How do you do Marketing of your Practice Firm?

MoneySavingBank

Hi,

Just wanted to know how do you guys do marketing for your Practice. When we talk about marketing, there are so many things come in our mind such as Online Marketing or Offline Marketing.

Again, If it is online marketing. What exactly we mean by online marketing? Same goes for offline marketing too.

Can somebody explain what is the best form of marketing for a Practice Firm and which gets more attention?

Many thanks for reading my post.

Regards,
MSB

MoneySavingBank

Is it worth Advertising in Yellow Pages or Thomson Local?

Hi,

Thinking of drafting a marketing plan.

Could somebody give me some idea from expereince about advertising in Yellow Pages or Yell.com and Thomson Local or in a Local Recorder etc.

Does this work? or Do you think it is worthy spending money on this sort of advert.


Regards,
MSB

Paul C

I have tried the Church magazine and local shops but no luck :-(

burg

Tried Yellow Pages and Yell.com which to be fair is a little on the expensive side and often I only seemed to get any enquiries near renewal. Never really recovered the cost of it.

Have also done parish magazine which cost me around £50 a year. did this for two years and got one client on about £500 fee.

Did a mail shot in year one to around 500 possibly new businesses (used two years Yellow Pages to see new adverts). This took a lot of time (although I had plenty of it back then) and I got one small client, about £250.

Have considered Newspapers but the cost can be quite high. Local papers are around £60 for a small advert for one edition.

I have also done email shots back in September which I sent to around 75 local businesses when I moved house. This resulted in one new small client, around £250.

Now my main form of adverts has been a localised Google adwords campaign. Over the past twelve months this has cost around £1000 plus a website rebuild at around £400. This has had a return of around ten times the investment. This however has taken 6-9 months to get things right such as bid amounts, budgets, key words, target areas, adverts, etc. This meant a layout of around £500 or so with little/no return.

Based on the success of this I do no other advertising and since December I have considerably increased my budget on the basis of increasing the return.

Many others I have spoken with about adwords have said it hasn't worked. I think the key is to stick at it and try lots different things. Ensure the target area is localised though as otherwise you may be paying for adverts to show in parts of the country where you don't even want clients.

Just having adwords right is the start though. You need a good website that works for you and your target clients. I looked at local opposition and decided that most accountants had websites that were exactly the same and only those from within the profession would understand what was on offer. I tailored mine based on what clients look for and made it look different from everyone else. I was particular with what I wanted to show and how I wanted it laid out and worded. You may not want to be different from others but you need a reason for people to make contact with you over anyone else.

Don't forget then that you need to be ready for the forthcoming enquiries. Know what you want to ask, what questions you may be asked, what you might charge for typical clients, how to sell yourself and your services, and just as importantly clients that you don't want.

There is lots to think about but use your time wisely and don't be afraid to invest, time effort and money but watch the results that it is achieving so you can tweak things as it goes along.

paulstafford

Hi MSB

I've only just set up, and started marketing my business about a month ago.

So far, I've concentrated on building a web site and then like Ian, have used a localised Google adwords campaign ie the ad only appears when someone within a 20 mile radius of my home/office types in the appropriate keywords into google. I picked up my first client with an annual fee income of £1200 via this method.

The other part of my marketing plan is just to get out and about and talk about my business. Since I left my old job last autumn I have been volunteering my services to local charities. One of these has now asked me to prepare their monthly accounts, payroll, financial advise and will pay a good fee for it. I've also just picked up another small fee from one one the staff there who needs some accounts work for a further charity she is the trustee of.

I'm not intending to pay to advertise in yell.com or similar.

I'm thinking of going to some local networking events - business breakfasts and so forth - in the near future.

MoneySavingBank

Thanks guys for sharing your experience.

Ian, are you a home based accountant or moved to high street already?

Regarding the local networking and breatfast meetings, who arrange them and where can i start that from.

