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.
recognizing that the shape of any market group is at best amorphous, the prudent marketer must be dedicated to understanding each market group’s dynamic, its immediate as well as its potential needs, and the factors that affect its foundation.
for example, significant financial regulation changes the nature of the financial market for accountants. new laws and regulations, changes in accounting principles or tax laws – all affect the nature of the market. and all generate new marketing activities.
not every company in a market is right for your firm, but fortunately, the electronic media makes it possible to do two things that help – learn a great deal about most target companies, and tailor specific marketing efforts to a particular company. it’s called target marketing, obviously.
publics
in any market there are several publics. there are existing clients, whose needs for service must be constantly addressed, as must be their needs for new services. there are the prospective clients, who constitute as many publics as there are services you can perform for them. your firm may serve one public with corporate services, another in the same market group with financial services, and a third in the same market with personal financial services. the three groups may be contiguous, but each may still be separate and distinct.
defining a target audience is a function of determining those universal characteristics of the target group to which your services are most profitably addressed. the universal characteristics must include the ability to reach them in a uniform and economical way.
an effective marketing program can have rather specific goals, beyond getting new clients. for example:
- to build a practice with substantive clients
- to increase market share or a presence in a new market
- to broaden a geographic base
- to introduce a new service
- to change the structure of the clientele and the nature of the firm
- to change a perception of a firm by its market
- to enter a new market for a specific service
- to sell new services to existing clients, as well as to new clients
- to strengthen relationships with existing clients
but within the context of these goals, the key elements to examine in setting marketing objectives are…
- to enhance name recognition and reinforce reputation
- to demonstrate the firm’s skills and capabilities, particularly specific to each market
- to develop positions in new markets and enhance positions in existing markets
- to develop the opportunities to meet with prospects in a selling context
client perception.
how do you want to be perceived by your clientele? while the answer to that question is crucial to the marketing plan, it should be remembered that marketing cannot develop images — a perception that too often belies reality. no marketing program can convey an image of high service at low cost if, in fact, you are not performing high service at low cost. the acoustics of the marketplace are extraordinary, and as ralph waldo emerson said, what you are speaks so loudly that people can’t hear what you say you are.
it’s easier to project a negative perception of your firm than a positive one. for example, advertising and other promotional material that attempt to be funny but aren’t don’t do much to define a serious firm.
if your objective is to change the way you’re perceived, then you must first change what’s necessary to make the way you want to be perceived a reality. then, and only then, can you expect a marketing program to project those elements that will contribute to a realistic perception of your firm, and to a reputation that serves your marketing goals.
time frame
a practical and realistic time frame in which to achieve specific goals is essential to establishing marketing objectives. marketing must be given a reasonable time to work. and yet, if it’s not working within a reasonable time, this should be recognized in time to make adjustments. unreasonable expectations are a clear danger, in terms of both results and time frame. marketing professional services has a longer time frame than does product marketing. a retailer placing an ad knows his results almost immediately, by the number of people who come into the store. in professional services, the results are felt not when the brochure or direct mail piece goes out, or the release is printed or the ad is run, but when the contracts are signed.
revenues and return on investment
presumably, the objective is to increase revenues by increasing the clientele or the services to existing clients. but at what cost? in designing a marketing program, the cost of achieving a revenue goal — the return on investment — is a primary factor.
merely to set an arbitrary figure or percentage increase is insufficient, without asking pertinent questions about what must be spent to achieve that goal. nor is the expenditure in marketing dollars alone. the increased revenue, presumably from increased volume, must be serviced. will new staff have to be added? how much will new staff add to overhead, in both salaries and support costs — space, secretarial and clerical help, support services, and so forth?
thus, in setting a goal for increased revenues, the size of the investment to achieve that increase must be calculated, and from that must be determined the goal for return on that investment.
it must also be recognized, in this context, that in marketing, there is rarely a one-to-one relationship between efforts and results. an ad that costs a hundred dollars cannot be expected to produce two hundred dollars in revenue the week after it’s run. marketing has a dynamic, particularly if it’s successful. a well-run campaign increases in effectiveness as it continues, and as the effectiveness increases, so does the return on investment. for example, an accounting firm may identify a need for a new service to banks. the firm must spend a certain amount of money to develop that service, and then to make it known to its prospective clientele. at the beginning, it’s talking to a market that may be as unaware of the firm as it is of the service. but after a period of sustained marketing effort, the market is educated, and it takes less to sell more.
it should be noted, however, that the converse is not necessarily true. if the effort is diminished, there is no sustaining recollection by the market. other competitors move in, and the value of the earlier efforts are lost. it’s like a hoop. as long as you keep hitting it with a stick, it keeps rolling, picking up momentum. but when you stop hitting the hoop, it falls over. it doesn’t matter how far it’s rolled or where it’s been. it’s down and out.
at the beginning of a marketing campaign, the return on the investment is smaller. but if the investment and the effort is sustained, the penetration of the effort is greater for the same dollar, and so the return on investment is greater.
budget
there are a number of techniques for determining budgets. but it’s not a simple process, and requires a great deal of consideration. and again, it should be remembered that in budgeting, effectiveness — and therefore return on investment — will increase as the marketing program gains in penetration.
share of market
if share of market is a significant element in your growth or competitive picture, then it must be generally quantified, and marketing plans must reflect the competitive values in your efforts.
