Reputation Marketing - Being Known as the Best Firm in Town
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Reputation means everything in business because it impacts your marketing and lead generation, referrals, pricing, and even staffing. Every aspect of your reputation impacts client acquisition, onboarding new clients, client retention, and your ability to attract the best staffers.
Locally, I'm sure you have a sense of the best providers locally. Everything from the best lawyer, doctor, dentist, architect, restaurant, mechanic, and home builder. Even the best pizza shop and bagel joint in town. And yet, very few accountants incorporate reputation marketing into a strategy for improving their business results. Or said another way, they stick their head in the sand and hope (maybe pray) their clients will do their marketing for them.
Despite how fundamental this principal is, accountants seldom develop a strategy for ensuring they are perceived as the best accounting firm in town. Rather than being reactive, we recommend that you take a proactive approach to reputation marketing.
Brand Image
Proactive reputation management impacts all aspects of your brand image.
- Brand awareness
- "Perceived" quality of your service
- Lead generation
- Higher close rates on new prospects
- Supports higher pricing
- Brand loyalty
- Supports advisory services (cross sells for value added services)
- Attracts better staff
Reputation Marketing Process
Proactive reputation marketing starts with favorable reviews in Google and Yelp. Lots of glowing
reviews designed to elevate your search engine optimization, elevate your website visibility,
increase your lead generation, and protect your branding for many years.
Here's what we mean:
Google My Business and Yelp profile optimization - Properly setting up your profiles in Google and
Yelp is an art. Following their process for images, hours of operation, and description will
impact your verification process.
Understanding differences between Google and Yelp Reviews - There are distinct differences between
Google and Yelp reviews. If you have several reviews stuck within Yelp's filter (which don't get
displayed), you know what I mean.
Scaling Up Google Reviews - While personally asking clients for online reviews is ideal, it is
painfully slow. Build Your Firm's Content Marketing in a Box service scales this process up so you
can get quick wins before personally asking clients for Google and Yelp reviews.
BizPayO - Build Your Firm's automated payment system conveniently captures payment from existing
clients and then asks clients for online reviews in Google.
Awards and Validation - Prominently displaying awards on your website is an effective way to
support your best firm in town reputation. Within the accounting industry, the awards are Clutch, Expertise, and Top 3.
In fact, we often position these awards above the fold (top half of home page).
Content Creation and Posting - BYF's Content Marketing in a Box service posts articles and videos
onto your blog, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. The content covers tax, accounting and best
practice information for small business owners. The combination of articles along with video
supports your accounting service and raises brand awareness.
Email Newsletter - Another branding aid supporting your practice.
Responding to Online Reviews - While it is impossible to please everyone, responding to favorable
and unfavorable reviews will improve your organic search engine optimization. Responding in a
timely manner, acknowledging positive comments, and apologizing when appropriate does pay
dividends.
Your Reputation Is Only As Strong As Your Weakest Link
While your online reputation is only as strong as your weakest link, proactively managing your
reputation clearly influences the "perceptions" of your firm and provides an insurance policy for
the occasional bad review.
If you want help with reputation management, I highly recommend BYF's Content Marketing in a Box
