EisnerAmper Elevates Its Marketing and Business Development with Industry Intelligence

After evaluating several industry insights tools, EisnerAmper chose Vertical IQ as a central resource to streamline research and empower its professionals with relevant insights.

The decision wasn’t made lightly, however. Lewis and her team had encountered other platforms, some of which were cumbersome to navigate or lacked the depth and relevance EisnerAmper needed across its many practice areas and geographic markets. Additionally, the firm had to ensure that any new platform would be adopted successfully across a wide range of professionals, from marketing and sales to audit, advisory, and tax.

What made Vertical IQ stand out was its user-friendly interface and the breadth of industry coverage, coupled with its cost-effectiveness, which made it accessible for firm-wide deployment. Just as importantly, there was already trust in the pedigree of the product, given Lewis’ previous positive experience with Vertical IQ’s predecessor product and familiarity with the founders behind Vertical IQ.

Ultimately, as Lewis notes, “it was Vertical IQ’s ease-of-use and cost-efficiency, coupled with their reputation. We didn’t have reputation fears working with them.”

Prior to using Vertical IQ, Lewis and her marketing and business development team spent countless hours cobbling together insights from disparate sources like Google searches, industry association websites, and economic development databases. This manual research process was not only inefficient but also inconsistent, making it difficult to equip EisnerAmper’s professionals with reliable, up-to-date intelligence to support strategic initiatives, market planning, and client conversations.

“We needed information that we could get on demand … that we could set up alerts for monthly or quarterly updates,” recollects Lewis. “And we needed something that’s easy, because if it’s hard to use, it’s not a useful tool.”

Vertical IQ streamlined the research process dramatically for Lewis and her team. The platform’s curated, easily digestible content eliminated the guesswork and variability of self-directed searches. Plus, its combination of economic overviews, industry insights, and sector-specific updates allowed Lewis’ team to deliver high-quality insights more quickly and confidently.

As an example, Lewis cites that “Vertical IQ’s regional economic overviews have been really helpful for our geo teams so we can make sure that we’ve got local, reliable information from a source that we trust.”

But Lewis also sees the value of having a single, trusted solution in place that meets their industry research needs across the board. “We’ve been doing a lot of M&A … and as we scale up, it’s good to have a single tool that we know we can go back to and we don’t need to buy 40 different databases for 40 different go-to-market groups.”

Vertical IQ is now a must-have tool for marketing planning and content creation at EisnerAmper, enabling the team to be proactive, informed, and highly strategic. The platform has become essential not only for developing original content but also for inspiring and guiding industry-specific messaging. Its actionable, convenient, focused economic and Industry Intelligence empowers Lewis and her team in a variety of ways.

For instance, they use industry trends and sector information to develop newsletters and client-facing resources tailored to each industry vertical, as well as creating insightful whitepapers and downloadable eBooks that speak to current trends and specific client concerns. “As an example, we created a cybersecurity eBook specifically for real estate, and Vertical IQ was really helpful in making sure we were covering all our bases,” notes Lewis.

Lewis and her team are also better equipped to brainstorm timely, relevant blog posts, podcasts, and video topics that reflect localized economic developments. She recalls one example: “We did a series of videos on AI for real estate. Our subject matter expert made sure to consult with Vertical IQ to do her homework to speak more specifically about AI’s impact across the full industry.”

Economic and Industry Intelligence is also useful when coaching client-facing teams before major conferences, association events, or client meetings to ensure they are up to speed. “We prep them for going to these events,” says Lewis,” Vertical IQ helps them quickly figure out the latest industry jargon, learn what the hot topics are, and what’s come through the news.”

These real-world Vertical IQ applications help EisnerAmper maintain its niche industry acumen and thought leadership status while also equipping its team of tax and accounting professionals with the tools they need to confidently engage clients and prospects.

Lewis emphasizes that for a firm like EisnerAmper, which is deeply committed to education and innovation, having a reliable source for industry insights has helped spark new ideas and ensure that marketing efforts are both relevant and impactful. “Whether building an article pipeline or coaching a subject matter expert through a new topic, Vertical IQ delivers the clarity and context we need to execute effectively,” Lewis explains.

