CLEVELAND – A survey conducted by Alterra Group indicates there is a link between how professional service firms set their marketing priorities and practices and whether their revenues declined during the past 12 months, according to a report in Management Consultant International (MCI).
The recession’s impact on revenue realised by consulting firms and other professional services organisations has forced many to focus more resources on sales. In some cases this has resulted in a de-emphasis or redirection of other client-facing activities, including marketing. This move also can be characterised as a shift from long-term investments in marketing to shorter-term investments in sales, which may not be the best formula for sustaining the business.
“Obviously a firm has to play to the market realities,” admits Bernie Thiel, a founding partner at Alterra Group. “If revenue coming in is a lot lower than it usually is, then it has to do something to address that.” But he warns against turning off all of a company’s longer-term projects. Such an action could put the business at a disadvantage once the recession ends. “The company is reducing the overall awareness of its services among clients if it goes dark for even a little bit. That is not a good thing.”
The entire MCI article is available on the Insights page at www.alterra-group.com.
About Alterra Group
Alterra Group helps professional services organisations raise awareness of and create demand for their services among key target audiences. We do this via three principal services: research, writing, and communications. We have applied our approach to thought leadership marketing in a diverse group of professional services firms, including leading global outsourcing and systems integration companies, influential trade associations, midsize consulting and strategic advisory firms, boutique consultancies, and independent consultants and authors. Our home page is www.alterra-group.com.
About Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory
Kennedy Consulting Research & Advisory (KCRA), the publisher of Management Consultant International, is the leading source of market analysis on the Management and IT Consulting industries. KCRA provides market sizing and forecasts on consulting services worldwide, needs analyses and vendor profiling for buyers of consulting services, intelligence on top consulting firms, and operational benchmarks of consulting performance. Learn about KCRA at www.kennedyinfo.com/consulting/ and about MCI at www.kennedyinfo.com/consulting/periodicals/mci.
