I was approached by the marketing manager of an accountancy firm that specialized in major projects for construction companies. She was keen, after working by herself for some time, to undergo a marketing review. She didn’t know what she didn’t know and wanted to understand how to make the most of digging deeper into the existing client base that they had as well as increasing the brand presence of the firm.

Where are they in their marketing journey?

I undertook a marketing review process with the managing partner and the marketing manager. We covered all aspects from business development to general marketing. This enabled me to get a feel for where they are in the marketing journey and their experience. I was also able to have individual sessions with each of the partners in the business which enabled me to get a clearer picture of the marketing activity that was happening on a monthly basis across all practice areas.

Building in Business Development

From my review process, I had three key recommendations:

• To focus on building a culture of business development in the accountancy firm;
• Use the partner’s LinkedIn profiles to build brand awareness and cultivate relationships with clients; and
• Create a key account tiering system to make sure that their best clients were being looked after properly.

I knew from our planning meeting that the accountancy firm was keen to mine deeper into the relationships that they already have ( it’s easier to sell to people that you know!) so having a more robust key account planning process seemed the most sensible way forward.

Continuing to work with them on a marketing retainer

After the review work was completed I was then brought on to support the marketing manager on a monthly retainer to help her implement the suggestions that I had made, train her in areas that she needed refreshment in and be a second opinion on some of the marketing issues that she was facing.

It was great working with this firm as they are very open-minded and made the changes that I recommended quickly. From feedback their marketing channels are now working really well for them, they have a great branded social media process, their thought leadership campaigns are having more bang for their buck and the regular BD meetings with the team are really helping to focus activity!