One on One with Business Strategist and Author Ari Kaplan

Everyone, it seems, is rushing to reinvent a new business strategy in the digital marketplace, often becoming overly enamored with all the latest and greatest technologies available. But when it comes to social media marketing, it's not about the tools, says Ari Kaplan, founder of Ari Kaplan Advisors and author of Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Marketplace. "Ultimately, I want people to determine what it is they offer that is unique and who they are offering it to," Kaplan says. "Once they figure those two things out, then they can start applying the technology that will help them achieve their goal. Not the other way around." Kaplan will share more of his thoughts about strategies in the digital marketplace as part of his "Reinvent Your Consulting Practice in the Recovery" presentation at the Consulting Summit on Nov. 9 at the Union League Club in New York. Kaplan sat down with Consulting One on One to share his thoughts on building a successful business in the digital marketplace. Consulting: How will consultancies reinvent their practice?

Kaplan: The process of re-inventing your firm and the practices you use to develop and grow relationships are really based on a system of targeting who your audience is and how you can better connect with them. Once you make that identification, you then start building momentum in terms of how you can reach out to them. But what I want people to do before they start thinking about specific technologies is to think about the content these technology tools will be used to distribute rather than the other way around.

Consulting: How are consultants doing in this new digital marketplace?