Tag Archives: leveraging Twitter

Professional services firms: Don’t underestimate the power of the familiarity principle

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Kirsten Hodgson| 6 Comments

The familiarity principle, or mere-exposure effect, “is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them.” (Wikipedia)

A few weeks ago I recommended a professional I’d never met to a contact because I was confident that person could help. Thinking about it afterwards, I realised that a couple of my ‘real world’ contacts could probably also have helped. This led me to question why I’d recommended the person I didn’t actually know.

I realised it was because I feel like I know them. This is a person I’m connected to on LinkedIn, I follow them on Twitter and they share some good content. I’ve built a rapport with them. As  a result, I have confidence in them and they were top of mind when my contact asked for a referral.

This is the familiarity principle at work.

It’s easy to see why someone travelling through Africa would choose “Coke” over the local equivalent they’ve never heard of. It’s a safe option and you know what you’re getting but…

…how can those in professional services take advantage of this principle?

It’s largely about being visible. If someone’s regularly writing articles or a blog on a topic, or is regularly quoted in the media, people will get to know their name and can make a judgement call about whether they know what they’re talking about. Over time, the person becomes more familiar and people will be more likely to contact that person over his or her competitors.

Being present on social networks, and actively engaging with those you wish to, also enables professionals to benefit from the Familiarity Principle.

How?

The more you see someone’s name, photo, content they share and comments (provided these resonate with you), the more you feel like you know them.

If you are active (in a targeted way) on social networks then you’re likely to notice that more people want to connect with you. If you then seek to build relationships one at a time, and help others out, they’ll start to trust you.

It’s at this point that the other person is usually happy to use you or to recommend your services.

Actively using social media is a great way to make the familiarity principle work for you. It’s one way to find opportunities and turn them into instructions.

7 steps to ensure you benefit from the familiarity principle on social networks

1. Ensure your profile is complete and that it clearly positions you. Be focused in terms of your profile and the content you share. Stand for something. You can’t be all things to all people so be really clear about who you help and what you help them with.

2. Every time someone invites you to connect and you accept, go back to them thanking them for connecting and ask them a question about their business.

3. Every time you invite someone to connect with you, send them a tailored invite.

4. Share at least one piece of content each week (on LinkedIn, Google+ and/or Facebook) and one per day on Twitter, that will be of interest and use to those you wish to engage. Often this will be content one of your contacts has generated. Sharing other people’s content is a great way to get on their radar and to initiate a conversation with them.

5. Comment on discussions on LinkedIn and Google+ and on relevant posts on Facebook. Aim to comment on one discussion/post per week.

6. Use the reply or direct message functionality on Twitter and the email option on LinkedIn to have conversations with others. Aim to do this at least once a week.

7. Always focus on helping others out by pointing them to information to help address a question they have or by introducing them to someone in your network they’d benefit from meeting. In terms of frequency, I aim to introduce two people in my network each month.

What else would you add? 

How’s the familiarity principle worked for you in social media? 

Image courtesy Andy Newson/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Posted in Legal marketing, Professional services marketing, Social media

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How can professional services firms use social media to increase their tender success rate?

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

More often than not, professional services firms know when an organisation will be going out to tender, well before the tendering organisation issues the RFP or EOI.

They may have told you.

They re-tender every two to three years.

Or, there’ve been reports they’re looking to rationalise their spend, initiate a project etc.

Professional services firms spend a lot of time and money evaluating whether or not to pitch for work and, if so, compiling their proposal.

The enlightened ones even look for ways to tip the level playing field in their favour before the tender’s been put out.

This is where social media can really help.

How can leveraging social media help professional services firms to increase their tender success rate?

Looking at who’s on social media platforms within the target organisation will help you to identify the likely decision makers, influencers, veto-holders and gatekeepers.

You can use this information to compile your Who knows Who matrix.

You can then ensure members of your team connect with as many of these people as possible – be it by inviting them to connect on LinkedIn, by joining the same groups or communities on LinkedIn or Google+, by following them on Twitter, or friending them on Facebook (if appropriate).

You’ll likely be thinking about the key issues and considerations for the target organisation – be it in relation to a particular project they’re putting out to tender, or more broadly in the case of a panel tender.

Once you have a list, you can develop content that will be both of interest, and relevant, to the target organisation. This will help to position you as ‘experts’ in your area and/or their industry sector.

