I began my career in marketing communications within the TMT sector, working for three Fortune and FTSE-listed companies in their consulting businesses. After the dot-com bubble burst, I received very helpful outplacement advice. It highlighted that my experience marketing TMT consultants — trusted advisors to chief technology and information officers — had equipped me to move into professional services marketing. Since then I have worked at three law firms (DLA Piper, Linklaters and Freshfields) and most recently the management consultancy McKinsey & Company.
I have developed a strong skill set in professional services marketing, honed through my work with leading brands in the sector. As the industry has matured, so too has my expertise. I was fortunate to bring experience from FTSE- and Fortune-listed TMT companies, which helped me shape marketing strategies at the firms I've worked with. In a small way, this has contributed to the sector's evolution.
I actively contribute to LinkedIn and industry publications, exploring how professional services marketing can learn from FMCG. By sharing these insights, I support both the firms I work for and the broader sector. Positive feedback, invitations to contribute longer pieces and networking opportunities suggest these perspective resonate with others.
I also completed the Marketing Week MBA in Marketing, which further refined my strategic marketing skills.
One example is an educative campaign launched when regulatory responsibility was set to increase for companies that were unprepared and unaware of its implications. At its heart was a survey run with the London School of Economics to understand what clients and potential clients understood about the changes they would have to make. At the time we did this, working with a third party was very unusual for a law firm, as was leading a debate in this way.
The findings were launched in a well written report with informative infographics. The Financial Times legal correspondent was given an exclusive, which resulted in a half page article in the main section of the paper. A summary report was enclosed in 60,000 copies of the FT, in major cities across the UK, the day the FT article ran.
Looking back on the campaign today, I see that what I describe has now become a blueprint for a well-run campaign
We created national and sectoral media stories, a direct mail campaign, webpages and client events. To keep momentum up a client newsletter was launched, a second direct mail campaign run, events held looking more closely at specific client situations and there was ongoing media work.
In the short term, the campaign generated extensive media coverage, strengthened journalist relationships, and led to multiple invitations for the practice to speak at high-profile conferences.
In the long term practice revenue grew 30% in the year following the survey and the press coverage was calculated to have been worth several million pounds in advertising spend.
Looking back on the campaign today, I see that what I describe has now become a blueprint for a well-run campaign. It could almost be considered "classic," but at the time, when PSF marketing was in its early stages, it was new, experimental, and provocative.
It's interesting to me how the term "storytelling" can and should mean different things in different sectors. Every industry must shape it to fit its audience, objectives, and ways of building trust. In professional services firms (PSFs), storytelling works best when embedded within strategic campaigns, rather than as a short-term or standalone tool. A single story — or even several — cannot define a practice's or firm's positioning. Instead, successful brand-building requires a sustained, multi-layered approach that reinforces key messages over time.
Storytelling in this context isn't just about adding some personal aspects to a narrative, it's about embedding key messages across content, thought leadership, and client communications to create a consistent and differentiated presence with clients. As I often post about on LinkedIn, PSFs rely on the slow burn of reputation building, and ongoing client engagement. Time and repetition are essential in marketing efforts, and developing meaningful ways to measure impact is just as important.
The power of PSF storytelling lies not just in the stories but in how they are delivered, sustained, and adapted to support long-term strategic goals. Clarity and consistency build recognition and trust over time. Emotional and cultural resonance ensure messaging speaks to client challenges and aspirations, making a firm more relatable. Digital platforms have reshaped audience engagement, requiring PSFs to evolve their marketing across new channels. Long-term brand familiarity comes from sustained, consistent messaging that reflects expertise and values.
A powerful example of storytelling used in this way was the campaign I led around Beyond Performance 2.0, a book authored by two McKinsey & Company partners. The challenge was to reposition transformation as a business-critical issue rather than a niche HR topic.
This experience reinforced the power of storytelling done right, not just to inform, but to challenge perspectives
I developed a multi-channel campaign to bring the book's insights — essentially the practice's core thinking and services — to life. Through compelling content, thought leadership, and client communications, we reinforced why transformation matters and showcased real-world business impact. We launched a full publishing programme (a key report, articles, and blog posts), a high-performing LinkedIn campaign, a series of events, and a podcast featuring senior partners discussing many aspects of transformation.
The results were both short and long term, and measurable, 96,000 podcast downloads, 12 radio and TV interviews and LinkedIn engagement that tripled industry benchmarks. Most importantly, client enquiries to the pitch room increased by 39%, clear evidence that we had positioned transformation as a priority for senior decision-makers.
This experience reinforced the power of storytelling done right, not just to inform, but to challenge perspectives and drive real engagement through weaving stories through a sustained series of content, thought leadership, and client communications.
A shift from tactical, short-term thinking to a more strategic, brand-led approach. PSFs too often focus on short-term client needs or isolated content bursts rather than coherent, long-term brand building. The partnership model can compound this, favouring consensus over decisive action, which risks making marketing efforts fragmented or underfunded.
I'm contributing to this shift by advocating for three key changes:
Reframing the value of brand strategy: Many PSFs still view marketing as a support function rather than a driver of strategic growth. I'm pushing for a stronger emphasis on brand fundamentals—helping firms understand that differentiation isn't just about technical excellence but about building lasting connections with clients.
Encouraging patience in campaign execution: In professional services, marketing campaigns need time to embed and create impact. I challenge the impulse to refresh campaigns too soon, reinforcing the idea that familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt. The best campaigns don't wear out, they wear in.
I challenge the impulse to refresh campaigns too soon, reinforcing the idea that familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt.
Advocating for better measurement and recognition of marketing success: There's a persistent skills gap in PSF marketing when it comes to demonstrating impact. I focus on building measurement frameworks that show marketing's contribution to sustainable growth and encourage a culture of celebrating success rather than just critiquing failures.
Ultimately, the firms that embrace these shifts — those that invest in long-term brand building, give campaigns the time to mature, and embed marketing as a strategic function — won't just have stronger brands. They'll help evolve the entire sector.
By advocating for the ideas I have mentioned above with colleagues and stakeholders. And by following the advice in the last question, below!
Trust.
Stay calm. Cultivate resilience. Build strong relationships with your team and colleagues. Take your time. Start small but with high production values. Measure broadly what you do, with the right metric for the context. Learn from what the measures show. Scale or evolve from there. Learn creatively – from inside and outside the PSF sector.
Connect with Anne Blackman here.
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