Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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12 May 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com MARKETING IN PRACTICE Are You a YOUtility? How Smart Accountants Are Helping, Not Selling At the core of this concept is helping. And you accomplish this by supplying clients and prospects w ith helpful information—such as how-to's, tips and tactics, detailed tax and accounting insights, and more. In other words, the concept has you giv ing away your knowledge. I understand that this goes against everything you know about the profes- sion. For years, accountants have operated under the mindset of guarding trade secrets—fearing that if too much is given away, no one would need or pay for your services. Tis is no longer the reality. Te pervasiveness of the Internet and fundamental shifts in how con- sumers research products and services has changed the game. Research shows that business-to-business customers have 70 percent of the purchase decision completed before they ever contact the company. Tis is true in the accounting profession as well. Potential clients are "secret shopping " accountants — looking for services information, online reviews, and other digital cues about your value and expertise. Potential cli- ents are out there looking, so it makes sense to push out as much information online as you can—info that's as helpful as you can make it. Tis concept of ofering information that is so useful people would actually pay for it if you asked them to is derived from the New York Times best-selling business book YOUTILITY, by Jay Baer. Te book (and its companion eBook, YOUTILITY for Accountants) shows that business success is al l about helping—not sales and marketing hype. Giv ing away valuable, educational resources and information is a way to break through the messaging cluter to earn consumer trust and eventually convert them to clients. As Jay wrote, "Sell something, and you make a client. Help someone, and you make a client for life." And because helping is at the core of what accounting professionals do every day, this makes perfect sense. To beter understand YOUtility and how it relates to the accounting profes- sion, I went to the expert, Jay Baer. Kristy: Why should accountants take the time to understand the YOUtility concept? Jay: Selecting an accountant is an important, measured decision for most people. Te ramifcations of that deci- sion are long-lasting. As such, even more than in most industries, potential accounting clients are hyper-researching their options—seeking to augment personal referrals with other informa- tion that ratifes or helps guide their decision. Te way for accountants to "get on the radar" of their potential clients isn't by advertising more, it's by developing marketing that's inherently helpful. Kristy: Do you have a good example of an accounting frm that's using YOUtility efectively? Jay: I do. In fact, I interviewed and included this frm in YOUTILITY for Accountants. The firm is Hanner & Associates, located in Bedford, Texas. Hanner & Associates has moved from a regional accounting frm serving many types of companies to a national frm with a defned niche: veterinary prac- tices. Te frm's owner, Glenn Hanner, and his team, made this shif by being incredibly useful to veterinarians. Te firm sends a strong signal about its categor y of ex per tise, using www. VetCPA.com as their domain name and providing an extraordinary animated demonstration video on their site that identifes the unique challenges faced by vets and outlines how Hanner can help. Hanner is doing an amazing job with YOUtility marketing overall. Kristy: What types of communications should frms be pushing out and what are some of the best vehicles to deliver helpful content—blogs, social media, etc.? Jay: A blog is a great place to start, because it has shelf-life and it enables accountants to demonstrate expertise in a somewhat more comprehensive way. Social media is important too, but mostly as an amplifcation tool. Content (like a blog) is fre; social media is the accelerant. Kristy: Anything else that accountants should know to help them become "genu- inely and inherently useful?" Jay: Don't be afraid to transcend the transaction. You can and should provide information that's relevant to your cli- ents and prospective clients, even if that information is not about accounting per se. Give yourself permission to make the story BIGGER . Te YOUTILITY for Accountants e-book i s a great resource to start with because it is chock full of detail on the YOUtility concept a n d c a s e s t u d i e s o f s u c c e s s f u l accounting frms that have accelerated their businesses with YOUtility mar- keting. Tere are lots of examples in the book of how to build your practice by being useful. Marketing takes on a whole new meaning when you view it from the client's perspective. Consumers today don't want to be inundated with sales- heavy hype; they want help, instruction, a n d i n f o r m at i o n t h at i s u s e f u l . YOUtility is the concept that meets the needs of today 's online-researching clients and prospects, and the concept that will enable you to become inher- ently and genuinely useful to these folks. So, are you a YOUtility? If not, there are tons of potential clients (and existing ones) waiting for your help. 12 May 2014 t www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com By Kristy Short Ed.D. and Jay Baer Kristy Short, Ed.D, is partner and Chief Marketing Ofcer in RootWorks LLC ( RootWorks.com ) and president of rwc360, LLC ( rwc360.com )— frms dedicated to providing practice management education, branding , marketing , and public relations services to the accounting profession. She is also a professor of English and marketing. Reach her at kristy.short@ cpapracticeadvisor.com . I f you haven't heard of the YOUtility con- cept, you are missing out on the most impor tant marketing concept of the mobile age. YOUtility is a new way of marketing your frm's services that enables you to become inherently and genuinely useful to prospects and clients. cpa_12_Short.indd 12 5/7/14 8:53 AM