As well as sharing this content strategically via traditional means such as a news alert, and on your website you can also share it via social networks.

Those connected to the decision makers, influencers, gatekeepers and veto-holders can share this content via their personal feeds such as their LinkedIn updates, their Twitter account, their Facebook page or their Google+ account.

In addition, you could post it in relevant group or community discussions on LinkedIn and Google+, and put it on your company page, firm Twitter feed, Facebook page etc. In this way, you’re softly positioning your firm well before the RFP’s been issued and are ensuring that, should someone from the target organisation check you out, they’re likely to see this content.

When compiling your RFP response, you can point to the central repository for this content, be it your website, your blog or You Tube.

In some cases, firms may want to take it one step further and tailor specific professionals’ online profiles for a particular opportunity. This would involve a bit of work but, where an opportunity is of strategic importance to a firm, it may pay to ensure that profiles highlight those areas of key interest to the target client shortly before and during the pitch process. Profiles can easily be changed back afterwards.

Do any firms do this already?

I’ve anecdotally heard of a firm in the US that strategically places content on LinkedIn prior to RFPs being issued. They’re looking to position themselves in the tendering organisation’s eyes early. I think that’s a really smart approach.

I’m not aware of other firms doing this at this stage, but would love to hear of more examples if you’re aware of any.

Your 6-step approach to leveraging social media for RFP success

1. Use features such as LinkedIn’s Advanced Search to identify who, within the tendering organisation, is likely to be involved or have some input into the evaluation process.

2. Identify the key issues and considerations for the tendering organisation using your usual processes such as coffees/meetings with the client, strategy sessions with the client, client interviews, secondee interviews etc. and develop a content plan for the months leading up to the pitch. This can be as simple as a calendar setting out what you will be compiling when. Actively hunt out relevant third party content too, and build this into your plan. 

3. Develop/source the appropriate content.

4. Share this via social networks  - e.g.

  • directly with specific contacts (if and when appropriate), via a professional’s personal LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook accounts if he/she is directly connected with, or followed by, one or more of those who will be involved in the decision making process.
  • within LinkedIn groups and Google+ communities. 
  • on your website, your firm’s Twitter feed, Facebook page, and LinkedIn company page
When doing so, don’t forget to ask a question to encourage discussion and debate. 
5. Stay actively involved in any discussion threads around the content you’ve shared. 
6. Refer to your repository of content, where appropriate, in your RFP response.
Do you know of any firms already doing this?
How else could professional services firms leverage social media to increase their RFP success rate?

 

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Posted in Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, new business tendering / pitching, Professional services marketing, Social media

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Social media, the Hare and the Tortoise

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

I love Aesop’s fables – they all have a great moral and I enjoy reading many of them to my kids (particularly after they’ve done something naughty).

The Hare and the Tortoise could have been written about social media. When the tortoise challenges the hare to a race, the hare soon leaves the tortoise behind. However, so confident is he that he’ll win, he takes a nap halfway through the race only to awake to find the tortoise has crawled past him and beaten him over the finish line.

What does this have to do with social media?

Everything.

Social media is more like a marathon than a sprint. You have to be clear about what you’re looking to achieve and be in it for the long haul. Social media puts another set of tools at your disposal. If you start off with a bang only to give up after a few weeks/months, you’ll be overtaken by others.

3 ‘hare activities’ to avoid on social media

1. Setting up profiles on multiple platforms and then doing nothing with them:

Be focused in your efforts. Identify the platform(s) that are best going to help you to build relationships with those you want to and focus on those. When these are working well for you, you can branch out. The danger of being active on too many platforms is it’s very hard to keep the information up to date.

When setting up profiles, it’s important that these position you well. Social profiles tend to rank highly in search engine results. If you don’t believe me, log out of Google and then search your (and your firm’s) name. While your website is likely to come back near the top so too are your social media profiles.

The top two ways people hire lawyers (I have no doubt this is similar for other professional services advisers) according to some BTI research is peer to peer referrals and online search. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Asking others in your network who they recommend in a particular area is a logical starting point. However, they may get two or three names. So, what happens next? They are often not ready to call you but instead perform an online search. Ensuring your profiles clearly position you is one way to tip the level playing field in your favour before someone’s met you.

If you decide that you don’t wish to be active on a network, remove your profile. A skeletal one isn’t going to benefit anyone.

