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Mary Cloonan
Clarity, Strategy and Growth for Professional Services
I am a strategic marketing adviser. I work with managing partners and senior leaders of accountancy, legal and advisory firms across the UK, Ireland and the US, on growth, retention, visibility and the value of the firm itself.
The work takes two forms, and most engagements involve both. The first is advising the partners: a clear, practical strategy, tested against commercial outcomes, with a senior sounding board behind it. The second is developing the marketing team the firm already has. Most in-house marketers in mid-sized firms are capable and stretched. What they need is senior direction and a closer link to the firm's commercial goals. I mentor them so the firm gets more from the people it already pays for.
To date I have partnered with eight of Ireland's top twenty accountancy firms, firms including MHA, Baker Tilly Ireland and Hawsons, and member firms of HLB International around the world. Before founding Marketing Clever I led marketing at Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon (now RSM Ireland) and RBK Chartered Accountants, and headed sales support for Elavon across Europe.
The framework: People, Clients and Markets
At the heart of my approach are three lenses: People, Clients and Markets.
People: Your people are your brand. I help firms strengthen internal capability, culture and employer profile: building confidence and skills in partners and teams, identifying capability gaps and filling them smartly, developing people as brand ambassadors, and projecting the right impression to future hires.
Clients: Winning and retaining the right clients depends on how well you tell your story and how closely you listen. That covers defining your ideal client profile, showcasing your best work, strengthening pitches and proposals so they convert more often, deepening existing relationships across the firm's services, and building structured systems for listening to and learning from clients.
Markets: Growth comes from being visible in the right spaces and to the right people. I help firms review where they are visible today, build visibility plans for the sectors with greatest potential, align brand language and tone with positioning, and engage teams so visibility becomes consistent and credible.
Why work with me
Trusted by eight of Ireland's top twenty firms, with clients including MHA, Baker Tilly Ireland and Hawsons, and network work for HLB International globally.
Awarded Best Professional Services Firm by the All-Ireland Business Foundation across multiple years.
Deep sector fluency in accountancy, law, tax and consulting, built inside the firms as well as alongside them.
CPD-accredited AI Trainer with an MIT Sloan diploma in AI, blending proven marketing strategy with safe, practical AI adoption.
Regular speaker for the PM Forum, the Managing Partners' Forum, MBL Seminars, the Law Society of Ireland, Chartered Accountants Ireland and HLB International conferences worldwide, and a regular writer for Accountancy Ireland.
Let's talk
If you are a managing partner or senior leader who wants your firm to be more visible, more compelling to clients, and stronger in the market, I would be delighted to help.
I take on a small number of new clients each year. References available on request, partner to partner.