I tried shop to shop introductions with business card. That didnt work but got some positive from them.

I would be interested to know other MIPs experiences as well.

Regards,
MSB

burg

Hi MSB,

No I run from home from a converted garage. At present I don't have a desire to have a high street practice as I prefer the lifestyle and being around my family. It ,ay be something for the future though.

MoneySavingBank

Wow! Keep it up

Hi Ian,

Thanks for sharing this. It is really nice to see how well you are doing based at home.

Anobody else out there, who wants to share their marketing experience?

Good luck Ian,

MSB

Guest

I have used telemarketing, whilst not the best way to market and time consuming with time wasters it is without doubt the best I have used. Cost isn’t cheap but brings in £20k-£30Kpa in new fees. There are a number of specialist accountancy telesales marketing firms out there.

MoneySavingBank

Telemarketing Company Details

Hi Guest,

Thanks for replying my post.

Could you please memtion some good telemarketing company and the one you used as well.

Regards,

MSB

Guest

There are a number of these if you Google accountancy telemarketing. The one I am using now is an ex employee of one of the major ones so don’t wish to mention her name, I know she is dealing with 3 or 4 firms so probably not able to take any more on.
I would expect you to find many looking for new accountants to market, and a set monthly payment appears to be the norm now.

Paul C

I have now set up on Google adwords - fingers crossed its better than the other things I have tried......any top tips appreciated. I have kept it local ( 15 miles or so ).

T.C.

Word of mouth is always the best "marketing method". However, I have successfully used Thomson Local, the village shop, a local charity magazine and the internet. I have not received many clients via these methods, but they are relatively inexpensive, so always worth a try.
Working from home - why not?

Rachel

I got sent a voucher yesterday for £75 google ad words so I have put myself on as you have to use it this month. I have a GBBO website so that was kind of them. However, I really need to do loads of work now on my website as it is poor.

Ian did you have to get planning permission to work from home?

burg

No,

Planning not required. No employees are present and the room is not used 100% for business.

Rachel

Thanks, I am unsure whether I need to get it, our council say you need to if you increase car traffic and something about waste. At the moment no one comes to the house and there is no extra waste. I assume I should inform the home insurance and ring the council.

burg

Personally I don't think there is any need to ring the council but that's up to you.

Business rates are not going to apply if there is suitable private use and even if you had one client a day the effect on traffic would be minimal.

Rachel

Thanks Ian, I jsut don't want to get into trouble.

burg

My mum runs a business from home doing bookkeeping and her then partner was a plasterer. When she was having her roof repaired and there was a lot of building materials there someone reported she was running a business from home and a council inspector turned up.

She openly explained the situation and his response was fine and it was just left as that.

Monsoon

Another vote for don't bother talking to the council. Administrative use of home as business doesn't incur business rates.

As long as you don't have people traipsing in and out of your home and have deliveries multiple times a day, it's not an issue.

Rachel

Ok thanks I won't do it. I wouldn't have people to the house as I have 2 small children at home. It is a home in the day, I only really work in the evenings.

wildgoose1uk

I agree with Monsoon and Burg. And as the room is not used for business 100% of the time there is no CGT to worry about.

burg

Rachel wrote: »

Ok thanks I won't do it. I wouldn't have people to the house as I have 2 small children at home. It is a home in the day, I only really work in the evenings.

It can be done. I have four young children at home and clients visit me regularly. My office is part of my house but it does however have it's own separate entrance. Clients have never minded but the children know if my door is shut not to come in and keep quiet.

Rachel

I assume though that your wife/partner is at home? My husband is at work all day. So I am not sure may clients would be impressed.

burg

Yeah my wife is at home. You never know clients may like to entertain your children for a bit!

Seriously though, I understand. As for the amount you have visiting that would be fine.

I don't often have meetings at my office but I do have 4 next week and 2 the week after. It brings in one extra car for an hour or so which then leaves again so it has little effect really.