every firm is different. but some techniques are the same.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
your accounting firm’s ultimate objectives are the context for marketing programs, which are, in turn, the blueprints for achieving your firm’s objectives. to think of marketing otherwise is to court marketing programs that are irrelevant and unproductive. read more →
first, understand your firm.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
in building a growth plan for your firm, perspective is important.
objectives, clearly defined as they should be, should not be overwhelming. nor should they be adhered to slavishly. it’s often enough to know what you want to do, why you want to do it, and how you plan to get it done.
objectives should be consistent with a firm’s comfort level, and should certainly be ethically acceptable to both the firm and the profession practiced by the firm.
more on professional services marketing 3.0:
— if you don’t know where you’re going, how do you know how to get there?
— eight tips for staying one step ahead of the competition (and maybe the client, too)
— nine things we know for sure about how to grow an accounting firm
— the cpa’s castle is crumbling
— my address in space: the dynamics of change at accounting firms
— six quick reasons why cpa firms will never be the same
— 14 steps to find the right “value price”
— it’s not just accounting anymore. today, everyone’s in marketing
instead, it must have clear objectives that are flexible enough to accommodate the dynamic nature of the market. it must focus on specific aspects of a practice, predicated on the distinctive needs of each aspect of the prospective clientele. for example, a marketing program to attract high asset individuals is different from one to attract corporations. a program to attract real estate developers is different than one to attract builders.
practically, a firm’s growth plan should be in two parts – near-term and long-term. near-term should be no longer than two or three years. beyond that, there are too many variables in the economy, in law, in regulations, etc. to be valid – even with the flexibility that should be part of any plan. longer than that, it becomes a wish list – not to be ignored, but seen for what it is – a long-term goal. the short-term goal, on the other hand, should be action-oriented, with an action plan for each goal, including who does it. read more →
the essential first step for any growth strategy.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
because an accounting firm’s marketing program must do more than accumulate clients, and because it must function in a dynamic world that’s constantly in flux, an effective marketing program can’t be a static list of activities that use a static list of marketing tools.
more professional services marketing 3.0 by bruce w. marcus:
— eight tips for staying one step ahead of the competition (and maybe the client, too)
— nine things we know for sure about how to grow an accounting firm
— the cpa’s castle is crumbling
— my address in space: the dynamics of change at accounting firms
— six quick reasons why cpa firms will never be the same
— 14 steps to find the right “value price”
— it’s not just accounting anymore. today, everyone’s in marketing
instead, it must have clear objectives that are flexible enough to accommodate the dynamic nature of the market. it must focus on specific aspects of a practice, predicated on the distinctive needs of each aspect of the prospective clientele. for example, a marketing program to attract high asset individuals is different from one to attract corporations. a program to attract real estate developers is different than one to attract builders.
a guide to trend-spotting for accountants.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
learn to question everything you do. ask yourself the question, “this is the way i did it yesterday. is it the best way to do it today?” you’ll be amazed at the answer.
in every aspect of life, there is nothing – not an article, not a process, not an event – that is unaffected by something else. that’s why everything you do – large or small – will ultimately change, whether you choose it or not.
is change a marketing tool? absolutely, if understanding and dealing with it puts you a step ahead of your competitors. and remember, evolution is constant, and change is coming – whether you participate in it or not. change is not an option, when the old way is made obsolete by competition.
and so the response to the changing needs of the marketplace, and the need to compete, completely altered the nature of the practice – and continues to do so. in three and a half decades, there has been a substantial evolution. it’s a microcosm of the evolutionary cycle. it continues today.
while evolution can rarely be accelerated, nor its ultimate destination be accurately foreseen, there may be ways in which it can be accommodated. accommodation is essential, simply because control of events, when possible, mitigate unpleasant surprise.
several things beyond outright behavior modification can make it possible for both professionals and marketers to participate in the change process: read more →
what we know about what works.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
the fact remains, we know far less than we should about why, when or how people choose to do business with an accounting firm – or with one firm over another.
but, in light of what we do know, and considering the singular nature of marketing professional services (as compared, for example, to product marketing), what works?
or more specifically, what seems to work?
