Subscribe Did a colleague forward this newsletter? Sign up to receive your own copy. News Upcoming Speech: The evolving role of the CMO, SMPS Southern Region Conference, San Antonio, Jan 25-26, 2007 Convert Your Marketing Role into a Strategic Firm Leadership Position, SMPS-PSMA Build Business 2007 National Conference, Washington DC, August 27, 2007 Articles: Practice Management: Re-evaluate how you evaluate your marketer (PDF), by Suzanne Lowe and Sally Glick for Accounting Today, September 2006 (also published with permission on The Marcus Letter) Why You May Not be Truly Differentiated, Consulting News, September 2006 (available to CN subscribers only) Hallmarks of an Effective CMO (PDF), The Marketer, August 2006 Turning a Marketing Eye Toward ROI (PDF), by Suzanne Lowe and Larry Bodine for New Jersey Lawyer, August 2006   Recent Issues   The Problem of Defining Professional Services Marketing Expertise, November 2006   Leadership Legacies in Professional Services: Distinguishing Your Goals from the Expectations of Others, October 2006   How will Marketing be Led in the Professional Service Firm of Tomorrow?, September 2006 You can order Marketplace Masters from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, your favorite online bookseller, or CEO-READ.

The Marketplace Master^TM is a monthly email publication on professional service marketing from Expertise Marketing, LLC.

The Expertise Marketing Great Big 2006 Thank You Issue

As 2006 draws to a close I’d like to thank all of my readers, especially those of you who took time out of your busy schedules to comment on my blog posts and articles and contribute quotes to this monthly Marketplace Master™ newsletter. Your astute observations about your own experiences in professional services marketing have inspired me and many others throughout the year.

There are so many more aspects of professional services marketing to explore. I encourage you to continue to contribute your thoughts and ideas in 2007.

My monthly newsletter, The Marketplace Master™, is a vehicle to explore some of the emerging challenges that face professional service firms in growing their marketplace leadership. Many thanks to those who gave me their quotes and comments to be added into issues in 2006. These include:

•  Roger Brossy, Semler Brossy
  
•  Victor Dominguez, CB Richard Ellis
  
•  Susan Lanfray, ERE LLP
  
•  Brad Thurman, Wallace Engineering
  
•  Debbie Weil, Word Biz
  
•  Sally Glick, Sobel & Co., LLC
  
•  Betsey Lynch, formerly Deloitte & Touche and Mercer Human Resources Consulting
  
•  Curtis Wang, Lake Forest Graduate School of Management
  
•  Eileen Harrington, Analysis Group
  
•  Teri Schram, Director, Heidrick & Struggles
  
•  Neil Fauerbach, Smith & Gesteland
  
•  Robert Galford, Your Leadership Legacy
  
•  Regina Maruca, Your Leadership Legacy
  
•  Charlie Agin, Gen Re
  
•  Bill Viehman, Perkins + Will
  
•  Ann Althoff, HOK
  
•  Uwe Krueger, Turner Construction Company
  
•  Barbara Walters Price, Mercer Capital Management
  
•  Tom Markert, ACNielsen
  
•  Sally J. Feldman, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
  
•  George Friedel, Parsons Brinckerhoff
  
•  Michelle Golden, Golden Marketing

My blog, Expertise Marketplace™, went live in January 2006. I found that one of the beauties of blogs is that they can be so interactive. Below is a list of all of you who have commented on the Expertise Marketplace™ blog during 2006, in order of when you made your first comment:

•  Regina Maruca
  
•  Michael Katz
  
•  KD Paine
  
•  David Maister
  
•  Paul Gladen
  
•  John Wagner
  
•  Jeff Thull
  
•  James Shewmaker
  
•  Patrick M. McEvoy
  
•  Amy Campbell
  
•  Jill Richards
  
•  Joyce Wycoff
  
•  BL Ochman
  
•  Phil Gott
  
•  Gary Bourgeault
  
•  Ann Handley
  
•  Yvonne DiVita
  
•  Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan
  
•  Barbara Walters Price
  
•  Nancy Sagar
  
•  Larry Bodine
  
•  Ford Harding
  
•  TRU Group
  
•  Cehwiedel
  
•  Bruce Marcus
  
•  Andy Klemm
  
•  Betsy Buckley
  
•  Stuart Jones
  
•  Martin Calle
  
•  Steve Roesler
  
•  D.L.

I’d also like to thank those who nourished the conversations about professional service marketing by writing posts on their own blogs and including track-backs to the Expertise Marketplace™:

•  Barbara Walters Price
  
•  Chief Innovation Officer
  
•  Oplossingsgericht Management
  
•  Michelle Golden
  
•  David Maister

The most comment-provoking post in 2006 was definitely Is Marketing Talent Overrated? The post not only generated comments on my blog, but also many over at David Maister’s track-back to this post.

I have valued my relationship with MarketingProfs and its companion blog The Daily Fix, where professional service marketers can gain valuable insights from across many sectors. Let’s not forget those who have commented on and track-backed to my posts on the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog:

•  Allen Weiss
  
•  Jonathan Kranz
  
•  Charles H. Green
  
•  Nataliya Andreychuk
  
•  J.D.
  
•  Brad K.
  
•  Tom Vander Well
  
•  Jennifer Lueck
  
•  Susan Cergol
  
•  Ellen Weber
  
•  Lewis Green
  
•  Jason Sherman
  
•  Neil Anuskiewicz
  
•  Ann Handley
  
•  gianandrea facchini
  
•  Tammy Strnatka

Finally, I want to thank everyone who participated in the 2006 marketing ROI study that I conducted with Larry Bodine. Thanks to the contributions of more than 375 respondents, we can say that now, for the first time for professional service firms, we have a verified link between competitive effectiveness and the intentional act of measuring.

In 2007, I will continue my focus on what’s ahead – the near- and long-term emerging issues for professional service firm marketing. I know you’ll join me in pushing for new insights and work together with me to shape this arena.

Best wishes for the holiday season and 2007.

Suzanne Lowe
Author, Marketplace Masters: How Professional Service Firms Compete to Win
President, Expertise Marketing, LLC

Your feedback is important to us. Please contact us with your comments and questions.

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