Social media for Accountants: an opportunity for publicity or a threat to your practice?

Martin Pollins, founder of Bizezia and a client of The Marketing Eye, shares his thoughts on the use of social media by professional services firms.

Earlier this month, Ryan Babel became the first Premiership footballer to be fined for 'inappropriate' use of his Twitter account. To bring this issue closer to home for the professional services community, accountant Paul Chambers lost his job and was fined £385 when he jokingly tweeted he would blow up an airport back in November 2010.

In their effort to keep up with the times, people launch themselves into using social media without any clear idea of 'why'. Accountants are no different. Paul Chambers' defence is evidence of the naivety still present when using social media, he said: "It did not cross my mind that Robin Hood (airport) would ever look at Twitter, or take it seriously, because it was innocuous hyperbole."

The fact is, people are taking it seriously, and this can work to your benefit as long as you approach it in the right way.

Mark Lee, former chairman of the ICAEW Tax Faculty, is now one of the most networked professionals in the UK. He runs 3 professional networks, has 3 blogs and has long been active on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, accountingweb and ecademy - he is living proof that it works

And accountants shouldn't believe that their clients and prospects don't use it, A

new study has shown that the over 50's are adopting social media faster than the younger generation and they are three times more likely than the average 50+ person to earn £50,000 or more.

Like anything new, there are a few things to remember when setting out. Here is a short list of do's and don'ts that should be considered before embarking on a practice social media account.

The list includes:

• Do set clear communication objectives and question whether your 'posts' are working towards them.
• Don't start a Twitter account, LinkedIn or Facebook page for your firm and then forget about it.
• Do communicate clearly and consistently
• Don't make spontaneous or ill-informed posts
• Do consider creating a social media policy.

Social media is both an opportunity and a threat, it just depends how you use it. Like any form of communication you need to have a clear objective in mind, communicate simply and stay consistent.

Notes

• Bizezia provides high quality website marketing applications and practice management tools to professional services firms. Bizezia's products are designed to make business easier and encourage people to to visit a firm's website through the provision of relevant and up-to-date content.

For business' sake - interest rates must stay low

With inflation at 3.7%, why is everybody starting to advocate increasing interest rates?

The inflation in the economy is cost-push, not demand-pull. Simply put, prices are going up because the cost of goods is going up - not because demand is running away with itself on the back of borrowed money. The important subtlety is that it is import costs - principally fuel and food - that are going up, not domestic ones.

The theory is that as you increase interest rates, speculators are encouraged to buy sterling and its value goes up. The relative cost of imports therefore goes down.

But hang on a minute. The £ will only rise sustainably on the back of underlying economic strength. If that underlying strength doesn't exist, the £ will remain under pressure and we will be caught up in a perilous spiral of rising interest rates in a vain attempt to shore it up.

Economic strength comes from a strong balance of payments and a healthy business sector that is creating employment and driving domestic demand.

The consequences of a rise in interest rates now would be catastrophic for the recovery: our resurgent export industry would be dealt a debilitating blow and people with mortgages would be forced to cut back. Businesses too would be saddled with an increased cost - slowing employment and forcing some to the brink.

To load a rise in interest rates on top of an increase in VAT, the rise in fuel duty and the impending increase in employees' NI, all in the same quarter, would be a particularly vindictive form of masochism.

Interest rates will have to go up at some point - we all accept that - but only when we have an excess of demand, which is not now.

Please folks, see sense. A bit of inflation in the economy today, when the causes are readily identified and the adjustment rationally explained, is a worthwhile price to pay when the alternatives are contemplated.

In search of the ‘real’ digital native

We live in a digital world, but are we natives or immigrants?

In the summer I wrote a blog post about Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants, explaining the theory and outlining some of the commonly held opinions and assumptions. Since then, I have performed primary research in the field and can now share some of my findings.

The intended outcome for the study was to discover the differences in generational use of digital technology, with the premise that the generation born before 1980 found it harder to adapt to new technology and therefore used it in less abundance.

To sum up all the questions asked by the study in one blog post is difficult, so I will concentrate on the main three:
1. Are the generational groupings correct and a valid demographic segmentation for marketers to use?
2. Are immigrants being undervalued by some businesses?
3. What is the role of attitude?

The findings
The research revealed ‘natives’ to be more active than ‘immigrants’ in a wide range of digital uses.

The ‘neo’ natives, those born after 1990, showed a wider range and more frequent use of digital media than the natives. With this in mind, the fundamental tenant of Prensky's theory appears to be correct.

Based purely on these facts, segmenting a market by digital domicile would appear to make sense to marketers.

Marketers must not, however, make the mistake of disregarding online marketing when targeting the immigrant generation.