2. Amassing followers, friends or contacts quickly without actually building a relationship: 

Social is about people and people build relationships with other people. I do understand the argument that you need a wide network to amplify your messages and it’s true that a wider network helps you see better quality search information on LinkedIn, but as professionals we’re selling ourselves and we need to build credibility and trust.

The best way to do that is to build relationships with others one by one. Showing a genuine interest in others, having conversations, sharing their content and asking them questions all helps to build a rapport.

Once you’re on people’s radars and they’ve had some sort of interaction with you, they’re much more likely to read and share your content and to refer you to others.

If you are looking for more work, a targeted always beats a scattergun approach so prioritise who you want to build relationships with and aim to have at least one interaction per week with one of these people.

3. Underestimating your competition: 

I spoke to partners in a professional services firm a while ago who were taken aback that another professional had built a strong reputation in a certain area. Their view was that the person wasn’t as ‘technically sound’ as they are.

However, the other person was doing a great job demonstrating their knowledge in their field, was building relationships and was getting work.

The professionals I spoke to may believe they’re better but what they think doesn’t matter. It’s what prospective clients think. The vast majority of work doesn’t need the ‘best’ brains. It requires someone competent  - and there are lots of competent people out there so you need to distinguish yourself. 

Don’t underestimate your competition. Social media has made it much easier for those without the support of a large firm behind them to market themselves. If you’re not using these channels to help others and build relationships, others are. 

Summary and actions:

  • Be focused and targeted in your approach to social media. Choose the social media network that best suits you and those you want to connect with.  
  • Ensure that your social profiles position you well. Set up an honest, up to date profile that explains who you help, what you help them with and who you are.
  • Seek to build relationships with others one by one and focus on helping the other person with no expectation of them doing the same for you. Using the search function within a network (e.g. the Advanced Search function within LinkedIn), identify three people you would like to connect with. Look to see what content they are sharing, where they are sharing it, who with and what they are responding to.Engage in conversations they are having online. 
    1. Compliment or thank them for an article they shared.
    2. Join a conversation they are having.
    3. Ask them to connect with you.
  • Don’t underestimate your competition. Social media levels the playing field and makes it much easier for those who are active on these channels to compete. Just be prepared for them to overtake you if you get caught out napping.

What other examples of ‘hare’ behaviour have you seen? 

Image courtesy of digitalart/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

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Posted in Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, Professional services marketing, Social media

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Professional services marketing: Do you hear your clients’ voices online?

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment


I had a great experience on Twitter this week and it got me thinking, how many professionals would even know if someone was tweeting or posting about them and/or their firm?

What happened was this. Nancy Myrland tweeted about Tweetdeck removing the endless scrolling in lists. I replied saying Hootsuite still allowed that and she responded that she wished they allowed people to display more lists. Within an hour someone from Hootsuite tweeted us this:

“Hi there! We’d appreciate your feedback in our feedback forum” with the link attached.

That one tweet showed they’re listening and looking at how they can improve. A visit to the forum highlighted they’re responding to people’s suggestions and keeping them informed as to progress they are making re. developments around these.

How many professional services firms could say the same?

If you’re not already listening for mentions of your name and your firm name, then you should get started.

Now.

Some simple and free tools you can use that will enable you to monitor most sites are Google Alerts, Social Mention and Hootsuite (you can set up streams to monitor mentions of your name or your firm name or anything else you wish to monitor).

If people do mention you, you can make a call about whether and, if so, how to respond.

You could create a great impression by doing so.

Or you could stick your head in the sand and people will think you don’t care.

You only get one chance to make people feel positive towards you.

Are you going to take it?

What other advice would you give to professionals about monitoring what’s being said online?

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Posted in Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, Professional services marketing, Social media

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Why professionals should never outsource social media engagement

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| 2 Comments

Image courtesy of noheadlights via Flickr

Have you ever been a situation where you thought you were talking to one person…

…and then it turned out you were talking to someone entirely different?

Perhaps it was one of those phone calls where, half way through, it dawns on you that you got the wrong ‘Mel’

Or it’s not until someone says to you ‘you don’t know who I am, do you?’ that the penny drops.

You feel pretty awkward don’t you?

Why outsourcing conversations isn’t right

Then why is it that some professionals think it’s okay to outsource their conversations via social media?

I’d hate to think I was having a conversation with one person when the whole time I was talking to their social media person.

You can do that at a brand or firm level but it really doesn’t work at an individual level.

