Marketing for Mobile

Becky Livingston: The more precisely you state your goal, the more likely you are to end up where you want to be.Best practices for reaching people on the go, including goal setting, advertising, tailoring ads and KPIs.

By Becky Livingston
The Accountant’s Social Media Handbook

With the rapid increase in mobile use, it can be challenging for CPA firm owners to reach their audience.

MORE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: How to Use Social Media Analytics | What ‘Social Sentiment’ Is and Why You Should Care | What a ‘Community Manager’ Does | How to Build a Strong Landing Page for an Accounting Firm | How to Set Up a Social Media Plan | DIY Design for Social Media | Tailor Content to Social Media Platform | How to Track Who’s Clicking Your Links | Which Social Media Should You Use? | How Social Media Works with Accountants’ Top 5 Marketing Goals
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The first step any firm needs to take is to make sure their website is mobile-ready and responsive. In doing so, your search on mobile will be easier to find and will state it’s a “mobile-friendly” site, which encourages mobile and tablet searchers to click.
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Four-Part Plan to Re-ignite Revenue Growth

Sprout growing on money pile of glass jar bankNew times call for new expansion strategies.

By Gale Crosley

It’s been a long slog, but we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel known as the Great Recession. Both job creation and the gross domestic product are robust. Interest rates remain low, and the stock market is showing solid gains.

MORE by GALE CROSLEY: Not All Fish Need Audits  |  The 4 New Growth Engines in Today’s Marketplace  |  Change Catches Up with Auditors  |  The 6 Elements to Sustainable Growth for CPA Firms  | Jody Padar’s New Vision for the ‘New Accounting’  |  Reality Check: Achieving World-Class Growth Requires Real-World Intelligence  |  Crosley: The New Growth Evolution  |  Expand Your Vision and Expand Your Business  |  Leveraging Leadership: A New Way of Looking at Growth  |  Are You Creating a Sustainable Firm?  |  Don’t Confuse Marketing with a True Growth Strategy  |  Overcoming Four Imaginary Barriers that Limit CPA Firm Growth  |  How Firms Unleash the Power of Diamonds, Cash Cows and Fat Cats  |  How Smart Firms Use Market Research  |  Got Leads? Get Real. Learn How to Qualify Big Opportunities  |  It’s a New Generation in Lead Generation  |  At the Best Firms, Growth is No Accident  |  Four Keys to Success at Seiler CPAs  |  How Accounting Firms Are Re-Building Their Sales Pipelines  |  How to Get Started on IFRS in One Easy Step  |  [PRO Member Exclusive. Log in required.]

VIDEO: The Three Elements of Growth Strategy  |  Defining the New Business Model  |  The 3 Hallmarks of the ‘New Accounting’ Business

While these bright spots are welcome, I urge firm leaders not to be lured into believing that it’s back to business as usual. The light at the end of the tunnel may look like, well, light. But the market conditions illuminated by that light are substantially different from those of the pre-recession environment.

What’s changed? Nearly everything, from an upsurge in globalization to stiffer competition, increased standards and regulations, more specialization and a growing reliance on technology. Today, clients can engage CPA firms around the corner or around the globe. Just because you’re in the neighborhood doesn’t mean you’re in the running. READ MORE →

Social Media for Soloists and Small Firms

The number 10The 10 top benefits.

By Becky Livingston
The Accountant’s Social Media Handbook

According to the Social Media Results from 2015 State of Small Business Marketing Report, when small business owners were asked what marketing tools they used most, the No. 1 response was social media at 61 percent of the surveyed group.

MORE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: How to Manage Social Media in 22 Minutes a Day | DIY Design for Social Media | Tailor Content to Social Media Platform | How to Track Who’s Clicking Your Links | Which Social Media Should You Use?How Social Media Works with Accountants’ Top 5 Marketing Goals

That number was even higher than those using email marketing, which came in at 46 percent.
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Marketing vs. Selling: Both Must Serve the Client First

Woman explaining financial brochure to manIt comes down to what will best serve your clients.

By Ed Mendlowitz
How to Build a Stronger Tax Practice

There are differences between marketing and selling.

Selling is a process whose goal is an actual order. Marketing involves the totality of presenting the company to the prospective customer so they want to do business with you.

MORE ON MARKETING: Adopt a Marketing Mindset

Salespeople need immediate gratification. Marketers take a long-term view.

Both are necessary for successful growth.
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Set Cross-Selling Goals

Businesswoman at desk smiling as she talks to manMarketing to existing clients offers greater ROI.

By Ed Mendlowitz
The CPA Trendlines Practice Doctor

Tracking the additional revenue generated by cross-selling is not as important as setting a budget to obtain the additional revenue.

MORE ON MARKETING: Adopt a Marketing Mindset

The budget should be something that can be reasonably attained. For example, a goal to generate at least one new engagement a month from May through December should not overwhelm anyone.
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Adopt a Marketing Mindset for Tax Services

https://cpatrendlines.com/2016/06/11/adopt-a-marketing-mindset/

Four ways to identify candidates for cross-selling.

By Ed Mendlowitz

The average tax return client thinks of accountants as being mainly involved in taxes. Also, an accounting firm’s largest volume of clients is usually for tax return services. Therefore, a good part of the public image of your firm must come from the tax department.

MORE: When Time-Based Pricing Works | The Clients that Got Away | Upselling Made Painless | Boosting a Fixed Fee Substantially | Creative Ways to Retain Staff | What CPAs Can Learn from Lawyers and Doctors | Advising Cheapskates | Getting Bonuses from Clients | Be an Accountant, Not a Salesperson for Other Things | When Clients Don’t Know
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The tax department must be involved in:

  • strengthening the firm’s brand and name recognition,
  • getting publicity and
  • introducing tax return clients to additional services.

Unfortunately, many accounting firms provide very little guidance or training in this area.

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6 Metrics of Marketing

Businesswoman checking a spreadsheet on a tabletYes, you can do marketing with a spreadsheet and a checklist. (Yay!)

By Sandi Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

One way to help accountants embrace marketing is to fill training sessions with spreadsheets and numbers, things that most accountants love working on. There’s a lot of insecurity around learning marketing, but when accountants hear they need to do some spreadsheets first, they dive right in.

MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Want Better Clients? 5 Ways to Hook Them | Is It Time to Reboot Your Practice? | How A Spreadsheet Can Help Stop Leaks | How to Calculate Your ‘Opportunity Number’ | 3 Tips for Following Up with Prospects

Here are six numbers I suggest you track:
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Blow Your Own Horn Already!

Woman yelling into bullhorn and newspapers flying out10 ways accountants are newsworthy.

By Sandi Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

As a marketing channel, public relations is one of my personal favorites.

MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: Want Better Clients? 5 Ways to Hook Them | 5 Ways Tech Makes Your Work Easier | Stop Thinking Small | Make Your Services an Investment, Not an Expense | Do You Want to Do Compliance Your Whole Career? | 5 Ways to Get More Referrals | 3 Ways to Get to ‘Yes’ with Prospects | Two Daily Rituals: Focus and Measure | 8 Must-Haves for a Prospect Kit | If You’re a ‘Best-Kept Secret’ Cut It Out! | Take Advantage of 4 Key Marketing Strategies

It includes
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