do clients really care about marketing?

yes. but not in the ways most cpas think. if you’re a client, what do you say?

by rick telberg
at large

every day, america’s tax and accounting firms spend millions of dollars on marketing. they roll out their web sites, trot out their newsletters, hand out their cards, and network at golf courses from coast to coast. but what really works? what grabs the client’s eye? what persuades the business owner to consider switching to a new tax or accounting firm? in search of answers, we’ve been asking. almost 500 finance managers and other users of cpa firm services have responded to us so far, and we’re looking for more. we’re simply asking corporate financial officers, individuals, business owners and others on the buy-side which of several marketing tactics might get their attention or sway their decision to choose a new cpa.

the answers are intriguing. most interesting of all is how many marketing tactics seem essentially useless. over half of the 23 tactics we asked about appear to have no effect on 97 percent of the respondents.

much of what works for marketers at banks, car makers, computer manufacturers, weight-loss programs and breweries won’t do much to hook companies in need of accounting services. yellow pages, billboards, newspaper ads, spam blasts, junk mail, search engines, blogs, team sponsorships, telemarketing … no more than three percent of our respondents said they were vulnerable to such approaches.

to be sure, what prospective buyers say should be taken with a grain of salt. the effects of most marketing, advertising and promotional efforts are difficult, if not impossible, to accurately measure — even by the marketers. and our study does not take into account return on investment. for instance: public relations is often the least costly marketing tactic in reaching the most people with a message of thought leadership.

but the reactions from the prospects nevertheless provide clues to at least their conscious thinking. and, at least on the cognitive level, prospects say they want good, solid information about benefits and value from a source they can trust.

predictably, referrals are the most common convincers, with 83 percent admitting their susceptibility to a good recommendation.

networking events come in a distant second, at 34 percent. then come seminars, close behind at 29 percent.

after that, the effectiveness of marketing efforts dwindles rapidly. serving on a board or in a civic organization would mean something to just 15 percent of corporate financial officers. webinars would speak to 10 percent. a web site or an e-mail newsletter might do it for only nine percent. a print newsletter would do it for eight percent. public relations — just seven percent.

relatively speaking, “other” proved a lot more popular. seventeen percent took the time to tell us in their own words what kind of marketing works. it is interesting that so many made that effort. it seems like maybe they want to hear a good marketing message.

a senior staffer at a large corporation said the best marketing message is “expertise in project subject matter.”

kelly priestly, a financial officer at seattle’s sound transit, a governmental entity, would check an industry profile.

an anonymous cfo at a company of 11 to 50 employees would prefer to get the marketing message in a personal interview.

someone in a large governmental agency wants “recommendation from others, not referred by cpas”.

farid m. gamaleldin, at inde in giza, egypt, summed it up in two words: reputation. image.

a certain vice-president and chief risk and compliance officer at a large corporation didn’t want blogs, webinars or even referrals. “responses in bidding process” would be enough.

gary manion, in top management at children’s national medical center in washington, d.c., could also do without the usual marketing stuff. he pays attention to the cpa firm’s staff.

what’s most interesting about these “other” responses is that they show no interest in ads, glitz, handshakes or commercial messages. they all want substance. expertise. good people. capability. reputation.

granted, you need a marketing message to tell potential clients that you’ve got that something of substance, but simply claiming to have the right stuff is a long way from really having it. it’s nice to think that the first step in effective marketing is to do your job well. then, the real work begins.

[first published by the aicpa]

posted on august 13, 2006