  • Because it’s inauthentic
  • Because it doesn’t sound like you
  • Because you’re not building rapport with the other person

If and when you meet them you will have no idea what discussions “you’ve”  had with them.

How do you think that will make you look?

And, if your social media person is posting things in your name and your existing clients are seeing this, do you think they won’t notice if the other person uses language that you typically wouldn’t?

What can you outsource?

Don’t get me wrong, it is okay to outsource some of your social media activity.

Like listening and monitoring or setting up your profile. In fact it can be really helpful to do so.

But engaging with others is the one thing that should NEVER be outsourced. After all, you might get your PA to set up a new business meeting but you wouldn’t get them to go to the meeting on your behalf.

You need to build relationships with others one by one to create the face-to-face opportunities.

Some ‘so called social media experts’ will try to sell you the whole package and, while it would be wonderful to sit back and do nothing while letting someone else take care of everything for you, what will that really achieve?

Generating work via social networks doesn’t just get handed to you on a silver platter.

You have to put in the effort to reap the rewards.

And therein lies the issue.

What’s your view?

Have you outsourced any of your social media activity? If so, what’s worked well and, conversely, what’s not worked so well? 

 

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Posted in LinkedIn for professional services, Social media

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Professional services marketing & the used-car salesman approach to social media

Posted on August 14, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| 2 Comments

Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

I was going to blog about some ways to engage via social media this week, but a couple of things have happened that have made me realise there are a number of so called ‘social media experts’  out there who are behaving like used car salesmen.

I don’t think this is in the interests of professionals and could really damage their reputations.

Yes, social media is new. No, there isn’t a defined way to use the tools. We’re all learning and we’re all able to try new things and that’s the exciting part. These media allow two way communication and enable us to initiate relationships online that we can then take into the real world.

So, I simply don’t believe that the used-car salesman approach is sustainable nor in the interests of those in professional services (in particular).

The inspiration for this post came from Robert Caruso @fondalo who has been writing a series of great posts on this very topic. In light of what I’ve seen recently, his posts have really resonated with me.

What is used-car salesman behaviour?

Basically, this is when people you’ve never met nor come across before try to sell to you via social networks, WITHOUT trying to build a relationship first.

In the last week I’ve come across two such approaches and one other issue:

EXAMPLE 1

I got an automated ‘thanks for following me, now recommend me to someone who might need my help’ message on Twitter from someone I’d never met. When I checked, they weren’t sharing any valuable information in their field via their Twitter feed – so why would they think a stranger would recommend them?

Maybe I’m just over automated messages but if you want someone to recommend you, you have to demonstrate your value first.

Otherwise, why should anyone refer one of their contacts to you when they have no experience of you nor your work.

If you’re going to use automated messages please focus on the other person and say something like ‘thanks so much for the follow, look forward to reading and sharing your tweets’ and make sure it’s set up correctly (see the other issue below!) – you only get one chance at a first impression – it’s up to you how you wish to be perceived.

Better still, ditch the automated message and send a personal one to key people with whom you wish to connect. Start to build a:

R E L A T I O N S H I P

EXAMPLE 2

Being sold to on LinkedIn by someone I don’t know. Again, what’s in it for me? Had they sent me some useful content and allowed me to read more for myself it might have been a different story. I may have wanted to connect to them and to find out more (buying from them would still take a bit more time…)

THE OTHER ISSUE I CAME ACROSS

I also noticed that someone I knew was following me on Twitter so followed him back. Within the space of 20 mins I got 25 automated ‘thanks for following me messages’. Something had clearly gone wrong.

I let him know and then unfollowed him until he got it fixed. However, two days later he stopped following me – automatically adding people to try to build followers? Definitely (following almost 2,000 people with 200 followers). Automated tools can be helpful but you do need to build relationships.

More followers may mean better exposure. But not if they couldn’t care less what you’re sharing. In a professional setting, I think it’s better to take a slower approach to growing your following, whether using an automated tool or not.

Social media is NOT a silver bullet

I don’t blame the professionals themselves. I just think they’re getting some really bad advice from social media companies acting like used-car salesmen. Who wouldn’t want to believe that there’s a silver bullet and you can quickly attract new clients via social media?

The reality is what damage does attempting to sell to someone you don’t know do to your reputation? How many of those who’ve ignored you have told others? Is it really worth even trying?

