Should an accounting firm hire separate marketing and automation providers or one team?
Getting clients and running the practice are connected. Who you hire decides how many handoffs there are.
- Do we need three different vendors?
- Can one team really do this?
- Who's responsible for results?
Use separate specialists when each project stands alone and someone in the firm can manage them. Use one team when the work is connected, such as a website that feeds intake, follow-up that leads to onboarding and a portal linked to your practice software, because each handoff between providers costs time and leaves gaps. Either way, insist on one plan and your ownership of every account.
Trade-offs
| Separate providers | One team | |
|---|---|---|
| Depth in each area | Often deeper | Depends on the team |
| Coordination | Your job | Theirs |
| Handoffs | Many | Few |
| Accountability | Split | Clear |
| Best when | Projects stand alone | Projects are connected |
What to insist on
- One written plan with goals.
- Reporting on new clients and hours saved.
- Your ownership of accounts, code and data.
- Named people doing the work.
How we look at it at ShoutEx
ShoutEx is a team of marketing, automation and development specialists. For accounting firms, the strongest results come where marketing, intake, onboarding and software connect. If you only need one piece, we'll say so. Our accountants guide covers the marketing side in depth.
- Providers blaming each other.
- No single plan.
- Provider-owned accounts.
- Claims to do everything with no examples.
- One plan across connected work.
- Clear owners and reporting.
- Examples in each area.
- Your ownership of everything.
What accountants and regulators say
Here is what practitioners say.
Firm owners discuss marketing agencies and tech consultants for accounting firms.
Browse the threads →Owners discuss managing several vendors and the cost of coordination.
Browse the threads →Technology and practice growth are increasingly linked, as CPA Canada's resources show.
Read CPA Canada's resource →Community summaries describe recurring themes in public threads, not individual posts. Vendor pages describe vendor claims, so test them on your own calls.
Read next
Go deeper in the ShoutEx guides, or check the sources behind this answer.
We'll show you how marketing, automation and development fit together for your firm.
Book a call →Follow-up questions
Can we start with one service?
Yes. Many firms start with onboarding or lead follow-up.
Do you work with our current marketing agency?
Yes. We can focus on automation and share tracking data.
Who owns results with one team?
The team does, against goals agreed at the start.