Canwest Accounting Case Study
In early 2017, Sharlane Bailey came to Go West Design Group with a challenge.
She had purchased Canwest Accounting from the retiring owner a couple of years earlier, but the competition for bookkeeping and tax preparation services in Victoria was intense. Looking for these services online pulled up the competition before listing Canwest. Her marketing dollars weren’t bringing in results, with most of it spent on print advertising, which only generated seven new clients in three years from those efforts. Sharlane knew she had a good business because current clients were referring new ones, but she needed more to reach the next level of success.
Go West Design Group examined Canwest Accounting’s strengths and challenges, and saw it had great potential for growth, but the marketing efforts were being misdirected. We developed a plan to provide them with more value for their marketing spend.
As part of the marketing strategy, we calculated what a positive return-on-investment would look like. This involved determining the lifetime value of a new client for bookkeeping and tax preparation; that is, how much money the client would spend over the years doing business with Canwest Accounting. Once we knew that, it was just a matter of comparing the additional revenue of a new client to their investment in marketing. We figured out that gaining a further five new clients or more in the course of a year would set the bar for a successful marketing campaign.
With a clear goal in mind, we got to work. We created web content that said precisely what clients would get when they worked with Canwest Accounting. Go West Design Group created a website for Canwest that offered more opportunities for prospective clients to click on a button for a free consultation, or pick up the phone and call.
We also put a comprehensive digital marketing campaign into place, focusing on targeted ads through Google Adwords, and optimising search terms that clients would use when looking for a business like Canwest Accounting.
Also, we put together a clear content strategy. In a profession like bookkeeping and tax preparation, showing your expertise is key to gaining customer trust. So we made sure Canwest Accounting was delivering top-notch information in their field, right from their website. Then we expanded that presence through social media accounts, which are now more active thanks to our management. In between these informative articles, we highlight the caring personality of Canwest Accounting and its staff. We celebrate new staff hires and anniversaries, and we’ve even shown some of Sharlane’s stunning photography. Whenever we deliver the “faces of Canwest” to their audience through social media, engagement increases.
“We contracted Go West Design Group to develop a comprehensive marketing plan to help us build our brand and increase sales, and they have more than exceeded our expectations. Since the launch of our marketing initiatives and a new website, we have been steadily growing with new clients – and have had to hire new staff. I really appreciate the peace-of-mind with the monthly reports that highlight the growth with detailed performance metrics. It has been crazy busy, much more than we hoped for.
We highly recommend Go West Design Group for any company that wants a memorable and distinctive brand and integrated results-focused marketing program. – Sharlane Bailey, Owner, Canwest Accounting Ltd.”. – Sharlane Bailey, Owner
Among many tactics, our digital marketing work has resulted in Canwest Accounting going from being almost invisible in search results to Page One for their desired search terms. This, combined with opening a second, high-profile office on a busy street in Langford, has Canwest’s visibility soaring!
Less than a year later, Sharlane has a new challenge: she needs to hire more staff because they increased the number of new clients in a year from 5 to more than 20!
Moreover, Go West Design Group is helping them get the word out for the right hires to add to their already extraordinary team.