How to Develop an Accounting Firm Marketing Message That (Really) Works
How do you develop a marketing message for your accounting firm that really works? Here's a hint: Ask Gillette!
According to CampaignLive, Gillette’s 2016 Father’s Day ad achieved an extremely rare 709 Ace Score. Less than 1% of ads receive an Ace Score over 700.
It further explains that the ad’s biggest strengths are:
- being liked, and
- being relevant.
Nearly 65% of the viewers thought the single best aspect of this ad was the “message”. Not the visuals, music, characters, etc.
Why? Because the message is completely relevant to what is going on in the world today.
Don’t believe me? Come back to the rest of this post after watching the ad.
(Welcome back!)
Inspired by this awesomely clever yet simple video ad, we have some ideas that you can use in your firm’s marketing plan.
1. Be relevant to your target clients.
The “message” you deliver to to attract your ideal clients needs to be relevant to their lives.
Question for you:
What is really relevant to your target clients? (Hopefully, you have defined your target clients very precisely).
2. Compare to show wisdom and expertise.
Yes, accounting is a bit more (okay, a lot more) complex than shaving. But that's the point.
The key marketing principle here is contrast. When you show what is difficult, the easier option is understood better, in a comparative sense.
Question for you:
Which stressful results can you show your clients if, for instance, they did their own accounting and taxes?
Now show them the results you can produce, without that stress.
3. Connect via context.
Some viewers felt that the story was great but the content was not that well related to the product.
When you deliver the context, your target audience should connect your story (message) with your services.
Question for you:
Here's an example: Can you figure out the most common entries that go into “Ask My Accountant” and WHY?
Answers to these WHYs can be your context that clients will quickly relate to.
So what's next?
Giant corporations can spend millions to do market research and demographic studies. They pay a lot to creative ad agencies and media producers to create such awesome ads.
It is not easy for accounting firms to do the same. And it is rare to see mass video ads in the accounting profession.
But your message can still deliver the same type of impact - on your website, in your personal interactions with prospects, in your emails, perhaps via videos on your website.
I look forward to your thoughts!
Hitendra Patil is director of practice development at AccountantsWorld. In this role, Hitendra helps accountants leverage AccountantsWorld's solutions more powerfully, advancing the company's leadership in cloud solutions for accountants. He can be reached at HPatil@accountantsworld.com.