Top 10 Marketing Tactics for CPA Firms
What’s working for accounting firms today? Join the survey. Get the results.
by Rick Telberg/At Large
The economic downturn seems to be driving accounting firms to turn increasingly to new technologies for their marketing and business development efforts.
To be sure, tried-and-true business-getting tactics such as networking, referrals and community service remain mainstays of practice development in the tax and accounting profession.
But you might be surprised by how many accounting firms are turning — in a sudden rush — to Web site upgrades, e-mail promotions and social media to both stretch their marketing dollar and increase their reach.
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In a Bay Street Group/CPA Trendlines survey for the AICPA, new wave technologies are emerging as key ingredients in accounting firm marketing plans. We’ve been asking accountants to tell us which marketing activities their firms would be emphasizing anew in the coming months.
Here’s what they’re saying so far:
- Asking for more referrals
- Upgrading our Web site
- Attending more networking events
- Doing more with social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)
- Starting or upgrading e-mail newsletters
- Doing more seminars
- Getting more active with boards & civic organizations
- Revving up public relations
- More e-mail promotion campaigns
- Focusing on online search, i.e.: search engine optimization (SEO), paid search, Google Adwords, etc
At Aronson & Co. in Rockville, Md., CEO Lisa Cines is blazing a trail for the profession into well-focused target markets and interactive media. “We have refocused and we’re spending only within the committed niches,” said one senior executive at the firm.” You can see some of the firm’s blogging at Aronson Fed Point, an increasingly effective resource for current news and trends affecting government contractors.
At Pittsburgh, PA-based Dennis Piper & Assoc., Chief Executive Dennis Piper says his firm will be looking in the months to come more toward web advertising to supplement seminar selling and referral marketing. At Livingston, N.J.-based Wiss & Co., firm Managing Partner Jeff Campo is reportedly “getting more press through social media.” And, at one Connecticut firm, a principal reports they are “cutting back advertising dollars in favor of free media, i.e., Facebook.”
“We just can’t only rely on referrals anymore,” the head of one local CPA firm tells me. But, other than referrals, they haven’t really tried anything new in sometime. “We do know that the phone book has not worked for us,” he says. “That only seems to attract price shoppers.”
And yet, he adds, “We believe that if we don’t get out there and get our name known we won’t get enough new business to meet our growth objective.” So, going into the next busy season, this firm is looking at new initiatives like holding seminars, starting or upgrading e-mail newsletters and getting involved in online social media, like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
NEXT QUESTION: What’s working for accounting firms today? Join the survey. Get the results.
Copyright 2009 AICPA. Used with permission
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http://www.alvarezcpa.com
Rick,
Very nice article. We transformed our standard “brochure” style website into more of a hybrid blog/cms and the results have been pretty good. In addition, we are also starting to dip into social networking via Twitter and LinkedIn but have not invested the time to properly use SM.
PS – will be subscribing to your blog and your Twitter stream (@alvarezcpa)
http://www.morsegroup.com.au
Interesting that most of these marketing tips are aimed at attracting new clients or making new contacts. Yet most firms have a gold mine in their data base of current clients that don’t receive the attention they should. Our firm provides a wide range of business services and yet many of our clients are not using these services. The main reason for this is that we haven’t asked for their business. Accounting firms need to put an emphasis on discovering opportunities within their existing client base as this provides a better ROI than many other marketing activities. It will lead to stronger cleint realtionships, multiple work flows, beter referrals adn networking opportunities.
http://www.mahanassociates.com
We serve health care clients only. 65% dental practices, 25% medical groups and some hospital and other hc folks.
We are heavily committed to education programs and became the State of TN’s only ADA
CERP entity of our kind three years ago. We help other firms ourside our market with application for this recognition and demonstrate how this places us in a special niche with dental providers.
We did not pursue a strategy for the AMA due to costs and red-tape.
Works for us!
http://www.sessionsgroup.com
The SessionsGroup was retained after the fall of Enron and Andersen by the CPA Society, Houston Chapter to repair the damage to the accounting profession and we began with an careful audit of the damage which allowed an accurate efficient solution to emerge. More at http://www.sessionsgroup.com/services-strategy-cpa.shtml. Interesting recent developments in SM and web CMS have opened new doors of opportunity, the value of which, while very promising, has yet to be confirmed, but cannot be ignored.