Tom Mooney, CEO & Creative Director, and Monish Bhattacharyya, Creative Director & Copy Chief, are the principals of FourthIdea, a dynamic Buffalo-based advertising and marketing agency. They recently launched a new division, FourthIdea+, to create impactful strategic marketing, branding, and content strategies and campaigns that serve the unique needs of professional services providers.
What makes professional services providers different from other industries?
Knowledge-based professional services firms which deliver customized, accredited services and solutions require specialized marketing services. The nature of professional services requires communication that is more precise, impactful, and quite frankly, more personal. Accountants, lawyers, financial advisors, architects, healthcare executives, engineers and others require a marketing firm that has a deep and thorough understanding of their services, industries, clients, and competition. More than that they need an agency that is able to synthesize those data points to create a strategic market position, a distinguished brand, targeted digital initiatives, meaningful content, insightful advertising, and many other initiatives to successfully promote their organizations.
What is the difference between FourthIdea+ and traditional advertising agencies?
Unlike other advertising agencies, FourthIdea+ singularly combines best-in-class marketing insight and experience with high-level business development and coaching expertise to expand traditional agency boundaries. We deliver the specialized assistance that professional services providers need across ALL phases of the sales cycle. Our fusion of marketing and business development tools delivers the power that builds relationships with current and future clients and drives professional services firms to success. Our objective is to deliver marketing that is integrated into your business goals and objective to such a degree that we become an extension of your marketing department—or true partner in cases where the professional service provider doesn’t have a dedicated marketing department.
Why is the integration of marketing and business development essential?
The disruption of the business world by COVID-19 and the explosion of remote work has enhanced the use of online searches to find service providers that fit the needs and challenges of prospective clients and can provide specifically designed solutions and added value. Instead of asking for referrals from peers and colleagues, executives are searching online for the professional services provider that can precisely meet their needs—without regard to their geographic location. In the new digital sales space, a professional services organization needs to be effectively positioned and marketed to gain visibility, while industry and individual expertise must be show- cased and substantive knowledge digitally conveyed. Marketing sets the stage, but the individual ultimately makes the sale.
How do you begin the process of integrating marketing and business development for clients?
Our philosophy is to take a deep dive into your firm’s services, review content from your thought leaders, analyze the competition and the industry, identify future trends,
and develop a plan that positions you to increase revenue from your current client base — and attract and cultivate new clients. Whether you are looking for a comprehensive approach or need selected services, we work with our clients to support their success through a variety of proven tactics: strategic planning, branding, digital marketing, advertising campaigns, public relations, business development planning and coaching, and virtual and live event design and management. We work with you through each phase of the sales cycle to create a synergy that will increase your revenue.
What is a Coffee Confidential?
Now is the time to integrate and accelerate your marketing and business development efforts. As we emerge from COVID, there is a great opportunity to get focused, recover, regroup, and pivot. We invite you to sign up for our Coffee Confidential at fourthidea.com/4i-plus, and we will schedule a free Brand Audit Review and assess your current marketing and business development activities against our checklist. During our meeting, we will answer the questions that concern you and recommend efficient and effective next steps that can help move your business forward. We look forward to meeting you soon, so you can see how we live up to our reputation as the Professionals’ Professionals.
FourthIdea serves a variety of clients across many industries including: Destination Niagara USA, Dutchess County Tourism, Corning Museum of Glass, Beckage, Evans Bank, and is embarking on a brand strategy initiative for Hurwitz & Fine Attorneys. Check out their newly launched website, fourthidea.com. This content was produced in collaboration with FourthIdea as part of an ongoing series on Professional Service Marketing.
Lead Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash