marketing

Consider Hiring a Sales Director

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Businesswoman shaking hands across desk with man in officeWhat is the best use of your skill set?

By Martin Bissett

As a partner in an accounting practice, your average day (if there even is such a thing as an average day) is fraught with many calls on your time: producing client work, management of the team, checking the processes, following up unpaid bills and more. And that doesn’t even account for all the personal things you need to achieve every day.

MORE ON BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Understand the DNA of Business Development Success | Before the Sales Meeting | Your Perception vs. Your Client’s Reality | Do You Deliver on Your Website’s Promises? | Lowballing Is Undervaluing Yourself | Appraise Your Prospects | The Science of Pipelines | Do You Have a Pipeline or Just a List? | Develop the Habit of Consistency | Prepare Your Next Generation of Professionals | Overcome Recurring Fee Apathy | Banish the Idea that Selling is Difficult | How to Win Your First Client | 5 Ways to Make Selling Easier to Swallow | You’re Selling All the Time

GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

So the thought of adding another skill, that of managing the sales process, might feel like the straw that broke the camel’s back. If that’s how you are feeling, here is some food for thought.
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Determine Your Target Audience

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Hand circling one of multiple outlines of different person typesYour ideal client directs what platform you use.

By Becky Livingston
The Accountant’s Social Media Handbook

Choosing your social media platform based solely on trends will get you to spend more time and money than you may need. It’s important to KNOW where your target audience is and who they are before jumping into any social media efforts.

MORE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: What Is Social Media? | How Social Media Works with Accountants’ Top 5 Marketing Goals

Any good social media or marketing person will ask you who your target audience is before doing any work for you. If he/she does not, that’s a red flag.
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Back to Basics: 25 Ways to Grow Your Practice

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Sprout growing on money pile of glass jar bankHow many are you doing? What would you add?

By August Aquila
Creating the Effective Partnership

Sometimes the best way to grow a practice is to return to the basics – no fancy marketing campaigns, just some good old fashioned face-to-face contact and working your existing client base.

MORE for PRO Members: 24 Points for AFTER the Deal Is Done  |   Innovate or Die | 3 Ways to Halt a Poor Leader | Partners Love, Hate Leadership | 8 Questions That Staff Ask In a Merger | The 4 Best Ways to Use Your Senior Partners | 11 Steps to Building a Better Partnership Team

GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Here’s a list of 25 ideas for growing your practice. How many are you currently doing? READ MORE →

How Social Media Works with Accountants’ Top 5 Marketing Goals

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This is how clients find you now.

By Becky Livingston

In today’s world of CPA firms, marketing has taken a leap from the back seat to a seat at the strategic table.

MORE ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Social Media Marketing for CPAs [VIDEO] | How to Engage with Social Media Influencers | Marketing for Mobile | How Social Media Affects SEO | Social Media Campaign 101 | Why Use Social Media for Marketing? | 12 SEO Myths | Quick Tip: Accelerated Mobile Pages | Why You Need an SSL Certificate NOW | Why Tracking URLs Are So Important | What Goes Into a Buyer Persona? | What Is SEO and Why Is It Important?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

With more and more firms focusing on marketing efforts, it makes a CPA wonder, “How does my firm continue to stay ahead of the curve to attract clients and to move the firm higher on its journey to increasing lead generation?”

Social media marketing is one solution.

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30 Smart Marketing and Growth Questions

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Illustration of marketing strategy

Drill down on what is working and what isn’t.

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Retreats

It’s always a good time to ask the right questions of your marketing strategy is always. But most firms save the heavy lifting for their annual retreats.

Before formally beginning the discussion part of the session, it’s always a good idea to begin by asking participants what they want to be sure to cover.

MORE ON RETREATS: How Marketing for CPA Firms Is Different | How to Take Action After a Retreat | 12 Simple Rules for a Retreat | Leave Your Retreat With a To Do List | Retreats Are No Place for Clowns | Retreat Logistics: How Long, What Kind? | Why Do CPA Firms Conduct Retreats?

As issues are suggested, write them down on a flipchart.

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How Marketing for CPA Firms Is Different

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Dart on a target on a mobile phoneBONUS CHECKLISTS: 32 aspects of a marketing budget. 16 ways to establish name recognition and credibility. Plus leading CPA firm specialty services and industry niches.

By Marc Rosenberg
CPA Firm Retreats

What’s a commodity?

Evian – Naïve spelled backward

Starbucks – premium coffee – “It’s beans and water!”

Lettuce – put it in a bag, cut it up, wash it, put in croutons, packet of dressing…

MORE ON RETREATS: Why Create a Marketing Plan? | Thinking of Merging? Discuss It At a Retreat | How to Take Action After a Retreat | 12 Simple Rules for a Retreat | Leave Your Retreat With a To Do List | Every Retreat Needs a Leader, But Who? | Retreats Are No Place for Clowns | Who Should Participate in a Retreat? | Retreat Logistics: How Long, What Kind? | What Should CPA Firms Discuss at Retreats? | Why Do CPA Firms Conduct Retreats?

If companies can take these commodities and turn them into premium products, why can’t CPAs? 
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Caragher Launches Capstone Community

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Capstone Marketing, which is operated by CPA Trendlines contributor Jean Caragher, is rolling out the Capstone Community, a new network of managing partners interested in education and collaboration in CPA firm growth and client retention. A two-year program that will … Continued