Client

Successful accounting firm recognized an opportunity to establish brand leadership in a vertical market – retail music store accounting and business development. Firm principle had established a small music industry client base and leveraged initial success to develop relationships within the trade organizations.

Client Need

Establish the firm as leading experts in music industry accounting without compromising their brand equity in the general business market.

We Found

The firm had no established brand identity in the general business market other than its word of mouth reputation and relationships between the accountants and their clients. Also, the firm was being asked to speak and write in retail music trade publications, but these engagements were not resulting in growth in retail music clients. Music retail owners operate their businesses very differently than traditional business owners and therefore respond to very different motivators in selecting vendors.

We Recommended

Create a strong and somewhat edgy graphic identity system that resonates with the career music persona. Develop a strong marketing system that enables FK to capture and follow-up with prospects who attend lectures and read articles written by FK. Identify key trigger points that reflect major business and profit growth obsticles in the music retail business and develop a drip campaign around those issues.

We Created

• A strong graphic logo using black as the dominant color subliminally suggesting music notes.
• Website geared toward the music industry, because the client had no need to grow the general business client base. The new site was designed with dynamic content, video, a blog and a very strong graphic music theme.
• Collateral materials using tight shots of instruments typically sold in major music retail stores.
• Direct mail postcard campaign for drip marketing.
• Marketing system for gathering, recording and reaching out to conference attendees.
• Newsletter design and template so principle could create his own thought leadership following.

Results

Friedman Kannenberg Associates is number one in organic search results for music industry accounting. The firm has been established in the industry as the leader in business consulting and accounting. Their business has grown more than 40 percent annually and they have doubled their fees for on-site training and business development engagements.