Date:Thursday, May 12, 2005
Time: 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern
Duration: 1 hour

Encounter Seminar: Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants

For decades, most consulting and other professional service firms were sales-driven, with new projects sourced from networks of business relationships with existing clients. Marketing to targeted industries or client segments was an afterthought, as was the skill of personal selling.

But that well-worn path to success has become more expensive and less effective, as clients have made fundamental changes in the way they buy professional services. In response, some firms spend big bucks on splashy branding campaigns to send messages to the market. For most consultants, expensive branding campaigns are financially out of reach and of questionable value.

To succeed, consultants must rethink how they go to market. This program focuses on applying the time-tested principles of guerrilla marketing to improve the performance of your practice.

On May 12, Michael McLaughlin will show you why traditional marketing strategies are failing miserably in today’s market and how to use guerrilla marketing tactics to create an advantage. You’ll also learn how to create a seven-sentence guerrilla marketing plan that will change your fortunes, as well as:

• How clients have changed their strategy for buying services and what to do about it.
• What are the three most effective marketing techniques and what three no longer work.
• How you can prepare a marketing plan that will accomplish your objectives, even if you have a small marketing budget or a small amount of marketing expertise.

About our speaker: Michael McLaughlin

Michael McLaughlin is a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP, one of the world’s largest consulting firms. In twenty years with Deloitte, McLaughlin has sold and delivered hundreds of consulting projects. He has a clear understanding of what works in the market. . . and what doesn’t.

He has served some of America’s highest-profile companies, small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups. As Managing Partner for Deloitte Consulting Chicago, he had market responsibility for a practice of 800 consultants and served on Deloitte’s Management Committee, which sets marketing strategies for Deloitte.

McLaughlin’s opinions have been sought on the toughest business management challenges. In addition to guest appearances on radio and television programs, he has been interviewed by publications such as Chicago Sun Times, Crain’s Chicago Business, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Information Week, and Women’s Wear Daily. He has also written and published articles for Computerworld, Brandweek, Chicago Sun Times, About.com, Marketing Today, Business KnowHow, and IHRIM.link.

He has been a speaker for audiences across the country, including: Microsoft; Council of Logistics Management; Food Marketing Institute; Grocery Manufacturers Association; Institute of Management Accountants; Internet World; National Millennium Panel: Business in 2005; National Retail Federation; and Northwestern University Digital Frontiers Annual Conference. He has been a keynote speaker at the Institute of Management Consultants annual conference.

He is a professional member of the National Speakers Association and he holds an MBA in Corporate Finance.

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