SettingUpYourPractice
Pitch perfect
Having put in place the basic structure of your business, it’s time to put yourself out there and begin communicating with your target clientele
The tired cliché goes that accountants are not traditionally good at marketing. But traditions and clichés are there to be bucked, and there are numerous examples of successful practices – including many AAT members – who got their pitch right and are prospering as a result.
It’s important to stress that you may not get it right straight away, but refining your message, targeting it well and reinforcing it in the right places are all crucial to engaging potential clients and establishing your practice as an authority in your niche or chosen sectors.
Build your brand
A strong brand identity is hugely important to standing out in a crowded market. Being clear and consistent is central to any brand, and helps communicate professionalism and reliability.
This extends to logo, name and the tone with which you communicate both with your clients and externally to prospective customers.
Sinéad Pratschke FMAAT is the owner and founder of Musicians’ Tax Advisor, and has recently rebranded. Before becoming an AAT member, Pratschke trained as a singer at the Royal College of Music and National Opera Studio, and worked for 10 years as a freelance musician. As such, she is well placed to position her firm as the go-to outfit for musicians.
“Up until two years ago, I wouldn't have necessarily thought of labelling myself like that,” Pratschke says. “The original premise was that I wanted to capture a facility where that kind of man-down-the-pub question could be answered.
“Then it became clear that would have to be directed in order to get any traction at all. It made sense to label it and say I am specialist in terms of musicians, entertainers and performers.”
For Francesca McClory FMAAT, the personal touch was as important as the business itself. She founded Future Cloud Accounting in 2019 and immediately tied the early fortunes of the firm to the brand, in a ‘practise what you preach’ approach.
“It was about getting me as a face out there, and getting other businesses, other business owners, to look at how I'm achieving the growth of my accountancy firm. I also wanted to share my vision online as well, and people bought into that,” she says.
Reaching clients
McClory’s approach to brand building also helped her reach potential clients quickly and easily, but it wasn’t the only approach she employed.
“I went everywhere. I was networking, I was online, I talked to everybody,” she says. “I shared a lot of value stuff, so I gave a lot away for free, online and on social media so clients and prospects could follow along.
“I also learned from others in the same industry, [and] collaborated and talked about what's going on in the industry: what type of clients we wanted, the personality of clients we wanted. The more you share who you are and what you're about out there, clients can relate and they will reach out to you because they can relate to you as a person.”
Pratschke quickly found that networking remains an essential way to build relationships with potential clients, gain referrals and stay informed about industry trends.
“I thought about all the places that I might attract musicians – one is via their agents and another is via music organisations,” Pratschke says. “For example, I joined the Ivors Academy, which is a big songwriters’ community, [and] I also work with the Musicians’ Union. I also speak to young music graduates coming out of the Royal Academy of Music.”
Encouraging client referrals is a powerful strategy because, generally, people trust recommendations from their peers more than adverts. This is especially true in areas of specialism, as Pratschke has found.
“I was always quietly confident in the fact that the company would grow by recommendation and word of mouth and personal recommendation of clients, and that has been absolutely fantastic,” she says.
The more you share who you are and what you’re about out there, clients will reach out to you because they can relate to you as a person.
Online presence
When it comes to social media, the personal tends to trump businesses and brands in terms of reach and engagement.
McClory’s personal brand approach fitted in well across a variety of social media platforms, so she was quickly able to harness it to gain a significant following, leads and a client pipeline.
“I built my LinkedIn right at the beginning and I was consistent – you have to be. Don't be afraid to have a bit of a strategy but, by the same token, don't be afraid to be yourself on there. I quickly got to 30,000 followers, 40,000 followers, 50,000 followers, and now I'm coming up to 60,000. I’m absolutely loving it. And tell yourself you enjoy it as well, because a lot of people are scared to do it.”
Alongside those guiding principles, McClory’s strategy online has shifted somewhat, primarily for practical reasons.
“At the beginning, all the social media output was me, but as you grow a team that isnt sustainable, so that’s why you’ve got to be careful that the audience is not just binding to you. They have to buy into your value of the whole team, so now I'm looking at the business branding. We've been doing more of a strategy around that and getting some of the team on LinkedIn posting about what they have been up to.
“The biggest killer for building an online presence is worrying far too much about what others think. You also really have to believe in what your business value is and share that. Tell your audience your goals, tell people where you're going, tell the milestones that you’ve hit, share where your business is developing next.”
In Pratschke’s case, she initially considered traditional online advertising before concluding social media was more likely to gain traction.
“I looked at Google ads marketing and realised it was going to be too expensive to be useful to me, and that I was more likely to see a return on investment by putting time into social media,” she says. “It’s very technically specific commentary that I put out there. Anything general just isn't appropriate for us, so it really had to be me. That is quite an investment, but I am beginning to really see that pay off.”
Three key takeaways for building your social media profile
Be consistent
Be authentic
Share your goals, ambitions and milestones
Get your name right
Of course, on a basic level, you can name your firm whatever you see fit. However, there are some rules and guardrails to bear in mind. One is that it can’t be the same as, or too similar to, another business’s name in the same profession, and it should not be misleading, as outlined in AAT's Code of Professional Ethics. This includes exaggerated claims for services offered, professional status, qualifications possessed or experience gained.
For example, you cannot name your outfit Joe Bloggs & Partners if there are no partners and it is not structured as a partnership.
Naturally, there are also restrictions around names that are likely to bring the profession into disrepute. Finally, you may not make disparaging references or unsubstantiated comparisons to the work of another business.
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