High-growth
professional services firms tend to place more emphasis on blogging, SEO, and
social networking—and they generate a higher proportion of their business leads
via online sources—than do their peers, according to a study by Hinge Marketing.
High-growth
businesses are defined in the study as those growing at least 20% per year over
two successive years.
Among
the 500 professional services businesses participating in the survey,
high-growth firms were found in all professional services sectors; however,
some sectors had a higher proportion of high-growth firms than others.
An
index was calculated to show how likely a high-growth firm would be associated
with a particular industry. A value of 1.0 implies that a firm would have an
average chance of finding itself in the high-growth category. Similarly, a
value of 0.5 indicates that a firm in that industry would be half as likely to
be a high-growth company.
High-growth
firms were most likely to be in the technology (1.70), management consulting
(1.41), and marketing/communications (1.19) industries:
Below,
additional findings from Hinge Marketing's new report titled "Online
Marketing for Professional Services Firms, Marketing Communications
Edition," based on a survey of 500 professional services companies.
Key
Online Tactics Among High-Growth Companies
Participating
firms ranked various online marketing tactics according to how much focus their
firm places on each one. (The ratings are on a scale of 0 to 10 with a rating
of 0 indicating the firm does not use the tactic and a 10 indicating a heavy
reliance on the tactic.)
Compared
with all marketing/communications services firms, high-growth firms (from all
surveyed sectors) reported somewhat heavier use of most digital marketing
tactics such as blogging, SEO, and social channels, including Twitter,
Facebook, and YouTube. A notable exception was is in the areas of email
marketing and company e-newsletters.
Higher-growth
firms also place more emphasis on publishing whitepapers and e-books, as well
as usability testing and PPC advertising.
High-growth
firms are also more likely to conduct other marketing activities, including the
following:
Website
updates:
75% of high-growth services firms update their websites as often as once a
week, compared with roughly one-half of all marketing/communications companies.
Website
redesign:
More than 80% of high-growth services firms undertook website redesigns within
the last year, compared with 68% of marketing/communications firms.
Use
of online contact forms: Nearly 80% of high-growth firms use online contact forms
as their primary form of contact, compared with 36% of marketing/communications
firms.
Online
Lead Generation
Among
the businesses surveyed, 77% generate at least some new-business leads online;
most (62.4%) generate 39% or less of total leads online, and 14.8% generate
40-100% of their leads via online sources.
Marketing/communications
firms rank highest in online lead activity, generating 31.4% of leads online.
Tech services firms rank second with 20.2%, followed by management consulting
(15.9%), accounting services (11.4%), and A/E/C services (architecture,
engineering, and construction) (8.3%):
Across
all sectors studied, professional services firms that generated at least 40% of
business leads via online sources tended to be higher-growth companies,
reporting two-year median growth rates of 53% on average:
*Given
the potential of very large and very small firms to skew the results, median
values were selected as the most stable measure of central tendency.
About
the data:
Findings are from a survey of 500 professional services businesses consisting
of five primary industry groups: architecture/engineering/construction;
marketing/communications; management consulting; and accounting/finance.
Overall, respondents hold senior-level positions, working in companies with an
average of 319 employees and earning $54 million in annual revenues. In
addition, the third quarter of 2012 Hinge interviewed an expert panel of 20
online marketing leaders about their views on online marketing techniques.
Source: MarketingProfs
