 
PRESS RELEASE
For further information, contact:
PM Forum and LawMarketing Portal
Launch PM Forum North America
Will Serve 20,000 Professional Services Marketers
 December 1, 2003 -- PM Forum, the world’s largest marketing association serving the professional services industry, announced today the launch of PM Forum North America, bringing together its local members with the LawMarketing Portal, the No. 1 destination on the Web for law firm marketing.
PM Forum North America will provide professional marketers with educational meetings, networking events, a custom edition of professional marketing (pm) magazine, an e-newsletter, a new Web site, listservs and many other benefits when they join.
It will bring together more than 20,000 marketers in law, accounting, consulting and real estate at its events to be held in major cities throughout North America, including Chicago, New York, Toronto and Los Angeles. Professional firms approach the market in a similar way and therefore have common marketing challenges, but this is the first time that U.S.-based marketers have joined together in a single association to share insights and experiences.
 “Professional services from accounting and real estate to law and consulting have matured into sophisticated businesses. What was once largely small partnerships have now grown to true companies, in some cases in excess of billons of dollars in revenue. They demand their own highly trained, expertly focused marketing professionals. This rapidly growing professional group needs the support and direction that PM Forum North America will so expertly provide, as they have in Europe,” said Ed Smith, Senior Partner and Global Leader, Assurance Strategy and Development at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Law Marketing Portal will broaden its coverage of news, technology and sales to include marketing in all service professions. The site, which is the No. 1 listing in Google for law marketing, already carries PM Forum's e-Clippings news feed, articles from pm magazine and reports on European marketing events.
PM Forum North America will be led by marketing consultant Larry Bodine, serving as the association's new Regional Chairman. Bodine commented, “The need for a professional services association of this magnitude reaching across professional services industries has been evident for some time. PM Forum North American will allow 20,000 marketing professionals to not only share insights, but compare best practices. The PM Forum has already demonstrated the value of this approach throughout Europe. I look forward to playing a key role in organizing the Forum’s North American expansion.”
 Bodine has also been appointed Executive Editor of a new North American edition of professional marketing, the world’s leading professional services marketing magazine produced by the Forum exclusively for its members. It will begin publication in 2004.
Commented PM Forum global founder Richard Chaplin, “The PM Forum looks forward to its local events, bringing North American-based marketers in law, accountancy and other professional firms together for the first time. The combination of local events, the number one website in Google, and North American and global editions of pm will cement our position as the only global Forum for firms that are serious about marketing.”
Larry Bodine is a pioneer of professional services marketing, joining top 10 U.S. law firm Sidley Austin Brown & Wood as Director of Communications in 1991 with previous editorial experience as Editor and Publisher of the American Bar Association Journal. He created the original LawMarketing Listserv in 1996 and, since setting up his own consulting practice in 2000, has made LawMarketing.com into the most popular online destination for news and information about law firm marketing with over 75,000 visitor sessions a month. The LawMarketing Listserv, at www.LawMarketing.biz, is the longest-running interactive email discussion group of its kind.
The PM Forum (www.pmint.co.uk) is a members’ association which has grown in only seven years from a handful of marketers meeting in London into a group of over 3,000 members based mostly in Europe. Its aims are to raise the standards of marketing in the professional services sector and to enhance the internal credibility of marketers through:
- Peer-group networking: Discussing common issues with one’s peer group in non-competing firms is highly valued by members at all levels. PM Forum members are drawn from law, accountancy, real estate consultancy, and other professions.
- Skill building: The PM Forum provides a range of events and training courses suitable for marketers at all levels and for fee earners with a marketing responsibility. The PM Forum aims to expose managing partners and personnel directors to marketers and marketing thinking, frequently holding joint events with their associations.
- Knowledge sharing: Good ideas and best practice are shared in the Forum’s magazine, professional marketing, daily news intelligence bulletins, and across an international network of hundreds of PM Forum members.
- Profile raising: The PM Forum thought leadership panel of some 150 of the leading marketers in the world researches critical issues, drives forward the PM Forum’s agenda, and ensures that the views of marketers are heard in the public domain.
11:38:42 AM 
|
|
