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Client Testimonials: Power Tools in
Your Marketing Toolbox
By Lisa A. Rozycki
When I think of testimonial advertising, a few good ad campaigns come to mind. One of the more memorable, recent campaigns features Academy award-winning actress Sally Field pitching Boniva, a drug that works to slow bone loss, so the body's natural bone production can pull ahead. The drug's makers, Roche and GlaxoSmithKline, launched the Rally With Sally for Bone Health campaign in 2006 and believe direct to consumer advertising is important because it encourages patients to talk to their physicians about their condition and possible treatment options. According to Roche's 2007 annual report, the drug's market share increased to over 15% and sales to $ 885 million, an 85% increase over the previous year.
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The Accounting Firm Proposal Process: A Roadmap to Winning New Business
By Lisa A. Rozycki
The cliche, "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there," is appropriate when it comes to accounting firm proposal processes or the lack thereof. Many firms are performing poorly in competitive bid processes because of a lack of direction and a set of best practices to follow.
Are lone rangers in your firm meeting with prospects because they brought in the lead even though other professionals in your firm may be better qualified to handle the sales call? Have you ever been asked to write a proposal for a manufacturing prospect and they wanted it the next day? Are people in your firm going out on sales calls and talking about strategy in the car on the way over to the meeting?
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MARKETING IS NOT SALES
By Lisa A. Rozycki
How many times have you heard the words marketing and sales used interchangeably?
How many "salespeople" in a company or professional services firm do you actually run
into? Many organizations give their salespeople titles such as marketing representative or business development manager and blur the line between marketing and selling. Probably because they aren't aware of the difference between marketing and sales functions within an organization or they believe that clients will be more open to their products and services if they disguise their salespeople from what they really are, salespeople. Does this add to the confusion about the differences between marketing and sales? Yes, I think it does.
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'CAUSE MARKETING' SHOULD BE ONGOING AND THE RIGHT FIT
By Lisa A. Rozycki
In the last several years, I have seen everyone from funeral home directors to bartenders offering discounts on products and services in exchange for donations for disaster victims. I can remember during the September 11th terrorist attacks, a printer offering a percentage of proceeds on the sale of promotional products going to September 11th causes.
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FIRMS EMPLOY MARKETING DIRECTORS, INTERNAL PROGRAMS FOR SOFT SKILLS TRAINING
By Lisa A. Rozycki
When you look at staff training schedules for most CPA firms, even state CPA society
curriculum hitting members' mailboxes, you'll see plenty of technical courses on tax
return preparation, basic A & A, business valuations, and fraud. What is sorely missing in
some of them, and sparse in others, is the "soft skills" component that accountants need
in order to succeed at practice development.
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MARKETING IN THE FACE OF DISASTER:
LESSONS LEARNED FROM KATRINA
By Lisa A. Rozycki
It was business as usual at Postlethwaite & Netterville (P&N), Baton Rouge, La. (21 partners, 7 offices, 200 total staff) on Friday, August 26, 2005, three days before the most devastating natural disaster in American history, Hurricane Katrina, made landfall on the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, having first made landfall in Florida on Thursday evening, August 25.
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ADDING TRADE SHOWS TO YOUR MARKETING MIX
By Lisa A. Rozycki
One of the most effective ways to use special events in your firm's marketing strategy is through participation in trade shows. The right trade show is one which not only targets the primary buyers of your services, but also has a proven record of attracting attendance by those who can make or initiate a buying decision.
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WELL WRITTEN PRESS RELEASES CAN BRING NAME RECOGNITION, CREDIBILITY
By Lisa A. Rozycki
The press release is the most frequently used public relations vehicle, communicating news to the public through trade journals, magazines, newsletters, Internet media/ databases, associations and news wire broadcasts, where appropriate. For businesses with limited marketing budgets, a well-written press release can be a great way to get an organization's name in front of hundreds of potential clients and customers. It can also build credibility for an organization in the industries it serves and the local business community.
