PRACTICE MARKETING 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…

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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.

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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: (more…)

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The price of stamps are going up to 44 cents on May 11, 2009. You have until May 11 to buy the 42 cent Forever Stamp that will be valid, forever (they go up to 44 cents on 5/11 too). As the cost of stamps will be going up about .05% every year, it may be a pretty good investment! I’ll leave that up to the financial advisors.

My concern is that direct regular mail marketing is a staple of day-to-day marketing. You may not want to utilize regular mail marketing due to its low lead generation ratio (and possibly low closing ratio). Arguably, it’s about 1%. True, one man’s junk mail is another business’ direct regular mail marketing campaign.

How do you go through the mail? Over the trashcan? The chuck-ratio of regular mail marketing is rather high. The chuck ratio of package mail marketing is much better - we don’t throw away gifts as easily. Inevitably the cost of this will also go up.

Moreover, I am saddened that during these challenging economic times our USPS is making it more expensive for the average business to market itself. They would argue that they are only meeting their own costs; and are staving off their own bail out.

What do you think? How does this impact your Word-of-mouth marketing strategies?

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On Friday, one of my clients, Bruce Maasbach arranged a seminar for his circle of real estate agents. While much of the time should have been dedicated to a tactical, Web 2.0, Marketing Action Plan… my inspirational preamble was more valuable. First a mindset change, or a paradigm shift, has to take place for a Real Estate Agent to do business from 2009 on. Hear what I mean:

Three 10-minute parts will automatically be on the right-hand of the video above when I upload to my blip.tv account. With the poor lighting and zoom, the video quite frankly sucks. But my audio silhouette - with hand gestures - gets my points across!

VIDEO 1: I go through how the market has changed over the past 10 years.
VIDEO 2: I explain how ludicrous the real estate industry has been, and a brave new vision for them.
VIDEO 3: I talk about how real estate professionals can begin creating a new business model.

Originally, I had brought my projector, my laptop, with a PowerPoint… but there was no table for the equipment, screen (or white wall), and I’m sure WiFi would’ve been “too secure.” I’m a speaker, not a presenter, so I didn’t care.
LESSON TO BE LEARNED: I did bring hand-outs, which are low-tech and guaranteed to work.

What do you think about the new Business Model Vision I proposed for real estate agents/brokers?

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On December 16, I was invited back for a 3rd time to address the Preferred Providers Network of the National Network of Accountants. My topic included a worksheet that would help the room of CPAs, attorneys, and financial advisors to “Trigger More Referrals, with a catchy 1-liner.” You can practice along, with the worksheet attached, and the video below. Better yet, add your 1-liner below in the comments. (The video seminar brightens up after about 15 seconds.)

I introduced our Community Hexagon™ to the room. Many had been to a previous seminar (Target your Market to the 4°), which went over the Community Dartboard™. They are similar concepts - in that they outline the 6 facets of a “community,” a like-minded demographic that shares lifestyle aspects that encourages culture & identity. It’s not so esoteric: Dog lovers and trial attorneys are sub-cultures, that is, they share all 6 facets of the Community Hexagon™.

Likewise, we can take the more-general community of pet owners and the community of professionals and go to the “4th degree” in the Community Dartboard™. By doing so, we would be able to check-off all 6 criteria on the Community Checklist™ with which the worksheet begins. How far can you go on the downloadable Worksheet? Does your target market meet all 6 facets that would make it a Word-of-mouth buzz-friendly group?

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CPAs and attorneys are actively marketing themselves now more than ever; financial advisors have been savvy for years now. Yet most professionals fall into the same branding quagmire as most marketers: They get mesmerized by the Madison Avenue marketing jargon like “branding.”

First of all, most professionals (and marketers) confuse a brand with a logo. Your logo (or face/fashion for a personal brand) is not the brand… it’s the branding iron.

Remember that the concept of a brand comes from the cruel practice of singing the hides of cows, etc. The brand isn’t the tool the cowboy (or factory farm) owns. Rather, it’s the image burnt onto the animal. Cowboys branded their cattle to showcase ownership (and prevent theft from competitors). At the risk of relating our clients to cash cows, our brand is meant to be a sign of ownership over them. That means we should first and foremost be “branding” our clients. They should know our branding irons… our marketing materials, especially a S.M.A.R.T. 1-liners [click for related post].

