branding guide for tax pros

Transcription

1 by Your Business Matters the branding guide for tax pros how to grow your tax business by building a powerful brand

2 What s in this guide? What branding means Why branding matters in your tax practice How to define your brand How to implement your brand 1

3 Table of Contents What is branding? Finding your brand Finding your personality Knowing your audience Utilizing your staff Creating your brand identity Establishing an online presence Direct marketing Getting started 1

4 Many assume that branding is simply designing a logo and putting it on your business card, maybe some letterhead or even a website. But it s so much more than that. First, let s backtrack and understand exactly what needs to go into play before you can even think about a logo. what is branding? You may take the word branding and throw it directly to a graphic designer. All you need is a good logo, and you can carry on, focusing your time on what really matters working hard for your clients, right? Wrong. There is a planned, strategic process to branding. Branding is often mistaken for brand identity. Brand identity is your logo, colors, tagline, and company name. Brand identity is your look. Branding, however, is your company s direction, purpose, beliefs and intent. You need branding to make a name for yourself in the industry, which takes time, but is critical to your success. It increases your visibility in the marketplace. And once you have a solid brand for your tax firm, you can use it to deliver a consistent message in everything you do. You have to be able to fully understand your brand before you can think about your brand identity. 1

5 finding your brand First, you need to define your brand. Why should a client choose you to be their most trusted advisor? Why should they trust you? Branding differentiates you from your competitors. It is a promise that you keep to your existing and potential clients, business partners and employees. Effective branding promotes you from being one commodity among many of the same, to being something with a unique character and guarantee. The first and most important factors to consider in your brand are your promise, your purpose and your story. These 3 factors define who you are, and why you exist as a company. promise Your brand promise is what you promise your customers they will receive when they do business with you what you re giving them in terms of product, service and customer experience. It s what makes you different, why you re doing it and how you re going to present it. But, is that all? Creating a catchy promise that has appeal for target clients? Nope. Your brand promise represents the value you will deliver to your clients in order to earn their loyalty. It drives all of the company s actions and investments in people, processes, products, technology and delivery. You need to create the promise, own the promise, and continuously strive to meet the promise. 2

6 purpose This one s easy. What products and services do you offer? Who do you offer them to? What is your unique value; how do your clients benefit from your services, and how are you different from your competitors? For example, do you want to be the tax firm that does as many tax returns as possible as quickly as possible and stays open 18 hours a day, 7 days a week during tax season? Or do you want to work with a select few clients that share your beliefs and know you re going to give them the highest level of personal service you can? Both businesses have a purpose and both unique purposes have a direct effect on their brand. What kind of tax business are you going to be? story What s the first thing you do when you meet someone new? You ask them questions to unveil their story. Questions like, Where are you from? or, What kind of work do you do? Knowing someone s story is the core of connecting with them. Stories make things interesting. Therefore, brand storytelling makes your brand interesting. 3

7 A brand story is made up of the company s history, mission, inspiration, goals, audience, and reason for existence. How you got into the tax business, why your products or services are special, what you re passionate about, your company culture, how you make people s lives better, and why you would do business with your company these are all part of your story. Can t figure out how to tell your story? A simple way to start is to create a timeline for your company.... If you can identify these 3 factors, then you are well on your way to developing a strong brand. If you re having trouble answering these questions, it s time to brainstorm. Take a survey among your staff and business partners. Ask your existing clients why they chose you and what your strengths are. Take a minute to step back and see the big picture why did you start your tax practice? There s a reason, and even if you have to dig deep to remember why, knowing is the first and most important step to developing your brand. finding your personality Now, it s time to find your personality. A brand s personality is defined as a set of human characteristics associated with the name of a product, service or company. Basically that means you need to personify your brand. 4

8 Take Apple for example. Apple used a simple contrast in personalities to make one of the most popular commercial campaigns ever. PC is gray, corporate, drab, frumpy, reserved, and dispassionate. Mac is hip, individualistic and scrappy. People personify things to familiarize themselves. You will have to use this tactic in your branding to let people know who you are. Make a list of adjectives commonly used to describe people s personalities (you can find a good starter list here). Have staff and management rank and rate these attributes. Are you: conservative urban casual serious big stylish outspoken predictable simple or progressive outdoorsy professional whimsical small practical reserved surprising intricate Your brand needs to stay true to who you are, so don t be afraid to include things that come to mind when describing yourself. What you re after is an accurate picture of who you are, not what you think sounds appealing. 5

9 Once you get some real feedback on your personality, you can use that data to identify traits that you want to carry over into your business persona. Remember, people respond best when you re being genuine. People hate fake. Taking a full inventory of all the different aspects of your personality can be scary, but when you find the traits that are most in-tune with who you really are, you can start resonating with clients that will appreciate the personality you express through your business. knowing your audience It s important to know who you ll be talking to, and the likely reasons why clients will choose you. Make sure to also identify your audience s likes, dislikes and behavioral patterns when developing or reshaping your brand personality. For example, as a tax and financial advisor, your brand is naturally meant to be informative and service oriented. Therefore, you will have to be somewhat cautious and maintain an authoritative tone to be taken seriously and not alienate your clients. However, you are also their trusted advisor. They wouldn t be your clients if they didn t trust you. Since clients financial advisors tend to know them better than their closest friends, you have greater freedom to explore tone and humor in your voice. Your voice forms your personality, too. Your voice is the verbal part of your brand presentation: the words you use, the tone your copywriting takes, the way you answer the phone and the style of your letters. 6

