marketing

Reality Check: Achieving World-Class Growth Requires Real-World Intelligence

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Why you can’t believe your own press clippings.

By Gale Crosley, CPA
Crosley+Co

Ever run a race and immediately sense that you got off to an exceptionally fast start? It’s a good feeling, but if your goal is to beat out the competition there’s really only one way to know for sure how you’re doing. And that’s by marking your progress toward the finish line relative to the other racers.

The same can be said of efforts to grow your firm. To gauge your progress you have to get outside your own four walls and see how you measure up to the competition. READ MORE →

Readers Sound Off on Liberty, H&R Block Plans to Launch Bookkeeping Services

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Liberty Block logosNew strategic ally, or competitive threat?

Practitioners are actively debating the effects and impact of H&R Block and Liberty jumping into the bookkeeping business, as detailed by CPA Trendlines’ Hitendra Patil here.

“This is an opportunity to highlight quality,” says Wesley Middleton, head partner at Middleton Raines in Houston. “The only person who has something to worry about are those that are only focused on price.”

Not all practitioners agree in the discussion which began at CPA Trendlines and has spilled onto the 20,000-member CPA Trendlines Linkedin group. READ MORE →

What Accounting Firms Need to Learn from Personal Financial Planning Specialists

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Is the traditional business model holding back the profession?

By Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

It’s not a race, nor are there prizes for the winner. But it has been suggested that personal financial planners trading in college, retirement and estate planning are light years ahead of the accounting profession in marketing.

More for CPA Trendlines PRO members:  The Delicate Art of Positioning Your Firm in the Mind of the Prospect  •  Who’s Better at Marketing? Lawyers or CPAs?  •  Even a Random Disaster Can Be Controlled with Risk Management  •  Managing Risk in Client Relations  •  Your Clients Love You? What If You’re Wrong?  •  The Three Degrees of Risk • Four Essential Habits for Building Client Trust • The Nine Hallmarks of a Marketing Culture • The Four Cornerstones to Building A Marketing Culture • Getting the Client is Only Half the Battle • Practice Development: It’s Not Rocket Science • Nine Fundamentals for a Healthy Marketing Culture in an Accounting Firm

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The Delicate Art of Positioning Your Firm in the Mind of the Prospect

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And, it’s not a mission statement.

By Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

There is no great mystique to the marketing concept of positioning. While it’s not as simple as some would make it seem, nor as complex as others would have you believe, it’s still very real.

CPA Trendlines research has uncovered the startling fact of the wide disparity between how accounting firm management perceives their own performance and how their clients see their performance. (Join the survey; get the results.)

More for CPA Trendlines PRO members:  Who’s Better at Marketing?  Lawyers or CPAs? •  Even a Random Disaster Can Be Controlled with Risk Management  •  Managing Risk in Client Relations  •  Your Clients Love You? What If You’re Wrong?  •  The Three Degrees of Risk • Four Essential Habits for Building Client Trust • The Nine Hallmarks of a Marketing Culture • The Four Cornerstones to Building A Marketing Culture • Getting the Client is Only Half the Battle • Practice Development: It’s Not Rocket Science • Nine Fundamentals for a Healthy Marketing Culture in an Accounting Firm

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10 Ways to Get New 1040 Clients

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Ed Mendlowitz CPA The Practice Doctor Q and A
Send Ed your questions

And 5 ways to get more business tax clients.

QUESTION: I need a few more clients for tax season. Any suggestions?

RESPONSE: Since we will be getting ready for tax season now is a good time to address this. Here are two checklists, one for individual returns, the other for business client returns.

CHECKLIST: 10 WAYS TO GET NEW INDIVIDUAL TAX CLIENTS READ MORE →

Who’s Better at Marketing? Lawyers or CPAs?

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Is the question ludicrous?

By Bruce W. Marcus

Looking at the question from a different point of view, the international consultant Patrick McKenna said, “If you’re trying to determine which of the two professions (lawyers or accountants) are the more advanced in their marketing prowess, I’m sorry but I think the very question is ludicrous.

More Professional Services Marketing 3.0:  5 Ways to Manage Risk in an Accounting Practice  •  Even a Random Disaster Can Be Controlled with Risk Management • Managing Risk in Client Relations  •  Your Clients Love You? What If You’re Wrong? • The Three Degrees of Risk • Four Essential Habits for Building Client Trust • The Nine Hallmarks of a Marketing Culture • The Four Cornerstones to Building A Marketing Culture • Getting the Client is Only Half the Battle • Practice Development: It’s Not Rocket Science • Nine Fundamentals for a Healthy Marketing Culture in an Accounting Firm

Be it accountant, consultants, architects or lawyers, it really doesn’t matter. My experience confirms for me that when you think of marketing prowess you can divide any of the individuals or firms, in any of those professions (not by profession but by mindset) . . . into three categories: hawks, doves and ostriches.”

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The 7 Fundamentals of Getting Clients with Social Media

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h…But only if you’ve done everything else first.

By Sandi Smith Leyva The Accountant’s Accelerator 

It’s likely your friends and peers are urging you to get on the social media bandwagon. Hearing about social media is unavoidable these days. We have many clients who feel stressed about the whole topic. The stress or guilt comes in when they don’t really want to do it but their friends keep urging them to.

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Free Introductory White Paper: 10 Keys to Doubling Your Revenue

MORE ON SMALL-FIRM GROWTH STRATEGIES: 5 Ways to Attract Higher-Quality Clients   |   6 Biz Dev Metrics Accountants Should Measure  |  5 Areas to Improve Client Acquisition Success  |  Are Accountants Newsworthy? You Bet!  |  When Accountants Don’t Know They Don’t Know  |  Seven Hot Lead Generation Methods for Accountants   |  What Stage of Business Are You In?  |  8 Essential Ingredients for Your New Client Welcome Kit  |  4 Ways Small Firms Can Surpass Larger Firms  |   REBUTTAL: The 3 Most Unused Marketing Methods for Accountants

I like to take a contrarian view with social media: I believe it’s not a cost-effective marketing tool for a majority of accountants. Nevertheless, there are some very important exceptions where it can pay off big. Here are some ideas just in case you can’t resist getting started in social media.

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