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For the third year in a row, the American Bar Association is rating the bLAWg 100 as the Cover Story of their December 2009 issue. They have 9 categories of editor-picked blogs which you can now vote for: Click for the complete list. ABA BLAWG 100 This is extremely significant for the legal profession; the ABA has mainstreamed the use of blogs as informational (and promotional) resources. Thus, there should be no excuse or hesitation by any lawyer to start a blog - especially if you have a newsletter. The ABA has strict codes of ethics how websites, blogs, and other promotional materials must be labeled. But as followed, the ABA not only condones blogs, but wants to promote yours (if it’s good enough). So start now, and you can be among the dozen new blogs for 2010 (40 new bLAWgs made it for 2009).

I also commend the ABA for taking such a pro-active and progressive stance on blogging. As a premier professional association, I am sure much debate went into this new form of media and its potential consequence on the public. The Internet has brought on new complexity for the profession, like lawyer ratings; not all of them are so welcome as bLAWgging.

You can click to read my latest marketing column for the AICPA newsletter, the CPA Insider:

‘Tis the season for greeting cards, thank you gifts and holiday party invitations. How to use these to market your practice to better client relationships and bring in better referrals. Unfortunately, the bounty of cards, gifts and parties can be overwhelming and exhausting. Thus, your impact can easily be diluted or lost. Here are a few marketing ideas to help make your cards, gifts and party participation more worthwhile.

I have received more positive response than negative, but I look forward to your questions & comments (post below). However, I did receive one nasty e-mail from a CPA (I’ve excluded her name). Here’s a quote in context:

Christmas is not about buying gifts, attending or throwing parties, sending out Christmas cards, or trying to lubricate a client’s ego or wallet to make a profit. The other religious celebrations during the month of December typically do not send cards to friends and loved ones to tell them they are thinking of them or wishing them a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season, they have their own traditions and practices they follow. As a result, I can only assume Mr. Rajan was speaking of Christmas when he mentioned the religious entanglement associated with cards in his article.

The religious entanglement of this response is rather ironic: That aside, SHE IS CORRECT on 2 points, 1) Christmas is a wonderful religious holiday and shouldn’t be exploited for marketing/commercial purposes. 2) I was referring to our nation’s religious diversity vs. only wishing a Merry Christmas. By all means, observers should send out Christmas cards for personal purposes… just not in marketing pursuit.

Of course, we know what happens when we assume. What do you think?

Whatever you call it: accountant marketing, marketing accounting or CPA services; lawyer marketing, law firm marketing; client development, networking, referral / word of mouth marketing, seminar marketing, blog / blawg, e-newsletters, book marketing; personal branding, or rainmaking: Let’s discuss it in our own LinkedIn group (of course, you must first be a LinkedIn member).be a star within your circle

It’s only open to accountants & attorneys. Special exceptions are being made for marketing specialists in these fields. So far we have 39 members and a few active discussions. Request to join (please mention you saw it on this blog).

My monthly marketing column for the AICPA newsletter, CPA Insider, premiered yesterday:
http://email.cpa2biz.com/cgi-bin15/DM/y/hesH0Rslgz0HDL0opf0EA

You survived September’s quarterlies, and this month’s extensions. As you begin to endure the flurry of compilations, audits, and review, don’t let your marketing lapse! The last quarter is the perfect time for CPAs to grow new business, for two main reasons:

  • 1. In the next few weeks, you will naturally be speaking to your clients.
  • 2. Financial review is end-of-year zeitgeist.

Everybody is thinking about your expertise — they want to hear from you. CLICK TO READ five marketing opportunities to seize the day, in bold. There are less than 10 weeks left in 2009…

Neil Guilmette of The CPA Network invited me to present a ‘cross/through marketing’ seminar to his Roundtable of accountants. It was a full day of speakers on a variety of topics, pertaining to practice development. While my segment was close to an hour, I’ve included an excerpt as a podcast and the handout embedded below. It should be self explanatory; please ask me any questions.

T.R.E.E. Marketing

Listen Now:


icon for podbean  Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (112)

Last week, I was interviewed by Tim Healy of The Profit Express, an hour show on Long Island 88.7 FM WRHU. A 7 minute excerpt is on Youtube, and I just finished editing the full 42 minute interview:

It happened today again. A managing partner of a boutique law firm had never “attempted marketing” because he felt he wasn’t creative enough. In fact, most of his clients already come from [what I dub, passive] referrals. I’m guessing you’re a bit more creative (or at least you have your moments)… You’re at least pro-active enough with your practice marketing to read this blog post!