Vertical IQ has become deeply embedded in EisnerAmper’s sales enablement process, offering a versatile resource for Lewis and her team at every stage of the client lifecycle. Whether it’s preparing for a cold outreach, shaping a compelling proposal, or preparing for a key renewal conversation, the platform provides reliable intelligence that helps the team show up informed and ready to add value.

For prospecting, Vertical IQ equips EisnerAmper’s sales professionals with deep knowledge about the target industry’s challenges, terminology, and current developments. This preparation empowers them to speak the client’s language and demonstrate genuine understanding from the first interaction. Lewis says, “Vertical IQ helps differentiate EisnerAmper from our competitors by grounding proposals in data and insight rather than just credentials.”

For onboarding and renewals, economic and Industry Intelligence from Vertical IQ enables the client team to position EisnerAmper as a proactive, forward-thinking partner by introducing relevant industry and market insights to guide strategic planning.

Lewis finds Vertical IQ’s industry benchmarking capabilities are particularly powerful for onboarding and renewals. “It helps them have really valuable conversations with their clients,” Lewis notes. “By comparing a prospective or current client’s financial performance to industry norms, our team can frame conversations around improvement opportunities or strengths that can be further leveraged. You can come in and say, ‘You guys are doing great, but what if there’s a way to do even better?’ You can help them get to where they need to be.”

It really comes down to having better conversations — conversations tailored to the client’s or prospect’s unique needs, Lewis explains. “It gives people something to say. They can ask, ‘Tell me more about …’ and then just shut up and listen. That starts the discussion and also builds rapport.”

One of the lesser-known superpowers of Industry Intelligence? Increasing confidence for team members stepping into new or unfamiliar industries. “They don’t want to get too far beyond their comfort zone and be left feeling unprepared for a critical meeting,” Lewis chuckles. “Vertical IQ helps them get started and ask smart questions.”

Lewis notes that this kind of conversational confidence also leads to deeper discovery, better proposals, and stronger client relationships. “It’s not just about knowing the data,” she says. “It’s about using it to create more consultative, high-value dialogue with the client.”

EisnerAmper’s adoption of Vertical IQ was smooth sailing, thanks in part to the platform’s intuitive design and the support of the Vertical IQ team. From the start, the Vertical IQ team was proactive in understanding EisnerAmper’s goals and suggesting onboarding strategies that would drive widespread engagement. They provided flexible options for training, including live demos, recorded tutorials, and team-specific walk-throughs, allowing the firm to tailor the rollout process to the unique needs of different departments.

Lewis highlights that while members of the marketing team were natural early adopters, the real challenge was getting buy-in from other associates across the firm’s diverse service lines. Vertical IQ addressed this by helping Lewis and her team build internal champions and by checking in regularly to ensure the resource was being used to its full potential.

“One of the things that really stood out to us was that every step of the way, the implementation process has been easy, and the team at Vertical IQ has been very friendly and accommodating,” recalls Lewis. “For instance, I really appreciated the variety of training options that were afforded to us and the way we were asked about how things were going. Vertical IQ gave us every resource we needed to get our team educated on using their platform and showing them the value — showing them that it’s definitely worth their time.”

Lewis says that EisnerAmper’s investment in Vertical IQ has truly paid dividends, transforming how the firm approaches marketing, business development, and industry specialization. “Vertical IQ helps us deliver on our industry specialization promises. It gives us an avenue for team development and creating new client solutions — that’s what comes from knowing your industry better.”

From tailored content creation and meeting prep to customized proposals and prospecting, Vertical IQ is now a trusted ally in EisnerAmper’s mission to provide value-driven, specialized service.

“Vertical IQ provides the infrastructure, education, and rapid insights that save us time,” concludes Lewis. “It helps us engage with clients and prospects in a valuable way much faster, and that’s something every marketer can appreciate!”