Busy Season is Over? Hah!

Ilana Isakov Katz, Director of Marketing, SS&G ­ – Cleveland, Ohio
Stuart Baum, Director of Marketing, Blackman Kallick – Chicago, IL

As the CPAs begin to come out of their offices into the bright light, one of the first things they will do – especially this year – is stroll into the marketing department looking for help with their business development.

With this in mind, the members of the AAM Communications Committee each looked at their To Do lists and provided a couple of the business development efforts they plan to roll-out after April 15.

Here they are, in no particular order:

Revisit the Past – Proposals, pipelines, events, networking – You were busy, too. Just because the accountants are otherwise occupied, doesn’t mean marketing efforts stall. Get feedback on the success of the marketing efforts of the 2010 busy season. It will help you prepare for 2011 and to create a “wish list” for when you have a little more time next year.

Food for Thought – Many firms are providing all sorts of busy season snacks and meals…all healthy snacks, we hope! Marketing can keep the "free food" going after tax season by hosting breakfasts, lunches or snack breaks including presentations on key marketing topics. Topics include: the basics of building a referral network, social media, getting the most from associations and trade groups, and cross-selling (saturation) best-practices.

Trade Show It Off – Summer is a great time to re-introduce all your associates to the wide array of industry-specific and specialty services your firm provides. Sometimes professionals have their blinders on and only present their individual knowledge to a client or prospect. Hosting an internal trade show is a fun and informative way to have your industry and specialty teams highlight their services to others in the firm.

Chart the Course – Sit down with your industry and service line teams to revitalize and readjust your marketing strategies and timelines. Make sure you remind them of their individual roles and responsibilities.

Springboard Sales Activities – Take time to clean-up your pipeline and revisit any opportunities that may have stalled the past few months. Create actionable plans for getting these leads to the bottom of the pipeline. And don’t forget to assess the last few wins and losses.

Follow the Thought Leader – Work with a partner on a few article ideas. Develop the abstracts and find a publication or two that will run them. Don’t forget to repurpose the content in your different marketing and communication channels to get the biggest return.

Freshen Up! – Marketplaces change…fast. Chances are your marketing messages and value propositions may need to be tweaked. Review your marketing materials to make sure you have your messages on-target for each specific buyer group. If a new tool will better compel targeted prospects, develop it.

Wine and Dine – Do you have a list of all the associations to which your partners and senior managers belong? Have you perused the events calendars? Are there any “must attend” functions on the horizon? Now’s a great time to focus these efforts and offer up some suggestions for not only where to network, but also how to identify which prospects are also attending.

Reach Out – Your firm’s referral sources are waiting for your call to schedule social and networking events. Make the goal to learn more about complementary services, strengthen personal relationships, and share business opportunities. Don’t forget to have both sides invite junior staff. And, while you are at it, think about some firm alumni events. Odds are, many of your former staff are prospects or good referral sources.

Spring Clean – Bounce rates increasing? Open rates decreasing? List sizes stagnant? These are all signs that your CRM could use attention. Even if the reports are all positive, it’s never a bad time to assess your mailing lists and e-marketing results … and compare your marketing tactics to the actual lists you will be using to implement them.

There you have it -- Ten things to add to your already-full task list. No need to thank us for the extra work. And we promise not to show this list to your managing partner.