Efforts to get accountants more fully engaged with clients have found limited success with small businesses in the U.S. and Canada. According to a new survey by business management software provider Sage North America, 40 percent of small businesses surveyed in the U.S. and Canada do not use an outside accountant. A majority of small businesses that use outside accountants are engaging them only for specific services and support according to the web-based survey of 472 small businesses. The business owners who use outside accountants rely on them most for accounting services (76%), bookkeeping services (49%) and tax support (46% personal; 43% business tax compliance; and 43% corporate tax).

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When you brand your business you enable potential clients to recognize your services and the manner in which you promote them. But your efforts at branding must be deliberate and focused in order for them to be successful. Here are five things to consider as you build your business brand.

If you “brand” cattle, you take a hot iron and burn a symbol onto the backsides of your animals so that anyone can recognize a stray belonging to you.  If you “brand” your small business, you market it in such a way that anyone seeing your promotions will recognize them as belonging to your products and services.

How you brand your business is important.  It is how the public perceives your business; and for most, perception is reality.  Here are five things to consider when building a business brand:

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A new study by an email marketing agency for accounting firms finds that “bi-weekly newsletter launches are the most common sending frequency.”

Some 44% of accounting firms launch email maketing blasts to clients, prospects and referral sources about every two weeks.

GET THE INSTANT DOWNLOAD: Click here for the complete report (19 pages, PDF)

That’s followed closely by weekly newsletter launches, at 35%, according to the agency, BizActions, a Thomson Reuters company.

Monthly launches are less common, at only 12%, with the smallest percentage, 9%, of BizActions’ CPA firms either scheduling their newsletters to go out every three weeks or on an ad hoc basis.

BizActions says clients report “bi-weekly newsletters provide excellent top-of-mind awareness and the ability to share timely information without cluttering their contacts’ inboxes.”

Bizactions also reports that accounting firms prefer Wednesdays and Thursdays for launching their newsletters. BizActions says:

CONTINUE READING – SOURCE CPA Trendlines email 5/2/2012

Your practice grows when you add complementary services to your menu. Small-business accounting is a financial service that is always in demand. Use information from the accounting system to help your clients increase their revenue and make informed business decisions. Only then can you promote yourself as an accountant AND a Profit and Growth Expert.

Accountants offer valuable services—services every business needs.  In fact, businesses are required by law to keep books.  So, by adding accounting and bookkeeping services to your offerings, you increase the value of your business.  And by using your accounting skills as a Profit and Growth Expert, you become invaluable to your clientele!

What is a Profit and Growth Expert?

A Profit and Growth Expert uses information from the accounting system to analyze a business’s fiscal standing, sharing that analysis with those who can use it to make more profitable financial decisions.

A Profit and Growth Expert is a proactive accountant who realizes that the information he/she generates provides crucial data that can make or break a business.  It’s the accountant’s job to share this data with business owners, explaining it in such a way that they both understand what the information indicates and use it to inform important business decisions.

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