As you know, most attorneys and CPAs aren’t “good at marketing,” nor do most claim to be (… or want to be, in some cases). I am often challenged with the “I’m not creative” belief from my clients. They hope to get “new ideas” from me.

As a marketing advisor I must coach my clients to develop doable pro-active marketing skills. They need not become Mad Men! Practice marketing need not be very creative (ingenuity is always wonderful). In fact, too many ideas can become distracting.

I’m sure you also know many peers who think they have tons of great ideas… and fail to execute diligently. In fact, I contend that most of ‘client development’ is an accumulation of simple, everyday, habits. It may be as simple as turning reactive “waiting for referrals” word-of-mouth into pro-active education networking.

Creativity is fun and imaginative.
Still, it takes consistency, diligence, perseverance to complete a task, a project, a goal.

As a marketing advisor I help to generate ideas.
We brainstorm and prioritze.
Moreover, I help my clients to stay the course.

Way beyond creativity lay consistency.
After all, we learn through practice, practice, practice.
Branding is a matter of repetition, repetition, repetition.

Unfortunately, staying consistent can become boring.
Armchair “idea research” seems productive, but rarely yields clients.
What do you think?

  • Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
    Unleashing the Ideavirus, by Seth Godin
    The Influentials, by Edward Keller and Jonathan Berry
  • The phrase ‘Center of Influence’ or COI is used often in sales & marketing, especially within the Insurance, investment, and financial services sector. Rather than marketing to them, we market through Influentials. Favoring the hub-and-spoke model, I agree with the strategy. It’s its execution I question.

    The phrase ‘Center of Influence’ or COI is used too often in sales & marketing, especially by financial advisors. Not every CPA is a COI. Not every advisor exhibits the same amount of Influence. In fact, how can we measure Influence anyways?

    Influence presumes following: Thus, measure the followers - measure the Influence (sort of, close enough, and at least materially). [Sure, we can be ‘moved’ emotionally by Influence, not just physically. But we expect thought to lead to action - especially when it comes to marketing & sales.]

    It’s not always as easy as measuring followers of a blog, e-mail list, or LinkedIn 2nd degree reach (or twitter followers). The Centers of Influence in our off-line world must be ‘measured’ in less specific ways. (Besides, online following doesn’t necessarily equate to off-line action.)

    I like to synonymize COI as Group Leaders. That is, I ask my clients to list people who “lead groups: any type of group: professional/trade association, networking group, civic association, golf outings, charity dinners, etc.”

    While bureaucratic leaders may not wield the type of charismatic influence as we would want, at least they produce results. People show up, sit down, shut up, and listen… and spend money. Blunt; yet this is what we want our COI to do for us, eh? Those who ‘lead ad hoc groups’ showcase more charismatic influence than those leaders with titles. They naturally attract a crowd of listeners, fans, friends, etc.

    Utilities like LinkedIn help us organize our database by Influence.

    WALL STREET JOURNAL: MAY 20, 2009

    Bankers, consultants and marketers aren’t the only professionals looking to beef up their business skills for competitive advantage these days. At a growing number of law firms, top attorneys are being trained like business people, using executive education courses designed to strengthen management and business skills.

    Click to read rest of the article.

    Click here to read the ABA Journal review, with some interesting blog post comments from attorneys.

    When I begin working with a law or accounting firm, one of the first steps I go through is a braindump between all the managing partners of current, past, and urgent marketing efforts. We categorize it these 4 groups, so that we can then prioritize, with goals. Soon, a Dashboard can be employed to monitor the projects’ progress.

    Take a moment right now to list all your marketing efforts: The ones you’ve tried, with little follow-up (or “didn’t work”). The ones you are planning to do. The marketing projects you want to do but aren’t quite ready to launch. And the projects that must be part of your day-to-day world.

    We’ll explore specifics in upcoming posts… for now brainstorm in these 4 categories:

    Strategic: These marketing projects tend to be longer-term and help to position your firm differently than others in your specialty or niche. For example, a strategic project can be developing a Client Appreciation Seminar series.

