RESTON, Va. – A new report from Hinge, which provides branding and marketing for professional services, has announced companies generating 40 percent of their leads online grew four times faster than businesses without online lead capabilities.
Surveying companies with an average of $54 million in revenue and over 300 employees, the study titled “Online Marketing for Professional Services Firms: How Professional Services Firms Can Achieve High Growth and Profits with Online Marketing” also reported that high growth firms secured 64 percent of leads online, while average growth firms obtained only 12 percent of leads online, showing how a bigger engagement of online tools equals faster growth.
The greater a company’s online lead generation, the greater the total firm’s profitability. Firms generating 60 percent or more of their leads online are two times more profitable than those generating less than 20 percent of online leads.
Online marketing is widespread and poised for growth. Over 77 percent of the firms that participated in the study generate new business leads online. Approximately two-thirds of firms (66 percent) plan to increase online spending in the next 12 months. Online recruiting is also widespread. About 55 percent of the firms surveyed recruit employees online. About 1 in 4 firms attract 40 percent or more of new hires online.
Search engine optimization, blogging and web analytics were the most effective online marketing tools. The least effective online tools were banner ads, Facebook and YouTube.
Notable differences across industry groups were also revealed. Management consulting and technology firms embrace online marketing the most and grew the fastest. Accounting and architecture/engineering/construction firms were at the other extreme. Government contractors lagged in lead generation but were leaders in online recruiting.
The most significant and untapped online marketing tools — search engine optimization, blogging and web analytics — were also identified as part of the study by a panel of 20 online marketing experts.
“Professional services marketing is undergoing a seismic change new online marketing techniques are generating leads and spurring growth and profitability,” said Hinge Managing Partner, Lee Frederiksen, Ph.D. “We use our own online research and development to ensure firms have the biggest impact on their business development and sales goals.”
Hinge surveyed 500 professional services firms and an expert panel of 20 online marketing leaders from across the United States to understand their use of online marketing techniques, how well these techniques help achieve business development and recruiting goals, and current practices and future plans. In addition, participants were asked about their firm’s growth and profitability. Interviews were conducted online from June through August 2011.
Firms surveyed consisted of five primary industry groups including:
architecture/engineering/construction; marketing/communications; management consulting; and accounting/finance. Also surveyed were firms that conduct varying levels of government contracting. Respondents of the survey tended to hold senior level position with the company.
This column was written by Mark Cox of ConnectIT, an IntegratedMar.Com
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