Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/511071
18 May 2015 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com A YEAR IN THE LIFE: PAYROLL ACCOUNTANT Review your marketing collat- eral to make sure it's up-to-date. C heck ad s, brochu res a nd cl ient communications for outdated tag- lines, phrases, logos, etc. If you've recently added ser vices or won any awards, include them in your mar- keting materials and use marketing content that your payroll sof ware provider may provide as well. W hile these may not be personalized for your practice, they can make great supplementa l mater ia l to f u r t her explain the features and benefts of the sof ware your practice uses. I d e n t i f y y o u r t a r g e t d e m o - graphic ver y early on. K now who y ou a r e m a r k e t i n g t o a nd w h a t industr y they ser ve. Identif y their pain points and how your practice r e s o l v e s t h e m . E m p h a s i z e t h e qua l it ies t hat set you apa r t f rom your competitors. Do you ser ve a n iche ma rket or have specia l ized ser v ices? Have you been a rou nd longer than competitors? Tese are qualities that make you unique and explain why both current and pro- spective clients should choose you over the competition. Practitioners are ofen tempted to focus all marketing campaigns on gaining new clients. However, it's important to remember that you must market to ex isting clients too. Failure to reach out could lead to them becoming former clients. Besides keeping you on their mind, marketing materials are a good way to let clients know about existing or new ser v ices that they aren't cur- rently using. W hile there are lots of diferent m a r k e t i n g s t r a t e g i e s y o u c a n employ, the frst priorit y should be your website . It is considered your businesses virtual ofce door and, as such, should be accessible to your clients and prospects however they step " foot" on your doorstep. You need to have a website that is both visually appealing and easy to nav igate. It should contain all the information that visitors would look f o r – m o s t i m p o r t a n t l y, e a s i l y accessible contact information. Not i n c l u d i n g k e y i n f o r m a t i o n i s missing an opportunity to market you r busi ness to prospects. You r webs ite i s a l so pr i m a r i l y w here clients and prospects will sign up to receive newsleters and other emails from your practice. Yo u r w e b s i t e s h o u l d a l s o b e mobi le -ready. A s more bu si ness owners look to manage their busi- nesses on the go, it's likely they will also access parts of your site from their mobile devices. Payroll articles a nd resou rces, cl ient por ta ls a nd gener a l i n for m at ion about you r practice are some of the important pages that should be optimized for mobile. Hav ing a mobile-friendly portal website is especially impor- tant if you provide a payroll portal t o y o u r c l i e n t s ' e m p l o y e e s . A s businesses move to become more g reen or paperless, t hey w i l l a lso look for practitioners who can assist them in going paperless in payroll as well. As mentioned above, email is a great way to expound upon your w e b s i t e m a r k e t i n g e f f o r t s . Trough email, you can send out digital newsleters and keep the l i ne s of c o m mu n ic a t io n o p e n between clients. H av i ng a reg u la r eNew slet ter o f t e n g o e s h a n d - i n - h a n d w i t h website marketing eforts because you ca n house a n a rch ive of past new slet ter issues on you r site. A common practice is to tease articles in an email blast and include links for readers to "Read More" on your website. Newsleters are a great way t o s h o w c a s e y o u r e x p e r t i s e o n pay rol l-related topic s a nd issues whi le dr iv ing tra fc back to your site. Newslet ters ca n be ta rgeted specifcally to clients or to anyone that subscribes on your website. Si m i l a r to ne w s le t t e r s , e m a i l bl a s t s a l so d r i ve t r a f f ic to you r website while allowing you to focus on a singular payroll topic or issue. Tey can ser ve to prov ide f urther e x p e r t i s e o n t o p i c s t h a t a r e o f interest to your clients. Emails are a l s o a g re at tool to enc ou r a ge prospects to rev isit your site or c o m e i n f o r a c o n s u l t a t i o n . Personalize emails to remind clients t o t a k e c e r t a i n t a s k s , s u c h a s v e r i f y i n g e m p l o y e e p a y r o l l information. It is a must nowadays to have a strong social media presence. Your practice doesn't need to be on ever y soc ia l med ia net work . I n fac t , it wou ld be nearly impossible to be socia l ly ac t ive on ever y net work . Instead, focus your efor ts on the sites where your target demographic has the strongest presence. It is way more ef fec t ive to have a n ac t ive presence on a few networks than to be omnipresent. Net work activ it y m a y v a r y b y i nd u s t r y a nd u s e r intent. W hile businesses have found success across multiple net works, LinkedIn still remains the number one account for B2B activity. Creating and maintaining a blog or v ideos can enhance your frm's social media presence by providing self-authored content to share with and be shared by your connections. Blogs a re a good w ay to add ress pay rol l-related f requent ly a sked questions or share tips to help your c l i e n t s g e t t h e m o s t o u t o f t h e products and ser vices you provide. Lastly, industr y and com mu- nity involvement are inexpensive w ay s to m a rk et you r pr ac t ic e . Sponsor ing or hosting char itable events gets you r f i r m's na me out i nt o t he c om mu n it y w h i le a l s o supporting worthy causes. You can also provide branded items, such as pens or cofee mugs, that ser ve as a d d i t i o n a l m a r k e t i n g a n d advertising. W hatever marketing initiatives your frm decides to employ, it's i m p o r t a n t t h a t y o u t e s t a n d measure your eforts to determine what's working. Tailor messages to the audience that you are targeting and measure which words, colors, font s , de sig n s , etc . re son ate t he most w it h you r cl ients a nd pros- pects. T his w ill help you identif y where best to focus your eforts and w h i c h i n i t i a t i v e s s h o u l d b e discontinued. A great marketing campaign will consist of bot h d ig ita l a nd pr i nt col latera l and target ex isting and prospective clients. It will appeal to you r aud ience bot h v isua l ly a nd emotionally, but most importantly, it w i l l empha si ze you r st reng t hs wh i le set t i ng you apa r t f rom t he competition. How to Market to Payroll Clients By Taija Jenkins R unning a successful payroll practice is about more than just the services you provide; it's also about selling those services. Sure, you may be one of the best, but how will anybody know that if you or your clients don't tell them? Word of mouth is defnitely one aspect of marketing, but it ofen takes more than that to comprise a good marketing campaign. Marketing initiatives should also include a nice mix of digital and print content.