What’s a better approach?

You can absolutely approach others you don’t know but do so trying to form a relationship, not an instant new client. This morning I read a great  post by Seth Godin in which he said:

“Don’t try to convert strangers into customers. It’s ineffective and wasteful. Instead, focus on turning those momentary strangers into people eager to hear from you again and again.”

He’s hit the nail on the head and, as usual, put it way better than I ever could. If you are using social networks as lead generation tools you have to form a relationship with the other person first.

This could be by sending them information they’ll value, inviting them to an event that’s relevant to them, asking for their input into something – there are an infinite number of ways you can do this. Turn yourself into someone they want to follow because you share great information and make it easy for them to keep up to date with developments in a particular area.

The point is that acting like a used car salesman and putting the sale first isn’t going to be a successful way to go about things in the long term.

If you’re not positioning yourself by either producing relevant content or curating content (effectively doing people’s reading for them) then why the heck should someone hire you over someone else who has?

You may get a few meetings in the short term but you’ll have to work hard to convert them – the prospect won’t have been able to assess whether you know what you’re talking about in advance and may not feel a driving need for your offering.

And you may have put a lot of people off. Perhaps this isn’t so important in a larger market but certainly in a smaller one or in a niche industry, people talk. I’ve certainly told at least 5 or 6 other people about the poor things I’ve seen, mainly because I was with them when these things happened. That’s a dangerous position for a professional to be in.

If you build relationships first then, by the time you do meet to discuss how you can help, half the work’s been done for you and the work is yours to lose. I’d far rather spend the extra time up front to build relationships and credibility and to begin to build trust than focus on old-school selling.

Consultative selling has to be the way forwards.

What’s your view? 

Social media YES’s

  • Build relationships
  • Share relevant content that you, or others, have created
  • Ask questions and seek others’ opinions
Social media NO’s
  • Outsourcing engagement (other things you can outsource but not the conversation)
  • Sending automated responses to Twitter followers – make them relevant to the other person
  • Constantly selling (it’s tantamount to cold calling)
  • Treating social media purely as a numbers game
What behaviour have you seen in the social media sphere that hasn’t sat well with you? 

Conversely, what have you seen that’s been really good? 

 

 

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Posted in LinkedIn for professional services, Social media

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Lawyers & accountants: what do your social media profiles say about you?

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

Lawyers and Accountants - what do your social media profiles say about you?

There is one thing worse than being invisible.

And that's making a really bad first impression.

Frankly, if you were invisible at least you could start with a clean slate but there's no taking back those first few seconds when you first meet someone.

It's even worse if that first 'meeting' happens online and without your knowledge.

Yet this is what happens every day.

Take a look at who's viewed your profile on LinkedIn, what your Twitter followers get to see when they click on your name and what you say about yourself on your Facebook page. 

Are your social media profiles working for you?

If your profile doesn't clearly position you

Or, worse still, is skeletal

Then you're missing a trick and could be losing out on potential business. 

If you've made an informed decision not to use a particular network that's fine. Just make sure you delete your profile.

How can I set up a compelling profile?

If you are on a network then the first step to making social media work for you is to make sure your profile is as complete as it can be and that it clearly positions you. 

Answer the questions:

  • Who do you help? 
  • What do you help them with? 
  • What results have you achieved for your clients? 
  • What's unique about you that your target audience will value? Perhaps you are the only lawyer in your market with an MBA or you've written a book on a particular topic – if you can then answer the 'so what?' – what does this mean for prospective clients? Why should they care?

Include social proof where you can in the form of testimonials (if permitted in your jurisdiction), case studies, and links to your blog or other content repository.

Include information about your interests outside of work. A number of lawyers have asked 'is it really necessary to do so?'

I was recently contacted by a Barrister I did not know via LinkedIn. The reason he got in touch with me? We'd both run the New York marathon. He told me as much. Yes, he wanted someone who could help him with his marketing but the clincher was that we shared a common interest. Don't underestimate the power of that.

Let people know how they can contact you and include a sentence asking them to do so. There's little point in a well-crafted summary if you're not going to include a call to action. It's important to let people know you want to hear from them.

Some good lawyer profiles on LinkedIn, that you might want to check out, are:

Jessie Foley 

Callum Sinclair

Once your profile(s) is complete and you're happy with it, you're ready to move to Phase 2: Connecting with others – the topic for next week's post.

