For accountancy firms
The business owner choosing an accountant is deciding without you
I think most business owners who are thinking about changing accountant ask a couple of people who they use, look up the names that come back, and then talk it over with someone, a business partner or sometimes their other half. You're not in that conversation, and it's where a lot of the decision gets made. All they have to go on is what they found about you, and with a lot of firms that's a list of services that reads much like everyone else's.
I think accountants who are easy to talk to have a real advantage here, as long as people can see and hear them before they get in touch.
You'll hear back from me within 24 hours, Monday to Friday.
Clic HQ: two accountants, one filming day
Leanne Terry and Katie Clarke run Clic HQ, an accountancy for small businesses that they run almost entirely online from a hub in Sevenoaks. In 2020 I was on a panel Clic put together about diversity in small business, and in the summer of 2024 Donna, who looked after their marketing, asked me to film the two of them.
Before the shoot I said that a relaxed conversation between the two of them would suit an audience who already liked hearing from them, and that if they wanted to win over people who didn't know them yet, it would help to have some of it looking straight down the lens. We filmed it both ways in one day in September 2024. That gave them 21 clips on the things their clients run into, from cash flow and paying HMRC to what to expect from a good accountant, plus both of their full interviews, eight outtakes and 53 photographs.
Clic even asked for their outtakes, and Leanne said they showed a bit more of what they're like. The brief was a set of clips and we didn't agree a result to measure, so I don't have figures to show you.
“These are great and feels like we are going to have some great clips to use. I am pleased to have the outtakes as well as I feel like they show a bit more of 'us'!”
Where a Build would start for an accountancy firm
Clic's project was a filming day, from before we offered the Build, our Trust Library Engagement. A Build begins with the Positioning Diagnostic, which looks at where your new enquiries tend to go quiet and who makes the case for you when you're not there. For a practice with small business clients, that's often the owner talking it over at home. If your clients are bigger, it might be a finance manager who has to persuade the managing director that changing firms is worth the upheaval.
From what the Diagnostic finds, we'd usually make some mix of these.
A film on what switching to you involves. I'd guess the thing that stops a lot of business owners moving accountant is how much hassle they think the move will be. A short film that walks through the first few weeks with you answers that before they have to ask.
Clips on the problems your clients bring you. Cash flow, a tax bill they can't pay, what a good accountant should do for them. Short, plain answers like Clic's let a business owner hear how you'd talk to them before they've picked up the phone.
Briefs for a finance manager to forward. Where your clients have a finance team, the person who wants to switch to you often has to win round their MD, so we write that MD a short brief and give the finance manager notes on when to send it. Our sample Champion Pack page shows a whole set, written for an invented firm.
Each clip and post then gets its own week in a posting plan.
Questions accountants ask us
What does Epiphany Content do for accountancy firms?
Epiphany Content helps founder-led accountancy practices get chosen by people who've been given their name. It's Kevan Smith's company, and it makes short films, written briefs and a posting plan, so a business owner can see how you work before deciding, with whoever they decide things with, that you're the firm to call.
Who isn't it for?
It isn't for anyone looking for a videographer for a one-off project, or for quick-win lead generation. It's built for practices of roughly 5 to 50 people where clients know the founders and most new work comes through recommendation.
What should an accountancy firm make videos about?
The questions clients already bring you, answered plainly. Clic HQ's 21 clips covered things like cash flow, paying HMRC and what to expect from a good accountant, and the founders' full interviews sit alongside them for anyone who wants to hear more.
We're accountants, and neither of us has presented anything. Will it show?
Probably less than you'd think. Almost nobody is good on camera from the start, so we rehearse your lines out loud on a call before the filming day, and on the day I direct you through it.
How much does it cost?
The Explore call with Epiphany Content is free and takes 30 minutes. The Build, our Trust Library Engagement, is £12,500 +VAT: £4,000 +VAT upfront, then five payments of £1,700 +VAT. If you'd like us to keep going afterwards, the Trust Library Retainer is £1,500 a month +VAT, with a six-month initial term.
Will it take us away from client work?
Less than you might expect. Clic's clips, interviews and photographs all came from one day of filming. On a Build your time goes on a couple of calls so I can draft the scripts in your words, a rehearsal and the filming day. On the one posting plan we've built so far, We Are Brave's, I set it up so each founder needs about an hour a fortnight.
Do you manage our social media?
We don't run social media accounts, paid ads or daily posting. You get the films, the words to go with them and a plan, and your own team posts from it.
Who sends business owners your way?
Maybe it's a bookkeeper, a bank manager or a happy client. Tell me about them on an Explore call, and we'll work out what they could hand over besides your phone number.
You'll hear back from me within 24 hours, Monday to Friday.