effective advertising

effective advertising

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Hi,

I have been self employed for 3 years mainly just doing a handful of self assessment tax reruns a year. My little boy now does 5 days at pre school and will be going full time reception in September. I am now looking to reach out to more clients to get some more regular work.

I have so far built a website - www.ntbookkeeping.co.uk

I have posted leaflets out to local businesses and concentrated as much as possible on builders, and window cleaners I have also put leaflets in shops.

was just hoping someone may have some advise on what they found was the most effective advertising for them. I want to get my name out there but also want to keep advertising costs down as much as possible at least until I have a couple of regular clients.

I have done everything myself so far keeping costs down. any help or feedback on my website and advertising methods would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Nicola

Replies (10)

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By mrme89
06th Jul 2015 17:21

Before JCresswell (misery guts) mentions it ... advice, not advise.

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By Hugh Simpson
06th Jul 2015 18:13

And ...

Weekly. Statutory. Calibre.

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Steve Edwards
By stevo5678
06th Jul 2015 20:37

Website

I have designed three of my own websites and then paid a professional for the last two so am well placed to comment on yours. Especially since mine is now getting me around 4-6 clients a month.

I have to be honest and say it needs scrapping. It looks unprofessional and very cheap. It also lacks any kind of brand, personality and character.

It needs to be far more modern and at least express some of your own personality as you are the 'brand'.

You need to look different from your competition but not too quirky where it looks like you are trying too hard.

Sorry for being blunt but it can only help you.

PM me for ways to get a desirable website at a very affordable cost. I also have lots of proven ways to grow your business and would be willing to share my successes under the appropriate circumstances.

Steve

www.cheltenhamtaxaccountants.co.uk

www.smecloudaccounting.co.uk

 

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By Jakarmi
06th Jul 2015 21:34

Two points

One with the website - You've spelled book-keeping incorrectly on your services page when detailing the types of services you provide.

Second point is you're selling yourself short as your prices are too cheap.

 

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By MM Bookkeeping Services
06th Jul 2015 22:42

Attention to detail

Also, receipts and employee spelt wrong.

One of my pet hates is wrong spelling - makes me wonder how accurate accounts are when claiming to provide 'attention to detail'.

However, don't let our comments put you down - better that we are honest and help you achieve your ultimate goal.

Oh and also - your pricing is too low! I charge more than double your hourly rate for bookkeeping and I am busy and in Scotland!

(FAO: Jakarmi - no hyphen now in bookkeeping)

 

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By User deleted
06th Jul 2015 23:35

I think that ...

... book-keeping or bookkeeping are acceptable, but it is a well know quiz answer that bookkeeping is the only word with 3 consecutive pairs of letters, but I digress.

I would sign up for service start, they sell leads for up to 5 people to contact, and there are many people looking for a bookkeeper. .

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By JCresswellTax
07th Jul 2015 09:29

Website

I disagree with stevo.  I actually think those website links are bland and look like templates you have used. And that picture on the who we are section? Jeezo!

At least the OPs website looks genuine, if not slightly out of date.

Lets be honest, you are not going to get loads of new business from your website, you need to speak to people attend events and try and get some word of mouth referrals.

mrMe - misery guts? That is a bit harsh, all because I like to educate people :(

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By Jakarmi
07th Jul 2015 11:01

MM

I think both ways are acceptable and the Collins Dictionary does even put a hyphen in. I also find it a bit insulting to question the accuracy of the OP's accounts over a spelling mistake here and there on a website.

Nicola - I notice you have changed things slightly which is good. Weekly is spelled incorrectly on your services page when noting what wages you do and then the only thing I'd suggest is maybe a different colour to the grey as the background but that would probably be just a personal preference.

 

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By MM Bookkeeping Services
07th Jul 2015 12:02

Jakarmi

Sorry, did not mean to appear insulting to the OP.

Meant this as a general view - even big corporate companies these days send out letters without checking first - even though we now have spell check!

The main point I was making was attention to detail which is what the client may think about their accounts.

 

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By Maslins
07th Jul 2015 12:20

I think there's two different ways to go about growing an accountancy business:

1) trying to get clients from a wide variety of sectors, locally.  To do this, do lots of networking, leaflets in local places.  If you're on a really tight budget then do some cold calling, not pleasant, but cheap.  Adverts in local magazines/newspapers shouldn't cost too much.

This is what I tried to do to begin with.  It doesn't require much thinking, but is hard work.

2) trying to get clients from a certain sector, nationally.  To do this, website is key.  You don't need to spend a lot, but you need to find a small niche.  This is unlikely to be something like window cleaners, as I imagine many will still rely on paper records, so locality is key.  We opted for FreeAgent using contractors/freelancers ~5 years ago and it's worked well for us.

The smaller the niche you go for, the easier it'll be to get clients in it.  Saying "small businesses" means nothing.  Perhaps opt for a fairly niche cloud bookkeeping package (as FreeAgent was 5 years ago).  Mention that heavily on your website, so when people Google "Accountant [software package]" your website ranks highly.  As you can imagine, much easier to do this with a less well used package than the big boys.

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