Why Advertise Your Accounting Firm?

Accounting firms are pretty much similar to garages.

Consider an average small firm, where the majority of its revenue comes from preparing accounts, doing tax returns, etc.?

In other words, a compliance-based firm.

Not too dissimilar from the local MOT garage.

Once a year, the local charabangs turn up to be vetted, given the once over and certified as fit for another year of commuting and pleasurable social running.

The garage makes money from the repairs and ancillary work that’s needed to get the vehicle through the test.?

Often preceded by a sucking of teeth and a technical explanation of why the braking system isn’t up to scratch.

So it is with small business accounts prep.

“The fee's going to be more this year, because your Xero bank account is a mess and needs root-and-branch reconciliation before we can prepare anything.”

Said not with as much sucking of teeth, but definitely with a sigh, heavy with despair.

The difficulty for both an MOT garage and a compliance firm is that their value to their clientele lies in their ability to ensure compliance with the law.

Peace of mind.

Which turns their service into a commodity, competing on price and ‘that personal touch’ to obtain and retain ongoing business.

And no amount of advertising, rebranding, social media posting and incentives is going to alter that fact.

However, what if that MOT garage shifted its position to become expert in handling performance cars? Or classic cars? Or electrics and hybrids? Or offered fast turnaround and guaranteed reliability to commercial vehicle owner-drivers?

What do you think would happen if they positioned and promoted themselves to get that message across?

Do you think they'd quickly become seen as experts in their field?

Do you think that they'd attract those specific owners away from their competition?

They wouldn’t spend money on advertising the fact that they do MOTs ‘while-u-wait’, but they would spend cash letting sports car owners know that they have the skills and expertise to up the performance of their beloved speed machine.

After all, the only enduring question in the owner’s head is “Can you make this thing go faster?” (nods to the awesome Black Crowes).

Shift the perception of where the value lies.

Similarly, your average compliance-based firm shouldn’t be spending money and time on any kind of promotion to get the bland message across that they… prepare accounts and tax returns.

That isn’t going to shake the ground beneath any small business owner’s feet.

However, if they promoted a new service package focused on making more profit for the owner - the accounting equivalent of “can you make this thing go faster?” - what then do you think is going to happen?

Would it be worth spending some budget to get that message across?

I’ve never fully understood why some accounting firms regard advertising as something to be avoided at all costs.

It probably has a lot to do with a complete lack of response to advertising they’ve done in the past, with basic ads focused on promoting their compliance work.

Therefore all advertising is a waste of time for accountants.

No wonder advertising is widely misunderstood.?

Ads are a way to get your message across to prospects at different points in their journey to becoming a client.?

Think of it as an accelerant.?

A way to speed up the process of client acquisition by helping to move prospects further down your funnel, whilst you build up the organic side of your promotional activity.

Placing ads on Google is tapping into a greater level of intent to buy - your prospect is lower down the funnel.

Placing ads on Facebook focuses more on prospects in the earlier stages of their journey, where you’re promoting awareness, engagement and consideration. At or near the top of the funnel (though in truth FB enables you to target prospects at all stages).

Both get your message across in different ways. A message that shifts the perception of the value in your firm, putting daylight between you and your competitors.

Whether you use advertising or not, you still need to know exactly who your ideal client is, what particular solution you have that will work best for them, what service package you can put together and how you’ll offer it.

And that applies to all marketing activity that you do.

If you don’t have those key components nailed, your marketing will fall short, as will your advertising.

When you do have them nailed, you can speed up client acquisition using advertising, because you’ll know exactly what message to get across in your ads.

Yes, you’ll need to set a budget, but how much budget you’ll need will depend on who you’re targeting and what platform you’re using to target them.

Then once you start acquiring clients, you can reinvest some of that new client fee income into your budget to acquire more clients.

Advertising forms part of a very effective client attraction system, something that we build as part of the 100K Success Formula?.

The 100K Success Formula? builds the only funnel you'll ever need to grow and scale your accounting firm. We design, build and implement the funnel for you too, so you just need to handle the enquiries.

For more info on what’s involved and to see if your firm qualifies for the formula, go to formulaforresults.com and book a demo.