Professional service providers must invest in marketing

Only those professional service organisations that recognise the importance of incorporating marketing into the development of their business plans and service offerings, will assure their business success in this turbulent economy.

Research and input

This is just one of the observations made in my dissertation, which was completed over a three year period, "Factors influencing the marketing of professional services - a case study".

This developed as a result of my realisation that many professionals such as physicians, lawyers, accountants and engineers are still hesitant to commit themselves to investing resources into marketing their businesses.

Drawing on input from BDO South Africa, interviews with employees from BDO's national offices in Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town, as well as marketing representatives from their international offices, and insight provided by professional services marketing experts from across the globe, who were given an opportunity to contribute via the social media forum, Linkedin.com.

Hesitant to embrace marketing

There is a notable reluctance on the part of professional service business leaders to accept their marketing departments' input when it comes to the positioning and strategic development of their organisations.

Most importantly, there was also a general lack of client-centricity in the market. Any organisation providing a professional service should have a clear understanding of the requirements of its target market and design its service offerings accordingly.

Client centric behaviour and service excellence should be a priority and should be communicated by effectively manipulating the marketing mix.

Influential factors

The objective of the study was to identify the critical factors that influence the successful marketing of professional services and to develop a framework to support these findings. Professional organisations need to consider factors such as strategy, employees, price, and service offering amongst others.

Of course, particular factors are specific to the needs of individual businesses. A professional service organisation needs to define itself not only by the service it sells, but also by the value added and customer benefit provided.

To ensure that the organisation remains a viable business concern, it must sustain a process of supplying relevant, expert support, creating added value and receiving profit over time.

Within this framework, recognition of the professional service organisation's ability to deliver value must be consistently demonstrated to the client target market and reinforced through its marketing strategy.

Should you wish to learn more about my findings and the outcome of the study, email az.oc.odb@nosrenem.