Secondly, we should presume ownership over our target market community. That is our brand should quickly showcase to whom we are best suited… our ideal client. This is more easily done with a S.M.A.R.T. 1-liner trigger than even a logo.

As you design or improve your marketing materials and Marketing Action Plan, keep your brand in mind. Not its image or even “brand experience,” but keep the result of your branding irons in mind. BTW: The original brands were simple geometric shapes (that could be easily fashioned by blacksmiths). Lesson? Keep it simple.

By focusing on your brand - and not just your irons - you can more quickly practice marketing your expertise and personal brand, within your codes of ethics and compliance obligations.

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I recently received an unsolicited email “Newsletter” from a well intended but misinformed motivational speaker. It was sent TO: me from an MS Outlook account, with 70 or so other recipients plainly listed in the TO: field as well. Effectively distributing to all the recipients - all the other recipients email addresses. The “Newsletter” was in the form and attached PDF of a scanned, blurry, & tilted paper document. Additionally there was no obvious or automated way for me to “Opt-Out” from future emails.
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We all have a marketing budget. Is it a line item? Is it consciously invested? Is it monitored? Is it planned?

Our marketing budget is the time we spend on networking, asking clients/COI for referrals, improving our website, writing our newsletters, and all the other W.A.T.E.R.S. endeavors. And of course, we all have a money budget for marketing. We may only spend money on events, mailings, phone calls, and collateral development — and some of us may make media ad buys.

All too often we find clients more interested in making a Splash, to keep up with the larger firms out there. Yet, time and time again, we find that that it’s the consistent small actions - marketing habits in routine drips - that really provides the biggest bang for the buck.

Splashy ads and campaigns can spark buzz. But it’s the consistent drips that sustain word-of-mouth marketing and follows up on results.

Start a drip campaign of e-mail, phone, regular mail, and meeting campaigns. You can do so today. When was the last time you had breakfast, lunch, or dinner with one of your top clients?

Splash campaigns should be planned, executed, and managed more strategically so as to not waste precious time and money.

In both (and you should have both), Your Practice Marketing (aka, W.A.T.E.R.S.) Action Dashboard becomes pivotal and center stage. See attached.

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What do your clients think about you, but aren’t telling you? What comes to their minds when they think about making an appointment with you? What do they unconsciously know they can count on from you?

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Ok, so you decided to bite the bullet and shell out the investment for a trade show exhibit. You got yourself a nice backdrop, table display, handouts, etc. You showed up on time, and “manned” the booth from opening to closing waiting for people to walk up to you. Now I’ll bet you’re very disappointed with the results. What did you miss?

You’re not alone, and indeed there are more than a handful of reasons you got far less response than you were hoping for. One of the biggest is – you didn’t bother to tell anyone you were going to be there! Why? Because you assumed your reason to exhibit was only to get new prospects – and – that it’s the show’s organizer’s responsibility to provide you throngs of fresh walk-up prospects.

Trade shows usually require a large investment of your time & resources to exhibit, but only a very small portion of the exhibitors do everything possible to leverage that investment.

The first leverage point; In advance of the show - invite everyone, everyone in your contact database, everyone in your customer database, everyone in your prospect database – in short everyone you know, & let them know you’re going to be there! Not only that, but provide them dates & times, where you will be located on the floor, and MOST IMPORTANTLY – WHY they should come to see you at the show! And equally importantly – WHY they should bring a friend!

Exhibiting can be your big chance to present yourself in person, to provide a temporary “store front” if you don’t have one, and to create “buzz” around you and your brand. Exhibiting helps you forge new relationships, reinforce existing relationships, and provide a high impact platform to grow you business and your brand IF well planned and leveraged. Inviting anyone, and everyone you can think of (in a compelling way of course), is just one of your key leverage points.

Mark V. Bullock Partner/PMA PracticeMarketingAdvisors.com

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Ever engaged a new client, enrolled a new customer in a service, or sold a new customer a product, only to have the customer back-peddle or worse - cancel after making a purchase commitment because they said - “You didn’t tell me…!!!”?

Client’s back-peddling or canceling after the sale hurt. They hurt not only the bottom line and your confidence, but waste valuable time. Ultimately it hurts the client/customer as much or more than you, because in their minds they had their hopes & trust in you dashed, and have wasted their time too.

