Brands are for breakfast cereals. We’re accountants.
The sole practitioner. The ranks of desks at the large accounting practice in your city. You’re not just accountants.
The way your website visitor, your prospect, your customer perceives your practice? That’s your brand.
Tell me you’re ‘one of the leading accounting firms in Sheffield’. You’re telling me you’re just one of many.
Highlight the challenge you know I face each year I compile my accounts. Explain to me how you’ll save me time and stress each time I file my VAT return. Send me a monthly newsletter bullet-pointing how recent legislation will impact upon how I run my business. That’s when you begin shaping your brand. That’s how you show me you’re not just ‘one of the many’. Be something to somebody.
That’s the struggle you face each day to recruit new customers. To differentiate from the rest. To stand out.
When it comes to the content within the typical accounting website. You tell people what you want to say, not what they want to hear. Are you?
The local business award doesn’t matter if you can’t afford me the time to listen to my business story and take on board my situation.
The news about the latest recruit matters even less if there’s no correlation with how she can impact upon my own business.
SHAPE YOUR BRAND
5 quick tips that will help you differentiate from the competition.
- Define your proposition around what you can help me achieve, not what you are. I get that you’re accountants. Make sure your website tells about ‘me’ rather than ‘you’.
- Fly your flag. If you specialize within a particular field don’t be afraid to lead with your niche. Champion your niche. It matters that you’re on my wavelength.
- Keep it simple. Gone are the days of filling your content with keywords to build traffic. Consider how you convert visitors into clients rather than new ways to build more traffic.
- Share your story. A key point. When it comes to the ‘about us’ page I want to know why you exist. What’s the story behind your practice? Don’t tell me about the honours and awards. Tell me about your people.
- Drop the template. Anything that’s on your website that isn’t it? Drop it. That includes the stock photography of smiling faces, big city landscapes and glass offices. Be yourself. Be proud of who you are and who you represent.
The key to building a successful accounting brand is the speed with which you can drop the label of ‘we are accountants’ and replace it with ‘we are people who serve’.
Take 10 minutes and run through each page of your website. From the homepage to the contact form. What are you really telling me about your practice?
When I decide to enquire, do I know who I need to speak to? The specialist who is ready to listen?
If you’re not, it’s time to take a step back and consider how you’re shaping your brand. What you tell me on your website shapes your brand.
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