What are your top tips for creating strong social media profiles? 

My book 'The Complete Guide to LinkedIn for Lawyers: Connect, Engage and Grow your Business' is now available from the LexisNexis store. If you're sceptical about LinkedIn, are unsure how it might be able to help you, or just want some practical tips you can put into action straight away, you might find it useful. 

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Posted in Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, Professional services marketing, Social media

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A 5-phase process to leveraging social media in professional services

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

The wrong way to approach someone you've never met before

A couple of people have approached me in the past month via LinkedIn. Prior to this I'd never come across them but they both sent direct messages requesting a meeting. I accepted out of curiosity

Or perhaps it was my British reticence to say 'no' or, more to the point, 'why?'

Both meetings were predictable. The person told me about their business and their ideal client and asked if I could refer them work. They asked very few questions.

I walked away thinking they'd have to do more if they wanted a referral.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to refer work to others but they have to demonstrate their credibility first and I have to have built up some sort of rapport and trust with them. 

I'm not saying you can't approach someone you've never conversed with before on LinkedIn.

But there is a better way to go about it.

A better way to go about it

Focus on the other person and their needs.

Offer something of value to them. Or thank them for something they shared and ask them a question.

For example, if someone approached me about a roundtable or webinar on a specific topic of interest to me, I'd go along. If they asked for some input into something (and said why they wanted it) I'd help. Wouldn't you?

While the aim of any social media activity has to be to build relationships one by one and to take these offline, there are some things you need to do first.

A 5-phase process to leveraging social networks

Here's a simple 5-phase process to leveraging social networks.5 phase process of LinkedIn

 

Phase 1 involves setting up compelling profiles that clearly position you, on each of the networks you use for work purposes

Phase 2 is about connecting with others

Phase 3 involves engaging with others and being active on each network on which you wish to have a presence

Phase 4 looks at taking relationships offline

Phase 5 covers measuring your performance

The speed at which you move through each of these phases will vary.

It is important to have all your ducks in a row so that you are well placed to take advantage of new work opportunities when they do arise. If your profile clearly positions you, if you are connected with people in your target industry sector(s), if you regularly engage and share valuable content, then others are more likely to want to meet you offline.

And you're more likely to get requests from people to meet up.

If you have a clear sense of what it is you're looking to achieve and if you measure how you're doing, using metrics that matter to you, you'll probably find integrating social media with your existing business development and marketing initiatives helps them to fly.

Over the coming weeks I'll be posting a series of follow-ups covering each of the 5 phases in more detail. Subscribe using the email subscription form above if you'd like to receive these articles by email. Alternatively you can subscribe to the RSS feed. 

My book 'The Complete Guide to LinkedIn for Lawyers – connect, engage and grow your business' is due out on 31 July 2012. It's being published by LexisNexis. If you'd like to pre-order a copy or find out more click here.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this process? What else would you include? 

How has following a similar process helped you/your firm? 


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Posted in Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, Professional services marketing, Social media

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Social media tips from Julian Summerhayes – What’s your USP?

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

Julian Summerhayes runs Brand You, a UK based company helping people become the best they can be: his strap line is “to become what we truly are.”

He works mainly within the professional services sector, assisting clients to leverage their talent to maximise client wins and revenue, mainly using social media.

Julian is a former lawyer who specialised in sports law and dispute resolution; he practised for 14 years. I started following Julian on Twitter (@Ju_Summerhayes) about 18 months ago and love his straight-up, practical advice and his clear passion for what he does.

I talked to him about his raison d’être and how he envisages social media helping professionals build and develop their personal brand (amongst a number of other interesting, service orientated issues – Excellence being Julian’s other big thing!)

KH: Tell me about Brand You?

JS: I had an epiphany one day. My passion has always been people – or the reason why some people make more of their talents than do others. I have been a long time student of personal development in the broadest sense (Napoleon Hill being high up as one of my all time favourite authors). I set up Brand You to help my clients – mainly service professionals – leverage their intellectual and creative capital to become the best version of their brand indentity/persona. Brand You is about passion. It’s about finding your unique voice, being different, memorable and making a lasting impression. It’s also about talent and managing your talent.

KH: When and why did you start using social media tools?

JS: When I was a practising lawyer I set up a sports law team acting for agents and athletes, which I loved; it stems from my passion for cycling. Lance Armstrong was an early adopter of Twitter and, because he was on there, a number of other professional cyclists also joined. I did too.