    Wishlist: These are marketing projects are ones that you want to do. They may not yield new clients right away, or be significant revenue generators. Like strategic projects, they tend to be longer-term… They need not be as “important” as Strategic projects, but they help contribute to your firm’s culture (and/or your personal development). A Wishlist marketing project may be developing a book based on your expertise.

    Opportunistic: These marketing projects are urgent and serendipitous (right place, right time). These are opportunities to promote your firm in a way that you weren’t planning. While it is not yet integrated into your Marketing Action Plan (it may be for next year), it is well worth it (yield is greater than cost) to pursue it. Hopefully, it does not derail the other important marketing projects. An Opportunistic marketing project could when you are invited to speak at a trade conference.

    Tactical: These are your everyday marketing habits. These are the basics that should be reviewed at least monthly, if not weekly. Nothing dramatic happens if you don’t get to it today, but if days or weeks go by, your firm’s pipeline will be affected. For example, Tactical marketing includes your networking events, 1-on-1 follow-up, or e-newsletters.

    By brainstorming in these 4 categories, you can ensure that your short-term Tactical are becoming systematic while engaging in more fun, long-term Strategic & Wishlist projects. Opportunities are everywhere… this will help you to hone your antennae.

    Mark V Bullocksuccess-formulaSeveral recent experiences, both personally and professionally, with my clients & others have deeply reinforced to me what I’ve held as an accurate & authentic formula for what it takes to be successful as a Practicing Professional. I assert it holds true regardless of the state of the economy, or almost any other forces we may encounter. In fact this (not so) secret formula seems to hold whether you are a practicing professional, a business owner or an employee. I assert that the (not so) secret formula, as it became more apparent to me a few years ago, is simply the following:

    To be successful, you only really need to:

    1 - BE People Centric

    2 - BE Technology Literate

    3 - BE Branding & Marketing Focused

    And

    4 - Do Great Work

    Here’s how I distinguish these four tenets of success: Click Here…For the rest of the story

    Mark V BullockIn an Advisory, Consulting, Coaching model, potential clients often start out skeptical, then get enthusiastic when you show them the results that are possible for them when they engage with you. Then the reality sets in - that they will have to do something & be in action in ways that they are not comfortable or familiar with, and certainly they are not in the habit of doing things the way that you propose.open-to-partnership.jpg

    This all leads to their concern (fear) over what it’s going to take from them to “get over the hump” in order to get the results they want. Ultimately many then become resigned, focusing on all the reasons they can’t do what you propose, and then come up with every conceivable “objection” (real or imagined) to engaging with you. Price is the most prevalent objection, even though it is rarely the “real reason”. The real reason is that they either don’t see the value, or more likely, that they are afraid they won’t be able or willing to do what they need to do (their part) to create the results they want.

    I recently converted a prospect into a client that followed this path. They were originally a “yes for sure”, then canceled, then a “not now, but definitely later” and finally a “let’s get started now” confirmed new client.

    As for the how – I went above & beyond in offering Business Coaching (I’m also an experienced Business Coach) to help them move past what was standing in the way (themselves). This was as simple as a no-fee coaching session, and a couple of phone calls & emails. More importantly I refused to just give up (I wouldn’t buy into their resignation in the matter), but I was also not “attached” to gaining their business or desperate in any way. I just committed myself to their success – and – committed to their becoming a client now vs. later and the value that I could provide for them if they did.

    The question is – where can you go above and beyond for a potential client, adding value up-front, that shows your commitment to their success? Perhaps you could show them a path forward, a way that they can do what they don’t believe they can’t do, to get the results they want.

    Mark V Bullock Partner / PMA www.PracticeMarketingAdvisors.com www.MBullock.com

    First, number 1: When I donated to President Obama’s campaign, I didn’t receive any collaterals (e.g., bumper stickers, t-shirts, pins, etc.) to showcase either my donation or adoration. I suppose I was as vocal without this minor expense; regardless, the Obama campaign did miss out on an opportunity with millions of others: silent, passive viral marketing. Perhaps I was a small oversight (commensurate with the donation?).

    President Obama’s governance scorecard is debatable… he’s only 50 days in. His policies, including the Stimulus Package and the Budget, are also debatable… I’ll leave that up to the pundits and politicians. More than administration, Obama is making a major marketing mistake.

    Obama’s Marketing Mistake #2 is more serious: Continue Reading »

    “Everybody is an entrepreneur.”

    - Older Posts »