UK professional services drowning in generic messaging
For decades, advisory firms have leant on a distinctive brand of ‘consulting speak’ to win clients – but a new study suggests this may actually be driving customers away. As the professional services sector endures a slowdown in revenues, Soba: Private Label research has found that consultants need to rely less on staple terms, and talk more about clients and less about themselves, if they are going to better stand out.
Britain’s consulting sector is experiencing a sustained slowdown. As the post-pandemic boom fades to memory, many companies which hired to cope with the demand now find themselves freezing intake, or even reducing headcount – as industry experts debate whether growth has plateaued, or is now in negative territory.
This comes at the worst possible time, with the consulting industry having ballooned in recent years. With a new generation of ‘challenger’ firms having launched over the last decade, while the number of independent and freelance advisors has reached record levels, competition for dwindling customers is at what is probably an all-time high. And to make matters worse, generative AI – trained on decades of consultant-approved business insight – has adopted ‘consulting speak’ – flooding the internet with content riddled with vague adjectives; endless hypothetical glazing; and of course, bulleted lists.
If consultants are going to stand out in this environment, their marketing needs to rediscover an identifiably human cadence. But according to new research from Soba: Private Label, UK professional services firms are leaning into cookie-cutter messaging instead. As such, they are making it almost impossible for clients to tell them apart.
Founded in 2023, Soba: Private Label is an agency focussed solely on B2B brand positioning. Compiling a list of professional services companies from UK Companies House, with more than 10 employees and annual accounts exceeding £632,000, the researchers examined the website headlines of 1,007 professional services firms.
The study revealed that 38% of companies immediately relied on the words “business”, “legal” or “services” in their homepage headlines. These words are often combined into catch-alls like “business solutions” or “management services.” Specifically for management consultancies, this literal approach yielded a top three words of ‘Consultancy’, used by 25.3%; ‘services’ used by 17.3%, and ‘business’, deployed by 17.3%. Meanwhile, ‘Management’ and ‘expert rounded out the top five at 14% and 10.7% respectively.
Formulaic communications
It might seem that this makes sense. According to the researchers, if marketers were to construct a formula for these headlines based on the findings, it would be ‘consultancy services [for] business’. Functional, if uninspired, and which would likely score well for SEO, while making clear to the reader what the company does. But, the experts add, what the formula does not do, is make the companies distinct from each other.
Storm Mackay, founder and managing director of Soba, commented, "With over 417,000 professional services firms in the UK, it’s crucial for brands to stand out. The first thing a potential client sees is your website headline. If it doesn’t speak to them, they’re gone before they even start scrolling.
“Too many firms hide behind the same words thinking it will help them memorable. It’s actually making them invisible. If your brand could be swapped with a competitor and no one would notice, you need to rethink your positioning.”
Another way companies failed to stand out, was a lack of personalisation in their opening phrases. With consultants often criticised for their ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to work, and an apparent lack of client-centricity being present at the biggest names of the industry, 55% of professional services companies made no reference to the reader in their top-line messaging.
Examining this further, the researchers found this proceeded much further than the top-line. In what might be considered a damaging reflection of an industry with little care for the thoughts or needs of its clients, the ‘We:You ratio’ of professional services websites was 1:1. That means consultants talk about themselves on average as much as they talk to their audience. A recommended ratio is generally considered to be 1:3 for effective marketing, though, placing the customer at the centre of any experience.
Mackay added, “The research shows that most firms are making it all about themselves - failing to realise that their customer really doesn’t care. It shouldn’t be all about you; it should be about the difference you can make for your potential client.”
