Is Your Marketing Team Effective?
Source: Accounting Today
In this article, Debra Andrews looks at why marketing teams in accounting firms tend not to thrive. According to Andrews, a marketing team should have a significant positive impact on an accounting firm – bringing in new business leads, gaining more business from current clients, and enabling greater client loyalty.
However, this is not the case many times, and Andrews has compiled a list of possible reasons why accounting firm marketing teams struggle to succeed:
- Top executives in the firm just don't understand what marketing is or what the marketing department should achieve for the firm.
- The department does not have the full support of the senior leadership team. The MP and a few other executives might be on board, but the senior leadership group as a whole is not supportive. Perhaps some of them view marketing as a poor use of time and money. Eventually, the marketing department may be cut or the marketing professionals may become discouraged and quit fighting the uphill battle.
- There's no real marketing strategy. If the marketing professionals in a firm lack experience or don't know how to implement an overall marketing strategy connected to the firm's goals, the results of their efforts will be minimal.
- The firm doesn't know which type of marketing professionals to hire. Andrews points out there are many specialty areas within marketing, including “strategy, digital marketing, public relations, content, social media, design, search engine optimization and more.”
- The marketing department is virtually ignored and left to do its own thing. In reality, marketing professionals must be able to connect with the other departments, as well as collaborate with senior leaders and those who best understand clients' needs in order to align goals and maximize effectiveness.
For the complete article, read “Failing or Flailing: Why many marketing departments are in the red.”
From Accounting Today, March 8, 2015, www.accountingtoday.com.