If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, How Do You Know How to Get There?

The essential first step for any growth strategy.

by Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

Because an accounting firm’s marketing program must do more than accumulate clients, and because it must function in a dynamic world that’s constantly in flux, an effective marketing program can’t be a static list of activities that use a static list of marketing tools.

More Professional Services Marketing 3.0 by Bruce W. Marcus:

— Eight Tips for Staying One Step Ahead of the Competition (And Maybe the Client, Too)
— Nine Things We Know For Sure about How to Grow an Accounting Firm
— The CPA’s Castle Is Crumbling
— My Address in Space: The Dynamics of Change at Accounting Firms
— Six Quick Reasons Why CPA Firms Will Never Be The Same
— 14 Steps to Find the Right “Value Price”
— It’s Not Just Accounting Anymore. Today, Everyone’s in Marketing

Instead, It must have clear objectives that are flexible enough to accommodate the dynamic nature of the market. It must focus on specific aspects of a practice, predicated on the distinctive needs of each aspect of the prospective clientele. For example, a marketing program to attract high asset individuals is different from one to attract corporations. A program to attract real estate developers is different than one to attract builders.

Posted on July 30, 2012

Bruce W. Marcus

About the Author

Bruce W. Marcus remains a pioneer in the modern practices of professional services marketing even after his death in 2014 at age 89. He is the author of the seminal work, Professional Services Marketing 3.0, published by CPA Trendlines. The Association for Accounting Marketing named a lifetime achievement award in his honor.

Hall of Fame: The Association for Accounting Marketing Award, named in honor of Bruce W. Marcus.

In 1951 (with a degree in Economics and Philosophy), he joined the then-Big Eight accounting firm, Peat Marwick Mitchell to establish the firm’s library, where he developed an article writing and seminar program that successfully promoted the firm’s reputation.

He has served as a public relations and marketing executive or consultant to most of the international accounting firms, and many large and small law firms.

His book, Competing For Clients (1986) was one of the first to delineate the new practices of professional services marketing, followed by more than a dozen books on professional services marketing, real estate marketing, investor relations, and international accounting standards.

His first newsletter, The Marcus Report (1986), was followed by the award-winning www.marcusletter.com in 1995 — one of the longest-running letters on marketing for lawyers and accountants.

He served on the editorial boards of several leading professional services publications, a contributor to many publications, and has been a keynote speaker at major conferences.

He taught one of the first courses in professional services marketing at the Fordham University Graduate School of Business, and lectures frequently at the Fordham University Law School.

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