Marketing for Better Clients (Not Just Just More Clients).

One of the biggest shifts in my business, and one that completely changed the quality of clients I worked with, was when I stopped thinking about how to get more clients and started thinking much more intentionally about how to attract the right clients. 

For me, that shift really came through niching. 

Niching doesn’t have to be a big or daunting decision, although I know it can feel that way for some. It’s often oversimplified into “pick an industry and stick to it”, which really wasn’t my experience. My niche was franchising, and while that sounds broad, the way I leveraged that niche was very deliberate - and it made a significant difference to my business. 

By niching into the franchising space, I was able to work not just with franchisee business owners, but also with franchisors at a higher level, supporting them from a head office perspective and helping them think about how they delivered a great experience to their franchise network. That naturally positioned me as someone who understood the bigger picture, not just the transactions. 

From there, a really interesting thing happened. As new franchisees joined those networks, I became an educator and advisor. I was asked to contribute to new franchisee training. I was helping them understand their obligations from the very beginning - BAS, employing staff, superannuation, systems, setup, what good bookkeeping should actually look like.

That education piece was high value in itself, and it built trust very early in the relationship. It also meant that when those franchisees needed ongoing bookkeeping support, it felt like a very natural next step for them to engage us. We weren’t just another bookkeeper they had found online, we were already positioned as the expert in their franchise system.   

I made a very intentional decision to embed myself in the franchise space. I joined the WA committee for the Franchise Council of Australia, which gave me exposure to both franchisors and franchisees and positioned me right at the centre of that community. Over several years, I volunteered my time, I attended and helped organise coffee catch-ups, conferences and networking events, and I showed up consistently without pitching or selling. As a result, I became known as an industry expert who genuinely understood franchising and could be trusted. 

None of that was accidental. It was targeted, intentional and aligned to the type of clients and work I wanted in my business. 

And this is really what I want to open up for you this month. 

Marketing for better clients is not about being everywhere, posting constantly or spending a fortune on ads. It’s about clarity. It’s about knowing who you want to work with, how you want to be perceived, and then making sure your marketing, your messaging and your visibility actually support that. 

These days, a big part of that involves having a strong digital presence. Like it or not, potential clients are looking you up before they ever speak to you. LinkedIn in particular has been a really powerful platform for me over the years. I’ve picked up clients directly through LinkedIn, including franchise brands, simply because I was visible, consistent and clear in how I positioned myself. I shared insights, I wrote posts and blogs, and I spoke about the things I genuinely knew and cared about. That content didn’t need to be flashy or clever, it just needed to reflect my experience and how I thought about my work. 

I know this is an area many bookkeepers struggle with. Writing feels uncomfortable, putting yourself out there can feel awkward, and it’s very easy to talk yourself out of it. But if you want to grow a sustainable business and attract clients who value your expertise and are willing to pay for it, you do need to market yourself. It doesn’t need to be expensive, and it doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be intentional. 

The alternative is sitting back and waiting for clients to land in your lap, or relying solely on random referrals and hoping they’re the right fit. Referrals can actually form an important part of your marketing strategy, though you need to approach it with a strategy and plan in place. Because if you’re not clearly communicating to your referral network the types of clients you want, you’ll continue to get a mixed bag.

When you position yourself as someone who “does bookkeeping for everyone”, you unintentionally signal low value. When you position yourself as someone who specialises, who understands a particular space or type of client deeply, you attract higher value conversations. 

That’s what niching really did for me. It gave me focus. It allowed me to be very deliberate in how I showed up, who I connected with, what I talked about and where I invested my time. And as a result, it completely changed the quality of clients coming into my business. 

In this module, we’re focusing on exactly that. Marketing for better clients, not just more clients. We’ll talk about why niching works, how to position yourself more clearly, how to use platforms like LinkedIn effectively without it becoming overwhelming, how to start writing simple posts or articles even if that feels uncomfortable right now, and how to think more intentionally about referrals, networking and visibility. 

This isn’t about turning you into a marketer or a content creator. It’s about helping you build a business by design, not by default. One that attracts clients who value what you do, respect your boundaries and are aligned with the type of work and life you want. 

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing great work but still attracting the wrong clients, this topic is for you. And if you’ve been relying on “hopefully the right client comes along”, it might be time to shift from hope to strategy. 

I’m really looking forward to diving into this with you!