marketing

5 Ways to Manage Risk in an Accounting Practice

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By Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

Too often, we simply take risk for granted and go headlong into danger and chaos. It needn’t be so. Even in view of the elements of risk over which we have no control, there are still measures of protection that can be taken to reduce a measure of risk in any enterprise.

More for CPA Trendlines PRO members: 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  •

Is there protection against risk? Yes – to a larger degree than we may realize. There are at least five things you can do: READ MORE →

5 Ways to Attract Higher-Quality Clients

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Arrow hits target bulls eyeFinding the sweet-spot for your target client.

By Sandi Smith Leyva
The Accountant’s Accelerator

Many accountants serve clients with extremely small businesses that gross six figures a year or even less. These clients are prone to being price-sensitive and often struggle with budgets and cash flow. If you’re serving these clients, you’re definitely meeting an important need in the marketplace, but you may also start to question your own prices, or worse, under-price your services. READ MORE →

All Great Strategy Starts with “Why”

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What do we want people to know, think or feel as a result of our internal communications efforts, and why?

By Bruce W. Marcus

The answers to these questions are the foundation for any communications activity, internal or external. They define the dynamic of the program, its focus and its program goals. They make possible a foundation for defining and shaping the strategy.

More for CPA Trendlines PRO members: Managing Knowledge as a Growth and Management Tool • The Secret Formula for Getting New Clients • What We’ve Learned Since Accounting Marketing Was Legalized • Do Accounting Firms Really Want an ‘Image’? • What Accounting Firms Need to Learn from Personal Financial Planning Specialists •

There are three crucial concerns…

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A Real-World Approach for the Smaller Firm

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The myth of “niche marketing.”

By Bruce W. Marcus

There is much ado, these days, about niche marketing and target marketing and using mailing lists and knowledge management.

How does it all come together to make sense for the smaller accounting firm, particularly when there’s a limited marketing budget, and a limited opportunity to reach out to the marketplace?

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 •

In this report:

  • The limited value of “niche” marketing
  • Six key variables to evaluate
  • The role of target marketing
  • The role of sales
  • The fusion that creates Total Context Marketing
  • 15 steps to success in integrating and balancing marketing strategies

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6 Biz Dev Metrics Accountants Should Measure

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Business diagramme with magnifying glass, workplace businessman.Yes, you can do marketing with a spreadsheet and a checklist.

By Sandi Smith 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: 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

Here are six numbers we suggest you track: READ MORE →

Do Accounting Firms Really Want an ‘Image’?

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It’s a hollow view.

By Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

Some years ago, in a remarkably successful marketing move, a graphic designer specializing in logos, letterheads and the like came up with the concept of the corporate image. A brilliant concept, but more mirage than image.

Now one of the most successful operations in the marketing business, this company has managed to persuade its clients that corporate image is the key to corporate success. Image, it seems, is the magic elixir. At many thousands of dollars a dose.

More for PRO members: 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 • What Accounting Firms Need to Learn from Personal Financial Planning Specialists  •  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? •

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Your Clients Love You? What If You’re Wrong?

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A short discourse on random and statistical risk.

By Bruce W. Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

Risks are different in context and magnitude. A good mathematician can often statistically quantify the boundaries of risk, such as telling you that one in every hundred people will slip in the bathtub and break a bone, but that depersonalizes it and tells you nothing to help you avoid it. And that’s only halfway to understanding it.

More for CPA Trendlines PRO members:   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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