Do You Have the Right Partner in Charge of Your Firm’s Marketing Program?

8 Characteristics of the Perfect Partner in Charge of Marketing

If you’re the Managing Partner at a small to mid-sized professional services firm, there’s a good chance that one of the hats you wear is that of Chief Marketing Partner.

If you’re partner at a mid to large sized firm, you need to be extra careful about the timing of your “bio break” at this year’s partner retreat.

That’s because when you come back, you might just find that the rest of the partnership – your so-called buddies – have named you as the firm’s partner in charge of marketing.

Lucky you.

It’s More Complicated Than You Can Imagine

Last week I was in Boston for a HubSpot partner conference (stay tuned for some interesting product developments!), and attended a presentation where the speaker showed this slide from chiefmartec.com of the logos of companies offering some kind of marketing technology product:

Think about this: in 2011 there were about 100 companies playing in the marketing technology space and today in 2014, there are almost 1,000!

The point I want to make is that the approaches, tools, technologies and tactics for marketing a professional service firm have never, ever been so abundant – and complicated. Inbound marketing. Content marketing. Responsive websites. Social media. A/B testing. Conversion metrics.

It’s enough to make you wish that you waited until everybody took a bio break at the same time.

Characteristics of the Perfect Partner in Charge of Marketing

Because of this complexity, the paradox of choice, pressures of billable hours,  and just the nature of how partnerships work in a CPA, consulting or law firm, it may be time to rethink what a Marketing Partner should be and do.

Now I’m not talking about the CMO or a Director of Marketing position – I’m talking about the licensed professional (or team of professionals) that actually represent the marketing power and authority in a firm.

All too often, partners in charge of marketing see their primary role as guardians of the company’s treasure chest, with a mission of protecting resources, rather than figuring out the best way to get the biggest return on an appropriate level of spending for the firm.

So, the first and maybe the most important characteristic of a perfect partner in charge of marketing is someone that’s passionate about the art and science of marketing ... someone who is not completely risk adverse or stuck in the “that’s the way we’ve always done it loop”. 

But wait ... there’s more:

1) They’re willing to read, learn and commit time to understanding how the new tools, technologies and approaches to marketing a professional service firm work.

2) They’re willing to fight for budget from their partners.

3) They serve as a liaison between in-house and outsourced marketing resources and the partnership, and serve as an advocate and not an adversary of marketing.

4) They demand accountability and are passionate about results and measuring efforts to assess ROI.

5) They’re willing to dump legacy marketing spending on things like print ads or billboards  and try new approaches like inbound marketing.

6) They make smart hiring decisions for the firm’s marketing department based on firm objectives rather than what’s trendy, like hiring someone to run their FaceBook pages.

7) They have the voice, authority and political chops to get partners to contribute content for purposes of marketing and differentiating the firm.

Setting the Stage for Building the Perfect Marketing Partner

In order to set the stage for building the perfect marketing partner, the partnership group has a number of responsibilities. First, set realistic expectations by giving the marketing partner a clear set of quantitative goals and objectives, particularly in terms of increased visibility and awareness, more leads, more sales and a bigger ROI on the firm’s investment in marketing.

Make the partner accountable for reaching the goals, but give him or her the resources and the budget to get there. The gap between expectations and results in professional services firm marketing often comes down to too tight a rein on the purse strings and a refusal to acknowledge that marketing is an investment, not an expense or cost.

When the partner requests content in the form of a blog post or putting together a webinar or a whitepaper, support them with your time and thought leadership. Your firm’s true differentiation comes in the form of the thought leadership of its partners, and if you’re not willing to contribute, then don’t expect miracles from the partner in charge of marketing.

And last but not least, please wait until they return from their bio break before voting them into their new responsibility. Heeding the call of nature should not be the stepping stone to what can – and should be – a critically important position for your firm!ng your digital marketing program.