I've been asked why I have a number of different blogs and websites. It's not something I would encourage many people to do so perhaps it's worth explaining my thinking. I accept it could be flawed, but bear with me. Firstly let me stress that in all of my writings for professional advisers (eg: on
I love a blog post written by Paul Simister on his 'Differentiate your business' blog. He explains that Yellow Pages Bingo is a game for checking that your marketing hasn’t fallen into the trap of being too similar to your competitors. And he then reveals the results of playing the game with accountants in central
Years ago, it was quite common for people to use a hard copy Yellow Pages directory to find an accountant. This concept has all but died out now. It's also less common to hear that anyone has approached an accountant because they remembered they saw an ad in the local paper (or anywhere else). Far
Last month the Independent Association of Accountants Information Technology Consultants (IAAITC) announced the results of its survey on the effective use of the Internet by UK accountancy firms. The two specific issues considered by the survey were the effective promotion of firms' websites and their use of email for communicating with clients. The key word
I regularly find myself sharing my views on this topic so I thought it would be helpful to include in one place all of my previous posts on related issues: Websites for professional firms (part one) - what messages does your site need to communicate? Websites for professional firms (part two) - who are the
I came across this question recently on a general business forum and offered my view which I have adapted below for ambitious professionals. I'd be interested in what conclusions others have reached. In my experience very few firms have even considered the point. I can only recall one occasion when I have seen specific reference
I introduced this topic in four previous postings on this blog. Parts one and two introduced the subject and in part three I explained one simple way for ambitious professionals to obtain testimonials. In part four I explained how to choose which testimonials to use. In this final posting in this series I want
I've addressed this topic in three previous postings on this blog. Parts one and two introduced the subject and in part three I explained one simple way for ambitious professionals to obtain testimonials.In practice such testimonials will not always be immediately suitable to incorporate in your marketing literature. In this fourth part of the
I don’t remember when I first learned about the power of testimonials in the context of professional services. It was probably about twenty years ago – long before it became common place. For many years I have encouraged accountants to collect testimonials and to use them for marketing purposes. I explain to the accountants
A few weeks ago I posted the first of my observations and advice concerning websites for professional firms. When I consult with ambitious firms I invariably check out their websites beforehand. Some are good. Some are lousy. Some don't exist and some are almost indistinguishable from those of other firms who have bought the same
I recently posted an item here entitled: How to present your firm more effectively. I've since noted a related discussion on Dennis Howlett's AccMan blog concerning the importance or otherwise of your firm's website. Dennis seems to be of the view that the quality of a firm's website is almost irrelevant as what distinguishes one
