9
O P I N I O N
The romanticism of mediocrity Firms like to talk about growth, but fear of risk, and even laziness, contribute to lackluster marketing and timid strategic plans.
I f asked to offer words that describe your firm, would you use ordinary, average, middle-of-the-road, uninspired, undistinguished, indifferent, unexceptional, unexciting, unremarkable, run-of-the-mill, pedestrian, prosaic, lackluster, forgettable, and amateur? Of course not. You would use words or phrases like superior, innovative, progressive, top-quality, great place to work, fun, experts, and so forth. The unfortunate reality is that our approach to business does not match what we say.
Chad Clinehens
Here are several areas that stick out to me as suffering the most from this over-glorification of being average: z Marketing and branding. While so many in this industry complain about the perceived continual slide toward becoming a commodity, they do little to combat it. Differentiation is the key to fighting com- modity perceptions and pressure on fees. A success- ful differentiation strategy will move your firm from competing based primarily on price to competing on non-price factors such as quality of service and final product. There are two issues that contribute to the weakness of differentiation strategies – avoidance of risk and just plain laziness. You must be intentional and willing to take risks by identifying where you are strong and where the
competition is weak. Instead, we look to what oth- ers are doing and often mimic them. The result of this lazy approach is that nearly every firm in the industry is a “multi-disciplinary firm that offers cost- effective, innovative solutions.” The remedy here is to develop a true marketing function in your firm. I am not talking about hiring more proposal coordina- tors. I am talking about real marketing and branding talent that can work with your top leadership in de- veloping a differentiation, branding, and promotion strategy that will transform the firm. If you want to learn more about this type of marketing, Zweig Group is launching a seminar titled Marketing and Branding for AEC Firms that will take a deep dive into this very subject.
See CHAD CLINEHENS, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER July 25, 2016, ISSUE 1161
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