By John Fernandes
For many CPA firms, growth has traditionally come through good work, strong relationships and referrals.
That can work well for years. But as a firm adds people, services or markets, its reputation has to travel farther. Prospective clients may have no previous relationship with the firm. Potential employees may know little about its culture or areas of expertise. Referral sources need to be able to explain why they are making the introduction.
A firm can be well respected and still be difficult to describe. If the people who know the firm cannot easily say what it does especially well or who it serves best, some of the value of that reputation gets lost.
Move Beyond “Full-Service”
“Full-service” is one of the most common descriptions in accounting, and often it is accurate. The problem is that it does not give a prospective client much help in distinguishing one firm from another.
Thousands of firms provide some combination of audit, tax, accounting, advisory and consulting services. Listing those capabilities tells clients what is available. It does not necessarily tell them where the firm has a particular advantage.
That requires firms to be more specific. Which clients do you understand especially well? What problems do they repeatedly bring to you? Where has the firm developed experience that would be difficult for a generalist to match?
Larger firms offer some obvious examples. RSM has built much of its market presence around serving the middle market, and CBIZ also makes the middle market central to how it describes its business.
Smaller firms can do the same thing at a different scale. A firm may become particularly well known in an industry, among a certain type of business owner or for solving a recurring business problem. The point is not to stop offering other services. It is to give people a clearer reason to remember the firm.
Put the Firm’s Expertise Where People Can See It
Much of a CPA firm’s best knowledge never leaves the client meeting.
Partners see the same problems emerge across multiple businesses. They know which questions clients tend to ask too late. They see where companies struggle as they grow and which decisions tend to create problems later.
That experience can also help people outside the firm understand what its professionals know.
An article about a recurring client issue, a LinkedIn post responding to a change in the industry or a partner speaking at an association event can all make expertise more visible. A partner who regularly discusses financial issues affecting construction companies, for example, gives people a reason to associate that person, and eventually the firm, with the industry.
This does not mean every partner needs to become a content creator. A firm may have only a handful of people who regularly write, speak or appear on podcasts. What matters is that what they talk about supports the expertise the firm wants to be known for.
Make Sure the Brand Keeps Up With the Business
Firms change faster than their marketing sometimes does. A practice that began by serving small local businesses may now work primarily with larger companies. A firm may have expanded into new markets, developed a substantial advisory practice or built deep expertise in private equity, health care or another industry.
Yet its website and marketing may still describe the firm much as they did five or 10 years ago.
Closing that gap does not necessarily require a new name or logo. More often, firms need to reconsider the language they use, the work they highlight and the expertise they put forward.
Look at the industries featured on the website. Look at the subjects partners discuss publicly. Look at the events where the firm is represented and the examples used in proposals and marketing materials. Do those things reflect the business the firm has today?
They should also leave room for where the firm is headed next.
Connect Brand to Business Development
The business value of positioning becomes easiest to see in a referral. There is a meaningful difference between someone saying, “I know a good CPA,” and saying, “You should call this firm. They work with companies like yours all the time.”
The second introduction gives the prospective client context before the first conversation even happens.
The same thing can happen through a firm’s website, content or public presence. If a prospective client already understands something about the firm’s experience, the first meeting does not have to begin with a long explanation of its services. The conversation can move more quickly to the client’s business and what it needs.
Clear positioning can help with recruiting as well. Candidates are evaluating firms just as firms are evaluating candidates. Giving them a better sense of the clients, work and expertise the firm values can help them understand what joining that firm would actually mean.
What Do You Want People to Remember?
A CPA firm does not need everyone in the market to recognize its name. It needs the right clients, employees and referral sources to understand why the firm may be the right one to call.
That is a more useful way to think about brand than logos or visibility alone. Look at what the firm has become particularly good at, decide where that expertise matters most and make sure the way the firm presents itself reflects it.
For growing firms, the question is worth revisiting regularly. As the business changes, what you want to be known for may change with it.
About the Author
John Fernandes is a Certified Global Brand Coach, founder of Big Brand Business and author of Big 4 to Big 8. He works with accounting and finance professionals on building stronger brands, developing market authority and creating growth opportunities. His work focuses on helping professional firms think beyond traditional practice-building and build businesses that can compete in a global market.
