What Every Accounting Firm Should Know About Branding

Accounting firm rebrands hardly ever happen in perfect conditions. But it’s those challenges that grow us into leaders who can push through and win. For example, in my Remarkabrand podcast conversation with former client Jaimi Koechel—an award-winning marketing director with deep experience in accounting firms—we covered accounting firm branding, rebranding during transitions, and what a successful, inside-out brand build looks like. 

Jaimi’s approach to demonstrating the value of branding to her firm’s partners reminded me of a few things.

https://youtu.be/nfJdZkyioY4

Podcast Thoughts

As I am wont to do, I’ll bring in my first point with an illustration from a TV show—the historical drama series “Chernobyl” that came out a few years ago. After the Chornobyl nuclear reactor melts down, the secretive Soviet government meets in Moscow to discuss what happened. 

One scene in particular puts us right in the shoes of Valery Legasov, a nuclear physicist who figures out that the reactor’s core exploded. But at the table with Premier Gorbachev and his top advisors, Legasov realizes that his country’s leaders have no idea what happened. They don’t understand that millions might die from lethal radiation if they don’t act fast. This gives him no choice but to speak up—and risk his life and career in the process. Fortunately, Gorbachev hears him out, and after telling the horrifying truth no one wants to hear, Legasov finds himself advising the entire containment effort.  

It’s a far stretch from nuclear meltdowns, but the problem of preoccupied decision-makers not understanding something’s critical importance is one we can all relate to.  

Herein lies a branding point that accounting firms should consider: 

A firm’s leadership may not see or fully understand the value of authentic brand building. 

Someone, perhaps even you, might need to demonstrate that value before the branding effort can begin. As Jaimi, a longtime accounting firm branding advocate put it on my podcast, “They won’t know they need you at the table until you show them that they need you.” 

Accounting firms should be no strangers to the branding process.

Instead of assuming a killer logo will just do the trick, firms that want to build relationships with their clients need to put the work in on the branding front, to the point of owning their authentic brand identity. 

Neglecting, misunderstanding or undervaluing brand identity makes for thorny problems: diluting brand and reputation or confusing the audience, to name a few. 

Outside of building out a true, authentic, consistent brand identity, how will everyone else know how remarkable they are? 

With these takeaways and Jaimi’s story as a starting point, here are my quick thoughts on what every firm should know about accounting firm branding, branding advocacy, and how brand identity helps firms build remarkable, lifelong relationships. 

Let’s dive in. 

Every Accounting Firm Needs a Brand Advocate 

First, I’ll pass a little more of Jaimi’s advice to anyone who might be in this position. If you have a seat at your firm’s leadership table, or if you’re simply making the case for some kind of branding effort to your firm’s team members, you probably need some wind in your sails. 

Hopefully, this will lend you some. 

As you think about how to show your firm’s partners the value of brand building, don’t forget…

To play the long game. Building trust takes time. 

Even with Jaimi’s marketing background, adjusting her rebrand proposal to suit her firm’s needs took time and persistence. Eventually, as she won trust and got to know the firm’s specific needs, her firm’s partners saw the value in what she was proposing. After partners warmed up to the idea of a complete rebrand, Jaimi led the way.  

To always put the firm first 

Even if you majored in graphic design and have the perfect new logo ready to go…remember that accounting firm branding isn’t about your ideas per se. To get people on board, you’ll have to make the case that this branding effort is what they need to reach their audience in an authentic way and move closer to the firm’s business goals. Like it or not, branding isn’t a blank check for spending money on new (i.e. “your”) ideas. 

If it doesn’t make “dollars and cents” it’s hard for someone to sign off on it. 

Authentic brands that build lasting relationships do drive long-term success—and here’s my article on that very topic. Communicate that in a way that demonstrates branding’s present and future value, and makes a good case for someone getting behind it. 

If you’re a branding advocate, you should also be the frontrunner 

Along with seeing your passion and drive for brand building, your firm should know that you have your fingers on the pulse of what’s going on. 

Where is the accounting industry going? Where should it be going? 

Little known fact: Jaimi’s former accounting firm Henry and Horne (it merged with Baker Tilly in 2002) began blogging in 2008. At the time, Jaimi showed her firm the forward motion of brand-centered blogging with one fact—only sixty-four accounting firms in the whole country had a blog. 

Start small to build credibility, then “show the wins” 

Whether you’re on a pickleball team or your firm’s leadership table, there’s only one way to build your credibility—start small, and when the time comes, show people the wins. Show the impact one branding-based approach can have on marketing content or social media (to give a few examples), and when the time comes, make the case for duplicating those efforts.  

Take “No” as an opportunity. 

Time and time again, Jaimi’s partners told her “no.” 

But instead of giving up, Jaimi learned that “no” was not a negative thing—in fact, it usually meant an opportunity to regroup, understand the firm’s needs and situation better, and eventually come back to advocating for an internal brand build. 

If you’re told “no” don’t lose heart. 

While you’re hanging in there, here are a few more brand-building tidbits that accounting firms should consider. 

Consistent Accounting Firm Branding: Identity Matters 

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating.

Accounting firms should care about brand identity because brand identity is ultimately about building an authentic relationship with a target audience. In the digital age, very few potential clients make their first impression over a handshake or even a phone call. It’s more likely to be through a digital touchpoint: email, social media, a website, or a monthly article like this one. 

Creating and maintaining a consistent brand identity puts the truth of who you are front and center across all of those digital touchpoints. 

By showing everyone how you’re remarkable, your brand identity also sets you apart from the competition. As they get to know your firm’s look, personality, service, and unique values, a brand identity goes a long way in acclimating a potential client to who they’re dealing with—and that process should start from the first interaction. 

Brand Identity Goes Beyond Name and Logo 

If you’re an accounting firm, then there’s a decent chance your name and logo reflect the partners who started it. 

That’s great actually; it doesn’t mean you’re behind the times. On the other hand (and this bears repeating), accounting firms should know that a spanking new, non-accounting firm-sounding name or logo is not a brand in and of itself.

Rather, a brand embodies a firm’s whole identity, right down to the foundation. Authentic accounting firm branding is an effort to get at the heart of that foundation—its purpose, location, history, story, values, and unique personality. An honest brand-building effort digs into all those foundational areas and brings them to a clear, winsome, compelling expression (I actually prefer the term “brand anthem”) that engages people.

What does it engage them with? 

The truth of your organization, the fact that who you are and what you offer is truly remarkable.  

As with most things, there are no shortcuts, and accounting firms should not assume that everyone can grasp what they offer or what they’re really about from the name, logo, or services alone. Consistency, of course, will always win. 

Even Accounting Firm Branding Should Come from the Heart <