What's been your most successful form of marketing?

What's been your most successful form of...

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I just thought I'd throw this question out for the weekend as I am quite interested in how successful everyone has been with different sorts of marketing?

I have been approached by Yell to take out an ad but not sure how effective this would be?

I currently get a good amount of business from my website, some from referrals and even some from my car - my business is advertised on my back window and I was approached by a prospect in Tesco this very morning!

I just wondered what's worked well for everyone else?

Replies (21)

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By ShirleyM
20th Jul 2013 12:14

Without doubt ...

... our large prominent signage.

We get a few enquiries from our website ... or a combination of the two, in that they see the signage and then look us up on the internet.

We get referrals, too, but we don't do any active marketing at all.

Yell was a waste of time and money for us, but it's a few years since we tried it. We just have the free entry now but nobody mentions it when we ask enquirers who referred them or why they chose us.

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
20th Jul 2013 13:04

Using my clients and contacts as my marketing department

Whilst it's a bit chicken & egg, ie you need clients first before you can do it, forming valuable and enjoyable relationships with clients and other contacts, plus doing a good job for clients, is by far the best way to attract more valuable work, ie through recommendation.

In over 30 years in practice I've tried every other form of attracting new business, with varying degrees of success but, no matter how glitzy or quirky you make your marketing & advertising, to try and stand out from the crowd, you will attract cold or luke warm strangers who will, in general, take far more time and effort to get on board and have a far higher drop out rate, compared to recommended warm or hot prospects who come through the door already pretty much sold on the idea and where fees are not at the top of their list of considerations.

Just think of it when you have to buy a service, how differently do you feel about the organisation you get from an advert (usually based on being the cheapest) to one that's been recommended by friend or family?  If something doesn't go 100% as you had hoped, how likely are you to drop a cold provider compared to the hot one?

The other great thing about promotion through doing a good job is that it costs nothing and is just a by-producy of the work you do.

 

 

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By Steve McQueen
20th Jul 2013 13:05

Without doubt, telemarketing

I've tried almost everything and consistently it has been telemarketing.

It's expensive and time consuming but it still works.

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By Jason Dormer
20th Jul 2013 13:19

Paul

I couldn't agree more.

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By mikeyban
20th Jul 2013 15:32

Agree 500 percent with Paul

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By andy.partridge
20th Jul 2013 15:42

2 factors

1. Quality - referrals from existing clients. I have a natural mistrust for anyone recommending for money, but I make sure I thank the client by quietly giving them a discount on the next invoice.

2. Quantity - our office is very close to the railway station and so prospects often tell us they pass by daily. 

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Mark Lee headshot 2023
By Mark Lee
20th Jul 2013 18:39

Format is just one element

As we can see different accountants will point to different forms of marketing as having been successful for them. Others will suggest that no overt marketing or advertising has ever worked for them.

We need to remember that the content, message, style, responsive mechanism and all sorts of other factors can also have a dramatic impact on what form of marketing works best.

Mark

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Replying to Portia Nina Levin:
Red Leader
By Red Leader
22nd Jul 2013 11:10

agree with Steve

Telemarketing had the biggest immediate impact on my total fees.

Other marketing that I have done:

Yell - waste of money

Leafleting - waste of time and money (curiously this produced a client who became an MP and an ex-client - irrelevant but interesting)

Direct mail - waste of time and money (but it produced my first and still current client >10yrs later)

Online ad in locally-focussed website - good return on £ but low absolute results

Website - good return on £ but low absolute results

Referrals - of course, cheapest (nil £) but not enough to grow my practice quickly

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Man of Kent
By Kent accountant
22nd Jul 2013 12:25

Linkedin

I did an analysis last year and I was able to quantify that over 80% of all clients originated from linkedin.

That was either:

1. Clients direct from linkedin.

2. Clients referred from other clients I had got through linkedin.

3. Clients referred through other contacts I had on linkedin.

A quick check today and this % is still accurate.

 

 

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By jon_griffey
23rd Jul 2013 11:41

Linkedin

So how on earth do you get clients direct from Linkedin? 

I have a presence on there with numerous contacts etc but it all just sits there.

 

 

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By Moonbeam
23rd Jul 2013 11:56

Definitely NOT my website

The only people who approach me through my website are a handful of sales and marketing companies. So it can be found but not by many people.

Thankyou Jaybee, this has been a wakeup call. I am talking to various SEO companies as a result. The reason why I haven't pursued this avenue in the past is the presence of so many IT pirates out there.

I will interview lots of them this time around to try to make sure someone kosher gets the job. No, I don't want to do the work myself!!

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By wilcoskip
23rd Jul 2013 12:08

Telemarketing/referrals

Just to throw my thoughts into the ring (while acknowledging that everyone's experience is different to some extent):

- At the moment referrals are causing the vast majority of growth.  Husbands/wives of clients going into business, sons/daughters of friends needing tax return help etc. 

