Mark Lee suggests which of the main marketing options available to startup accountancy practices are worth your attention.
One of the most common topics raised by startup practitioners on the Any Answers section of AccountingWEB concerns marketing. Typically questioners either want to know what to try first, or they have a tale of woe and want to know what others have done.
Every accountant who replies seems to identify a different form of marketing as having been successful for them. Others will suggest that word of mouth is all that matters and that no overt marketing or advertising has ever worked for them.
What is often missed is that other factors are crucial. Besides the form of marketing used you must also remember that the headlines, the content, the message, style, responsive mechanism, local demand, competition and even the accountant’s location can also have a dramatic impact on the form of marketing that works best in each case.
What follows is part one of a list of classic ways that accountants can market a startup practice. Here I have focused on those ideas that I suggest should be among the first you might try. I have also included links to related articles that provide further details.
- Local adverts: This is a simple form of passive advertising. If someone who sees your advert is looking for an accountant or knows someone who is, they can get in touch. You need to be good at ‘closing’ to secure them as a client. But if they have contacted you they obviously want something so start the conversation by clarifying their needs and issues.
- Website: These days almost anyone you meet, or who sees your adverts or marketing, and thinks about using you as their accountant will check out your website. It doesn’t need to be sophisticated for your startup practice but it does need to be professional. See: The top five accountants’ website mistakes
- Pay-per-click: These are the online adverts you see on websites such as Google, Facebook and Yahoo. You are hoping that people will click on your advert and be taken directly to your website. You need to ensure that the landing page on your website echoes the wording on the advert. And you need to limit your weekly spend to something affordable.
- Networking: Do not fall into the trap of assuming that all networking groups are the same and that these are the only places where you can go networking. The options are almost endless. See: Networking (parts 1-4)
- Search engine optimisation (SEO): This refers principally to your website. It’s the process whereby you ensure that your site can easily be found when someone who knows you searches for your website online. You also want to ensure that your website appears high in the search results when someone searches for an accountant in a specific sector, niche or local area. See: SEO secrets for accountants
- Collaborate: If your new practice is focused on a niche or specialist area, perhaps there are other local service providers targeting the same people and with whom you can collaborate. You might each have some clients that you can introduce to each other – perhaps over a drink, breakfast or a sandwich.
- Mutual promotions: A variation on collaborations are mutual promotions whereby you promote someone else’s services and they promote yours. You can do this face-to-face or have mutual adverts and links on each others’ websites. See: How to be remembered, recommended and referred
- LinkedIn: It costs nothing to ensure that you have a LinkedIn profile that promotes you effectively online. You can then use LinkedIn in various ways to market yourself and your practice. The last part of my recent series about LinkedIn looks at using the site for lead generation. See: Linkedin for startups (parts 1-6)
- Online forums: I think it’s fair to suggest that few start-up practices are going to secure many new clients through being active on AccountingWEB. However there are plenty of other online forums which operate in a similar way but are aimed at business people generally (eg: AccountingWEB’s sister site: BusinessZone.co.uk) and where you may be able to engage with prospects.
- Online directories: It does no harm to ensure that your new practice appears on as many free online directory listings as possible. Do keep track of where you are listed though so that you can update the listings as your practice evolves – as it will! Is it worth paying to be included in any online directories? See: 6 factors to consider before paying to be listed on directory sites.
- Yellow pages/Yell: Does anyone still open a yellow pages directory when they want to find a new accountant (or indeed any other service provider)? Your answer probably resolves the question as to whether this is worth paying for. But if you can get a free listing, why not?
- Signage: Like adverts the signs you have outside or close to your office can overtly promote your new practice. Many of the other forms of marketing on this list require you to engage with other people as part of the process. Of course if you startup from home you probably can’t stick up a big sign outside.
- Breakfast clubs: There are many options here and each group operates a different model. Do not write off the whole concept just because one style did not suit you. See: Which business networking group?
- Business cards: I stand by my recent advice that almost every startup practice needs professional looking business cards. See: 15 business card mistakes practices can avoid
The above list comprises 14 different forms marketing that I would encourage startup practices to consider before any others. A marketing plan would be useful too and you should aim to monitor and measure each of your efforts to determine which are worthwhile.
What has worked for you? And did you experiment to vary the message, the headlines or any other aspect of the solutions you have tested?
In part three of this series I will set out a similar number of further different forms of marketing that may also be worth considering. But equally most of those on my next list are often overrated and are probably less appropriate for start-up practices.
Mark Lee is consultant practice editor of AccountingWEB. If you like his articles, do check out his BookMarkLee blog and ebooks for accountants who want to stand out and be more successful. He is also chairman of the Tax Advice Network of independent tax specialists.