Creating a Successful Marketing Strategy for Vandelanotte

Kristof De Boever is Partner and Business Developer at Vandelanotte, an accountancy and audit agency with over 200 experts, making it one of the top 10 accountancy agencies in Belgium.

Five years ago, he started working with 4P square in order to set up a professional marketing structure in the company.

Professional marketing as a growth driver: the Vandelanotte case

“We used to manage every aspect of marketing ourselves”, says Kristof when we ask him about their situation before working with 4P square.

“But our company was growing so fast that at a certain point I felt the need to professionalize our marketing approach to sustain further growth.

In fact, we did not have a marketing plan or marketing strategy at all. So when 4P square called us to present their services, they could not have picked a better moment.”

A good first impression

Vandelanotte had no intention of working with an external agency. That changed however once they met our senior consultant. “We arranged a first meeting, out of curiosity to see what kind of solutions they could come up with for some specific issues we were facing.

The consultant left a very good impression and the 30 minutes meeting I had in mind turned into a lively 2 hours’ discussion about how professional marketing could make a huge difference for an SME like ours.

They confirmed what I already realized before the meeting: firstly, there was much more to marketing than I had known until then.

Secondly, I was clearly not a marketer myself. Hence I decided on that moment to take 4P square on board to guide myself and our company into professional marketing.”

“At first, 4P square delivered mentoring and coaching. I could call the consultant whenever I needed marketing advice. I liked the fact he challenged me on every idea I had in mind in order to make the right decisions.

Soon we decided that we needed a full marketing plan with a refreshed positioning and go-to-market strategy. With the help of the consultant we created one which we would implement ourselves.

Our company changed her positioning. We became an accountancy firm with a face, which distinguished ourselves from other accountancy agencies.

From then our own employees and some of our clients were really standing at the core of our communication.”

Excellent results

“Our new positioning demanded a completely new house style. We streamlined our events, corporate communication, website…

In fact, we actually had more work to do since 4P square stepped in! But that’s because we chose to implement everything ourselves.

The results are there: our clients see us more than ever as valuable business partners resulting in less churn and we manage to acquire interesting new clients, sustaining our organic growth.

To take our marketing to a higher level again, after a few years the logical next step was to outsource the implementation of our marketing activities to 4P square, so we get our hands free to focus on our core business.

A more operational 4P square consultant has been with us for almost a year now, and has been managing a variety of bigger and smaller projects with a very positive impact on our company image and business development strategy.

Today, five years after our first interview, we are still satisfied with the work 4P square is delivering. Our marketing approach is much more professional than ever before.”

“If I had to describe 4P square in three words, I’d say: trustworthy, qualitative and flexible. 4P square took the time to get to know our company from top to bottom, they understand us better than anyone else.

We are convinced that this long term relationship will yield more results than searching for another agency. The original senior consultant is still our sparring partner after all those years.”

Looking into the future

“We remain true to 4P square, because we are absolutely satisfied and because they deliver a correct price/quality. They have proven they can align their service offering with our changing needs.

We can call them whenever we want, for marketing questions and even for other things which aren’t related to marketing. More important for me personally: now that I know that our marketing strategy and implementation is in good hands, I can focus on my core task which is business development.

Would I work with them again? Of course, in a heartbeat!”