June 2010 Edition

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Ideas In Motion:

Hugh Duffy Dives Into Accounting Firm Marketing Issues



By Scott H. Cytron, ABC


Hugh Duffy is the chief marketing officer and co-founder of Build Your Firm, a company that works with smaller accounting firms to help them learn how to market, price and sell their services. He teaches eight to 10 workshops each year and is frequently published in online and print accounting publications, including The CPA Technology Advisor, Progressive Accountant and state CPA society magazines.


Scott Cytron: Along with Allan Ratafia, why did you start Build Your Firm? What kind of space were you filling by starting the company?

Hugh Duffy: We started Build Your Firm in 2003 because we felt there was a large need in the industry to help accountants with marketing, selling, pricing and practice development.

      In particular, we both felt that the methods being taught to accountants were very outdated. For example, many accountants were using “cold call telemarketing” to set appointments and hiring sales reps to sell accounting services. From our vantage point, Internet marketing represented a huge opportunity to help accountants with marketing. Gradually, over time, Websites helped accountants process work more efficiently; some are even developing niches from the Internet. This is just one example of how we passionately believed we could be unique and better than our competitors.

      We also believed that Allan’s practice would be the foundation for everything we teach. In other words, new initiatives and techniques would be tested in his practice before we advocated them to our clients. 


Hugh Duffy,
Cheif Marketing Officer
Build Your Firm

SC: Tell me about your accounting marketing system.

HD: The integrated marketing system we advocate and teach includes direct mail, Internet marketing, social media and referral marketing.

      Across all industries, there has been an evolution from outbound marketing techniques to inbound marketing. Telemarketing is a classic example of outbound marketing that is intrusive and transactional. Since our inception, we have advocated inbound techniques, such as Website and Internet marketing that are more informational. These are branded efforts, encouraging prospects to learn about something and then call the accountant. In addition, with the advent of social media, the evolution toward inbound marketing has rapidly accelerated.


SC: Teaching smaller accounting firms to use technology can be a somewhat difficult challenge due to cost, implementation time and the “old school” way of doing business. Do you find this to be the case?

HD: The cost to use Internet marketing and social media are not expensive; however, they are very different and hard for skeptical accountants to get their arms around these efforts because they are less tangible and new. When we started teaching Website development, search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising years ago, many accountants could not believe that a Website could generate new business. In fact, some would say it was impersonal. 


SC: Tell me some of the different ways Build Your firm is using technology to push out its programs.

HD: At our Accounting Marketing Workshops, we teach accountants how to use a variety of technologies for marketing and operating the practice. For example, we are actively teaching accountants how to use social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) to generate new prospects for their accounting practice.

      In Internet marketing, we cover search engine optimization; pay-per-click advertising; e-mail newsletters and Internet directories such as Craigslist, Yelp, Angie’s List and others. For daily operations, we get into working with clients using remote access tools, file transfer protocol (FTP), and even collecting fees electronically to dramatically lower slow pays and receivables. 


SC: You recently issued a news release that talked about how you are integrating social media into your workshops. Why do you think social media is important for accounting firms, and what kinds of concepts will you be teaching?

HD: We are teaching accountants how to use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and some other social media tools, and so far, the reception at our workshops has been very positive.

      To us, social media is another way to market your accounting services. When done properly, social media leverages the trust accountants accrued over many years, and provides a platform to educate and help business owners with financial matters.

      In today’s marketplace, business owners want answers and advice on their own terms, and are often searching for trusted advisors. They will go to great lengths to avoid advertising messages, placing more emphasis on recommendations from within their own network, review opinions posted online and read articles written on topics that solve their problems. The variation from person to person is large. Some people use tools like LinkedIn Answers and some will Tweet their friends, while others will search for online recommendations from total strangers.


SC: I know one of the company’s strategies is to inform and educate through articles and content. The Progressive Accountant, several state CPA societies and even the California Enrolled Agents Journal ran your articles. Why do you think your messages about accounting and practice management so universal?

HD: At Build Your Firm, we enjoy educating and informing accountants about more effective ways to market and develop an accounting practice. Our live workshops have been the best format to deliver this information. The second way for us to get our message out is through writing articles and encouraging accounting publications to reprint our content with their readers.

      The subject matter we teach – accounting marketing and practice management – has universal appeal because it helps accounting firms become more profitable and more effective. Our approach to marketing and operating a practice is very unique and does not accept traditional industry practices. In other words, we embrace change and new technology as vehicles to do something better.

      Stepping back, the need for accounting marketing information is high because colleges/universities and large accounting firms do not teach this topic to lower level accountants. In addition, best practices have changed so quickly over the past 10 years with the evolution of Internet marketing, and now, the social media revolution. 


SC: You have a lot of experience in consumer goods’ marketing. How does marketing accounting services compare with marketing razors and snack foods?

HD: In many ways, marketing is marketing. Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to learn from some of the best marketing companies.

      The methods, target audiences and geographic marketing areas vary, but there are plenty of similarities. Here are four examples:

1. Branding – Raising brand awareness, creating trust and avoid competing on price by creating a unique selling proposition.
2. Finding a Need to Fill – Marketing any product is about understanding the customer’s pain and determining whether a better solution can be delivered at particular price.  
3. Positioning – Developing support for the product/service on why the price is warranted and persuading the target audience to pay for it.
4. Customer Service – Developing a support system to meet the customer’s need after the initial sale.
 

 



About Author:
For more than 20 years, Scott H. Cytron, ABC, has worked with CPAs and accountants, providing public relations, marketing and communications services. He is a frequent contributor to industry publications covering professional services industries, including accounting, healthcare, legal, financial planning, collections and debt, and high-tech.


Contact info:
Scott H. Cytron, ABC
Cytron and Company
Phone: 214-647-2611, ext. 150
Email: scott@cytronandcompany.com
Website: Blog: www.absolutecytron.com

 


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