Marketing Firm

I assume it would annoy your clients to have a "marketing firm" contact them on your behalf. They couldn't answer any questions or provide quotes, but they could send out slick brochures which will get tossed, I would think.

I wasn't thinking about haveing a marketing firm contact clients...I was thinking more along the lines of having them develop a marketing plan. Things like a quality website, sponsoring events, press releases etc. The last thing I would want is to have someone calling around town driving people nuts or knocking on doors. Those people drive me nuts!

> Have any of you guys hired a marketing firm for your business? If so what were your thoughts? If you haven't have you ever thought about it?
If you have 50, 500, 5000 people working for you then maybe a marketing firm can do something for you. If you are less than that then it is all about personal relationships in a service industry and I can't really see a marketing firm doing anything - that you could afford - for you that reading a good book on the subject can't.

I'm of the opinion that unless you're a multi-state engineering/surveying/design firm that marketing is best done in house by the senior management. You and your competition are all delivering, pretty much, the same product; they best way to differentiate yourself from them is by delivering a better relationship - and no one is better equipped to express this to potential clients that the people who are actually going to be involved in the client relationship process.

Some pretty good books on professional services marketing are:

Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines, and Cultures of Business Development Success

Rain Making: Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field

Creating Rainmakers: The Manager's Guide to Training Professionals to Attract New Clients

And the all time classic (IMHO) on marketing services

Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing

IMHO- Surveyors are historically terrible at marketing. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't equate to being successful or not, it's just a commonality among surveyors. Some survey firms are lucky to be in a market area / niche where they don't need to rely on marketing; a simple yellow page ad is sufficient.

Usually on this site you will find all sorts of REALTOR jokes or anecdotes, but they understand marketing WAY more than we do. I realized this years ago, and so I went and got my real estate license; turned out to be an eye opener (on many different levels). I was never a big producer type; I just wanted to learn something different. It definitely helped my surveying career. I still sit back and chuckle to myself when I read some REALTOR stories here.
So, my answer is YES give it a try (obviously within your budget), and measure your results so you can determine what is working and what isn't. You will learn much more than you realize from your marketing firm, and more than likely they will get you started and have you set up to run your own marketing plan without their direct involvement.

Best of luck

many surveyors haven't had to market: The corn was high and the pig was fat- No more!

I've been involved w/ a networking group (BNI Int'l) the last few yrs. Positive energy business owners and key employees. It has paid off in spite of the time commitment. google for a chapter in your area.