KH: How can leveraging social media help lawyers and other professionals to harness the power of their own brand?

JS: If someone is passionate about what they do, and if they have the patience to make a difference in their area, then they can think about how social media tools can help them to make a dent in their world. Social media isn’t an instant fix. I think lawyers (in particular) expect to do one thing one day and see an immediate return the next. For me, it’s about tapping someone’s passion, focusing on why they got into their profession and what they want to achieve and then using some of the social media tools and methodologies to make more of that passion. In a way it feels like I am helping people who have a message to share reach out and connect with their tribe.

One suite of tools will be right for one person, another suite will work for someone else and that’s the great thing. One person might say let’s do a blog and another person might put some videos out: It’s about finding your unique voice.

I think the key thing many professionals struggle with is the idea of a USP. I always say to people think about how you can sum yourself up in the smallest number of words that you possibly can. I try to tap into this and help people convey their passion succinctly. Using Twitter as an example, I’d ask what the difference between your Twitter feed and your competitors’ feeds is.  If you’re all dishing out the same news, the same reports of case law, and the same piece of legislation, why should people follow you?

What you will see soon, I suspect, is lots of redundant accounts, lots of people who give up on it because they think that’s a waste of time, and a distraction.  Quite what they will revert back to, who knows!

There are professionals who absolutely hate what they do and social media is the last thing in the world that they need. What they need is some coaching, possibly some career counselling to say ‘Do you know what, you have this absolute passion for painting.  Why the heck are you pursuing law when you should be painting?”  People are not fixed to their careers – yes there’s a financial constraint if you’re a senior partner, you’ve got a huge amount resting on this but ultimately you won’t be happy and won’t deliver the best value nor the best service if you don’t enjoy what you do.

It’s a complex issue but in terms of the power of social media it’s about maximising the how rather than just the what.  If you pursue something that you are passionate about, then everything else will fall into place.

Some firms in the UK have really gone niche, but they haven’t done it from a passion point of view, they have done it from an economics point of view, which is actually wrong.  For example, they’ve got into spinal injuries claims because there’s a rash of these coming through. Is it something they’re passionate about?

No?

Then why do it?

If you don’t have passion you can’t sustain anything for very long.  

KH: Assuming someone is passionate about what they do and they want to build their own brand, what do they need to think about before they start using social media?

JS: Less is more.  Just start with one thing and get good at it.  Get really, really good at it.  In terms of building your tribe, you need to be thinking about each platform having its own individual theme, ecosystem and way of doing things.

Try not to do too much.  If I was starting off again, frankly I’d probably only start with a blog and maybe Twitter but I wouldn’t end up as I did at one point, having about 40 platforms that I messed around with.  

You need to be quite strategic, you need to think about where your clients/referrers/fans are going to congregate.  If you’re in a private client scenario, you may not start with LinkedIn.  You may start with Twitter, a blog, a video.  It’s important that you understand the viewing habits of your audience. The book Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research introduces the Social Technographics Ladder, which breaks users into groups based on their level of participation online.

In terms of ROI you can have that conversation but it’s pointless at this early state, I want to see how committed you are.  Are you going to master the two platforms, are you going to stay engaged, are you going to fall off the wagon after three months?

Social networks are just tools! They will evolve and change over time. Don’t get hung up on the tools.  Focus on the passion, focus on your messaging.

I follow the POST philosophy – People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology. Focus on the people first.  Don’t worry about the objectives, the strategy will come and the technology is last.  I have a thing about it, strategy is execution. Strategy will come out as you do more stuff. The more stuff you do, the better your strategy will become.  I think too many firms spend hours and hours drafting a strategy.  Then, when they execute it they think ‘hmmm, maybe we should try something else’.

Do lots of stuff

Fail faster.

That way you’ll know what works through trial and error. Try different messaging, different content.  Don’t expect instant results.

I believe it’s going to be the quirky ones, the edgy ones, the rebels who are going to get noted.  Their service may be frankly no better than others but that doesn’t matter.  From a social media point of view it’s these quirky personalities that get picked up.

KH: Talking about client service…

JS: The thing that attracts me to social media is the collaborative spirit, which you just don’t get in many professional services firms. It is counter-intuitive. At the end of the day it’s about the client experience. Without the client you have no business.  What you should be thinking about is am I the best person for this job, if I’m not then who can I refer this work to who will do a better job than me?  

