According to the latest AICPA Management of an Accounting Practice survey, one of the top priorities of managing partners is marketing efforts to grow the firm.  Barring merging in another practice, growth is usually accomplished externally by adding new clients or internally by expanding services to existing clients.  In either situation a coordinated marketing program utilizing today’s technologies will make the firm’s marketing efforts more effective.  Today’s technology can help establish the firm’s expertise, provide information to prospects and potential employees, and educate those parties on critical information

In the competitive accounting market, it is expected that virtually everyone in the firm participate in marketing efforts to some extent.  Professional staff wanting to move up the career ladder have found it very effective to establish themselves as the “famous person” within a specific niche.  This entails developing specific knowledge and then promoting this expertise.  While traditional print advertising and direct contact methods such as mailings, telephone calls and seminars can be expensive, there are digital means of communicating this knowledge to clients and prospects.

The first step is to develop content.  Asking a manager or partner to write an article from scratch is often a burden, as most are not comfortable with writing in this context.  This can be streamlined by purchasing content or having the firm’s marketing director take an outline and turn it into an article that the champion can then customize to their niche.  It is important to include the name of the firm and the champion, their area of specialty and the types of engagements performed, as the search engines will pick up on this and will help identify them as a local expert.  For purchasing content, there are many services, including CCH’s own ExecuSiteBuilder at websites4accountants.com.  The ten sites listed provide monthly articles, tax calendars and financial calculators at a fraction of the cost that a firm would pay to develop or purchase any individual item.  Once this content is on published to the firm website, one of the best ways of delivering it to clients and prospects is via a digital newsletter.

Digital newsletters are one of the most effective ways of delivering information to clients as it can be highly customized and delivered in a fraction of time (and cost) when compared to physical newsletters that are mailed.  As they are delivered via email and often at the recipient’s place of work, it is imperative that they have worthy content that the reader can glean quickly, otherwise it risks being deleted or labeled as spam.  Digital newsletters should also be shorter in length, providing the brunt of the story in a single paragraph and including a link to the firm website for the full length article.  While most written articles are over 1,000 words in length, digital content can be half the size and still be acceptable.

The color scheme and newsletter design should reflect the firm’s brand so that it can be quickly recognized.  It is important that the newsletter loads quickly as people will give up on an email if there is not engaging content delivered in the seconds following the click.  Graphics should be sent in the lowest “viewable” resolution which can be created with almost any image editor.  For many firms, digital newsletters augment their physical newsletters and are not intended to be a replacement.  And remember, they are particularly useful when writing about new and evolving issues such as a change in the tax law for hurricane victims or the IRS mileage reimbursement rate.

To create the digital letter, the most effective tools are the same tools the firm uses to maintain their own website.  While many firms utilize a professional designer to develop their website layout, quite a few utilize Microsoft FrontPage for ongoing maintenance as it is low cost and easy to learn. Using the website format allows the firm to incorporate their masthead into the newsletter and easily create the links.  There are also plug-in tools available to create subscription lists via the website.  The benefit of this is that it allows individuals to subscribe and unsubscribe themselves, rather than having the firm perform maintenance.  In the event that a subscription program is not available with the firm’s current web tools, the list will need to be maintained in one of the firm’s other applications.

For delivery of the digital newsletter, it is recommended that firms utilize a central contact management system to coordinate physical addresses as well as email addresses.  For most firms, the most current contact information can be found either in their practice management application or a firmwide email contact list such as Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes. An advantage of utilizing a contact program over a time and billing application is that categories can be customized for each group that the firm would want to develop an email list for.  Please note, most of today’s practice management applications utilize SQL, Access or other open databases that can be configured to export to the firm’s contact application, particularly with Outlook, which would also help reduce the number of databases the firm has to maintain.

Many firms also have found it helpful to attend or exhibit at industry shoes where their niche services can be utilized.  Providing a giveaway such as a PDA or scanner provides the firm with an opportunity to collect business cards for potential clients within that niche.  While typing the information from each business card individually can be a painstaking process, there are card scanners that can do this in a fraction of the time.  Products such as CardScan can capture all standard information and place it into the appropriate box within the firm’s contact manager in seconds, not only saving time, but increasing the accuracy of the information.

Finally, for those firms that have a fair number of clients visit and wait in the lobby area, a firm slideshow is a great chance to educate them on the firm.  Many firms have installed flat panel computer screens in their lobby that rotates through a continuous PowerPoint program that touts the firm’s personnel and services.  By also including information such as the Boards these personnel serve on, their university affiliations, and firmwide community activities, the firm will develop “soft” touches to those waiting in the lobby.  Screens today are so slim that they can be placed within a picture frame to spruce up the look.  Again, the firm’s brand should be reflected within the PowerPoint, similar to the digital newsletter and website.

Marketing is the responsibility of everyone in the firm.  Coordinating those efforts between the firm’s brand via websites, contact lists and lobby marketing, will allow the firm  to capture and deliver information on a more timely basis to clients and prospects.

This article is reprinted with the publisher's permission from the CPA Practice Management, Forum a journal published by CCH INCORPORATED. Copying or distribution without the publisher's permission is prohibited. To subscribe to the CPA Practice Management Forum or other CCH Journals please call 800-449-8114 or visit www.tax.cchgroup.com.