Rather than trying to be all things to all people and attempting to appeal to the widest possible market, there is considerable merit in selecting a specific market and “drilling deep”.
If you choose the latter strategy and specialize in an industry or small number of industries, it’s critical that you determine the most effective strategies to reach those businesses within the industry or industries and make them aware of your services which you feel are unique. Some examples of specialized industries are law offices and independent truckers.
Strategies that should be considered include the following:
- Networking at industry related functions. This provides an excellent opportunity to meet industry people and exchange business cards
- Participating in industry association activities – e.g. trade fairs. Again, your participation will be noticed and you will have many opportunities to talk about your business and its specialization
- Write articles for industry trade magazines and ensure, wherever possible, that your photograph is included with the article along with your attribution highlighting your specialization in the industry
- Ask for referrals from existing clients to other industry members
- Develop a reputation for expertise in the particular industries involved and harness this reputation by speaking at industry meetings or conventions. You should take advantage of this situation by providing your own introduction which, needless to say, will highlight your specialization in the industry and, coming from somebody else, sounds more convincing
- Promote your unique selling proposition (USP) at every opportunity
It’s imperative that you discover a strategy to develop your unique brand and distinguish it from the competition.
In short you must focus on your unique selling proposition and ensure that as many potential clients as possible are aware of it.
Additional Marketing Training
Module 4 of our Professional Bookkeeper program, entitled “Building a Successful Accounting Service” describes other marketing methods to make your Accounting or Bookkeeping service grow!To see an overview of marketing concepts that the Professional Bookkeeper course will teach you Click HERE.
