Rebranding a small accountancy practice

Rebranding a small accountancy practice

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Hello,

I am the son of a sole practioner firm and myself and my brother are now in the positions of taking on the firm and trying to grow the practice.  A few years ago we began working with 2 cloud based products, Kashflow and mypaye and have successfully (after much blood, sweat and tears) moved existing clients onto these and are offering this to more and more existing clients and potential new clients.  I recently picked up a new client of two young entrepreneurs with a very exciting business purely based on a recommendation from our work on these cloud based products. 

I am now thinking about rebranding the practice in the New Year to coincide with social media marketing on facebook & twitter which we have not done yet but I am reading a lot about these.  

I look around the accountancy market and in general 99% of accountancy practices are named after the owners of the business.

Hence the reason why I would like to rebrand to something completely different. I have read Steve Pipes book "the 50 top accountancy firms in the UK" and there are plenty of examples there where rebranding has been a very rewarding experience for some firms as it helped them reposition themselves in the market place to attract the types of clients they would like.

I would like to enquire has anyone any experience of this - good or bad? Do people think it is a good idea?

I have a few ideas for names for the firm but would rather not share these for obvious reasons but I would like to rebrand to show that we are a young, dynamic firm who are not "old school" and the types of clients we would like to attract would be young ambitious entrepreneurs and start ups.

I would like to know if people think this will alienate some of our existing client base who might like the name of our firm.

If you would like more details please PM me but otherwise I would greatly appreciate any thoughts/opinions on this.

Replies (13)

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By Steve McQueen
07th Sep 2012 14:26

My experiance

Is that the clients don't really care what you are called or how your logo looks or what your strap line is. The sort of clients that you and I get tend to care about:

How much tax do I have to pay?What's your bill?Can I speak to you when I want to - immediatelyDo you cause me to have any hassle or worry or do you remove hassle and worry?Can I park if I come and see you?

I'm not saying don't re-brand - I named my first practice after myself and I would NEVER do it again, for I became the only person anyone wanted to talk to - but recognise the re-brand is for you and it's just your way of throwing off your Father and proving to yourself that your in charge. 

Good luck with it and please do tell us all how it goes.

Steve

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Replying to lionofludesch:
By amalonio
07th Sep 2012 14:34

Thanks Steve,

You make a good point, maybe it makes absolutely no difference what we are called rather we would be better spending our time and money

on getting our systems and procedures right to deliver the kind of service that is going to attract those clients.  At the end of the day the clients

are going to end up dealing with me or my brother most likely anyway so rebranding might be a bit pointless.  I suppose one reason why I was thinking of a name change is because the former partner whose name is still there has retired and so there really is no need for his name there anymore.

But as you rightly point out it is much more important to focus on those items above as that's what the clients are more concerned with, not some fancy

rebranded name or logo.

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By RussellD
07th Sep 2012 15:12

Save the money

When I was CEO of a charity in West London we decided to shake off our old fashioned image and reposition by rebranding.  Despite fairly significant promotion of the new identity - almost all the long term users continued to call us by the old name - even referring to us in PR pieces by the old name.  It was pointless.  It was only really effective with the new users we attracted after the rebranding and only if we kept the new users and old users apart.

Good luck what ever you decide.

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the sea otter
By memyself-eye
07th Sep 2012 15:58

There is a bakery

where we live called 'Masters bakery' after the original owner. Mr & Mrs Singh who now own it and have done for 30+ years didn't rebrand it. It's still as sucessful and popular as ever. Think of The post office when it became err...'consignia' (more like consignia-urgh) or Prince when he became known as that silly symbal. Not that in Prince's case I care that much...

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By Ding Dong
07th Sep 2012 16:03

agree with Steve

99% of clients are interested in the output not the look - admittedly there will be some (perhaps those who choose everything off of the internet or live and die by facebook/Twitter) who would be influenced by a rebranding

Good luck with whatever you decide

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By Midlands Accountancy
07th Sep 2012 16:24

Think carefully

What does your name say to others ?

"A Smith & Co" used to be considered "professional" and it was accepted practice for professionals to trade under their own name.

