How can professional services be marketed effectively?

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2005 im Fachbereich BWL - Offline-Marketing und Online-Marketing, Note: 2,0, European Business School - Internationale Universität Schloß Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The professional service sector has experienced a steady growth: In recent years it seems to dominate the US economy rather than the consumer good sector does. In industrialized countries it can be generally observed that the share of output contributed by services is increasing. As for the professional management consulting sector, there are only a few multinational companies that do not call on consulting services on a regular basis. Now smaller companies and businesses as well as the public and non-profit sector are also increasingly taking up this professional advice. In Germany, low entry barriers and high growth rates have led to a large, complex market with high intensity of competition. Facing an increasingly competitive environment, service providers are searching for new or improved ways of differentiating themselves and of increasing their competitive advantage. As a result, differentiation has become a significant factor for survival and success. Marketing expertise plays an essential role in the process of differentiation and accordingly there has been a rapid acceptance and adoption of marketing programs by professional service providers in the past few years. But professional service firms see themselves confronted with a wider range of problems while marketing their service offering as compared to marketing of goods since the decision process of the client is much more complex mainly because of uncertainty involved. This paper first aims to explain these difficulties that professional services are facing in planning and implementing their marketing program and then goes on to highlight in the main part how providers of professional management consulting services can market their services in an effective way against the background of these distinctive problems.