The Real Growth Shift Facing Advisory Firms

For years, growth advice for tax and accounting firms sounded the same:

Get more visibility. Rank for more keywords. Post more content.

And for a while, that worked.

But something fundamental has shifted—and 2026 is the year it becomes impossible to ignore.

The firms that will grow next are not the loudest, the biggest, or the most credentialed.
They are the most clearly positioned.

Not better marketed.
Not more automated.
More specific.

2026 Is the Year of Positioning—Not Because Firms Changed, but Because the Market Did

This isn’t a trend.
It’s a reckoning.

Prospects don’t discover firms the way they used to.
Algorithms don’t recommend firms the way they used to.
And “good enough” positioning doesn’t survive contact with modern search, AI, or buyer behavior.

The market has matured.

When someone needs help now, they don’t ask:

“Who is a tax expert?”

They ask:

“Who understands my situation?”

And if your answer sounds like everyone else’s, you don’t get shortlisted—you get skipped.

The Real Problem Isn’t Marketing

It’s Positioning

Most firms believe they have a marketing problem. In reality, they have a positioning problem.

Marketing amplifies what’s already there. Positioning determines whether it’s worth amplifying at all.

That’s why headlines like these quietly kill growth:

• “Trusted Tax Expert”
• “Full-Service Accounting Firm”
• “Helping Small Businesses Succeed”

They’re not wrong. They’re just meaningless.

Search “tax expert” and you’re competing with over a million results.
AI doesn’t know who to recommend.
Prospects don’t know why you’re different.

So they scroll.

Not because you’re bad. Because you’re indistinguishable.

What a Position Actually Is (And What It Isn’t)

Let’s clear something up—because this is where most conversations go sideways.

A position is not:

• A list of services
• A credential
• A personality trait
• A hobby tacked onto a bio

And it’s not just a “niche,” either.

A position is a clear claim of relevance.

It answers, immediately and unmistakably:

• Who this firm is for
• What moment that person is in
• Why this firm understands that moment better than anyone else

For example:

• “Small business accountant” → not a position
• “QSBS expert” → is a position
• “QSBS advisor helping founders exit without regret or burnout” → a category of one

Same technical expertise. Completely different signal.

One describes what you do. The other tells someone this is for you.

Why Specificity Wins Now (And Why It Didn’t Before)

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

For a long time, firms could survive on vague positioning because the discovery environment was forgiving.

That era is over.

Modern discovery—whether it’s Google, LinkedIn, or AI-driven search—rewards clarity, not coverage.

Algorithms are no longer guessing. They’re matching.

They evaluate:

• Who engages with this message
• Who trusts it
• Who takes action after seeing it

And that means:

Generic positioning creates weak signals

• “Tax professional”
• “CPA firm”
• “We serve individuals and businesses”

The algorithm doesn’t know who this is for.

Specific positioning creates strong signals

• Tax advisors for dual-income professionals navigating equity compensation
• Virtual CFOs for founders stuck at the $1M revenue ceiling
• Advisory firms helping professionals scale without burning out their personal lives

Clarity trains the system. Confusion gets ignored.

From Commodity to Category: What This Looks Like in Practice

We see this shift constantly.

A firm goes from:

“We offer tax and accounting services”

To:

“We help high-earning dual-income households stop overpaying taxes and start planning with confidence.”

Nothing about the tax code changed.
Everything about how they’re understood did.

The result?

• Better-fit prospects
• Higher-quality conversations
• Less price resistance
• Stronger advisory uptake

Not because they did more marketing—
but because they finally said something precise enough to matter.

Why This Matters Most for Advisory Firms

Advisory services aren’t bought the way compliance services are.

They aren’t purchased on:

• Price lists
• Feature comparisons
• Credentials alone

They’re purchased on belief.

A prospect has to believe:

• You understand their world
• You’ve seen their problem before
• You can guide them through uncertainty

That belief doesn’t come from being “full-service.”

It comes from owning a point of view.

That’s why positioning is the biggest growth lever for firms moving from tax prep to advisory—and why 2026 is the year firms either claim it or stall.

The Positioning Test (Be Honest)

If someone lands on your website or profile, ask yourself:

• Do they instantly know if you’re for them?
• Or are you trying to appeal to everyone?
• Can you describe your firm in one sentence without using generic labels?
• Are you a category… or an option?

Because here’s the rule that never fails:

If you try to be for everyone,
you will be chosen by no one.

The Real Opportunity Ahead

The biggest opportunity facing tax and accounting firms right now isn’t AI tools. It isn’t automation. It isn’t more content.

It’s owning a position so clear that both humans and machines know exactly where you belong.

That’s how firms:

• Get found more easily
• Convert more naturally
• Command higher fees
• Build advisory revenue that lasts

And that’s the work we’ve been doing with firms for years—helping them move from “another tax expert” to a category of one.

Because in the next phase of growth, clarity isn’t branding.

It’s leverage.