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A marketing strategy does not operate in a vacuum. The marketing strategy should flow from the overall business aims and goals.
A market segment is a group of customers who share one or more common characteristics, are distinct from the rest of the market, and will react to the market in similar ways.
This is the most important part of the marketing strategy and is unique to each industry.
Accounting and marketing do not always mix well. One discipline could be viewed as saving money, the other with wasting it. However, that does not have to be the case.
Smart, targeted and persuasive marketing can yield very attractive returns, especially as an accountant who is trying to attract new clients. Like all professionals, we are to close to the details.
What we see as critically important, our audience probably has little to no understanding of the differences. This is why it is so important that we remember that what we think is important may not be import to our prospects.
Our challenge is generate the right leads, and that can be tough when people aren't sure what they need. This is where market segmentation comes into play. It help us to narrow our focus to a core a high potentials.
It allows you to answer which client is best suited for you or your firm? It provides a means by which to identify them. Finally, it help us craft the right message to convince them to work with us.
When choosing the right target market, it has to have these three key elements
It is important to clearly define the market at the appropriate level. You do not want it to be too broad as to be meaningless, nor too narrow so that it isn’t viable. This target selection matrix may help. Depending on the type of business or clients that you choose, you may need to add a 3rd filter to upper right hand quadrant of this grid, which is the ability to meet it profitably. This is true for all businesses, but some like accountin and law face unique challenges. Depending on your practice there may be more need, but it cannot be serviced without a loss.
The classic definition of a persona is the public face a person presents. It’s a role they play. This isn’t a real person, per se, but he or she is relatable and believable. A persona is an archetype – based on observed patterns and behaviors, not a stereotype – a simple reduction without a basis in fact. This may seem like an odd construct to an attorney, where you are unlikely to be advertising to the masses. It may be easier to think of this in terms of your average client. You can gain the same insights into their behavior by asking them some questions about what drove them to choose you.
An insight is an expression of the emotional need of the target, which, when met, has the power to change the target’s behavior.
In order to gain insight into emotional needs, we need to understand how he or she handles the problem we are trying to solve. We can gain insight through social listening and sentiment analysis. In an accounting firm's case, it is probably more personal. You may want to have a chat with some of your more loyal clients and seek to understand what emotions are driving them to stay, trust, success, protected, etc.
Connecting & meeting the need usually requires some testing. We can use social media sites as the reaction is quick and its effect is short. We would test to gauge which need statement connects the most. This can also be done informally by sitting down with your current or previous client and watching how the respond to what you say.
Changing behavior is visible in our results. Did our social test get more likes or reactions? Did we increase click through? Did they react to our landing page as expected? Here too, you could look for body language in your small group or one on one conversations.
Positioning put the brand in a competitive context in a way that highlights the brand’s unique point of difference.
Is a theoretical customer journey from the moment of brand awareness to the point of action, purchase, or post-purchase. The funnel can have many entrance points, meaning people can enter, leave, or enter again at any stage. Therefore, the marketing process in non-linear
Awareness is where we make our introduction. It’s where we show that we understand their emotional need. In this stage, they may not have realized or articulated it.
We show them how we uniquely solve it. This is not a hard push toward a close. It is just to get them to move forward one step
The target has awareness of our and the need to solve their issue. Here we are more focused on our features and benefits. We show them how we uniquely solve it. Since it is another step closer to action, we do start to suggest a close.
This is the close. It is the final point before the target takes action. Here we are focused precisely on unique benefits and can offer incentives to reduce the barrier to taking the final step.
A marketing strategy does not operate in a vacuum. The marketing strategy should flow from the overall business aims and goals. All of your marketing efforts then tie back to your marketing strategy.
When choosing the right target market, it has to have these three key elements
It is important to clearly define the market at the appropriate level. It should not be too broad, nor too narrow. The target selection matrix was designed to tool [link matrix] to help you.
The classic definition of a persona is the public face a person presents. It’s a role they play. The persona is the personification of the target market.
An insight is an understanding of both the rational and emotional needs of the target.
Positioning is a means of communicating your point of difference within a competitive context.
The marketing funnel may have many stages, but they can generally be collapsed into three. The top of the funnel, which is associated with awareness. The middle of the funnel, which is tied to engagement, and the bottom of the funnel, which is linked with taking action.
Digital Marketing for Accountants provides a holistic overview of all the digital media marketing mix.