A surprising number of practitioners believe that it’s simply not possible to differentiate firms who offer similar services to similar clients. In fact, this way of looking at the marketplace is the very reason that differentiating your firm is essential. Differentiation is not about being different for the sake of it. It’s about helping your audience make smarter, easier, more confident buying decisions.
Sabina Kirwan, Group Head of Brand & Communications at Moneypenny
Callum Macrae, Accountancy Marketing Lead at IRIS
Robert Bean, Managing Partner at Grunberg & Co
Thomas Birch, Head of Digital Marketing at Price Bailey
Jo Edwards, Managing Director at JE Consulting
Callum Macrae: “Brand is about so much more than logos and colours; it’s about what you stand for as a business: your values. Going beyond the narrative ‘We’ve got 20 years’ experience…’ that’s your fastest way to failure. Instead, what do you offer clients? What’s your service delivering for them that you’re truly proud of?”
Sabina Kirwan: “In a sea of accountancy firms who are offering, certainly on the surface at least, the same suite of services, it’s important to deep dive into all areas of your business to harness your key differentiators. To do this, talk to firm partners – long-standing and new. Talk to your admin teams. Most importantly, talk to your clients. This doesn’t have to be done with formal surveys and research. Just five or so of your most loyal clients and ask them what they like – even what they don’t like (which could become one of your best differentiators when rectified correctly). Trends across what all these people are saying have the potential to become your most powerful differentiators, unique to your firm and the way you do things.”
Jo Edwards: “Key USPs and differentiators are rarely about being ‘personable, friendly and proactive’. Always follow up your list with: are they true? Is it relevant? Can they be proved? If the answer is yes to all three, they have the potential to become true differentiators.”
Robert Bean: “Differentiating a firm in a crowded London marketplace, where there are probably five different accountants down every road, has led us to pursue a net zero agenda and tap into an international market. To do this, we worked to find a network that offered us exclusivity in the UK. It’s taken a while to gain traction, but we’re now being recommended to multi-billion dollar clients, handling hugely complex audits that would have previously been handled by the big four and Top 20. This kind of differentiation has worked hugely in our favour.”
Thomas Birch: “By definition, people are unique, so when we find specialist services and sectors we want to be working in, we’ll go and find those people and then we focus on keeping them. To do this, we put a huge emphasis on raising their profile and the associated benefits for any clients working with us who will enjoy their expertise. As others have said, this couldn’t be any less about our firm’s logo! We recognise people are approaching us for the individuals we employ, so promoting them is key.”
Robert Bean: “We too are updating our vision, purpose and values, to ensure we’re working with and promoting the great people looking after our clients. This means we are encouraging our team to set out our values – not the management board. Our team are also part of our AI focus group, looking at cyber tax and getting them involved so they are central to the development of our practice. This is key for us.”
Callum Macrae: “There’s no point in your CEO sitting in a room with the C-suite dictating how your people engage and behave. Instead, giving them a nurturing and inclusive culture so they progress and develop themselves is critical. I’m a real example of this; IRIS are open to me going out and finding opportunities, and really support me in doing this.”
Sabina Kirwan: “From Moneypenny’s point of view, I go back to us being a disruptive brand and the fact our people are a key differentiator for us; we empower them to do the right thing on our clients’ behalf. As we’ve grown, and now operate in the US, having brand guidelines is a requirement but, as Callum has said, focusing on the environment our people have to work in, and making sure they’re happy, ultimately ensures the best service possible for our clients.
How successful can niching be for firms, by focusing on a particular industry sector and becoming the expert?
Thomas Birch: “I think you can and should specialise, even if you’re not a specialist accountancy firm, because it’s a really good way to differentiate yourself.”
Callum Macrae: “It’s really about knowing your audience. We’re split into three verticals at IRIS: accountancy, education and HCM (Human Capital Management). From here, it’s about segmentation, so we work really hard in our marketing team to make sure that if we’re sending a message to a small accountancy firm versus a large, they get the appropriate message that is relevant to them.”
Sabina Kirwan: “With so many sectors and sizes of businesses as part of our client portfolio, we lean into our business development teams, as they know our audience really well. It’s about making sure we stick close to them, within brand guidelines, but trying to be as colourful as possible and really hone in on what we know resonates.”
Jo Edwards: “Presenting your brand in a way that highlights how you can support them goes beyond having one or two case studies. So, for example, a firm might identify an opportunity with charities. Think about ways to become immersed in that sector; who can be your charities expert? Be a conference speaker? Provide commentary and get involved in groups and social forums? Just double check: is it true? Is it relevant? And are there lots of other clients that will need these services?”
When it comes to knowing your audience, what role do demographics play and why should firms take an active interest understanding them?
Sabina Kirwan: “Understanding demographics is more important than ever in a post-pandemic world, where all age groups were forced to adopt new processes: from using Microsoft Teams to liaise with colleagues in our work lives, and live chat – even WhatsApp – to deal with utilities and banking at home. With this in mind, is your firm truly open for business? For example, live chat on a firm’s website may not appeal to the senior partners, but it’s worth noting 1 in 4 Generation Z now refuse to answer their mobile phone. Many firms ask juniors to answer overflow calls in the office; is this the best first impression you can be offering callers, when this demographic is the least comfortable on the phone? Keeping an open mind could be where your biggest differentiator actually lies.”
Callum Macrae: “TikTok has now replaced Google as the main search engine for Gen Z. Social media can seem a bit scary but it doesn’t have to be 30 second videos on TikTok all the time. It’s more about having a considered content strategy, even if that’s just for LinkedIn –it’s a great start. Older demographics inherently give more time to things, but younger generations are used to having media pushed at them at pace so it’s important to get this balance right.”
Thomas Birch: “In the recruitment and retention space, it’s important to be on the right platforms as well. Main business content will go out on our firm’s LinkedIn but then behind-the-scenes engagement content is put out on our Instagram. TikTok is a way to showcase the graduate programmes and apprenticeships we offer. We’re also working with our people to create more user-generated content because it’s all well and good our firm talking about itself, but essentially, we want our trainees to be showing the real behind the scenes of what it’s like to work at Price Bailey.”
For any growing accountancy firm, the pressure to ‘get on with the day job’ whilst also attracting and retaining clients is huge. Differentiation may seem a removed marketing concept that’s hard to justify with so many other competing priorities. However, done in the right way, a firm will not only be able identify its strengths, it can also go on to position itself with confidence, opening up niche markets and securing the best talent for the job.
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