Branding shows off your accounting firm’s personality. If you were choosing between two businesses, one with a clear professional brand and one that hasn’t put the time and effort into showing who they are, it’s pretty clear which one you’d pick. Branding shows clients what they can expect from working with you. It’s one of the most important elements for an accountant to understand and it supports you in building connections and long-lasting relationships with your clients.
The examples and branding infographic below have been crafted to help you understand why brand is so important, what you need to consider and how to get started. There are so many details to consider when thinking about your brand and it can feel overwhelming. We’ve broken it down into 3 main categories: visual, verbal and personal. Each of these categories includes different ways to help your ideal clients connect with your firm.
1st category: Visual
The first category of branding is visual: your logo, your colors, your imagery and fonts. The visual side of your branding creates an impression for your clients. That impression happens even if you choose not to invest in your brand and that impression can cause a bad reaction. If your brand is lacking in proper imagery or has unappealing graphics, prospects may quickly leave your website or never get in contact. A strong visual brand needs to be relatable. The colors you choose affect moods and emotions and give your prospects a specific feeling when they see your brand.
Equibis proves that accounting doesn’t have to be boring. They show off their boldness throughout their brand. You can see below how they’ve used modern and bright colors and imagery to stand out and give a bold impression. Equibis’ visual brand goes way beyond these mockups. Their website, socials and all designed elements consistently show off who they are, what they stand for and who they’re best placed to help.
2nd category: Verbal
The second category is verbal: how you communicate with your ideal audience and the message you are communicating. The verbal side of your brand is influenced by your messaging. Things like your tone of voice and words you intentionally do (and don’t) use in your marketing. Like colors, the words you say have the power to make people feel a certain way – even saying nothing at all makes people feel a certain way. The words you choose can be articulated in many different ways depending on your tone. And that tone of voice can build trust through familiarity. The way you communicate online needs to match the way you would communicate in person, you want people when they meet you to think “they are exactly who I thought they would be!”
Another accountant we work with that shows his tone of voice well is Lord CPA. During a meeting talking through content and design for a cornerstone piece, he mentioned that he always refers to people as “dude.” We wanted to include this seemingly small detail into his client journey shown below. Each of you will have your own way of talking and unique words you use that make you stand out. This detail in his content, along with his on-brand visual design, speaks to the people that Lord CPA wants to work with. Finding your tone of voice is necessary to create content that resonates with your ideal clients and accurately represents your firm.
3rd category: Personal
The third category bleeds into both the visual and the verbal parts of your brand and brings them together to create the personal part of branding. The personal digs into your values, the feelings you create, your process, your purpose, and your audience. Figuring out these aspects of your firm will set the stage for creating your brand’s visual identity.
Creating a brand that shows off the personal side of your firm is not a simple task. Fearless Financials has been a client of ours that has done this well. They not only know their values but they live them out. They share them in their brand book, socials and brand animations. They use their values as a superpower and share them as often as possible to reach their best clients.
Connecting with your ideal clients is meaningful to them and beneficial to you. Create connection by sharing your values, your process and your purpose through the words you choose and the designs you share. Good branding is a powerful tool that brings consistency and trust across all of your marketing. At PF we believe in teaching accountants how to dig deeper into these areas of brand and discover who they truly are. Accelerator has been created specifically to help accountants learn about branding and so many other valuable marketing elements. Join the next Accelerator course or start by simply checking out more brand transformations.