Accounting Clarkes

What did your marketing look like before you started working with Gemma?

We had someone helping us — she kept things ticking over with a few posts and the occasional blog. But she only worked evenings and weekends alongside another job, so capacity was limited. When she eventually moved on, we realised we needed something more. We were still getting the practice back on track after COVID, and we couldn’t progress until we’d moved on with our marketing too.

How did you know it was the right time to look for outsourced marketing support?

We knew we needed a specialist rather than just another pair of hands — someone who understood the world we were in and who we could relate to. We’d approached a couple of agencies, but we were more or less dismissed for being too small. It made it very clear that we needed someone who would actually take us seriously.

We’d seen some of Gemma’s work and heard about her through clients of ours, so we approached her. She said she’d love to work with us, and that was that.

Why did you choose to work with Gemma rather than going to an agency?

We wanted somebody who would listen. Gemma spoke the same language we did — just in her profession rather than ours. As my colleague put it: what she does is nuanced. She gets us, and she gets the nuances in our business. It’s more like using delicate surgical instruments than a sledgehammer — and a lot of marketing people use sledgehammers.

How has working with Gemma changed your day-to-day experience of marketing?

She brought structure that we hadn’t really had before. We now work to a rolling three-month plan, with some form of communication every month and an in-person meeting every two months. At the start of each month, Gemma sends us the upcoming blog and social media content for review — we can make comments, adjust anything that needs to reflect changes in the financial world, and then it goes out.

What I think sets Gemma apart is that she doesn’t just look at what’s trending or what day it is in the calendar. She takes time to understand our business — our clients, our priorities, what makes us different. She’ll look at what’s happening in the wider world and find a relevant angle for us specifically. It’s not the same post she’d put out for all her other clients. She’ll put a spin on it that makes it work for Accounting Clarkes.

She’s also very good at thinking about how we reach people across different channels — not just social media, but blogs, the website, testimonials. Her view is that the more times you can reach out to people with a sensible message, the more they become alert to you. And I think that’s right. Most new clients tell us they were referred by someone they know — but they’d also read a recent blog, or looked at the website, or spotted us somewhere else. The referral opens the door, but the content makes the case.

What tangible or intangible results have you noticed since you started working with Gemma?

Tangibly, our profile has been raised significantly. We now appear in the top three local search results for accountants in our area — and we haven’t paid for advertising. Our social media presence is much stronger, we’re being recommended through local Facebook groups, and we’ve got a much more coordinated approach to gathering and sharing client testimonials.

But the intangible results matter just as much. The content Gemma creates genuinely adds value — it’s not just “come and work with us.” There are useful blogs, practical guides, posts that show the knowledge and experience of our team. When someone is recommended to us, the first thing they do is Google us. What they find now actually reflects who we are and what we do.

We’re not looking to take on as many clients as possible — we’re a small team and we’re looking for the right clients. What Gemma has helped us build is a presence that attracts exactly that. It’s not the quantity, it’s the quality. And we’ve done quite well. We thank her profusely.