While many accountancy practices will look at the widespread media coverage achieved by the Big Four and other large firms and wonder how they can compete for press attention, in fact there are huge opportunities for smaller practitioners. In dealing with the press it is the fast that beat the slow, not the big that beat the small - sole practitioners and high street firms can use their nimbleness and entrepreneurialism to secure the sort of valuable press coverage that attract business leads, new recruits or to generally enhances their kudos.

Whenever there are changes journalists need financial and business experts to interpret these developments and explain the effects on their readers (particularly who will be the winners and losers and how much will it cost them). There is no-one better placed than an accountant to do this, and small local practices should not be in awe of larger firms: they are often slow-moving bureaucracies whose public pronouncements are compromised by their need to avoid upsetting big clients and to suck-up to the Government in order not to jeopardise public sector work.

My advice for accountants doing PR, particularly those doing it on a shoestring, includes:

1. Decide on your area of expertise (are you an expert on businesses in a location, industry, tax specialist, etc). You must be a specialist – journalists are not interested in speaking to generalists... you can, however, be an expert in lots of things!
2. Think in terms of winners, losers and quantities, not in terms of academic principles.
3. Subscribe to (and read) the publications you want to be in so you know what issues they are following and who is writing what stories (obvious….but it's amazing how many people don't read publications they profess are important to their clients).
4. The next time a development arises that effects its readers (eg tax change, VAT tribunal, or you just generally think that people in that industry are missing a particular trick) immediately ring up the journalist and say something along the following lines: "Hello, I’m Mark Tomarket from accountants Tick & Bash. The change in yesterday’s Budget increasing employers’ national insurance could have a dramatic adverse effect on employment in this town because of the large number of retail and other labour intensive industries – is this a story you are interested in covering?".

No doubt the same could be accomplished by a press release, but you won't build up a relationship with a journalist by sending them press releases. In any case, by the time you have drafted and sent it someone else will have called and beaten you to the punch.

5. Be persistent, and look on your dealings with journalists in the same way you would seek to win a new client – you need to build up a relationship with certain key journalists, and the more you can help them to do their job, the more valuable a contact you become.
6. Do involve your clients (with their permission). Journalists love real businesspeople who will act as case studies or give a view from the shop floor, and find it hard to track down such people. The coverage will earn you undying gratitude from your clients and secure great coverage for your firm into the bargain.
7. Having gone to all the effort of getting lots of press coverage, don’t rely on people reading the magazine! Use cuttings as powerful marketing collateral – perhaps have copies in your reception, links on your website, get prints of the article and mail them to contacts or use them as leave behinds after meetings with prospects.

Accountants can take heart that at times like these when clients are being assailed by economic problems, excessive taxation and over-regulation... it's an excellent time for getting your name in lights as someone who can help!

Tim Prizeman is director of PR advisors Kelso Consulting [1], who specialise in advising professional partnerships. You can email Tim at timp@kelsopr.com [2]