And five things it can’t, no matter how good it is.
By Bruce Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0
EDITOR’S NOTE: CPA Trendlines was privileged to have a long relationship with Bruce W. Marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. We are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.
Advertising, in professional services, has a strange history. More words, and more dollars, have been wasted on it, and less seems to have been learned from its mistakes than from any other marketing tool we currently use.
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In the early days – the few years post-Bates (1977) – advertising was still anathema to law and accounting firms. Arthur Young was probably the first to do it after Bates, which was an exercise in courage (I was there – I remember) and then came Deloitte’s “Beyond the Bottom Line” campaign. The more likely scenario at the time was typified by the then-managing partner of Price Waterhouse, who said about advertising, “Over my dead body.” Now law and accounting firms, including its successor firm, PWC, spend millions. Marketing for professionals, as we know it today, didn’t come easy. I’m not so sure it’s much easier today. Certainly, getting it right in advertising is no slam dunk.
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