Guest article: Matt Baldwin, Coast
There is a saying that you should never judge a builder by the state of their own home. They are, so we are led to believe, too busy working for their customers to get their own house in order.
This often rings true when looking inside the marketing and comms teams in professional services firms. It is a case of ‘do what we say, not what we do’.
Because whilst those teams might be excellent, professional services marketers are not very good at telling everyone that they are. And that is a shame.
Marketing and comms teams are talented, creative, engaging and dedicated, wrapped in dogged perseverance (and thick skins). They need to be, working alongside some of the brightest, most challenging and highest-paid professionals around.
Marketers typically work behind the scenes, supporting colleagues in their own marketing and comms. Even headline campaigns so clearly built and delivered by marketing or PR teams sit behind the voice of partnership or practice leads. It is understandable – that is where the work goes.
Yes, there is often recognition for the contribution marketing plays, but we all know that the role we play is more than a ‘contribution’.
I started my PR career working for a large US agency supporting very large American and UK businesses. Those marketing and sales teams (and the agency) would celebrate the opening of a door if their hand played even the smallest role.
It was a daily reminder that it was, in fact, the marketing and comms teams behind the success of those businesses.
Professional services marketers might want to do the same – and we mean much more than the monthly or quarterly reports prepared for partners and boards. It is time for marketers to come out of their shells, to own and celebrate the work they do.
Because if you don’t, nobody will do it for you. And that has consequences.
When marketing is not clearly articulated, it is all too easily reduced to just ‘support’. Even now, it is not uncommon to see LinkedIn posts that label marketing in firms as the ‘colouring in department’.
Partners do not deliberately overlook marketing and comms – they respond to what they hear and see. Where they are quick to celebrate a new client, completed deals or a case won, marketing is quieter, more modest and inclined to let their work speak for itself. In busy firms, it rarely does.
This doesn’t mean we should shout every time we open a door, nor is it about self-promotion. It is about being visible, focused on impact, giving credit to the marketing and comms juniors behind those big wins. It is about giving a visible voice to the contributions we make.
When marketing is visible, it is valued. And when it is valued, it has more influence.
But we know this anyway – it is, after all, marketing and comms. It’s what we do every day.
Matt Baldwin is the joint managing director of Coast, a media relations agency.
