Darts
istock_Sezeryadigar

Your cloud proposition 7: Clear marketing objectives

by
22nd Feb 2017
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

Having the best cloud service in the world will mean nothing if you don’t have clients who pay for it. Finding the right way to package up your proposition and generate leads is a crucial step in making it a success.

“Making the most of the marketing resource you have (either with an agency or internally) presents challenges, not least in transferring all the key knowledge from the partners in a meaningful and useful way,” said Alex Tucker, marketing leader at PracticeWEB.

Accountants are not usually marketers, but partners need to know they can influence what is being said so expectations match reality.

Likewise, marketers value the insight of those who have set up the service to help avoid generic cloud accounting benefits or purely messaging on the basis of specific vendors.

“Communicating to your target audience is no longer simply a matter of finding a clever marketing idea and adding your firm name to it. Reaching potential buyers of accountancy firm services involves building trust, showing expertise, and integrating all your marketing channels with one clear message,” said Karen Reyburn, managing director of The Profitable Firm.

So partner involvement and direction by handing over the details of your cloud service in a format that can be creatively interpreted, will maintain a strong link between the operational side and business development.

“It’s not easy to stand out from the crowd (and it’s a big crowd). Before you start communicating externally, you need to be able to express with confidence why it is that people should take notice of you,” said Tucker.

It’s also good to remind yourself of the target groups you are aiming your service at, and using this to leverage very specific messages:

“If you can ‘ultra niche’, by drilling down into a sub-category of that niche, even better. ‘Creatives’ is a broad scope; ‘graphic designers’ is specific; ‘freelance illustrators’ is ultra-niche,” Reyburn explained.

Underinvesting in marketing and not providing the right kind of information at the beginning will seriously hamper the chances of success, and delay profitability. So agreeing the overall marketing objectives will allow an informed discussion around budgets and approaches.

Thinking long term is also sensible. A launch can be exciting and energising, but the KPIs for growth need to be honest and well supported from the very top:

“Clarity around outcomes will help marketers channel their thinking and resources in the right way. They can  work out what routes are the most appropriate, what the calls to action need to be, and what action you want them to take,” said Tucker.

Having senior level documentation around marketing will allow you to delegate with confidence and create accountability within the marketing team.

For those who are already engaged with cloud, assessing the effectiveness of your business development and how much traction you are getting will highlight whether ambitions are being met. Going through this process will help create the focus and perspective that is often required to boost take up, or maximise opportunities.

The final section looks at the tricky process of how to successfully onboard clients.

Cloud proposition action points: Marketing objectives

  1. Provide marketers with high level information from which they can plan and execute
  2. Be clear on specific target markets,
  3. Explain how you will help them, and what the service looks like
  4. Spell out the desired outcomes and how you measure success
  5. Map out roles and responsibilities so marketing know who to talk to for information

For more details about how to clarify your firm’s cloud strategy, download Richard Sergeant’s free guide ‘How to create your firm’s cloud proposition’ at www.cloudproposition.co.uk. The 52-page guide presents a practical framework to guide accounting firms through their cloud journey. This vendor-neutral initiative was produced in association with ICAS, and supported by FreeAgent.

Replies (0)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

There are currently no replies, be the first to post a reply.