You don’t need me to tell you that today’s CPA firms serve as strategic partners for businesses and individuals by helping them navigate complex financial landscapes and achieve their goals. However, as CPAs offer an increasing number of services and solutions, many firms still struggle to articulate the ways they can help clients. Most firms do an excellent job of getting to know their clients’ unique circumstances and addressing their needs. Unfortunately, articulating that degree of understanding is often missing from CPA firm marketing.
Here comes one of my favorite catchphrases: “Marketing is one word that means a lot of things!” It’s easy to get caught up in the part of marketing that we see, but if you’re mostly focused on producing emails, social media posts and ads, you may be missing out on a few essential aspects of marketing. Additionally, firms that put out marketing materials listing their services, how long they’ve been in business and their various awards and accolades are spending valuable ad space talking about themselves and not their clients. Anticipating your clients' challenges, creating products and services to meet their needs and demonstrating that you understand their business is where the real marketing magic happens--and you haven’t even produced an ad or an email yet.
Understanding Client Needs
It’s easy to start listing all of the things your firm could possibly provide to a client. But this won’t necessarily help you win new business. The client may not know what they need (which is why they’re looking for help), or they can’t discern between your firm and other firms with an equally lengthy list of services. Your marketing should help them differentiate you from the competition and choose you if yours is the firm that can help them. Having been in business since 1952 probably isn’t going to be a determining factor.
Start by getting very clear about what your ideal client needs. Bonus points if you can break it down by industry. What are the most common questions you’re asked? What do all of your clients need? What do they need that they don’t even know they need? This is the start of developing attractive service offerings that show your clients your established processes have helped others like them. Clients are looking to their CPAs to be advisors, and recommending well-matched services without them having to make guesses about what they need starts the engagement off on the right foot.
Beyond the Billable Hour
There are many reasons firms are beginning to move beyond the billable hour, and if your firm is moving more towards advisory services, you need to reconsider your pricing model as well. Clients want to pay “fair” prices. Our perception of fairness is based on what we get, and how valuable that is. People are typically willing to pay a price they feel is proportionate to the value they will receive. Your marketers can help you evaluate the impact (value) you provide as you consider the prices for services or packages.
Whether you choose tiered package, subscription, value billing models, or some combination of these, you’ll then want to tell a story that helps clients feel confident about the value of the engagement. They want to know it’s going to get done well, thoughtfully and on time. The advice and guidance you provide is also a big part of what sets your firm apart from your competitors, so make sure you’re not giving it away for free.
Right Place, Right Time
If you’re not thinking about where your prospective clients are looking for information, your marketing efforts may be lost to the void. Instead of placing the same ads that you always have, sponsoring local charities and posting on social media, shift your strategy to focus on your client. Which industry events and conferences are they attending? Do they subscribe to certain publications or belong to associations? It’s going to be easier to get their attention if you go to where they are when their mind is on business.
This has two benefits. First, you have limited marketing resources, so you want to use them strategically. You just can’t effectively be everywhere. So be selective about where you choose to deploy your marketing efforts. Second, this is another opportunity to show your clients that you understand them. Holding a webinar for an industry association or writing an article for their monthly publication will be more likely to attract the attention of your ideal client than an ad in your local newspaper. Support your thought leadership with highly targeted Google Adwords, LinkedIn ads and other promotional efforts so that when prospects are ready, they can easily find you.
Bringing it to Life
Once you’ve articulated how you are going to help clients, packaged and priced your services, and decided where you’re going to show up, then you can move on to the production part of marketing. As you’re creating your marketing plan (the schedule of what, when and where you’re marketing), be sure to bring it back to the decisions you made earlier in the process. Every piece, whether it’s a social media post, e-book, webinar or article should have a specific message rooted in how you’re helping clients, make a case for the value you provide and have an intentional destination. That doesn’t mean putting a price tag on every ad. As a CPA firm, your thinking is the benefit your clients gain from working with you. So show them those things and help them feel what it would be like to work with you.
In Conclusion
It’s easy to start at the end when it comes to marketing, and put a lot of time and effort into producing marketing assets. However, if your production doesn’t come from your strategy, it’s just marketing for marketing’s sake. Most likely your firm’s goals are not about marketing metrics. If you’re trying to bring in more ideal clients, become more profitable, or become known as the go-to firm in your niche, it’s time to focus on the full marketing umbrella, not just your promotional assets. If you’d like to discuss your firm’s goals and marketing strategy, contact me anytime.
