A recent article on Accountancy Age states that ‘accountants continue to fail in marketing activities’. Research done suggests that less than a third of accountancy firms have dedicated marketing or business development staff. Around a third keep no list of prospective clients, just under half use social media sites to promote their business and record marketing method to conversion stats.
ABC Accounting Services buck these trends and are part of the prosperous minority that embrace marketing with real success. As the research highlights there are three huge necessities when making marketing a priority for your business:
1) Make sure you have staff that are dedicated to marketing even if it is someone who shows a little innovation or independence on the team. Schedule in time that is dedicated to marketing and recording its progress.
2) Hit social media in a big way because clearly tons of your accountancy competitors still are not! There is a captive audience to be reached and tons of different platforms to test your material on. Use Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn to get started then you can always expand onto other sites that are gathering momentum.
3) Measure measure measure – how can you record what works and what does not if you are not keeping detailed information on what approaches you have tried and how many posts/conversations/leads led to full conversion from prospect to client. A simple spreadsheet will record everything you need to know in an easily accessible format.
Maintaining client numbers is hard enough but if you wish to grow and even expand then marketing is an essential tool that no practice can afford to be without. Start things small with a Facebook and Twitter profile. Ensure that someone can manage it and keep the content fresh and engaging. Then you can add networking events – say one every two weeks. Then comes an e-flyer campaign or an external SEO analysis and changes to the website to make sure you are getting the right footfall on your site from internet searches.
As things build then you need to be looking at employing someone who is dedicated to marketing but still able to liaise with staff and make sure your message remains an extension of what your company stands for. You all have to be on the same page and you have to be saying something worthy of the company name. What do you represent? What message do you wish to voice? What would you like to know about your business as a prospective client?
The article states that accountancy firms are continuing to fall short in marketing activities so this accountancy firm sees that as a massive opportunity. We intend to continue what we are doing in getting our message out there in a controlled, imaginative, and measurable fashion. Bucking the trend is the bright course of action here and we are proud to be doing just that!
Happy marketing everyone!
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