accounting marketing gets savvier, embracing new technologies and metrics.
by rick telberg
(appeared originally at aicpa/cpa2biz)
marketing has come a long way in cpa firms. it’s no longer a matter of talking up neighbors at cocktail parties, buying someone lunch, and/or even offering new services to existing clients – although all those things still happen and remain essential ingredients to practice growth.
today’s professional cpa firm marketers are becoming savvier in research, branding, competitive intelligence and strategic planning – with new techniques, leading-edge technologies and ever-more-precise measurements of returns on investment.
sally glick of j.h. cohn llp reported clear evidence of more professional marketing: the emergence of marketing directors as part of a firm’s strategic planning team, with marketers changing roles to become managers of marketing teams.
in fact, maybe cpa firm marketing has gone beyond strategic and is, in some cases, going ballistic.
among the forces driving this shift, she says, are “growth by merger” and “building strong vertical markets, especially industry niches across the organization.”
samantha deeder, director of marketing at miller, kaplan arase & co. in north hollywood, calif., agrees with the utility of niches, but warns of their difficulty and the danger of trying to be a jack-of-all-trades.
“today, clients look for cpas who know their industry,” she wrote. “they’re reluctant to hire a firm with little or no experience in their particular area. the downside is that starting a niche is one of the hardest challenges facing a firm today. it requires a huge investment of time, dollars and support of the partnership.”
one interesting niche that deeder points out is marketing itself. if a firm can market a firm, why can’t it market clients, too? how perfect is that: overhead turned into revenue stream.
russ molinar, director of marketing and practice development at cleveland’s plante & moran, pllc, says marketing at most practices is only at an adolescent stage – “a teenager with increased expectations and demands being placed on the function.” he says, “the marketing function has emerged from a tactical write-the-brochure mentality to a strategic and revenue-focused function.”
incidentally, deeder, glick and molinar are among the organizers of the annual association for accounting marketing summit, june 8-10, in orlando, fla., following on the heels of the aicpa practitioners symposium, june 6-8, also in orlando.
firms that choose not to develop in-house capability are instead expanding their outsourced capability. moving beyond outside lead generators, they are now working with marketing and sales professionals who help with sales coaching, sales management, opportunity management and account planning.
deeder also alerts firms to the link between technology and marketing. “if a firm is committed to client service but is not constantly upgrading and implementing new technology, it can say good-bye to the next generation of clients.”
sticking with low-tech might be a good idea for firms whose managers are aging with their clients, she says, but those managers will retire and clients will leave. the firm then needs new clients and new technology. that’s a lot for new managers to handle – essentially a new firm starting from scratch.
molinar reminds us that marketing and sales should go hand-in-hand.
“marketing should drive sales, or least create opportunities for the firm,” he said. he went on to note that the marketing energy that goes into, say, trade shows has to be followed up with sales energy put into follow-up.
and that, for all you adolescent cpa firms, is the way to become a grown-up.