10 utilizing your staff Your employees are probably the most underestimated brand assets your tax business has. Your staff understands your brand, and can become messengers of your brand s message. Convert your employees into brand evangelists instead of ordinary employees. Here s why: If they understand and agree with your brand, they can help you deliver a more consistent message. They will talk to friends and associates about the brand with more passion and confidence, building your brand inside and outside of work. They will become more committed to your company if you provide them with a purpose. To engage your employees in this process and start promoting your brand, here are a few ideas to start the process: Survey your employees. Conduct a blind survey on the best and worst things about your firm. Insights into inefficient processes, client satisfaction issues and teamwork issues are key. Ensure the management team understands your brand and will represent it, inside and outside of work. Reward them for it. Recognize those in the company that make significant contributions to the success of your new brand. 7

11 creating your brand identity Now that you ve defined your purpose, promise, story and personality, you re ready to communicate that visually through your brand identity. Your brand identity, as mentioned in the beginning of the guide, is your look. Your look needs to be consistent in everything you produce. And the first thing you need to produce is your logo. logo Your logo is the most important visual component to your business. It can be made up of text only (your company name), an image only (like the Nike swoosh ) or a combination of the two. As a small business, it is best to start out with a combination logo. This increases the memorability of your brand, because a viewer sees an image and the name of your brand with it. This text-to-image association could lead to an image-only logo in the future for larger companies, when the brand is eventually recognized from the image alone. If you choose to include an image in your logo, make sure that the image clearly defines what you do as a company. Having an image that is irrelevant to what you do can cause confusion and attract the wrong clientele. 8

12 Your colors and fonts should reflect your personality. Deep colors and fonts like Times New Roman demonstrate more of a serious personality, while bright colors and Sans Serif fonts like Arial hit a more playful note. marketing collateral Once you have your logo, take a look at your business cards, newsletters, brochures, letterhead, and any other materials you give out. These all need to be branded with your logo and brand colors. Consider working with a graphic designer to really make your materials stand out. establishing an online presence Your clients are online, and you need to be as well. Build an online presence through your website, social media, and even a blog. website Any successful tax firm needs to have a website. Period. This increases your credibility and allows you to conduct business and market online. There are countless possibilities for your tax business when you implement a website as a part of your brand. Take the following into consideration: Promotional Items. Use your website to promote your products and services. Offer coupons or discounts for referrals or new clients. This can help you build new clientele. 9

13 Information Gathering Forms. If you re offering something online, like a free white paper or financial review, ask for a visitor s contact information first. You can follow up with those leads to get potential clients. Online Client Appointment Calendar. Having a website also enables your clients to make appointments online straight through your site, without you having to pick up the phone. Studies show that over 63% of tax clients would use an online appointment calendar if their tax professional had one. Having a convenient, online presence helps your company to stay relevant in the industry. It also makes life easier for your existing and potential clients, and helps you to reach a broader audience. social media Develop a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Consider adding a LinkedIn page and a Google Plus page as well. Your clients are doing it, and this is a great way to connect with them and other potential clients. start blogging Not only will it allow you to stay in touch, but you can market your accounting firm as a thought leader in the accounting and finance industry. Blog about relevant issues that will get your brand noticed. 10

14 direct marketing Direct mail marketing can be complicated, just like any other marketing. But there are really just three main principles you need to master to get great results: Size, design and list. size This principle has the biggest impact on the first impression you make with prospects. If you re sending out a postcard, the standard size is usually 4x6. But if you are in an unusually competitive market, you may need to go with a bigger size to get noticed in a full mailbox, filled with letters, bills, and possibly other advertisements. design To get the best marketing results, you need a marketing piece designed to differentiate yourself; to engage prospects interest, and turn them into a client. Your piece should always include: your brand a clear headline an eye-catching graphic your company s benefits an entitcing offer (discounts, a free e-file, referral bonus) a call to action your contact information 11

15 list Even the perfect marketing piece can t generate responses if you send it to the wrong mailing list. Your mail piece is a tool to convert quality prospects into leads, and leads into customers. If your prospects aren t qualified to take advantage of what you offer, they won t respond no matter how enticing your marketing looks. You have to find out who your ideal prospect is to be successful. Who are the types of people that need your service the most? Who makes up the majority of your current clientele? Then, get a targeted mailing list. To find a targeted list for your area, start with a Google search for mailing lists and data. The great thing about targeted mailing lists is you can target with high specificity. When it comes to direct mailing, start your campaign early. Getting a head start on your competition makes you much more likely to turn your prospects into clients. getting started You re ready to start building your brand now. Remember, If you don t brand yourself, someone else will, and the outcome might not be so favorable. Branding yourself keeps you current in your field, opens doors for you, and creates a lasting impression on potential and existing clients. By developing your own brand, you ll have control over the initial perception people have of you and attracting the clients you want will be so much easier

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