By SAS London

Professional Services Marketing | Courtesy: bonus on Flickr

Today, in many organisations, online engagement has been relocated into marketing and strategy departments. This demonstrates it is being recognised as a critical part of the success of an organisation. In a recent edition of our knowledge-share series, we discussed professional services communications with around 50 delegates from organisations including Capgemini, Deloitte, FTI Consulting, Grant Thornton, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, KPMG, Lloyd’s of London, Macfarlanes, RSM Tenon Group, and others.

We held a master class on creating meaningful digital communications on websites, mobile sites and social media. A Q&A session on building sustainable competitive advantages through employee engagement was also held, that featured client presentations from Shoosmiths, Ernst & Young and LCP.

In a tough microenvironment, branding and communications should not be the first thing off the agenda. Rather, professional services organisations should realise the business-critical nature of their marketing communications and the impact on reputation and how it helps drive commercial value. In this context, engagement has never been more important. Here, people are the product.

Driving business performance

Stephen Hunt, Partner & Head of Business Development at LCP, navigated us through his project which is focussed on aiding growth in new markets. Stephen’s project has had five, consecutive, record-breaking quarters for new business.

Outlining the key risks involved in such projects, especially in partnership environments, Stephen shared key insights on how to embrace the challenges. He went on to summarise the skills and expertise that a company would need both for its team and in its supporting agency.

Another interesting note was how to respond to internal pushbacks from within the organisation.

New Approach To Digital Communications

In order to find new and innovative ways of engaging with audiences, we need to better understand our audiences, says Dean Parker, Digital Consultant at SAS. A new approach to digital communications is required.

This can be performed by analysing existing research on professional services audience, especially online behaviour. Dean also identified examples on how smart digital strategies and communications that join all platforms and devices, encompassing mobile and social media, can deliver a real competitive edge. We outlined a practical framework that ensures that your digital communications strategy is smart, differentiated and effective. Connect with us to learn more.

Competitive Advantage With Employee Engagement

Louisa Moreton, Head of Employee Engagement at SAS led a panel discussion with Shoosmiths and LCP examining the relationship between external marketing and internal communications within professional services organisations. Key discussion points from the panel included:

• Marketing ‘from the inside out’ within organisations is grounded in reality and hence has the highest chance of success
• Workshops and internal initiatives designed to get internal buy-in need to be carefully designed around specific audiences to avoid ‘initiative fatigue’
• For international versus local marketing, it is critical to go to the locations to ensure engagement and formally engage from the outset of the project

Originally posted on SASLondon.com