JASON BALL

Only a third (34 per cent) of accounting and financial services firms describe their marketing efforts as successful, and just 11 per cent are highly satisfied with their ability to track the performance of their marketing and business development efforts, according to a recent global survey by LexisNexis and InterAction.

So what’s going wrong? First, let’s be honest, firms have a tough job when it comes to standing out. Bound by compliance, they mainly do more or less the same things, often for a similarly broad type of client.

With such a large playing field, this makes it harder to be laser-focused and highly relevant in their marketing efforts. And that’s before we consider the level of competition from the legions of other firms offering near-identical services.

The same survey also reveals that accountancy firms tend to direct their marketing spend towards social media, email and customer relationship management (CRM) – a tell-tale sign of a predominantly short-term, lead-generation approach.

But lead generation doesn’t work in isolation, especially in industries heavily driven by relationships and knowledge. The pandemic has also made uncovering new clients even more pressing: the survey discovered that almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of firms found their business development and sales to be more difficult because of covid19.

Disappointment

Think about why clients change accountancy firms. It’s not about the excitement of something new. It tends to happen only when they’ve been disappointed for some time. At that point, the right approach at the right time from another firm can tip the balance. But a simple e-mail or social post from a rival firm looking to reel in a new client is unlikely to do the job. This isn’t a consumer purchase.

It’s why brand and reputation are so important, and why every firm should devote as much time to brand-building as they do to lead generation.

So what does this mean in practice? While every firm is different, overall you should be looking to:

• grow your share of voice by engaging in outbound communications that go beyond the contacts in your CRM

• aim for a roughly 50/50 mix of brand or reputation-building activity and demand or lead generation

• target all potential clients, so think carefully about segmentation – not too narrow, not too broad

• be distinctive by aiming to become famous for something within your market.

Spending decisions should be based on what will best help you achieve the above, given your available budget and overarching business strategy.

Data issues

Beyond the specific approach, there is also the issue of data quality. Firms in the LexisNexis/InterAction 2021 Marketing & Business Development Report, cited data quality as the biggest hurdle to successful marketing.

Businesses tend to measure what is easy to measure (or what martech tools seduce them into thinking they can measure) rather than the most importan