This thumb rule is in part an incredibly powerful sales tool, part “managing customer expectations”, and part practicing making a “complete sale” – that sticks.

Recent brain research has revealed that the human mind is a prediction machine. Always wanting to know what’s coming, what’s around the corner, and in respect to you and your service, wanting to predict what their experience of you, and your product and service will be like.

So here’s the short answer; People don’t expect perfection, they just want whatever they spend hard earned money on to work. They don’t really want “cheapest” they really want to solve a problem, or at least make it go away. They hate being misled and manipulated, they appreciate honesty and integrity. So the more you can paint an accurate and authentic picture in their minds of what engaging with you will be like, so that they sense they have a “real” idea about what’s coming, the more accountable they will be to honoring their commitment to buy.

Lastly, of course – they want value from you. Never pretend that there are no downsides – that there is ever a payoff without a cost. If you are the one to bring up not only the “pay off’s” (upsides) but also the “costs” (downsides) of what you are proposing – you will be perceived as trustworthy. The salesmanship comes in being able context those downsides for them, in advance, in a way that empowers them to make an educated choice, and stick with it.

Mark V. Bullock Partner/PMA PracticeMarketingAdvisors.com

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This is an interesting marketing thumb rule in that it speaks volumes to how people make decisions about what and when to purchase, and where and/or whom to purchase from. I often speak with clients about the value of brand “consistency” in the context of customer service.

An example of the power of this rule is the success of McDonald’s. I don’t think you’d find many people that would say that McDonald’s makes great tasting food, or even that their cuisine is very healthy. So why then, if “quality” is not their main value in the marketplace, is McDonald’s so successful.

I assert it is their commitment to delivering a “consistent” customer experience over time. They can be “counted on” for a number of things in the customer’s minds; Food that always tastes the same no matter which store you buy it from. The same consistency applies to the food being served fast, and hot.

Notice then, that what consumers obviously prefer is not necessarily excellent quality, great taste, or even great service from McDonald’s, but the consistency of delivery. The fact that their customers can count on that, consistency allows consumers to connect with the McDonald’s brand with first familiarity, then trust in knowing what they are going to get when they walk in the door – every time. It’s not great – but it is familiar and they can count on it. This is powerful and persuasive brand marketing at it’s best.

Question: How could you make your customer’s experience of you more consistent so that you can leverage “familiarity” & trust in your brand building?

Mark V. Bullock, Partner/PMA Practice Marketing Advisors practicemarketingblog.com

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Marketing Thumb-rules #204: Dedicate at least 20% of your productive time to marketing.

Most of my clients are so busy and so successful that marketing time seems to “get in the way.” But marketing is about planting seeds that will bear fruit in months down the road. 20% is about 1 day a week, or about 1 full hour every day. For those of us who are regular networkers, bloggers, e-newsletter/article writers, etc… this comes easy.

In bad times, we are too desperate to plant seeds; we need to eat the fruits today. In great times, we seem too busy to plant seeds; we’re stuffed with the fruits today. Thus, most professionals yo-yo between feast and famine. The smart ones make marketing a consistent habit, and enjoy pleasurable practice growth continuously.

Your first step? As another Marketing Thumb-rule says, “You have to block the time.” Staring at our calendar, it’s chock-full… then skip ahead 2 or 3 weeks… and now start to block out time with specific Marketing Action Goals. Hold yourself accountable, or bring in a Practice Marketing Advisor to map the plan out and hold you and your staff to task.

For more thumb-rules, visit MarketingThumbrules.com.

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Last Thursday I was invited (again) to be the final speaker in this season’s series of business seminars at the Half Hollow Hills library in Dix Hills, Long Island (NY). I’ve attached the handout I used - feel free to print it out and follow along this full seminar! Ask your questions as comments below.

You may notice the handout is missing “Question 14″ - or really the second worksheet… The Marketing CheatSheet™.

Well, if you want to know EVERY marketing channel & collateral for traditional AND on-line marketing –> Order an audio-book (or my NEW TEXT BOOK, 365 Marketing Thumb-rules™) and I’ll give you the Marketing CheatSheet™ FOR FREE!

In the meanwhile, use the worksheet along with the video seminar and grow your practice to the next level… post questions/comments by clicking Comments below.

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