Strategic Marketing in Professional Services - Jeff McKay - Fractional CMO Show - Episode #011

Some companies are all too willing to take money from anyone who will give it to them, regardless of how this impacts their brand. Jeff McKay, CEO of Prudent Pedal and a Fractional CMO, joins the show to correct the narrative. Jeff discusses how to proactively manage your brand, why you have to balance your core profit engine with the solutions you provide, and the importance of having strategic marketing leadership. Don’t get caught up in the antiquated ‘productivity’ school of thinking, learn how to jump into the ‘growth’ school of thought.

Takeaways:

• Most progressive professional services firms that are really driving growth have moved away from the billable hour as their metric and have adopted value-based pricing.
• When growing a company from $1 million to $10 million, the entrepreneurs need to switch their mindsets from “I am the expert at this” to “How do I scale this.”
• The Performance Envelope is a phenomenon in professional services where firms that are built on scaling and profitability of a single solution begin to grow and start to spin off new solutions into new markets, thus eroding the brand and slowing their growth.
• There is an incentive in professional services firms to generate a set amount of revenue so you can become a partner in the firm. However, in the pursuit of becoming partners, people try to generate revenue by any means necessary without regard for the brand.
• Professional services firms lack strategic marketing leadership which gives way to a culture of optionality and self-directedness which kill growth. While decentralized growth can work, it’s not optimal or scalable, meaning it’s inefficient and causes redundancies.
• To actually grow, firms must abandon the ‘productivity’ mindset and adopt the ‘growth’ mindset, and set higher expectations for their marketing so it delivers strategic impact. 
• To manage the performance envelope, first, think through who is your ideal client. Second, identify what particular issues you want to be known for solving. Finally, use those two steps as a construct for campaigns that allow you to manage the brand.

Quote of the Show:

• “You cannot develop a world-class marketer unless you are a world-class marketer developing them” - Jeff McKay

Shout Outs:

• Exponential Organizations: Why New Organizations are Ten Times Better, Faster, and Cheaper Than Yours (and what to Do about It) by Michael S. Malone, Salim Ismail, and Yuri van Geest

Links

• LinkedIn: https://www.​​linkedin.com/in/jeffreymckay
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeffmckay
• Company website: https://www.prudentpedal.com  
• Meeting website: https://www.prudentpedal.com/meeting
• Podcast: https://www.rattleandpedal.com/

Ways to Tune In

• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show
• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC
• YouTube: ​​https://youtu.be/9KLAYCWx4ck