Is there an Increasing trend on accountants advertising on the radio?

Is there an Increasing trend on accountants...

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On my London based radio (LBC) I am hearing more and more accountants advertising. More recent ones are Barnes Rolf in the main advertising none compliance services.

Today I heard ICAEW advertising for their members. "Did you need a  Chartered Accountant? Call us" What are you doing sleepy ACCA? Nothing! Concentrating on becoming global. This is of no use to me. Great for ACCA senior mangement team career.

Back to my main point. Any idea of the costs? They are likely to be high. That is why  I only hear big firm adverts. Though I have not heard any adverts from the likes of PWC.

Is this avenue worth exploring into for a small practice like mine? May be a silly question.   

Replies (7)

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By Steve McQueen
08th Nov 2011 11:22

It's not a silly question, but IMHO I don't think this type of advertising is useful for you at this time.

This type of advertising is about building a brand and I don't believe that the businesses we operate are about brands (other than your person brand which can be developed more redaily and for less cost else where)

I don't believe that at this stage you need the world to know your name. What you need is to get people to buy stuff from you and this is achieved more redily from direct marketing - in all its forms.

The costs involved in radio advertising would be better invested in a direct mail campaign. 1000 letters a month should cost your around £500 delivered and will get you 10 replies, 5 visits and 2-3 sign ups at an average fee of £1000 each.

Okay, you are going to have to invest time in the visits, but you can readily outsource the mailings and the results are tangiable... unlike brand marketing which is not, requires a humungious buget and is almost impossiable to impliment for something as frankly dull as accountancy!

PM me if I can help further.

Regards

Steve

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By Bob Harper
09th Nov 2011 09:53

Better options

 

This type of marketing is classic old school outbound marketing; it’s for firms who have more money than creativity.

Unless you are doing lots of things really well there are much better ways to spend your money. Focus on tactics that:

Have long term value like SEOCan be tested, modified and improved like direct mail, PPC and telemarketing

However, before thinking about tactics makes sure you have a solid strategy and are using the best sales, marketing and pricing methodologies. If you don’t get you will waste time/money and not capitalise on the opportunities you create.

If you want to grow your business, your main jobs are marketing, selling, pricing and managing – how good are you at these? How much development/training have you had compared to your operational role?

It could be a good year to put together a personal development plan for 2012.

Bob Harper

Portfolio Marketing - the £10,000 12 month coaching programme

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FT
By FirstTab
09th Nov 2011 18:58

Helpful response

Thank you for a quality response.

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Replying to Roger Chester:
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By Lancsboy2
09th Nov 2011 22:29

start small & cheap... but start

FT, 

when i was starting out last year, i approached a company that ran a newsletter (9,000 readers), and asked if i could pay HIM, to write a 'tax tip' that would be useful to his readers (my target clients).  he agreed, and i wrote a tax tip every 2 weeks from then on.  i have picked up on average 1 client per month from that, at an average fee of £1k. the guy never did bill me, as after a while he was getting good feedback about my writing, and so he basically told me that my financial offer was such a pittance to him (cheeky [***]! lol) that he would waive it.  

off the back of THAT, i approached the editor of a magazine (targetted at my niche market), and offered to write a piece (note - not to put in place a long-term deal). he agreed, liked the first article, and "asked" (hinted) would i like to take a monthly ad & write a monthly article.  

off the back of THAT, another mag asked me to write for them .... and take an ad.  

i've then used the ads to advertise useful free stuff on my website, for prospects to download in return for their details.  i'm now sending out my own newsletter, and using much of the content generated in the last 18 months.  

today, i was invited (get me!) by the national association of my target clients, to give 2 presentaions plus Q&A ... to 50 delegates per session.  and, they PAID me!  

tomorrow, i have to return the calls from 2 prominent organisations that want me to write for them, and be their 'recognised supplier' for accountancy/tax advice.  

i've mixed this in with some free reports, tools & templates, attending trade shows, sometimes taking a stand, sometimes doing a presentation only ...

the idea being, generally, to spend time, effort & money on getting myself known as the 'go to' accountant for my niche market.  

it's hard work, and you sometimes have to push on through the doubts (will this really work?!), and dig deep for the costs (recognise it is an investment) ... but i'm proud of the fee growth off the back of all this ... it really does work if you give it 110%. 

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FT
By FirstTab
10th Nov 2011 07:47

A different approach

Thanks Lancsboy2. Your approach is different to other accountants and it clearly works.

This thread shows there are ways to get a far better  ROI than radio advertising,

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John Stokdyk, AccountingWEB head of insight
By John Stokdyk
15th Nov 2011 17:01

Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!

I'll have to differ from the opinions expressed by Steve and Bob - I think that radio advertising could be a very successful way to reach new prospects.

Obviously you're not going to want to pay thousands to advertise with LBC or Capital, but there are lots of very small regional stations that might reach your target audience.

The one I remember most vividly (from more than 10 years ago when I lived in South East London, suggesting a very good recall factor) was Gary Sargeant, whose Swanley-based firm showed its footballing colours by sponsoring the Charlton Live programme on RTM (originally a cable channel, Radio Thamesmead).

It was a spectacular time for the club and any if you asked any Charlton FC-supporting small business to name a local accountant, I'm sure they'd all humm, "Ohhh, Gary Sargeant..." to echo the firm's jingle.

We also got an interesting response via Twitter from @Gibsonboothhelp, who commented: "done it here via our Insolvency Department with some gr8 results, we also sponsor the time check @PenistoneFM".

So, the means are there among small outlets and firms that put time and effort into targeting a specific group and shape their messages and media accordingly may well be getting a good ROI from radio advertising. I look forward to hearing from any other firms that have tried this route.

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By David Winch
15th Nov 2011 17:34

Test and Measure

@FirstTab

Ultimately you need to contact your market one-to-one.  Radio advertising obviously doesn't do this so, if you do decide to go ahead, use it to filter in the people who are interested in hearing more from you  In other words, if you do go ahead, don't attempt a direct sale in the radio ads.  Offer something of high value at little to no cost and get people to ask for it.  Then you can contact them again by other methods.

Whatever you do, test on a small scale and measure the RoI.  Do more of what works and stop doing what doesn't work!  Maybe your monitoring of your radio advertising will show a high RoI.  If it does, keep doing it.  But I wouldn't bet on it!

I agree with Steve and Bob, you need enquiries not just brand awareness, and you need a strong strategy.  And like Lancsboy you need to be creative.

Don't do what the rest of the world does unless you're sure that they're being successful doing it!  And then test your adaptation to see if it works for you too.

David Winch

Make  Sales Without Selling and Get Paid What You're Worth
 

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