The walls of restraint have come tumbling down. There are those who believe that the quality of their work is the only marketing that matters. Actually, marketing is made for professional services. By definition, that's good marketing. The goal is to create customers, those who want to do business with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and not KPMG or some other firm.
Effective marketing harnesses the customer creation process.
Whether a firm is international in scope or relatively small, the principles of marketing professional services are all the same. Marketing gives a professional services firm the opportunity to pre-establish a relationship with a client. For example, referrals are rarely based on detailed inquiries into a particular firm's competence. Selecting a lawyer, physician or accountant is more often than not a low involvement decision. Whether the firm has the necessary expertise fails to become an issue.