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Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/36891
MARKETING IN PRACTICE Staying on the Good Side of Growth Proactive Beats Reactive Every Time H Kristy Short, Ed.D Here’s the reality. Most accounting professionals, when it comes to marketing, are highly reactive. T ey’ve developed some good content, have a few pieces of collateral on hand, and are sending out communications here and there. The reactive environment can be deceptive because things consistently appear to be moving along. And if things are moving, that’s good, right? Not necessarily, and here’s why. Activity doesn’t always mean progress. Even a haphazard marketing plan can keep a fi rm active. However, the absence of a structured marketing program means that there is no way to quantify progress or ensure that marketing initiatives are being accomplished. T e bot om line is that working reactively is just not effi cient and generally means that a fi rm is put ing in far more time than if an organized plan were in place. T e FIRST big issue: Launching any marketing campaigns outside of a well-defi ned plan leaves you at high risk of some serious ball dropping. Compiling and organizing the elements that make up your broad marketing program provides a clear roadmap — complete with required deadlines and an assigned lead. As projects are completed, the plan is updated and items are checked off . T is keeps everyone current on project progress through to completion. Ball dropping avoided. The SECOND Kristy is a partner in RootWorks Communications (RootWorks.com) and president of SAS Communications 360 (SAScommunications360. com) — fi rms 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 at University of Phoenix and Cleary University. You can reach her at kristy.short@ CPAPracticeAdvisor.com. 54 54 big issue: When sending out com- munications outside of a plan, you lose the ability to properly track campaigns and measure their success. T at is: Did the campaign reach the right audience? Are follow- up communications required and being sent? Are you get ing prospects into your database? What is the rate of response? All these items are crucial to a marketing program because they provide insight on where you are successful as well as where you need to fi ll holes, improve your message, and step up eff orts. T e proactive approach enables a fi rm to identify initiatives and activity over a longer period of time. And this opens up a world of value, allowing fi rms to do the following: • Prepare an annual marketing budget, which helps keep costs in line. • Identify campaigns based on defi ned seasonal activity (e.g., an aſt er-tax season survey to clients, an aſt er-tax season lead generation campaign to prospects, a pre-audit season initiative, etc.). • Stay on task with each and every campaign and initiative (e.g., client newslet ers, email blasts, invitations, holiday cards, networking events, etc.). • Identify appropriate staff as lead on individual projects — allows the opportunity to assign the right staff member to projects and makes staff accountable for follow through. • Use a single comprehensive document for easy review of progress, complete with production deadlines. • Measure marketing goals and keep track of all activity. Again, activity should not be confused with progress. Marketing is not random. You don’t just throw out communications as issues or ideas come across your plate. Marketing is, to a large degree, a science. It requires calculated at ention to schedule initiatives, determine audiences, build lists, create messages, and measure and track results. It’s important to note that proactive planning does not rule out fl exibility. In fact, the best of plans need MOST ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONALS PROBABLY FALL INTO THE REACTIVE CATEGORY WHEN IT COMES TO MARKETING. AND THAT’S CERTAINLY NOT DUE TO AN ADVERSITY TO STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION. August 2011 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com MARKETING IS, TO A LARGE DEGREE, A SCIENCE. IT REQUIRES CALCULATED ATTENTION TO SCHEDULE INITIATIVES, DETERMINE AUDIENCES, BUILD LISTS, CREATE MESSAGES, AND MEASURE AND TRACK RESULTS. to be constantly updated, tweaked and refi ned. Most certainly, a plan will require changes over the course of a year. For example, you may fi nd that your client newslet er is gaining popularity, so you up the fre- quency from quarterly to monthly. Or you may identify campaigns that are yielding exceptionally low response rates and decide to “can” them. Change will happen, but with a structured plan in place, it’s actually easier to maneuver change as it comes because you always know “where you are.” Give Yourself Time to Make the Switch Truth be told, most accounting professionals probably fall into the reactive category when it comes to marketing. And that’s certainly not due to an adversity to structure and organization. Aſt er all, this is a profession of structure. And while being proactive is ideal, you can’t simply fl ip a switch and go from a primarily reactive existence to one of proactive thought. It’s recommended to start slow. Begin by investing some time in developing a broad marketing plan. Whether that’s making a list on paper of everything you want to accomplish or starting a comprehensive spreadsheet complete with action items, deadlines, and staff leads — you just need to start writing things down. T e reactive mode is counterproductive. Random eff orts only leave you spinning your wheels, derailed from any sound marketing course. In a proactive environment, you always know what you are trying to achieve, and that brings about accountability and follow through. With some eff ort, you can have a strong, productive and proactive marketing program in your fi rm.