"Outer Mongolian Bookkeeping Services" gives a location but will probably limit you to local clients only.

"Online Accounting" may give the immediate impression that you are online and take clients from anywhere, but how realistic is that?  In our experience 99.9% of clients want a local accountant, someone they can see face to face whenever they need to.

What I'm really saying is, is "rebranding" really going to help you, or, are you simply going to incur a lot of expenses and time to achieve little if anything?

 

 

 

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By dbowleracca
08th Sep 2012 09:00

Great PR opportunity
I think rebranding can be very successful, but mustn't be rushed.

There are lots of issues to consider besides stationery and what clients think. What about the website? If you have a good site with a high organic ranking in google, would a rebrand mean you have to start again and in the meantime lose valuable leads?

It is, however, a great PR opportunity and you could get a lot o coverage of the change in name and ownership, possible splitting the two events do you get double coverage.

A name can say alot about a firm, and with more and more business owners choosing Accountants through google searches, if you have a name that appeals to your target market you will have a higher click through rate and this will then give you a better ranking in google and more clients.

Would really like to hear how you get on and what your old and new names are if you go ahead

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By seantoomer
11th Sep 2012 12:45

REALLY being different

Check out our website: www.srtoomer.com

Like you, we're young and want to attract a VERY specific type of client (just like the two entrepreneurs you mentioned). We have the option to decide who we work for and refuse to work with boring people.

I've worked pretty hard to make the website upset a lot of people as soon as they see it (many of you may not appreciate it, particularly the light hearted swearing). But the exact clients we're after go crazy for it.

I didn't start off with this branding; hence the name is after me. If I started again, I certainly would not have it named after me, but figure it's not worth it to change now.

We don’t use our website so much to attract new clients off the internet, we use it more as a 'touch point' - someone will refer us - then the client will go look up our website. This is where our branding comes in. We have a reputation for being different, and we live it up to it.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By 01638603404
11th Sep 2012 14:52

Love the website and think your business angle is excellent.

When I have time may look down the same route.

Good work !!!

 

 

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Peter Jarman
By Peter Jarman
11th Sep 2012 12:47

Rebrand

I agree with Steve McQueen. I also named my practice Peter Jarman & Co and this has meant ever since I get clients wanting to deal with me specifically rather than my much more able collegues.

I can see nothing wrong with a new fresh approach to herald your father's departure ! but this is really just for your purposes, not necessarily the clients.

 

 

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By David Winch
11th Sep 2012 12:51

Agree with Steve too

The absolutely most important thing is what your clients get out of having you as their accountant that they don't get from anyone else.

As you're not a large corporate, you can't afford to do 'brand awareness' on its own.  You have to do it on the back of lead generation, so concentrate on getting good at this.  Decide your position in the market - e.g. Quickest, most available, highest priced or whatever.  There are no wrong answers, only choices! -  and then ensure your brand and all the other things your ideal customers can observe are consistent with that chosen position.

Just tell them about what great, 'unavailable elsewhere' benefits they'll get if they select you.  Save everything else until they ask you about it.

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By pauljohnston
11th Sep 2012 13:27

Rather than go for a total rebrand try a partial

So if it is Spade Fork & Bradle. You could consider SFB or Spade Accounting.  or keep the old name but use another branding ie Spade Fork & Bradle trading as "high cloud for your businessfolk" to attract the businesses that you desirte.

I agree with the others re-branding did nothing for us and our old name is still out on the internet. 

 

 

 

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By Dave Paveley
13th Sep 2012 14:53

Go for it.

We rebranded recently because we wanted to specialise in a particular market.

That has worked out very well. One look at our website and people in the industry can see we are experts and are ONLY interested in that sector, unlike many accountants who seem to specialise in all sectors!

It's not the rebrand that worked out so well necessarily, but the decision to specialise.

Take your time over it, think about what clients you like working with and what direction you want to take the business in. That will help you decide whether an entire rebrand is necessary or just a facelift.

As for that SR.Toomer website.. sorry but it is awful. You are right that it will only attract a particular 'type' of client. I just hope that type of client is still your ideal client in 5, 10 or 20 years time. My guess is you will be rebranding again in the not too distant future.

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