www.amas.ie
Presentation to the Irish
Chapter of the Professional
Marketing Forum, September 2009
Aileen O’Toole, Managing Director, AMAS www.amas.ie
eMarketing for professional services firms
www.amas.ie
Presentation overview
• The Internet’s relevance to professional services firms
• Designing, building and managing an effective website
• Achieving good search engine visibility• Using social media and other so-called Web
2.0 tools• Case study: the Ideas Campaign
• Managing your firm’s reputation online• Questions and answers
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Internet trends
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State of the Net: the publication
Available on www.amas.ie
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Broadband use
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Broadband use
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Business use
Source: IAPI Business Media Survey
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Ad spend: traditional v. online
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Top websites
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Why the Internet is important
• Fact: a corporate website is a firm’s most important calling card
• Fact: how you communicate with your audiences online will result in action (lead generation, new business development etc)
• Fact: it’s not only about the website, it’s your online footprint
• Fact: online marketing and communications enable you to reach decision-makers more cost- effectively than traditional means
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B2B sites: the facts
• More than half B2B buyers start research process through search engine search
• Less than half go beyond the first results page on Google
• 90% of buyers say website content influenced their purchasing decision
• Third party validation (clients, awards) important factor in decision-making process
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Designing, building, managing a website
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Web project elements
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Free stuff
Open source software or free tools
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Share contentSocial bookmarking: powerful engines for viral and word-of-mouth referrals
Video sharing sites help raise profile
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Achieving good search visibility
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The power of Google...
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Web 2.0 and what it means to you
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Web 2.0
Social networks
VideoSyndication
Podcasts
Mobile
Customer service
Social bookmarks
Blogs
User-generated content
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Social networksNot just for the Bebo generation
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Case study: the Ideas Campaign
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14 January, 2009
How it all started....
RTÉ, Prime Time special on the economy
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Campaign ethos and objectives
Campaign by citizens for citizens, independent and non-political designed to:
• Seek citizens’ ideas for Irish economic recovery and renewal
• Help stimulate a debate about solutions to our economic problems
• Set a challenge to people in Ireland to be innovative and creative and to play their part in planning this country’s economic recovery
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Campaign countdown• February 14: decided to launch campaign, commit €10,000 budget
• February 16: registered domain, logo designed
• February 17: message to LinkedIn contacts
• February 24: Campaign Manager joins
• February 27: first approaches made to
Advisory Group
• March 3: site built within four days
• March 5: campaign launched on RTÉ’s Prime Time
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Social media
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The campaign in numbers
By March 31 deadline:
• 5,300 ideas logged• 48,000 site visits• Average visitor spent 4.5 minutes on site• 17% of traffic international – visitors from 117 countries• Two out of three ideas from overseas came from
Irish-born people• Significant presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
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Managing your firm’s reputation online
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Monitor your brand
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Light touch moderation
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Monitor and respond
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What to do?
• Don’t ignore the Internet• Start with the basics
• Communicate what you do well on your own website• Make it easier for your audiences to find your firm’s
website• Adopt proven online marketing tactics• Integrate, integrate, integrate
• Consider Web 2.0 but....• Not every firm needs a blog or to be on Twitter• Only use the platforms and the techniques that add
value
• Monitor, measure and respond
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Questions?
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