The results showed that around 70% of immigrants use a range of digital technologies four times a week or more - not as often as the generations that follow them, but they were found to be the most frequent users of e-commerce. Online marketing therefore needs to be at the heart of any strategy that targets the older generations.

But how old is old? If Prensky’s age grouping is to be believed, the youngest immigrants will be in their early thirties and the oldest well past retirement. Further research is needed into the segmentation of the immigrant population, but they surely cannot all be banded together as one demographic.

The qualitative research offered up a form of segmentation other than age, ones' attitude and willingness to use digital technology. This is where we find the real difference between a digital native and an immigrant. We can all think of examples of keen adopters and staunch 'refuseniks' amongst our networks of friends and contacts, be it in the use of computers in general or particular applications, for example social media.

Natives have grown up with the technology, it has always been there, they don’t have to ‘try’ to use it, they just do. The research discovered that many immigrants were determined to use it, whether to talk to a family member on the other side of the world, or to order shopping and make life that little bit easier. These immigrants went out their way to learn.

Another interesting finding was that natives and neo-natives, having always had technology, do not appear to push their digital technology skills to their potential boundaries. Indeed the results indicated that only a handful of natives or neo-natives have knowledge of ‘advanced’ technology, such as writing HTML code or using applications such as Photoshop to a high standard. The immigrant is much more inclined to explore and discover new territories.

In conclusion, it still seems to makes sense to segment generational use of digital technology into immigrant and native as the academics suggest, but a level of sub-segmentation is needed too - both by age and attitude. Businesses and marketers need to take note of the immigrants' determination to use digital technology and also of the risks of assuming advanced skills in the native generation.

We would like to hear how people perceive themselves without the restriction of given age groupings. Do you think you are a native or an immigrant?

'Be prepared' - is the main advice for 2011 from The Marketing Eye

The Stock market has a Santa ride to a year-end high, interest rates remain low, inflation is above target, but not a major cause for concern, and manufacturing and exports are picking up.

So, what is there to worry about?

Well potentially, quite a lot. Expect an early adjustment to the stock market as soon as trading re-commences next week, interest rates will rise before the year is out and fuel will be more than 130p per litre by the time most of you read this. Hopefully, we won't have to add a series of strikes or, worse still, another General Election, to the obstacles we have to overcome during the year.

But this doesn't mean gloom and despondency.

Far from it. One of the first laws of good marketing practice is to understand your environment and if we go into the year suitably prepared for what is to come, we will have nothing to fear. As an old riding instructor once said: "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad kit".

2010 was a significant one for The Marketing Eye. We doubled our headcount, launched a PR business and consolidated our reputation in event management. While it looks as though we will miss our stretching turnover target by a small margin, we will still achieve 50% growth - no mean achievement in a culture where, historically, the first reaction to any sign of difficulty has been to cut the marketing budget.

We are very grateful to new clients and old for the trust they have placed in us and consider ourselves fortunate to have clients that see marketing and The Marketing Eye as part of the solution, not part of the problem.

To look back on earlier posts is always amusing and, fortunately, I seem to have avoided any grave embarrassment with my predictions for 2010.

Marketing budgets were indeed hard won and major projects were either cancelled or heavily diluted. The focus on ROI was sharp - as it always should be.

Businesses in the UK made good progress with social media. Twitter moved on from 'toe-in-the-water' dabbling to an accepted way of engaging with a community that continues to grow exponentially. The non-believers, however, remain abundant. The art is to be discerning with who you follow and to build your profile with a relevant audience. Note the use of the word 'relevant' here.

Facebook fan pages have come a long way, with personalised Facebook URL's now being common place in promotional material. The Marketing Eye is using Facebook for short news items - a rolling commentary on what is happening in the business - and finding a good fit for it within our overall communications strategy.

The marketing soothsayers are out in force with their predictions for 2011. Picking our way through them, our 'Big 5' tips are:

• Wake up to the reality of the 2012 Olympics. There will be more sport related references in marketing and sport sponsorship will become fashionable and effective. Lawyers will no doubt be busy advising on and defending against breaches of Olympic copyright.
  


• Make sure your website is fully accessible on mobile browsers. There will be an explosion in mobile marketing and if your website is not accessible on a smartphone, make sure it is by the end of the year. Mobile is another reason to join in with Twitter and Facebook as these are easily and regularly accessed via smartphone apps.
  


• Rein back on content generation. People are not reading reams of content online: instead, it is bite sized bulletins that can be consumed in downtime on smartphones that are needed. Be discerning in what you produce and who you send it to. - and don't forget to use PR to gain coverage in printed publications, radio and TV.
  


