Hey Gang!! Let’s Put on a Niche!!!

The Top 10 Ways That CPA, Consulting and Professional Services Get Successful at Niche Marketing

The other day I was having breakfast with the senior partner in charge of marketing at a regional accounting firm, and we were talking about niche marketing, and how inbound marketing for CPA firms builds the top lines for niche practices.

I could see his eyes glaze over, and assuming it was not an effect of bad oatmeal, I asked him how their firm had grown their niche practices. His reply went something like this:

Well, we got some business  and then we decided to see if we could get some more”

What popped into my mind was Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland putting their heads together and declaring, “Hey gang!! Let’s put on a niche!!”

It turns out that the firm had very little success in moving from wishful thinking to an active line of business, and it’s no wonder. The field for niche market practices is getting more and more crowded, and firms are realizing that in order to have a successful niche marketing program, there has to be an ever increasing level of funding and marketing/business development support.

CPA, consulting and other professional services firms that have niche practices need to find smart, innovative and measurable ways to differentiate the niche(s), get more leads, and generate more ROI from their niche marketing/business development efforts.

What Do Successful Firms Do?

Firms that are successful at niche marketing :

• Select  niches to enter only  after careful consideration, a comprehensive market research effort, and lots of due diligence

• Have a niche marketing strategy and plan, with actionable objectives, strategies and comprehensive integrated marketing tactics that focus on lead generation

• Have a dedicated marketing budget or a resource commitment from the firm to build the niche

• Have the right balance of 1:11 and  1:many marketing strategies and tactics

• Have a website that is adequate to the task of promoting and differentiating niche practices

• Have a inbound marketing strategy and plan in place to get found first by people searching online for solutions or answers related to your niche, including SEO, blogging, and social media strategies and  tactics

• Leverage the  thought leadership of partners and other niche subject matter experts  into a content marketing strategy for lead generation, building the brand, and building personal brands

• Have a niche-related social media strategy, with a focus on LinkedIn and use of LinkedIn groups

• Have a niche-specific lead nurturing strategy, process or tools that is automated and built on delivering the right type of content at the right point in the client/prospect relationship

• Analyze the metrics of niche marketing activities to determine what works, what doesn’t, and how to invest for even greater levels of ROI.

My friend David Wolfskehl, President of The Practice Building Team offers this great advice in his book, The Micro Niche Method:

“If you are willing to do the work and invest the effort, you can build a successful niche business that will significantly grow your practice. Take the time you need in making decisions. Do the research, learn what you need to learn, and market wisely” - The Micro-Niche Method, p. 89