Research: What's Working (And What's Not) in Marketing for Consultants

San Francisco, California, December 21, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Get The Word Out Communications published the results of a survey of business to business (BtoB) consultants across the United States in the report, “What’s Working (and what’s not) in Marketing for Consultants.” The report summarizes a survey of over 350 BtoB consultants in partnership with the Institute of Management Consultants  USA (IMC).

According to the report, BtoB consultants are struggling in three areas: reaching buyers, generating leads and increasing brand visibility. The report analyzes several marketing and lead generation tactics, such as marketing planning, content marketing, and social media, and highlights how High Performing BtoB consultants are growing their revenues and enjoying greater returns in today’s complex BtoB marketplace.

Key findings include:

Tactics over strategy. Most BtoB consultants are choosing marketing and lead generation tactics without a clear strategy. For example, many BtoB consultants focus on blogging or LinkedIn, but lack fundamental insights into prospect buying cycles or buyer personas.

Relying on referrals. While two thirds (67%) of low-performing BtoB consultants rely almost exclusively on client referrals for landing new business, those BtoB consultants that rank themselves as “excellent” in generating new business leads are going beyond referrals and growing revenues with proactive lead generation programs.

Third-party credibility. The majority of BtoB consultants does not take steps to earn third party credibility with BtoB buyers. In contrast, most High Performers contribute expert content (articles, guest blog posts, webinars, expert interviews) to media that is relevant and influential in their target markets to establish their credibility and competence.

“The vast majority of BtoB consultants are struggling to grow revenues because they do not understand their buyers, have not validated their value propositions and are choosing inappropriate marketing tactics,” says Steven Van Yoder of Get The Word Out Communications.  “Yet, the bright spot is that 15% of BtoB consultants are growing their revenues, in part, by following buyer-focused marketing plans.”

The free report is available for download at  http://getslightlyfamous.com/btob_marketing_for_consultants_report/

About:  Get The Word Out Communications is a content marketing, demand generation and earned media agency that helps BtoB consultants, corporate executives, pre-IPO companies, nonprofits and professional associations target their best clients and customers.