« Gathering Customer Testimonials | Main | Defining Who You Are and Who You Aren't = Specializing »
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times.
Figure out who you are (and who you AREN'T) and boldly state BOTH!
These guys have done exactly that:
Hat tip to Brian Weinstock at Danna McKitrick for pointing me to Partridge Snow & Hahn's "Brand PS&H" page.
| |
|
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
The comments to this entry are closed.
Michelle Golden: Social Media Strategies for Professionals and Their Firms: The Guide to Establishing Credibility and Accelerating Relationships (Wiley Professional Advisory Services)
A timeless guide to modern marketing strategies: online and off.
"The most comprehensive guide that I have seen so far."―Joe Bailey, CPA
"How to execute social-media strategies and the reasons why they work, written at a higher than most level; a must read if you are serious about social networking." —Anthony Provinzino, Farmers Insurance
"So much more than a run down of the tools....helps you to think strategically about social media by putting in its proper perspective."―Colette Gonsalves, CPA firm marketing director
"Extremely well organized ... winning ideas for ... firms to develop and maintain non-cookie-cutter marketing programs that are firm-specific and purposeful."―Richard Weltman, Business & bankruptcy lawyer
Michelle Golden's first in-store book sighting! Click to read Michelle's bio
I really love this concept and will immediately put it into practice with branding conversations with clients. It's a very good point we often pass as we're trying so hard to help clients determine who they ARE. This might be a better way to approach the conversation. I'll let you know how it goes!
Posted by: Marijean | April 27, 2008 at 07:16 PM
Marijean, that's a great observation! In my personal life, many years ago, (ahem) when considering qualities of the "man of my dreams" I always said "I'm acquiring a great list of qualities I'm not looking for, but I'm not sure what should be on the list of those I need." Seems kinda similar. :-)
Posted by: Michelle Golden | April 28, 2008 at 08:45 AM
A very good editor of mine once said "A book for everyone is a book for no one," and that's proven to be very wise advice. So I agree with your overall idea, and the advice and examples you provide are solid.
But my experience with big firms is different from yours--at least big CPA firms. It's not that bigger firms are loathe to cull their client list. Rather, in order to grow, they acquire other specialties or move into different geographic markets.
So the branding question becomes less about what services the firm provides--they provide many and do it well because that is their grown strategy. Now the branding question moves more to more qualitative issues, like "what do you stand for? The PSH example is good because the differentiation is not about areas of expertise but the firm's attitude and other intangibles.
This is where the CPA firm starts to squirm because the topic is too abstract and maybe because they haven't entirely bought in to the idea that brand has value.
Posted by: Michael Ramos | April 28, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Michelle,
If OK I am going to "borrow" this from PSH...I love it.Do I need permission or is asking for forgiveness alright?
Tim
Posted by: Tim McKey | April 30, 2008 at 08:46 PM