three key ways to think like a client

they’re thinking “short-term.” do you know what that means and how to use it?

a huge 45% of small business owners consider their focus to be short-term rather than long-term. additionally, when the executive board asked business owners what they consider to be “short-term,” 50% of them said one to three months.

so how can accountants use this “focus” to capture business owners’ attention? the executive board advises:

1. keep it fresh: because half of small businesses think short-term, practitioners should tweak positioning every three months to keep their messaging fresh. emphasize a different service in each communication, consistent with the time of year.
2. take a short-term focus yourself: in advertising and communications with small business owners, emphasize the short-term advantage or financial benefit of your service as opposed to stressing the long-term advantage.
3. contact business owners quarterly: contact your existing customers four to six times yearly to keep your brand top-of-mind, especially in your email campaigns (business owners’ favorite method of communication from suppliers).

aligning your marketing with the mindsets of small business owners is important in ensuring that it resonates with them.

posted on january 20, 2010