- A few years ago when I used telemarketing I got a fantastic response rate, with good quality clients.  A few months ago, after a significant break, I tried again, and found the situation markedly different.  Everyone who wanted a meeting was only fee-chasing (didn't used to be the case) and I'm not about to get involved in a race to the bottom.  I also noticed a few familiar names come up - the same people who'd wanted meetings years (!) before and who'd wasted my time then as well.  It may just be that the area has been over-hit with telemarketing.  I've nothing against it in principle (since it's worked for me) - although I understand why some people might, but this area, at the moment?  No thanks.

Do we take referrals seriously as a form of marketing we put effort into?  Does anyone have a referral strategy of asking happy clients to pass details on?

WS.

 

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By David Winch
23rd Jul 2013 12:50

Test and Measure

What's best for you might not be what's best for someone else and, as you've seen, different people have had different things work best for them.  But really, you need several things working well for you.

As you're doing, collecting ideas from others is a good tactic.  Now adapt them to your own practice, try them on a small scale and measure the individual effectiveness of each.  For example, test the wording of your ad in one issue of your local paper before you commit to a year in Yellow Pages. Be aware that if an idea doesn't work, you have to know whether it was the method or your use of it that was the issue.

When you find what works and what doesn't, do more of what does and stop doing what doesn't!

The ultimate test is return on investment.  Knowing the long-term value of a client, you know how much you can afford to invest in getting each new one.

Hope this helps.

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By MarionMorrison
23rd Jul 2013 13:02

Just do a good job

Time changes things, just not much.

10 Years ago, new clients came from 98% referrals, 2% trade journal lists of accountants in our little niche.  Advertising 0% (when we tried it which was unsurprisingly not much).

These days it's maybe 92% referrals, 5-6% off our own website, 2-3% off the trade journal lists (which are now mainly online resources). 

We put no effort into hyping or optimising the website whatsoever and I am regularly entertained by calls from companies offering to shove us onto the front page of a Google search so we get more leads.  I'm perfectly happy with a steady 10% growth rate in terms of new client arrivals and they don't seem to understand when I say we don;t want new clients quicker than that thank you. 

We don't pay anyone for referrals, well not overtly anyway.  We might get a bit lenient with what is charged here and there but I'd like to think people recommend us because we're bloody good, not because they're getting a kick-back. 

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By Marco Martin
23rd Jul 2013 14:35

Telemarketing

Can anyone recommend a good external telemarketing company ?

I am struggling to find one that is cost effective and will provide quality meetings.

The cheaper organisations tend to be new or recently formed and / or are offshoots of others with mixed history and reviews, whilst the expensive ones give concerns on ROI.

I assume no-one is doing this inhouse ?

 

 

 

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By robert
23rd Jul 2013 16:09

Referrals

I am probably not the norm - looking to reduce work not add to it (not very successfully) but I have not advertised for over five years.  Referrals and present clients increasing their work seems to have added as much as I have lost one way or another each year.

Yell total waste of time but before that I advertised in local village and community magazines and found that very successful.

 

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By lh3f9764bg1g
23rd Jul 2013 16:44

Referrals

I'm interested to know how others might have increased the number of referrals.

As far as I can see . . . . referrals are the only way one can expect to increase the client base with the type of clients that one would actually want so I'm interested to know what methods/tactics others might have used to encourage referrals.

Chris.

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Replying to Si_Woodhams:
By jon_griffey
24th Jul 2013 12:30

Just do your job...

lh3f9764bg1g wrote:

I'm interested to know how others might have increased the number of referrals.

As far as I can see . . . . referrals are the only way one can expect to increase the client base with the type of clients that one would actually want so I'm interested to know what methods/tactics others might have used to encourage referrals.

Chris.

Ultimately it comes down to keeping your head down and getting the work done.  Do a good prompt job, return phone calls, be nice friendly people and the referrals will follow. 

 

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By jon_griffey
24th Jul 2013 12:39

Unsuccessful marketing

So what about our stories of unsuccessful marketing?

Here are some of our howlers...

Direct mailshots, doctors/dentist appointment cards, various Yell.com initiatives, breakfast clubs and networking generally, TV ad in local builders merchants, football shirts.

 

 

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By lh3f9764bg1g
24th Jul 2013 12:58

"Ultimately it comes down to keeping your head down"

Thanks for the advice, Jon . . . . . I thought that's what I had been doing for the last thirty years but I stand now before you a chastened man. I guess I'll have to, somehow, up my contribution to eight days a week as seven obviously aren't enough to achieve anything approaching your level of success.

Chris.

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By Tickers
06th Jan 2014 10:25

Telemarketing

I'd be reluctant to use telemarketing, as a consumer I would never use a product/service where I was contacted by a telemarketer. Just seems to much of a sales/Dell Boy approach. Also, i don't think the quality of clients would be great.

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