• Don't get too excited by geo-location networks. 4Square and its compatriots are touted as the 'next big thing', but have all the signs of being a fad. There will surely be a backlash against revealing personal locations as people realise they are only of benefit to advertisers.
  


• View marketing automation with healthy suspicion. Marketing automation gained ground as a buzzword in 2010, particularly in the US. Marketers must, of course, make use of all the technology at their disposal to increase the frequency and relevance of their communications. We sense, however, the same whiff of panacea as was promised by CRM systems in the 1990's. Any system is only as good as the information that is put into it and the people that access it. Marketing silver bullets will remain works of fiction. There will never be any substitute for an integrated and sustained programme of activity across a variety of media.
  

As well as paying heed to the foregoing, our 'be prepared' kit for 2011 will include even greater focus on client service to ensure we retain and reward the clients that we have; a new emphasis on making a contribution to the community in which we work, financial prudence to make sure we remain masters of our own destiny and a relentless commitment to building brand awareness in our core target markets.

On which note, may we wish you all a happy, successful and marketing led 2011.

Real Business #7 - Bishop's Services

Real Business is a series of posts that analyses the marketing opportunities and challenges of real businesses in the South East. The articles are also appearing in The Courier.

Bishop's Services Limited is the archetypal family business.

Like countless other men at the time, founder Ronald Bishop returned to civilian life at the end of the Second World War to find no job waiting for him so, in order to feed his growing family, he turned his hand to cleaning windows. What started out as a temporary expedient turned into a whole way of life. Without necessarily intending to, Ronald Bishop had taken the first tentative steps towards starting the business which today boasts an annual turnover of over £1 million.

Now 85 years old, Ronald Bishop has long been retired, having handed over the running of the business to his identical twin sons, John and Mark, who joined the family enterprise straight from school in 1970. In the intervening years, the business has evolved away from window cleaning into areas that are a logical extension of the company’s original activities. For example, nowadays office cleaning represents the backbone of the company’s workload which is focused very much on the business-to-business sector. Window cleaning work is still undertaken, but is now sub contracted to reliable people outside of the firm, while other services provided include carpet and upholstery cleaning, and wooden floor laying, fitting and renovation.

As part of a “one-stop” approach, the company will also undertake to deliver related supplies such as paper towels, toilet rolls and soap.

Still based in Crowborough, Bishops operates within a radius of around 30 miles with the bulk of the work coming from the Tunbridge Wells, Uckfield and East Grinstead areas. It has 8 full time employees and 85 part-time staff, but, typical of the “hands on” ethos of the company and its founder, both twins will occasionally put aside the fact that they are directors and roll up their sleeves to ensure that overnight cleaning contracts are fulfilled on time and to the correct standard.

Most of Bishops’ new work comes by word of mouth recommendation. John Bishop, the twin who tends to take care of office cleaning, contracts, strategy and finance, said: “We are reliable, trusted and organised. I’ve been told that in the B2B world you are doing well if you keep a client for 10 years. We have clients who have been with us for over 20 years, so we reckon that we must be doing something right”.

Bishops may have its traditional values, but it is not old-fashioned. It has set up three separate websites for its contract cleaning, carpets and flooring businesses and has worked hard on search engine optimisation to ensure that the Bishops name appears at the top of the Google list in the local area.

The challenge facing Bishops is how to develop and grow the business from now onwards. Securing office cleaning work is highly competitive – Bishops often finds itself part of a three-way pitch to gain a single contract. Efforts to promote the company and market its services through traditional methods, such as advertising in the local media and sending out flyers, have been used in parallel with more modern forms of marketing, such as email marketing and the internet, and are ongoing. In the meantime, the traditional word-of-mouth route remains effective but slow.

The brothers are anxious to improve on the cross-selling activities and readily admit that perhaps they have not yet made the best use of their client base and that client relationship management techniques could be improved.

By far the most dramatic growth could come by way of acquisition. John Bishop alluded to the possibility and said: “Having bought a few businesses in the past, we are eager to add to the Bishops’ portfolio, but we don’t want to spread out too far because we need good supervisors to cover the areas”.

However, until such opportunities come along, it is clear that the brothers will not be content to stand still and will continue to pursue growth by organic methods.

The Marketing Eye says:

How reassuring it is to hear of a family business that has prospered by sticking to its core values!

The business’ strongest asset is its carefully cultivated customer base and there is every reason to use this as the principle source of organic growth. The Bishops should not shy from asking existing customers for referrals. Nobody will mind being asked if they are happy with the service. They could even consider rewarding clients who make an introduction with free cleaning for a period.

