No-one should have ‘/Marketing’ in their job title. When Marketing gets added to a job description it immediately becomes the second priority. In tax season there’s no way marketing is going to happen when it falls to the Admin/ Marketing person. And while marketing is everyone’s responsibility, it’s also an important function that requires a dedicated person to coordinate the activities in the marketing plan.

Not every firm needs someone in a full time role. A part-time position 2 days a week to coordinate direct mail, the email newsletter and make 20 phone calls to prospects might be all you need. An intern from the local college is the perfect candidate, in fact they’d love the experience for their resume. Larger firms with more ambitious growth aspirations will need someone, with a marketing background, in a more permanent, formalized role. Look at what you want to achieve, how much you want to spend and go from there.

Some of the responsibilities for the marketing person include:

• Adding prospects names to the database
• Coordinating the direct mail
• Updating the website and social media platforms
• Setting up breakfast/coffee/ lunch appointments for the Partners
• Coordinating seminars
• Telemarketing
• Coordinating the email newsletter
• Finding events for partners and team members to participate in.

And the list can go on.

If you’re serious about marketing, make it a dedicated role. Establish your needs and then find the right person. Make sure they have the right attitude – that business is great and we’re looking for more.

Too often marketing is only done when there is capacity to fill. If this is your strategy, you will be disappointed with the results. For best results, marketing needs to be consistent. You need to create an activity plan outlining the activities you are going to do, who is going to do them and when they need to get done by. A simple spreadsheet is all you need to plan and track your activities. You don’t need an exhaustive list on your marketing mix. One direct mail piece a quarter and a monthly e-newsletter might be sufficient to keep your firm top of mind with your clients and prospects. Just make sure it happens every quarter or every month. Your phone won’t immediately start ringing, and don’t be disheartened by this, but the more regular and consistent you market to your prospect list, the more your phone will ring.

To help make marketing more consistent dedicate a particular day to marketing, for example Monday. Also make marketing everyone’s responsibility in the firm. Make sure everyone has business cards and knows the 30 second elevator pitch. Brainstorm with your team on how to respond to “what do you do?”

When developing your marketing materials make sure you do more than just promote. This is your opportunity to demonstrate the value you could potentially bring.

A final tip developing your marketing pieces, use twice as many ‘you’ and ‘yours’ than ‘I’, ‘we’, and ‘ours’.

Look for technology and implement systems that that will make this easier. An email newsletter is the perfect starting point. Once it’s created, it should look after itself.

Never assume you know what your clients want or what they’re thinking. If you do you risk losing them. In a survey done by the 2020 Group of over 12,000 entrepreneurs, more than 45% of respondents said they are “open to talking to a new accountant”. This number is significantly higher than accounts think. Unfortunately many accountants overestimate their level of client satisfaction. Ask your clients how your firm is doing. Find out from your client how you can better serve them. You’ll be surprised how much new work you generate, both with current clients and new clients.

There are many ways to survey your clients. You could:

1. Have them fill out an online survey
2. Conduct a survey internally
3. Have a 3^rd party survey your clients on your behalf

Each method has advantages and disadvantages. For example, an online survey is inexpensive, but the response numbers are likely to be low and the responses will lack detail. If you have someone from your office call to survey your clients, you’ll likely get a better response rate, but the respondents might be unwilling to be completely honest in their responses in fear of offending you. A 3^rd party is more expensive, but the response rate is highest and the value of the information from respondents is most valuable.

Some suggested questions that should be a part of your survey include:

• Based on your most recent engagement with us, rate how satisfied you are with:
  • How often we keep in contact with you
  • How quickly we return your calls and reply to your emails
  • How quickly we are able to get your work completed
  • Our level of technical expertise
  • The overall level of service you receive
  • How aware are you of the complete range of services we offer our clients?
    • Tax preparation
    • Accounting/ Bookkeeping
    • Benchmarking
    • KPI Analysis
    • Strategic Planning
    • Estate Planning
    • Financial Planning

(You’d be surprised how much business this question generates.)

• Other than reduce fees, how could we better serve you?
• Based on your most recent engagement how likely are you to introduce or recommend us to a friend or colleague?

The questions can go on and on, but try to limit people’s time to 10 – 20 minutes and inform them of that at the front end. For online surveys, offer an anonymous response option. And also think about offering a reward for completing the survey. Sending a coffee reward card is a great and inexpensive way to thank you for the feedback.

When was the last time you said thank you? Unfortunately it’s something we don’t say often enough. However from a marketing standpoint a sincere thank you will immediately set you apart from the competition. Just start with the top 20% of your clients. Thank them following an engagement; thank them for being a longstanding client; and make sure you thank them for a referral or introduction.

Encourage your team to get involved, 5 thank you cards a week shouldn’t be too much of a burden, and before you know it your client base will be covered. For the greatest impact, handwrite your cards – blank cards with your logo on the front are extremely versatile and inexpensive. If you’re sending a printed letter, make sure you sign them as a printed image of a signature lacks sincerity.

So what do you say? Keep it simple.

Hi John,

Just wanted to drop a quick line to say thank you for being a client. We truly value our relationship with you and hope we are able to bring value to you and your business. We’re always here to help, so please give us a call if there’s anything we can do.

Best wishes

So what results can you expect? It’s difficult to measure, however increased referrals, improved goodwill will certainly flow from regularly saying thank you.

Another tip. In addition to saying thank you – also say welcome. A welcome letter (and “welcome to ABC Accounting” in the first line of an engagement letter doesn’t count) for new clients will definitely differentiate you from firms they have previously worked with.