Eight Tips on Getting Your Niche Practice Started

What are you waiting for?

by Jean Caragher
Capstone Marketing

There are many success factors critical to the effective implementation of your strategic market plan. The more of these factors that exist within your firm, the more likely the plan will succeed.

These factors include:

1. Active support from the managing partner or director. The managing partner or director must support the strategic market plan with time, dollars and personal commitment.
2. Commitment to and ownership of the plan by the entire group that will be responsible for its implementation. Without total commitment, it is easy for your strategic market plan to fall off course and things to return to “business as usual.” Hold monthly meetings to review the progress of each niche group. This will help keep your efforts on track.
3. One person who will be the “driver” of the plan. This is the person who makes sure the plan stays on schedule. Your firm’s marketing director is an excellent candidate to fill this role.
4. The group who will be the visionary force behind the plan. This is the group that provides the overall view and much of the input in developing the objectives and strategies. It should consist of one or two technical partners who are knowledgeable in the industry, assigned staff members and a marketing-oriented partner or marketing professional.
5. An internal marketing awareness and mind-set within the firm. It is important for everyone in your firm to understand the purpose of your strategic market plan and to be knowledgeable about the services offered by your firm and the promotional materials available to market these services. Share your goals in firm meetings and internal publications. Explain the why and how of your goals and what they mean to each individual in the firm. Everyone in your firm is a potential salesperson; everyone needs to know what they are selling.
6. Integrated marketing tools. Analyze how the various marketing tools will work together. The goal is to maximize all the marketing opportunities by selecting the best marketing mix. Marketing tools include but are not limited to brochures, websites, proposals, newsletters, seminars, webinars, speeches, direct mail, e-mail, blogs, telemarketing, news releases, articles with bylines, media interviews, advertising, sponsorships organization memberships, surveys and mixers with clients, prospects and referral sources. When developing a niche, it is important to gain name recognition. Brochures, Web sites, newsletters organization memberships, advertising, sponsorships and news releases can help you do that. Seminars, Webinars, speeches and mixers can help you generate leads, if you are better known in the marketplace.
7. Project management tools. This is a system to track the status of your plan’s implementation and budget. This system can be a simple as a spreadsheet outlining the specific activities and deadlines of your plan and the date on which each activity was accomplished. You’ll also want to track the expenses incurred including promotional materials, CPE, entertainment, seminars and advertising to ensure that you stay within budget. Be sure to communicate this within your firm on a regular basis.
8. A recognition and reward program. These will differ from firm to firm. Determine what kind of program will work best with your people and culture. An Atlanta-based CPA firm initiated a recognition and reward program. A marketing activities list was developed and points assigned for each activity. Each level of personnel, from administrative staff to shareholders, was assigned quarterly and annual point goals. Monthly, quarterly and annual prizes were awarded. Plus, at year end, those who had achieved their minimum annual point goals were eligible to earn redemption credits, which could be used to claim additional prizes. Not only did the firm achieve nearly 15 percent growth, the recognition and reward program encouraged an increase in marketing activity. Recognition and reward programs can be as simple or elaborate as the firm sees fit. In addition to offering monetary bonuses for new clients, firms may offer other prizes like dinners or tickets to a concert or show. Recognition can be given in the firm’s internal newsletter and on signs and plaques hung in the office. In his book, 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, Bob Nelson offers many other suggestions including parking spaces, movie passes and electronic equipment in addition to offering guidance on developing recognition and reward programs.

So there you have it. Eight tips on getting your niche practice started. What are you waiting for?

Caragher is a partner with CPA Trendlines in the Seven Keys to Successful CPA Firm Management. This article is excerpted from one that appeared in the AICPA Insider, which was excerpted from Bull’s Eye: The Ultimate How-to Marketing Guide for CPAs. You can purchase this product on CPA2Biz.com.

Posted on August 16, 2011