Business Advisory Services

1 . Know your client and their needs

Marketing for accountants in Johannesburg begins with understanding the needs and challenges faced by your current and potential clients. It is not possible to positively market your accounting services to clients whose needs cannot be understood and solved. It is not a prequisite to comprehensively know and understand how logistics companies work as an example. Knowing the industry basic information will work in your favour and will goe a long way to retain clients in each respective industry you choose to serve in. What makes your service offerings unique? Why should potential clients choose your accounting firm and not your competitor? These are the questions to ask when identifying the value proposition for the services you offer.

2. Factors that affect social media marketing packages:

Through market research, accountants can find out which type of clients will use accounting and company secretarial service. Planning is at the heart of any successful marketing activity. Knowing your targeted audience, their pain points and aligning your value proposition goes a long way towards winning new business. Marketing planning requires that the accounting firm management should first discuss each new opportunity, the size of the opportunity and whether the firm supports such opportunities. Read more on the best digital marketing strategies and discover how they can assist in your marketing planning process. Your marketing planning should include and be limited to the following:

• Marketing Tactics
• SWOT Analysis i.e. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
• Unique Selling Point
• Your Accounting Services
• Business Targets
• Goals and Time Frames

3. Niche Marketing

Marketing your accounting services in a niche market can work well in your favour than being a generalist. As an example, working with restaurants will expand your knowledge in inventory procurement, how the GAAP system (Point of Sale) works, waste management, menu design, events, collaboration and working with beverage brands to name a few things. As an accountant working in a restaurant environment, you will further be exposed to working restaurant vendors and teams working in different departments whom each have valuable about the restaurant.

4. Determine The Right Marketing Tools

Knowing where your targeted clients congregate is the first step towards formulating the appropriate marketing communication. Channels like LinkedIn, Webinars, and networking events are highly likely to connect you with decision makers. In our opinion, you will get less to zero organic reach when using Facebook and Instagram when marketing your accounting services to new clients.

If your page has 10k followers, this means whenever you post on Facebook only 5 - 10% of your audience will be able to see your post in the first 45 minutes. If your content does not generate high engagement during the first 45 minutes, Facebook will consider your content not relevant to your audience and will therefore not show it to the rest of your followers.

The same principle is applicable to Instagram, especially as the latter entity is owned by Facebook. Is Instagram suitable as a marketing for acoountants? The jury is out on that valid question. Instagram is more suitable for businesses like restaurants, car brands, fashion and any other visually demanding content-driven businesses. There is a suitable solution for overcoming this challenge should you opt for Facebook/Instagram as your main communication channels. The following marketing tools with add a huge positive impact for your business:

• Website
• Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)
• Local Radio Stations
• Local Newspapers
• Business Events

5. Workshops and Business Events

There is more to running a business, attending to operations and digital marketing for accountants in Johannesburg. It is vital that you also attend relevant business events organized by your local business associations such as chamber of business, municipal events aimed at empowering local companies, giving valuable insights and input in white papers. Last but not least, giving back to communities that support the growth of your accounting firm.

6. Conclusion

As your business grows, never neglect your marketing in favour of pursuing profit. Rather use the golden opportunity to maximise your marketing efforts in getting your business known in most business circles. Use the business growth opportunity to build rapport with potential clients who will soon need your recommended accounting services.

Marketing is often confused with sales and business development. Sales is the process of understanding a specific prospect’s needs, offering a specific set of services to address them and convincing the prospect to purchase the services.

Marketing, on the other hand, is the process of understanding a market’s needs, tailoring your offerings to those needs, generating awareness for a firm’s services and encouraging qualified prospects to reach out and request more information. Or more simply, marketing for accountants in Johannesburg is about generating qualified opportunities. Sales is about turning those opportunities into clients.