1. name recognition. except for corporations and very large or national companies, people tend to buy names they recognize. the concept of branding seems to have crept in under the door, but in accounting, branding is simply jargon for name recognition. (professional services marketers seem to be attracted to jargon like flies to honey). stick to the real world and plain english – it works better. establishing name recognition, however, is easy – simply inundate the market with your firm’s name. an ad campaign that says little more than “smith & dale is a cpa firm. we do good work” and saying it over and over again, will give you name recognition, but little more. it helps, but it’s not everything.
more professional services marketing 3.0:
the cpa’s castle is crumbling
my address in space: the dynamics of change at accounting firms
six quick reasons why cpa firms will never be the same
14 steps to find the right “value price”
it’s not just accounting anymore. today, everyone’s in marketing.
2. reputation. if your firm has a reputation for resolving problems, or for service, or for not overcharging, or for anything good, it goes to building trust – which is an essential element in professional services. trust is an essential factor in retaining professionals.
is change coming too fast for firms to handle?
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
i’m puzzled by the accounting firm that continues to function today as it did many decades ago – in so many areas, as if the world continues to be as it was decades ago.
at the same time, in the midst of all that’s changing in the professional world, i’m surprised that change in the marketing process for professional services is evolving so slowly. there are indeed exceptions, in which a handful of firms have extensive programs that are innovative, and very large staffs to execute them. these few firms have specialists in such activities as business development, media relations, and so forth. but considering the vast number of accounting firms, their number is a small percentage of the professions.
more bruce w. marcus:
my address in space: the dynamics of change at accounting firms
six quick reasons why cpa firms will never be the same
14 steps to find the right “value price”
it’s not just accounting anymore. today, everyone’s in marketing.
how listening to clients can shape success
how one california accounting firm may be revealing the future of the profession
what accountants are learning about marketing
when practice drives marketing and marketing drives practice
old-fashioned accounting marketing dies slowly
get real: six practical goals for accounting marketing
15 reasons why accounting marketing isn’t like selling toothpaste
technology is overrated
accounting firms redefine value…
change your thinking, change your future
five new realities for accountants
there are many reasons for this, not the least of which is the amorphous nature of professional services management and marketing education. the quality of academic and firm marketing education in this field is dismal and retrogressive. the relationship between the marketers and the accountants is too often built on mutual misunderstanding. and perhaps it’s because accounting firm marketing is so subsumed by a firm’s professionals with too little understanding of the process, that too many marketers are either unwilling to risk innovation or else are incapable of it.
everything changes all the time, but not always the way we expect. be prepared.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
if you ask me where i live, i tell you that i live on the corner of x and y streets. it was there yesterday, it’s there today, and will be there tomorrow. but i live on a planet in space that’s constantly in motion, as are the other planets in our orbit. my address in space, then, is always in relation to the other planets in orbit, and therefore, constantly changing.
this dynamic between planets in motion exists between ideas and events as well, and is a major factor in the evolutionary process of change.
this is how the evolutionary process works to create change: read more →
a law firm learns from a cpa and now teaches others.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
outstanding examples of the new kind of law firms and accounting firms arising with professional services marketing 3.0 are shepherd law group, valorem law group, exemplar law partners, seiler llp, and axiom legal.
related: click here for more about bruce w. marcus and “professional services marketing 3.0.”
they have in common a drive to remake the law and accounting firm business models to better and more economically serve clients. their focus is on putting the client, rather than the practice and the firm, at the core of their business model.
peter drucker’s wisdom for firms.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
at a verasage conference not too long ago ron baker addressed the question of why no top 100 firms have switched to value billing. but the answer is not difficult to discern. “there are decades of culture,” he says, “around the culture of time sheets.”
…and change how firms work.
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
typical proponents of professional services marketing 3.0 are lawyers and accountants who have learned to think and act like marketers, lawyers and accountants who have developed new kinds of law firms and accounting firms, and new kinds of governance structures.
it’s a system that in at least one aspect draws upon a product marketing practice – in that the marketers participate in designing aspects of legal and accounting practice. it’s a system in which lawyers relate to clients in more constructive ways, and in dialogues rather than monologues. in law firms and accounting firms in which the barriers between partners and associates who are skilled and talented have eroded, and client service teams that not only serve clients better, but function as marketing instruments, by virtue of developing better ways of demonstrating the possibilities of extended service.
david urbanik is one such individual functioning under professional services marketing 3.0. neither a lawyer nor a trained professional marketer, no lawyer or marketer better understands both the legal profession and its practices, as well as the art of practice development. read more →
this is ‘professional services marketing 3.0.’
by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
today, we are entering a new phase of marketing, in which marketing is not only integrated into the practice, but actually helps shape the nature of the practice itself. this is marketing 3.0.