Consultants 2.0

How to organize and manage the new marketing for consultants and professionals

Stefano Calicchio

• Publisher: Stefano Calicchio
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9791220220316
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Few fields of work have undergone such drastic and profound changes in recent years as that of consultancy. The consultant and the professional have found themselves squeezed within a completely new paradigm, where on the one hand simplified access to the market has led to the growth of competition, while on the other hand clients have shown an increasing need for professionalism and personalization of the service offered. Unfortunately, these problems can no longer be solved with the communication tools used in the past.
This book has been conceived as a real training course, during which many issues will be explored in depth: - the best tools for the promotion of a consultancy activity, both offline and online;
- marketing techniques dedicated to professionals;
- the consequences of the digital revolution for those involved in consultancy;
- the digital levers on which to act to acquire and retain clients;
- the transition from traditional to digital communication;
- and much more. Stop wasting time and start finding new clients with marketing 2.0. If you really want to achieve lasting results by beating the competition, this guide is for you.

Chapter 1: How to promote your consultancy activity

How to promote your consultancy activity

The job of the consultant and the professional has always made competence and specialisation the main lever for the acquisition and maintenance of the client portfolio. Until just fifteen or so years ago, before globalisation and liberalism led to the opening up of consulting professions, it was quite difficult to think of promoting or advertising consulting online.

With the advent of the web, the main consequence is that the activity of a professional and a consultant can no longer be entrusted exclusively to word of mouth and traditional business practices, but must necessarily open up to the market, exploiting new tools and new communication prerogatives.

In these times we are moving in a territory that is not only unexplored, but also rather delicate and fragile, because professional ethics and the attitude to sobriety typical of this particular working environment cannot and must not be abandoned due to the introduction of more aggressive promotional strategies. This also gives rise to many qualms on the part of those working in the sector, so much so that few consultants still have their own well-structured web marketing website and a functional marketing plan for the promotion of their professional practice.

It is clear from the above that it is important to begin a specialist study path in order to understand which tools can be used and which marketing practices are best aligned with the reader's visibility objectives, without losing their authority.

For this reason, the following pages will show you the main tools and some strategies that can be used effectively to promote your consultancy activity, whether you are in the start-up phase or running a well-established firm and want to consolidate your market position.

This is an important opportunity for growth and improvement because the continuous professional updating to which consultants and professionals are often called unfortunately transcends topics such as marketing and promotion.

On the other hand, over the last few years the professions and consultancy market in Italy has changed profoundly and needs professionals with new skills, able to understand and implement visibility and marketing strategies in a similar way to what many small and medium enterprises already do successfully.

The tools available to the consultant and professional

Unlike traditional economic and entrepreneurial activities, freelancers and consultants have to plan their marketing activities with particular delicacy. By virtue of the particular climate of esteem and trust that is established between the consultant or professional and their client, promotional activity cannot be too invasive or self-referential.

There are considerable ethical and deontological implications that cannot directly apply the same marketing and advertising techniques used in industry to consultancy practice. Most professionals who decide to update their skills in this field through generalist marketing readings face considerable difficulties due to these market particularities.

The first step is therefore to design a good marketing plan in line with the real needs of an operator in the field of professions or consultancy.

A marketing plan for professionals should cover the following areas of operation:

Offline initiatives: this area includes all the traditional promotional activities already carried out or implemented by many consultants and professionals. The most widely used tool in the field is that of requests for word of mouth or references, through which it is possible to increase the number of clients. Interpersonal presentations, in particular, work well because potential clients have requests or needs regarding urgent and pressing personal issues, so they prefer to leverage the positive experience of a friend rather than price or cost of the service.

Online Initiatives: particularly interesting and promising, online marketing initiatives allow you to add an important piece to your marketing plan. The Internet makes it very easy to reach new prospects, such as clients potentially interested in consulting. The reason is quite simple: the web is today the first tool used to resolve doubts or to search for information regarding professional insights. Since the logic of the web is completely different from the traditional personal interview, it is necessary to acquire specific information and sk...

Table of contents

• Cover
• CONSULTANTS 2.0
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: How to promote your consultancy activity
• How to promote your consultancy activity
• The tools available to the consultant and professional
• How to leverage your professional skills
• The new projection of the professional online
• The new era of the consultant 2.0
• What to expect from this manual
• Chapter 2: Exploiting new consulting markets
• Discovering new markets for professional consulting
• The importance of the new client 2.0
• How to develop the professional personal brand
• Which advertisement? The integration between offline and online
• Chapter 3: The marketing plan for professionals
• Understanding the centrality of the marketing plan
• The SWOT analysis of the professional
• How to structure a marketing plan for professionals
• Strategic Marketing
• The action plan
• Budget and Control
• How to implement the marketing plan
• Chapter 4: How to use the professional blog
• How to use blogs to promote professional activity
• How to create a successful blog
• How to open a professional blog in 5 minutes
• Which articles to publish on the professional's blog
• Editorial plan and publication schedule
• The first post: breaking the ice with the audience
• Graphical and technical settings of the blog
• How to make the professional blog popular
• Moderation of comments
• Blogs and Social Media Marketing
• Chapter 5: How to make a winning website for the professional
• How to buy the domain for your professional activity
• The structure of the site of a consultant or professional
• How to write the texts of the site
• Technical suggestions and positioning strategies
• Analysis and improvement tools
• The opening of reserved areas for users
• The inclusion of social networks within the professional website
• The creation of your graphic identity
• Final consideration on the website for consultants
• Chapter 6: The professional's promotion tools
• The promotion of the consultant and professional
• How to build the media plan
• From the file to the newsletter
• From traditional to digital advertising
• From billboards to press office 2.0
• Professional communication with clients
• Chapter 7: From professional communication to social marketing
• The new challenges of professional communication
• Personalisation of digital communication
• Communication in social networks
• Facebook Marketing for professionals in action
• The local marketing of the professional firm
• "E-Coupon" and collective offer platforms
• Yahoo Answer & Linkedin
• Voip and advanced messaging
• Managing new technologies in professional communication
• Conclusions
• Sitography