here’s what you’re looking for: bruce w. marcus

six rules of professionalism that accountants need in their marketers.

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

there’s a wonderful cartoon in which a guy in a business suit is looking over the shoulder of an artist at his canvas. the caption, spoken by the artist, is “i used to dabble a bit in accounting, too.”

then there’s the guy who said to me, “if you’re smart enough to be a cpa, then you’re smart enough to do your own advertising.” to which i replied, “yes that’s true. you’re also smart enough to be a nuclear physicist — but it doesn’t make you one.”

there’s the guy who read a book about tightrope walking. he knew everything about tightrope walking — except how to do it.

more professional services marketing 3.0: all great strategy starts with “why” • can you hear me now? • managing knowledge as a growth and management tool • the secret formula for getting new clients •  what we’ve learned since accounting marketing was legalized • do accounting firms really want an ‘image’? • what accounting firms need to learn from personal financial planning specialists • the delicate art of positioning your firm in the mind of the prospect • even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management •

the point is that while marketing may not be nuclear physics, it does have its craft, its artistry, its techniques, its experiences, and its history. and if you’re not within the realm of all those things and more, you don’t know much about marketing. marketing mythology doesn’t count for much. read more →

the 16-step plan to focus on landing one new client at a time.

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

here’s a little secret about accounting marketing.

it always comes down to selling the individual clients — one by one.

more professional services marketing 3.0: what we’ve learned since accounting marketing was legalized  • do accounting firms really want an ‘image’? • what accounting firms need to learn from personal financial planning specialists • the delicate art of positioning your firm in the mind of the prospect  • even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management • 

you can talk about strategies, and image, and niche marketing and branding. you can talk about blogs, and social media, and press releases and webinars. but it always comes down to selling the individual clients — one by one.

well… if you’re going to have to do that anyway, why not start with target marketing to begin with? read more →

it’s a hollow view.

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

some years ago, in a remarkably successful marketing move, a graphic designer specializing in logos, letterheads and the like came up with the concept of the corporate image. a brilliant concept, but more mirage than image.

now one of the most successful operations in the marketing business, this company has managed to persuade its clients that corporate image is the key to corporate success. image, it seems, is the magic elixir. at many thousands of dollars a dose.

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members:  what accounting firms need to learn from personal financial planning specialists  •  the delicate art of positioning your firm in the mind of the prospect   •   who’s better at marketing? • lawyers or cpas? • even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management • managing risk in client relations • your clients love you? what if you’re wrong? • 

in fact, the word “image” itself has taken on a life of its own — a tribute to the triumph of virtual reality. but maybe it’s time, now, to lose the word. the image of image is long since tarnished, and well beyond burnishing. read more →

is the traditional business model holding back the profession?

by bruce w. marcus
author of professional services marketing 3.0

it’s not a race, nor are there prizes for the winner. but it has been suggested that personal financial planners trading in college, retirement and estate planning are light years ahead of the accounting profession in marketing.

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members:   the delicate art of positioning your firm in the mind of the prospect  •  who’s better at marketing?    •   lawyers or cpas?  • even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management  •  managing risk in client relations   •  your clients love you? what if you’re wrong?   •    the three degrees of risk • four essential habits for building client trust • the nine hallmarks of a marketing culture • the four cornerstones to building a marketing culture • getting the client is only half the battle • practice development: it’s not rocket science • nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm •

as veteran consultant terry lloyd, a cpa and financial advisor, points out, “even though the lines continue to blur between the services, there are still differences in the way cpas and financial planners are perceived.” read more →

and, it’s not a mission statement.

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

there is no great mystique to the marketing concept of positioning. while it’s not as simple as some would make it seem, nor as complex as others would have you believe, it’s still very real.

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members:  who’s better at marketing?    •   lawyers or cpas?  • even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management  •  managing risk in client relations   •  your clients love you? what if you’re wrong?   •    the three degrees of risk • four essential habits for building client trust • the nine hallmarks of a marketing culture • the four cornerstones to building a marketing culture • getting the client is only half the battle • practice development: it’s not rocket science • nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm •

like so many words used in marketing, positioning has come to be shorthand for some ideas that have come a long way in the pursuit of sound marketing practice. first popularized by ries and trout in their 1981 book, positioning, the concept took a basic advertising practice and codified it in a way that made it possible for other marketers to think differently about approaches to the market.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research has uncovered the startling fact of the wide disparity between how accounting firm management perceives their own performance and how their clients see their performance. (join the survey; get the results.)

the basic idea of positioning is simple. or at least, simple to state. read more →

is the question ludicrous?

by bruce w. marcus
author of professional services marketing 3.0

looking at the question from a different point of view, the international consultant patrick mckenna, said, “if you’re trying to determine which of the two professions (lawyers or accountants) are the more advanced in their marketing prowess, i’m sorry but i think the very question is ludicrous. be it accountant, consultants, architects or lawyers, it really doesn’t matter. my experience confirms for me that when you think of marketing prowess you can divide any of the individuals or firms, in any of those professions (not by profession but by mindset) . . . into three categories: hawks, doves and ostriches.”

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members:    even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management  •  managing risk in client relations   •  your clients love you? what if you’re wrong?   •    the three degrees of risk • four essential habits for building client trust • the nine hallmarks of a marketing culture • the four cornerstones to building a marketing culture • getting the client is only half the battle • practice development: it’s not rocket science • nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm •

silvia coulter, head of the legal sales and service organization, and a pioneer in selling legal services, agrees with mckenna. “that having been said, if you seek an answer on one side or the other with the assumption of patrick’s response, then i will say accountants, in general, are more in touch with reality — because of the numbers. therefore, whether they choose sexier marketing approaches than lawyers, may not matter. it’s who knows the client best and who can best retain and grow client share. lawyers have all the answers in front of them and yet still after all this time, spend countless dollars on marketing people who know little about marketing, ignore those clients who make up 80% of their firms’ revenues only to chase new business which we all know is far costlier to acquire. read more →

wrong question. ask instead: who puts the client first, and how?

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

comparing the marketing ability of one practice to another is irrelevant of itself and leads to generalizations that serve no useful purpose. but when the question of which firm is better at marketing is addressed, it raises issues concerning the different nature of each practice.

more for 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro members:  who’s better at marketing? lawyers or cpas? • even a random disaster can be controlled with risk management  •  managing risk in client relations   •  your clients love you? what if you’re wrong?   •    the three degrees of risk • four essential habits for building client trust • the nine hallmarks of a marketing culture • the four cornerstones to building a marketing culture • getting the client is only half the battle • practice development: it’s not rocket science • nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm •

 “the big four are trying to create a firm brand and firm relationship with the clients,” notes veteran consultant terry lloyd, a cpa and financial analyst. “they minimize the role of the partner and other professionals. while law firms go to lengths to put impressive resumes and contact data on their web sites, it may be almost impossible to find even a list of partners on the sites of the big four.”

read more →

wishful thinking?

by bruce w. marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research has uncovered the startling fact of the wide disparity between how accounting firm management perceives their own performance and how their clients see their performance. (join the survey; get the results.)

related:  your clients love you? what if you’re wrong? •  the three degrees of risk  • four essential habits for building client trust   •  the nine hallmarks of a marketing culture  •  the four cornerstones to building a marketing culture   •   getting the client is only half the battle  • practice development: it’s not rocket science  •  nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm  •

another consideration of risk lies in a tendency to ignore or distort reality, which can lead to a vast expectations gap. read more →