Strong client relationships can be summed up in one word: loyalty. Whether you’re fundraising, trying to develop business, providing better services, or gaining more significant market share, inbound marketing is the method you should use to build strong client relationships and reach your goals. After all, if you spend all your time on outbound marketing and none on inbound, you’re like a doctor who uses bloodletting to cure a headache. The technique may date back further, but it’s much less effective than modern-day solutions.

Do not fall into the trap of the rather pervasive belief that a firm’s logo constitutes its brand. While the logo and overall aesthetic image are parts of the brand, it’s the client experience and associations people draw from that experience that mold and shape a brand the most. These touch points are the foundation for good engagement marketing.

If you’ve been avoiding marketing with Twitter, why not make today the day to start? Twitter is an important social network to help bring in new leads for your firm. It's uniquely suited for catching followers on the fly and getting a message through, even on their busiest day. Now's the perfect time to begin because you can follow these handy tips and quickly build up steam on Twitter:

According to Hubspot's 2013 State of Inbound Marketing report, 52 percent of all U.S. marketers identified Facebook as a lead source in 2013. If your firm falls in the 48 percent that has yet to explore lead generation on Facebook, it’s time for that to change. Even if you’re among the 52 percent who generated leads from Facebook in 2013, you can always get more. 

Engagement marketing is different from direct response marketing in that it’s about creating relationships with future professional services clients. Inbound marketing enables your audience to interact with your firm in their preferred manner. It also expands your avenues to communicate versions of your marketing messages. 

What’s your most powerful marketing tool? It’s not social media. It’s not your website. It’s not even email marketing – none of these things. Your most powerful marketing tool is brand consistency across everything you do, and everywhere your clients see you. That means the vibe you give off on your social media channels should reflect what clients see when they visit your website or read marketing emails.

The average open rate for marketing emails is an abysmal 21 percent. That means four out of five clients ignore your attempts to contact them. Why is this happening? And more importantly, how can you boost your email marketing messages? Insert the following three qualities into your marketing emails and increase open rates.

Video is a powerful medium that's not just for cute kitten videos. Video marketing for professional services firms earns click-throughs, while the still photo makes a nice image for those who can’t take the time to watch. Clients often research professional services firms in depth before engaging in services, and your firm realizes many benefits, even if the audience never watches the video to completion. 

Your firm uses social media marketing and is mobile-friendly, right? If not, you may need some fantastic facts and statistical reasons to rev up your presence in these popular and growing spheres. We scoured some of the latest social media articles to inform you of the latest statistics that will help guide your marketing efforts.  Whether you plan to use this information for your firm’s marketing campaigns, convince leadership to ramp up social media marketing efforts, or justify current activities, you will love these marketing stats. Allow these golden nuggets to fuel your next social media strategy brainstorming session.

It’s Oscar season, and excitement is in the air. When you reflect on all the great films you've seen over the past year, you are suddenly struck with an idea to add a video to your firm’s marketing repertoire. If you haven’t taken the video plunge, it is time to get off the sidelines and into the game.