January 2005a- Each month this page will be updated with new tips and ideas and the previous content archived. As time goes by our archives will grow. These will always be accessible, and always without charge. Enjoy.

Welcome to the free tips page for January 2005

Happy New Year!

I hope that 2005 will be a great year for you, I know it will be for me, because I am planning my work and then working my plan for the year ahead.

Few good things happen by accident. Few things come easily. Very rarely do good things come easily. With that tought in mind, I decided to write about a critical part of your marketing effort... the strategy.

Several attendees of a recent marketing seminar voiced their frustration at previous attempts to market their practices.

"I placed a series of advertisements but didn't get a single phone call - marketing doesn't work," concluded one disgruntled participant.

"Our marketing is based on client referrals," observed another.

"It's so tough, trying to win new business. Why isn't my marketing working?" asked another.

These are just a few comments from smart practitioners becoming more and more frustrated by a lack of success in developing their practice.

Marketing is not selling. Selling happens after the marketing has done its job - creating a meeting between a prospective client and a partner in your firm.

Marketing the services of a public accounting firm usually happens over a long cycle and is all about building relationships. The role of marketing involves the following:

  • Creating awareness of who you are and what you do;
  • Developing a unique positioning for your firm compared to others; and
  • Inviting prospective clients to meet with you.
You cannot and should not try to be all things to all people, so clear questions must be answered to develop a successful marketing strategy, such as:
  • What size business is my ideal client?
  • Which industries do they operate in?
  • Where, geographically, are they?
  • What services do they need?
  • What level of fees are they prepared to pay for those services?
After answering those questions, you can select the marketing tools you want to use for your firm, including:
  • Brochure;
  • Web Site;
  • Newsletter;
  • Business Cards;
  • Advertisements;
  • Direct Mail;
  • Networking; and
  • Published Articles.

Remember, setting solid marketing goals and working toward them with an effective strategy will usually pay far better dividends than simply placing ads and waiting for the phone to ring.

So, who can you turn to for help in this area? You're already there. This is something we help clients to do on a regular basis, and it's a lot less expensive than you might imagine.

Call us today at 905-569-2174 and let's get started.

You might also need some help in other areas of practice development...

Whether it's a marketing manual such as "LOW COST HIGH IMPACT WAYS TO WIN NEW CLIENTS", or maybe it's our unique "TOWARDS AWESOME CLIENT SERVICE" program is up to you. It might be subscribing to our free monthly e-newsletter, "LEDGER" or maybe it's time to get down to establishing a web site for your firm.

Whatever it is, we can help.

All you have to do is ask. Here's a little help:

For those interested in our "Towards Awesome Client Service" program, please click on the logo here:
For those who need a little help in marketing their firm, please feel free to call me direct at:
905-607-3673

If you're ready to get a web site for your firm, go to our web site services page by clicking on the screen shot here:
Or if you simply want to get some great ideas on how to cost effectively market your firm, then check out our eBooks below.

Check out our eBooks:

Our full range of e-books is now available for immediate download. All are now available as "PDF" files AND eBook files - the choice is yours, or download both versions (no extra cost) to see which format you prefer!

Including:

For more details, see our products page

So, that's all for now, if you need more, sign up for our free e-newsletter, LEDGER, on our newsletter sign-up page, or look at our best-selling manual LOW COST HIGH IMPACT WAYS TO WIN NEW CLIENTS.

Thanks for visiting.
Have a great month.
Until next time.

More free tips to come as we next update our site in February 2005.

 

©2003 Stephen J. McIntyre-Smith, Marketing For Accountants.com. All rights reserved.