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TEN TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR SURVEY RESPONSES
The following article offers tips from Zoomerang, on how to improve the quality
and quantity of your survey response rates
1. Clearly define the purpose of the survey. Good surveys have focused objectives that are easily understood. For a survey to be successful you need to spend time up front to identify, IN WRITING:
What is the goal of this survey?
What do you hope to accomplish with this survey?
Why are you creating this survey?
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PAY ATTENTION TO CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING
Before A Crisis Takes Place
As published in the November 2005 issue of
AICPA's The Practicing CPA Newsletter
By Lisa A. Rozycki
If there is a time when your organization can be guaranteed public attention, it's when you are facing a crisis that's been made public and you least want it. In my experience, most accounting organizations are ill prepared because of a lack of a crisis communications plan in place.
In a short survey conducted by the Association for Accounting Marketing in January of 2005, organizations were asked if they had a crisis communications plan in place. Seventy-eight organizations out of the ninety-eight that responded, or 80%, said they had no plan in place. Surprising, yet years of community outreach and building a solid reputation can be undone faster than you can say "Enron."
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MARKETING PROFESSIONALS PREPARE TO LEAD
As published in the January 2006 issue of
CCH's Practice Management Forum Magazine
By Lisa A. Rozycki
Successful marketers who have made partnership and those in chief marketing positions know that there are several common elements to commanding a seat at the table, even making partnership- think like a strategist, have a never-ending curiosity to learn including reaching out to other industries to get a broader perspective, and develop your staff with the goal of creating ambassadors for your organization.
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CLIENT ADVISORY BOARDS: PUT YOU IN TOUCH WITH YOUR CLIENTS AND MARKETPLACE
By Lisa A. Rozycki
While not a form of formal marketing research, a client advisory board (CAB) is an opportunity for any professional service organization to listen to their clients' comments on how they really feel about the organization and the services it offers. Every organization's goal is, or should be, to provide clients with the very best client service. In order to accomplish that, management needs to know what the key client issues are and come up with a plan on how to alleviate them, if possible.
A CAB can put your organization in touch with your marketplace to gather meaningful information on where the organization stands in the minds of your clients on everything from your receptionist to your reputation in a specific niche.
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SIGNATURE EVENTS ARE PUTTING FIRMS ON THE MAP
As published in MarkeTrends, the official newsletter of the Association for Accounting Marketing
By Lisa A. Rozycki
In 1949, Pillsbury decided to hold a baking contest to celebrate its 80th birthday. It's advertising agency created the event and invited homemakers to share their beloved recipes. Theodora Smafield of Michigan won the Pillsbury Bakeoff® for her bread stick recipe, "No-knead Water Rising Twists." Response was so great that Pillsbury decided to hold it again and again until the event became an American institution.
Like consumer marketers, accounting marketers are becoming savvier in their event marketing planning. Many organizations are realizing that few marketing tools communicate the organization's brand better than special events- and organization personnel are getting good value out of the personal interaction between clients and prospects through staging these promotional affairs.
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INCENTIVE PROGRAMS: BRING OUT THE BEST IN YOUR FIRM
By Lisa A. Rozycki
An incentive program is a planned activity designed to motivate people to achieve predetermined organizational objectives. In other words, it is a planned activity to encourage people to do what it is you want them to do.
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SMALL FIRMS FILL HOLES IN MARKET CREATED BY SOX
As published in the January 2005 issue of
The Practicing CPA, An AICPA Publication
By Lisa A. Rozycki
For those smaller CPA organizations across the country who have taken the initiative, the boon of business from the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 has been nothing short of remarkable. Small organizations have found innovative ways to be competitive- from offering staff to Big Four organizations in exchange for training on Section 404 work, to combining resources with other member organizations of accounting organization networks to compete for projects.
The work brought on by Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley- which requires management to report on its internal controls over financial reporting and independent auditors to attest to management's evaluation- has been an opportunity for smaller organizations to broaden the services they offer to clients.
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