Further cross-selling could be achieved by offering carpet-cleaning or flooring services to the staff of clients of the cleaning business. Simply raising awareness could be enough although a ‘special offer’ may help too.

Online, there is little linkage between the 3 websites and this won’t be supporting cross selling. The websites are also very text heavy. While this will be helping with search engine performance, it isn’t making the sites attractive or easy to scan for new visitors. Some new investment in website design would be justified. Bishops should also make sure that it is listed in Google Places so that it is shown in the map at the top of the search engine page.

In a competitive market, it is important to consider ways of moving the decision beyond price. Trust is a big issue for anybody who is going to hand over the keys to their office. New prospects should be encouraged to contact existing clients by adding the telephone numbers to testimonials. A professionally produced brochure will create a good impression and help persuade any unseen decision makers.

What advice would you give?

Read all about it - the definition of good PR

Angela Ward, Head of PR Services at The Marketing Eye, describes how PR adds value to businesses.

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what PR actually is.

Having been a journalist for 20 years, I’ve been in contact with PR people and their messages for a long time – but now, on the other side of the fence and as a PR myself, I have to explain public relations to new and potential customers and it is useful to be able to explain exactly what it is.

During my time as a journalist I came across a wide variety of PRs – from those working in the beauty industry, who supplied me with almost hysterical press releases telling me how their latest perfume would change my life, to City PRs representing private equity firms on their investments and buyouts. Both very different types of approach – but still equally important PR to the firms involved.

The New Oxford Dictionary says that PR is: ‘The professional maintenance of a favourable public image by a company, organisation or individual’ and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, which should know what it is talking about, says PR is ‘the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics’.

To put it simply, PR is about building and guarding reputations. Every organisation has a variety of ‘publics’ and this is not just ‘the public’ at large. As a company, your publics can include clients/customers, distributors, suppliers, influencers, investors, the local community and, importantly, your own employees.

If the message that your employees are hearing, seeing and feeling every day in the workplace is a positive one, then they will be going home each day and spreading that around for you – whether that’s in the local pub or just between family and friends.

What PR isn’t is advertising. Advertising allows you to say whatever you want, within the constraints of law: it obviously has a cost implication, but it brings guarantees. Your copy will be included as you wrote it. But will people read your advert? That obviously depends on a number of factors – such as where you advertise and how attractive your advertisement is.

With PR, there are no such guarantees and you can’t control what a journalist will take from your press release, but if your copy gets used or your business is mentioned on an editorial page, then you get that all-important third party endorsement.

You can shout about how good your business is until the cows come home, but people may not believe you – and the more you shout, the less likely they will listen or give credence to what you are saying. If somebody else says that you are a good company with good products or services, whether they are a journalist, a happy customer or a member of your own staff, then that’s good PR.

Osborne navigates the South East economy across thin ice

Chancellor George Osborne was optimistic in his update to MPs on the health of the UK economy during his autumn statement today, but life is likely to remain unpredictable for businesses for some time to come.

George Osborne is only offering the lightest hand to businesses as he gingerly navigates the economy across thin ice. He is gambling that net export income and new investment will percolate its way through the system before domestic demand drops due to the cuts in public spending and the impending increases in VAT and employees’ National Insurance.

While his statistics might look encouraging at a macro level, I wonder if he truly appreciates how finely balanced it is on the front line.

The uncertainty, even among those of us that are doing relatively well, makes it very difficult for any business owner to commit to significant new investment or employment. Most businesses don’t have the option of suddenly opening up markets in China and India if demand falls at home.

The availability of finance will remain another significant inhibitor to growth. Osborne shouldn't believe the bank's spin when they say they are supporting small businesses. I have it on good authority that despite what the leaders and PR people might be saying, the people who work in the dark offices behind the scenes are scared rigid of making a mistake: credit is extremely tight as a result. If we need finance to grow in 2011, we will need to look elsewhere for the investment we need.

One of the best things George Osborne could do in the next Budget is to make it even easier and more attractive for private individuals to invest in small businesses. If the banks won’t do it, somebody else has to fill the gap.

While he is at it, Mr Osborne should also look at increasing incentives to employ people by extending the National Insurance concession for new businesses that was announced in the last Budget to the whole of the UK (the South East, London and the East where notably excluded). He should also stop limiting the allowance to start-ups, as it is the established businesses that will offer the most secure employment opportunities - particularly for young people.

Finally, it is time to update the concession on VAT for marketing materials. At the present time, printed promotional materials are zero rated for VAT. This needs bringing into the 21st century by extending it to websites, email marketing and pay-per-click advertising. Any disincentive to businesses marketing themselves effectively needs to be urgently removed.