If you don’t do the very, very best job you can, clients are going to go somewhere else. Put your people first or equal first with your clients because with the people doing a fantastic job, marketing will take care of itself.  If you make promises to someone else and keep them, you will be doing well.

Social media for me is just a tool, an extension of who you are and if it helps you do your job better, great.  But don’t get wrapped up in it in thinking that people will go around and forget the fact that you provide a lousy service and your receptionist doesn’t answer the phone in a very polite manner.  Those are things that, for most people, make more of a difference than regular tweets.

What’s your view?

You can find out more about Julian and Brand You at www.juliansummerhayes.com

 

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Professional Services Marketing: How the Internet Has Stolen Your New Business – And What To Do About It

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

 

A guest post by Gihan Perera, an Internet coach for thought leaders, consultants and other business professionals on why it's so important for lawyers, accountants and other professionals to establish their authority online: 

The Internet has changed the entire buying process – and it affects you, even if you don’t sell anything on-line. Barry Trailer and Jim Dickie, writing in the Harvard Business Review in 2006, put it this way:

“Buyers have always had a buy cycle, starting at the point they perceive a need. Sellers have always had a sales cycle, starting at the point they spot a prospect. It used to be that these were in sync … [but] now, the buy cycle is often well under way before the seller is even aware there is a cycle.” [emphasis added]

Customers still need to deal with businesses, but now they do it differently.

In the past, when they wanted to buy something important – whether it was insurance, real estate, legal advice or their next car – they would start by talking to a professional, preferably somebody they already knew, liked and trusted. This adviser would then take them on a journey, guiding them to the right buying decision.

That’s no longer the case. If you’re an adviser, you might want people to turn to you first, but they don’t. Instead, they first ask Google. And then perhaps they will ask their Facebook and LinkedIn friends. Or send a tweet to their followers. Or be guided by an e-mail newsletter or blog they read recently. At the end of this process, they might still choose to talk to you, but now the interaction is very different. Information is power, and the customer now has all the power.

Of course, some of your long-term clients do still call you first. But many don’t. That’s why you have to be there consistently in their minds, so that when they’re ready to take action, you’re the first person they call.

That’s easier said than done, because you don’t know exactly when the buying process started (exactly the point that Trailer and Dickie made in the extract I quoted earlier). So the only way to be there is to always be there.

Give Value, Get Business

One of my favourite actors, Steve Martin, when asked for his secret to success, put it this way:

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

That’s the approach to take in your marketing, and it all starts with your expertise. The more you can position yourself as an expert (and even better, as the expert), the greater the leverage you have in your business.

You must do this, because if you don’t, somebody else will! This is not something you can ignore. Even if you already have a stable of existing clients, you need to generate new business. And even those loyal clients might be tempted to look elsewhere.

So how can you do this without giving away the farm or spending every waking moment on-line?

The Secret is Consistency

I spent a month in Auckland in 2010, and one of the simple pleasures during my stay was buying from “The White Lady”, a mobile hamburger stand that parked itself every night on a street corner near my apartment:

The White Lady is an Auckland icon, which has been in operation since 1948. Its most impressive feature is not its longevity, but its consistency. When I said it’s been there every night, I really do mean every night. It has a proud history of being open every night for decades, except for a few weeks in 1998 when Auckland suffered a major power outage.

Make consistency your goal as well. Success on-line is not an event; it’s a process.

Here’s a sample process you can use to consistently deliver high-quality material that establishes your authority:

1.       At the start of each month, find a topic of interest to your clients and prospective clients, and write a 300-500 word article on that topic.

2.       Post it to your Web site and blog at the start of the month.

3.       A week later, send it to your newsletter subscribers.

4.       A week later, post it to your Twitter feed as well.

5.       A week later, post it to your LinkedIn account.

6.       Repeat this process each month!

If you follow this process diligently, you’ll be taking the first steps to building your authority and reputation on-line with a blog, newsletter, Twitter and LinkedIn. As a result, you’ll be increasing the chance that you’ll be the first port of call when somebody is ready to take action.

Remember: Be so good they can’t ignore you!

Gihan Perera is an Internet coach for thought leaders, consultants and other business professionals. He's the author of "Fast, Flat and Free: How the Internet Has Changed Your Business". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get free e-books, webinars and more.

What's your view? 

What other tips would you share? 

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