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7/31/2019 Niche Marketing Plans 100708
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www.convergencecoaching.comCopyright ConvergenceCoaching, LLC 2000-2008All rights reserved.
Developing SuccessfulNiche Marketing Plans
Presented by
Tamera Loerzel and Michelle Baca
October 16, 2008
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Poll #1
What best describes your role in your
organization?
Partner, Owner or Niche Practice Leader Marketing Director or Manager
Marketing Coordinator
Business Development Manager
Other
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Agenda
Identifying your niche practice valueproposition and story
Identifying top brand and lead generation
strategies to grow your specialty practice Managing and measuring your marketing
activities
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Poll #2
What niches does your organization have in place? (check all that apply)
Specialty audits (i.e.. employee benefits, governmental, NPO, SEC, etc.)
Tax services (i.e.. planning, consulting, etc.)
Small business services (write up)
Management advisory or consulting services
Financial planning services Business valuation services
Industry specializations
Accounting or business management software
CRM
Security, privacy and/or disaster recovery planning Network services
Other accounting niche
Other technology niche
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Why Niche Marketing?
It enables you to: Leverage your firms core competencies
Focus your resources to maximize your return
Easily identify opportunities for vendor andalliance relationships
Definitively target clients best suited to use yourservices
Differentiate your firm with your clients,
community and competitors Focus your firm messaging and marketing
campaigns
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What Generates NicheSuccess?
Top-down commitment to your chosen niche,
with a willingness to invest resources in it
A clear market positioning for your niche and a
plan to develop the practice
In this forum, well focus on the market positioning and
planning aspects that can affect your niche practice success
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The 5 Ps of Marketing
Positioning- how youre going to define your placein the market
Product or Service - what youre going to offer
Price - how much youre going to charge foryour services
Place - who youre going to serve and where youllfind them
Promotion - the activities youre going to undertaketo drive interest in these services
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Positioning
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Niche Market Positioning
For this session, well assume that you have
defined your firms mission, vision and values
These provide the foundation for your niche
practice positioning
Then define your firms core competencies and
competitive differentiators within your nichepractice
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Identifying YourNiche Competencies
Conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
Strengths and weaknesses are internal or aboutyour firm
Opportunities and threats are external or about
your environment (The Three Cs)
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SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
Adapted from Boone & Kurtzs
Contemporary Marketing
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Competencies?
Strengths and Weaknesses Leadership
Organization management, culture, image
Staff skills/specializations, availability of resources Processes marketing, sales, service delivery, alliances
Quality methodologies, CPE, referenceability
Infrastructure systems, programs
Financial performance
Prospect and referral source potential
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Opportunities andThreats The 3 Cs Clients: What does your target market look like? What
sort of referral source potential do you have? Are there
any existing clients you can offer this service to without
conflict?
Community: Whats happening with your vendors or
alliance partners? Is anything happening related to this
service in your geography? Whats happening with
legislation or your vendors? Competition: How well do you know your
competition? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
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Know Your Competitors
What are your competitors doing in your niche? Do they have web pages, a brochure, other brand materials in this area
that can give you a sense of their positioning?
It is easy to gain information!
Focus first on hard facts
Web site, brochures, associations, etc.
Then gather softer information from your network of contacts Vendors, clients who chose you over them, former staff
Your intention is to gain information that will enable you to create a
differentiating positioning for your niche
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Poll #3
Please check the statement that most applies to your
organizations knowledge about your primary niche
competitors:
We conduct annual research about our niche competitors and
share it with the team
We gain anecdotal information word of mouth about our
niche competitors and sometimes share it with our team
We dont conduct research about our niche competitors or pay
attention to what theyre doing in our niche I dont know if we conduct research about our niche competitors
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Create RallyingMessages
Develop your niches marketing strategy,including your niche: Mission, vision and values Strengths
Competitive advantages and chosen positioning Create rallying messages for your niche
Statements that you can use to position yourself asdifferent or unique
They become the foundation or theme throughoutyour niche story
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Include Featuresand Benefits Features include the list of products and
services you offer They are the facts about who you are, what
you do and how you work Benefits articulate the difference that you
will make in your clients lives andbusinesses They answer the WIIFM question Whats in it
for me? or So what?
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Sample Features, Benefitsand Rallying Messages With over X years of experience performing
employee benefit plan audits, we presently auditthe plans of over XX firms.
We plan and execute our audits in a way thatmaximizes audit efficiency and quality and weprovide your plan administrator and humanresources personnel with confidence in their planreporting and management.
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Sample FirmFeatures and Benefits We offer both accounting and technology
services
Our goal is to enhance your competitive abilityand increase your financial performance throughthe implementation of tailored technology andbusiness management solutions.
