How is your annual marketing plan coming along?  Our recent post, Do You Need a SWOT to Start Marketing Planning? Covered the situational analysis section of your professional services marketing plan. Another important component of annual marketing planning is setting goals and objectives.  In the spirit of kicking off the New Year with a complete plan, this post covers goals and objectives.

If you are going through the annual marketing planning process and realize that you have not completely analyzed your firm’s position in the marketplace, it may be time to begin situational analysis.  Situational analysis is the process of evaluating the firm’s situation as a whole and by market sector.  The intent is to develop a sharpened marketing strategy which includes: understanding where the firm is today, envisioning where it wants to go, and determining how it will get to where it wants to go. This process requires a keen sense of the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).

It is the season for taking a closer look at the annual marketing plan. The annual marketing plan is essential to meeting next year's strategic business goals. The plan is a formalized statement detailing the actions needed to meet specific marketing goals and objectives.  

Most traditional business development efforts include “prospecting” and "go/no go" stages.  While many professional services firms may call these stages different names, there are always activities to (1) discover a new lead, (2) speculate as to the level of interest during the pursuit, and (3) determine the viability of the lead (go/no go). Below are sample prospecting and go/no go stage workflows for reference.

Mapping a process will provide vital insight.  As a consultant who applies new and exciting technologies to energize marketing activities, I like to work with client teams to develop process maps.  The way a team works, and its unique processes, drive each new technology initiative.  Without this understanding or discovering the process, it will negatively impact the rollout. 

As a marketing professional specializing in technology, I am frequently asked, “What is SEO?” Several A/E/C professionals know that SEO is important in their website and professional services content marketing strategy but don’t understand how it relates to their Return On Marketing Investment (ROMI). This article aims to define Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and discuss how SEO can meet A/E/C business goals.