmost common medium, with nearly 29% of firms listing an online form astheir primary contact method.1. Ease of Use –Visitors can easilysubmit a messagewithout leaving theweb browser.Fig 23. How Website Visitors Contact You43.9%% ofVisitors28.6%24.1%3.4%Email directlyOnlinecontact formOnline Marketing for Professional Services FirmsPhone callOther2. Tracking –By setting up formsubmission as goals inanalytics, you can trackwhere leads come from.3. CRM Integration –Prospects automaticallypopulate your marketingsystem, so you don’thave to enter themmanually.How Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing27

7Online Technique Usageand EffectivenessParticipants evaluated fifteen commonly used onlinemarketing techniques.We evaluated the degree to which firms used each technique and howeffective they were in achieving their firm goals.Technique UsageSurvey participan

For the first time, results demonstrate that firms embracing online marketing grow faster: Firms generating 40% or more of their leads online grow 4X faster than those with no online leads High growth firms obtain 63% of leads online while average firms obtain 12% Greater engagement with online tools is associated with faster growth