Nichols Cauley

Nichols Cauley has grown exponentially since its early days in the early 1980s. They attribute their success to their relationship-focused service. Their team prides themselves on building lasting, trusted relationships with clients that transcend the usual accountant/client relationship.

Their deep involvement with their clients’ businesses allows them to offer not only exceptional accounting services, but also provide detailed guidance on almost any aspect of a client’s operations, financial or otherwise. With eight locations stretching from the midstate to the mountains of North Georgia, they provide a “hometown” experience while still offering all the services of a Big Four accounting firm.

Their services include:

• Back-office Accounting Services
• Audit and Assurance Services
• Custom ERP Software Solutions
• Tax Preparation and Audit Support
• SALT Consulting
• Enterprise Risk Management
• Business Advisory Services

Nichols Cauley’s remarkable success and rapid growth came with some growing pains. After a series of mergers, they felt as though they’d lost their identity. Different offices were still largely staffed by teams acquired in the merger, and brand usage was inconsistent across the organization. Additionally, the firm’s branding was dated, with a logo that was confusing and a name (Nichols, Cauley, and Associates) that was used inconsistently. Their website offered minimal information about their services, and was in need of a significant revisit.

They approached M&R with a need for a new brand identity that could be used consistently by all offices, in what they termed a “One NCA” brand identity, as well as a new website to better reflect their new branding. In addition to a new website and the rebranding elements, the firm needed a marketing strategy to steer their efforts and the materials to support that strategy.

To meet Nichols Cauley’s needs, the M&R team started with our usual deep dive into the company’s culture, services, and current marketing efforts. We conducted focus groups with members of the firm’s team to identify challenges and pain points they’ve experienced in both building a unified brand identity and in marketing that brand to their audiences.

With the results from our discovery, focus groups, and other market research, we were able to provide Nichols Cauley with a complete set of marketing solutions, each designed to help them meet one or more of their business goals.

Rebranding

The old “Nichols, Cauley & Associates” logo was dated, and actually a little confusing, with some people not able to determine the firm’s name from the logo’s design. Our designers went to work, building a new, more modern logo that clearly reflects the brand’s identity as a forward-thinking, accessible accounting firm.

The rebranding efforts also included a new tagline that emphasizes the firm’s deep emphasis on relationship-building and providing the highest possible level of service. M&R drafted new value proposition statements to help both internal and external audiences quickly and easily understand Nichols Cauley’s unique value. The rebrand also included new print materials.

Website

The Nichols Cauley website was limited in scope and had a design that was a few years out of date. To better reflect the brand’s new identity and provide web visitors with a more pleasant and informative experience, our talented writers, designers, and web developers went to work creating a new site that was designed around a higher quality user experience.

Marketing Plan

Rolling out a new brand is a major effort, and Nichols Cauley needed a detailed plan for both their rebrand and their other marketing efforts for the immediate future. Our detailed discovery allowed us to develop a complete marketing strategy that leverages multiple platforms to put the Nichols Cauley story in front of a targeted audience.

Digital Marketing Services

Our team is also providing Nichols Cauley with a number of digital services to support their rebrand and marketing efforts:

Social Media Management

Regularly updated posts to Nichols Cauley’s Facebook and LinkedIn profiles help build brand awareness for the firm’s new identity. They also provide audience members with a chance to engage with the brand, building trust and encouraging future business.

Business Listings Management

When it comes to building visibility within a given service area, few things work better than a thorough, accurate business listing. M&R is providing Nichols Cauley with listings management, ensuring that the firm’s online presence is consistent and improving their local SEO.

Photography

Websites, social posts, business listings, and any other marketing piece becomes considerably more effective when it features custom, high-quality photography. To help improve the look of Nichols Cauley’s digital and print materials, M&R managed photoshoots at some of Nichols Cauley’s offices to ensure that their imagery was their own and that their marketing wasn’t reliant solely on stock images.

Reporting

Making decisions about your marketing is easy when you know exactly how well every aspect of your campaign is performing. M&R provides Nichols Cauley with in-depth, actionable quarterly and annual reporting, to help them stay informed of their progress towards their goals, and help us know when it’s time to recommend a strategic or tactical pivot.

Nichols Cauley’s new marketing materials began launching in the spring of 2024, and we’re continuing to provide them with new services all the time.

Over their first six months, M&R’s work with the firm’s social pages have netted:

That’s an overall engagement rate of a little over 8%, well above the benchmark of 2-3% for Facebook and LinkedIn!

Over the same period, Nichols Cauley’s M&R-managed business listings have generated:

That’s a total of 4,490 total listing interactions, or an overall conversion rate of a little over 25%!

As some of Nichols Cauley’s new marketing materials are still very new, we’ll be updating this page with more results as data becomes available.