If I had a nickel (as the saying goes) for every time the principal of a professional service firm looked me in the eye and said, "You know, I'm not really sure what we mean by the term 'marketing,'" well, I wouldn't have much money. But still, it's come up many times. Maybe 40 times. Maybe 60 times. While it wouldn't amount to a lot of cash in nickels, the statement points to a genuine quandary: how to get a handle on the many, many elements of a service firm marketing program.

Now frankly, I'm not terribly interested in enlightening (that is, annoying) my clients and colleagues with textbook definitions of what activities constitute marketing, public relations, business development, and so on. But certainly we need a way to categorize, plan, manage, and track all the things we do under the rubric of marketing.

A Simple System

Now this is going to sound simple, but the solution begins with making a list of all the things your firm actually does to market or sell its services. For example: "write proposals, send out press releases, purchase those silly ads in event program booklets, attend the Chamber of Commerce breakfasts, maintain a website…" The list can grow to be quite long before you even get warmed up.

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