Our group specializes in CRM
Because of our expertise in both CRM applicationsand business and sales processes, were able toprovide you with confidence and peace of mindthat well apply best practices to enhance yourcustomer processes that will increase your client
satisfaction and retention
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Understanding PromotesCredibility When creating your niche messaging, ensure youre
credible by:
Speaking your niche targets language verbally and in writing,
in all aspects of our relationship
Offering solutions that are tailored to your niche targets
business
Understanding your niche targets key pain points and business
processes
Being aware of unique regulations they may be subject to Knowing what their specific timing issues are
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Methods For Gaining AnUnderstanding
To learn about your niche, consider:
Surveying or interviewing clients or key prospects in
your chosen niche
Subscribing to niche publications get your news
from the place they get theirs
Joining niche associations
Attending niche conferences and CPE opportunities --- get your education where they get theirs
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Educate Others
Take the time to educate your niche team
members in depth
Share important messaging ideas andlanguage with your marketing team
Or vice versa, have the marketing team
share these thoughts with service deliverypersonnel
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Place
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Defining YourNiche Strategy
Define your ideal target client for the service by:
Size
Type of business
Driving need Geography
Culture
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Heres Where Place Fits!
Determine where you will find and how youll reachyour ideal target clients
Within your existing clients (unless youre conflicted out under
independence rules)
Referral sources and other CPA firms Trade conferences
Publications
Associations
And their constituencies or lists Social Networking Groups
LinkedIn, Plaxo
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Promotion
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Next, youll need to identify what
brand positioning, brand marketing,and lead generation activities youll
undertake
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Niche BrandPositioning Activities Write your niche story and elevator pitch
Allow your clients to speak for you
Develop a section of your firms Web site that is
dedicated to your niche
This helps increase the credibility of your offering
Create a high-quality printable PDF that tells
your niche story Include client testimonials and success stories
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Niche BrandPositioning Activities Incorporate your niche story into your firms:
Newsletters and Web site
Brochures and advertisements
Proposals PPT templates
Client and prospect letters and other templates
Employee handbooks
In addition, use certifications or logos in theabove and your letterhead and business cards
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Brand MarketingActivities Choose (or reaffirm) the activities that are most
in-line with your niche positioning and ideal
target client profiles:
Advertising Public relations press, community outreach,
sponsorships
Article writing
Public speaking
Networking and alliance development
Trade conferences
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Lead GenerationActivities Choose (or reaffirm) the activities that are most
in-line with your firms positioning and ideal
target client profiles:
Surveys
Direct mail
Teleprospecting
Seminar marketing Lunch and learns
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Poll #4
Advertising
Public relations press,community outreach,sponsorships
Article writing
Public speaking
Networking and alliancedevelopment
Referral sources
Trade conferences
Surveys
Direct mail Teleprospecting
Seminar marketing
Lunch and learns
Internal networking with
partners Other client cross selling
activities
Other
Which brand or lead generation marketing activities doyou find most successful in marketing your niche? (checkall that apply)
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Organizing Your NicheActivities By target audience
Your firms staff
New clients
Where to find them by activity list sources, etc.
Referral sources
Existing clients if you do not feel you would be conflicted
out
By activity type (brand or lead generation)
By month
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Niche Marketing Plans
Create a (simple!) niche marketing plan thatincludes:
Positioning and target market
Strategy Tactics and marketing activities
Marketing team, including a subject matter expert
Infrastructure requirements
Performance goals Budget requirements
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Niche Marketing PlanAccountability
Assign one owner For the marketing calendar
For the marketing plan
Meet regularly to review the calendar
with all marketing activity owners
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Your Niche MarketingPlan is a Living Document Update it as you progress or business needs
change its not set in stone!
Also add new activities or strategies as they arise
Discern patterns of success and also areas thathavent produced the results you intended
Use it to manage your niche marketing
investments and future marketing plans Use it as a reporting tool to track ROI
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Next Steps
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Next Steps
Identify and document your niche strategies your corecompetencies, competitive differentiators and rallyingmessages in writing
Document your firms brand positioning and ideal target
clients in your plan Choose which brand positioning, brand marketing, and
lead generation activities youll undertake this year
Determine the audience that each activity will address,
the objective, timing, owner, cost, and other elements inyour marketing calendar
Communicate your plans and outcomes internally
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Thank you!
Contact us at anytime!
Tamera Loerzel
tamera@convergencecoaching.com
952.226.1780
Michelle Baca
michelle@convergencecoaching.com505.217.2094
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Marketing Tools and Resources
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Resources
Association for Accounting Marketing http://www.accountingmarketing.org/required_rea
dingCat.asp?readCat=Niche%20Marketing%20zxc%20Target%20Marketing
ConvergenceCoaching, LLC
www.ConvergenceCoaching.com
Contemporary Marketingby Louis Boone and
David Kurtz Management by Bartol & Martin
Marketing Management by Peter Dickson
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Resources
List Brokers
Dunn & Bradstreet at www.dnb.com
InfoUSA at www.infousa.com Melissas Lists
Chamber of Commerce
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Resources
AICPA http://www.aicpa.org/ebpaqc
http://www. aicpa.org/tax
AICPAsMarketing:Successful Strategies for CPA Firms and
Successful Selling Strategies for CPA Firms self-study videocourses For more information or to order, visit www.cpa2biz.com
Marketing Toolkit
http://www.aicpa.org/Professional+Resources/Public+Accounting+Firm+Resources/CPA+Marketing+Toolkit/
eMAP - the electronic MAP Handbook For more information or to order, visit www.cpa2biz.com
http://www.brs-inc.com/marketing_plan.aspRecommended