Golden Practices Blog

Fodder for Convincing Social Media Skeptics

Marketers! Listen up!

How to Sell Social Media to Cynics, Skeptics & Luddites - Tips, Resources & Advice

If you've got an interest in rolling out some social media strategies in your firm, but don't have your senior management on board with you quite yet, the above article is the one-stop shop "make your case" fodder that you need to help you win over your skeptics.

Are you a step further in your implementation? Or just wanting to be sure you head off the "Don'ts" before you "do" one?

From the same great folks at Interactive Insights Group is the Superlist of What NOT to Do in Social Media.

Neither of these are weak little blurbs on the subject. Both are meaty and packed with excellent examples and insights. They will take you awhile to pour through and digest.

Monitoring Yourself or Your Company Online

There are a lot of ways to find out if you or your business are being mentioned online which will include many print media outlets that also publish on the web such as business journals and more.

It used to be that you had to read a lot of magazines or newspapers yourself, or better yet, subscribe to an expensive media clipping service, in order to find out about any mentions. Not anymore.

In fact, since you can monitor for free, you should be following yourself, your company, your most important clients, and your competitors, too.

TOOLS FOR MONITORING

The three top tools to monitor are:

1. Google Alerts
2. Bloglines (run a search for your key term, then "subscribe" to it)
3. Twitter Search

Google Alerts sends you emails containing excerpts and links to any new webpages containing the search terms youset up with them. You can manage your search tems very easily.

Bloglines is a great and easy to use blog aggregator with powerful search capabilities. Any search term at all can be "subscribed to" so that all future blog posts on containing your term will pull into your Bloglines feeds. I like to use it to search for industry news and other hot topics, too, because it is so easy to manage my searches and it's really easy to email a story to myself or someone else.

Twitter is a microblogging tool that is literally exploding. Microblogging means that when posts are made, they are 140 characters or less. There is a LOT of commentary about companies on twitter--the forum just lends itself to it. You can bookmark your search so you don't have to reenter search terms again next time. You can also use Twilert.com to receive email notification of search results much like Google Alerts.

ACTING ON MENTIONS

So if you do find mentions of your company, product or about working with you, it's a really good idea to NOT ignore it. Regardless of where you find mentions about your company, there are, in the elegantly short words of Guy Kawasaki (in a post about how to use twitter), some actions you should take:

• People are pissed: help them out

• People are confused: help them out

• People who have questions: help them out

• People are happy: ask them to spread the word

You will find that people are delighted by contact with the company and that no matter how rocky the relationship started out, they usually become fans and evangelists. By simply monitoring what people are saying about you, you’re using Twitter better than 95% of the companies out there.

And I expand that to say that by acting on mentions of your company you're using ALL your tools better than 95% of the companies out there.

And don't forget to apply these four "help them/ask them" strategies when people tell you, directly, about their experiences working with you!

Twitter Accessories

Stumbled on a GREAT blog post about various tools for managing, filtering and interacting with twitter more effectively (though it is very effective in its own simplicity).

Enhancing theTwitter Experience-Part 2 from the Brick and Click blog by Jeff Crites.

The post includes a run-down of easily more than 30 different tools with links and descriptions of what they do. Thanks Jeff!

Best CPA Firms to Work For

Congrats to all the firms that made Accounting Today's 2008: The Best Accounting Firms to Work For (or in pdf with graphics).

Especially happy for the recognition of my friends at Mark Bailey & Co for ranking the #1 small firm to work for (any coincidence that the firm does not keep timesheets?).

Per the article:

Mark Bailey & Co. in Reno, Nev., Frazier & Deeter LLC in Atlanta, and Kaufman, Rossin & Co. in Miami garnered the first-place ranking in the small, midsized and large categories, respectively.

In all, five small firms, 40 midsized firms and 15 large firms were honored as Best Firms to Work For. They will be recognized at an awards ceremony in May.

How were these firms evaluated?

Identifying and recognizing the best employers in accounting was a joint effort of the publishers of Accounting Today and Best Companies Group.

...accounting firms with at least 15 employees...submitted an Employer Benefits and Policies Questionnaire to disclose company policies, practices and demographics, which made up one quarter of the firm's score.

Then staff members completed a confidential Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Survey, to evaluate the employees' workplace experience and company culture, which accounted for the remaining three quarters of each firm's score.

The results were then analyzed and categorized in eight areas: leadership and planning, corporate culture and communications, role satisfaction, work environment, relationship with supervisor, training and development, pay and benefits, and overall engagement.

Growing a Forensic Accounting Practice

I'm belated in posting this very solid article written by my blogger-friend Tracy Coenen of Sequence Inc: "Providing Forensic Accounting Services as a Small Firm" published originally in FOCUS - Newsletter of the AICPA Forensic & Valuation Services Section.

Tracy is author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud, a book opportunity that arose, in part, due to her excellent blog, The Fraud Files Blog. Her second book, Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide is scheduled for release on Feb 9.

Tracy kindly included some of my thoughts in the marketing portion of the article, but it's good despite that! :)

IRC Section 7216: Impact on CPA Firm Marketing

There has been a lot of chatter about compliance with this new code released in July 2008, and put into effect January 1, 2009, and what it means for firms.

Directly reading the code, you'll find a lot of scary verbiage about restrictions to cross-marketing or cross-selling of services to tax clients.

This is to be "managed" via annually-required, signed, consent forms, from EACH client BEFORE their tax returns are delivered in order to be allowed to send said client information about ANYthing else your firm does. And you may only ask the client for their consent ONE time.

First thought, it's sounding a lot like crazy lawyer state bar restrictions on marketing and advertising. However, the intent is to protect taxpayer information including addresses.

Second thought, in keeping with tradition of most accounting regulatory language, this code is challenging, at best, to interpret. I've asked several tax professionals to give me their thoughts, and each professional has seen its implications differently.

(This explains my silence, to date, on this issue).

The accounting marketing community has been abuzz for the last few months about what the new regulations under Internal Revenue Code Section 7216 (26 CFR Part 301 Section 7216) will mean as they continue existing communication efforts with their clients such as print newsletter mailings, e-mail newsletters, and even seminar invitations for events that cover non-tax topics.

Fortunately, some vendor friends of the accounting industry like BizActions (a customizable e-mail news provider with awesome back-end click-through reporting) and PDI Global (long known for their high-quality print newsletters and planning guides, now offering some e-delivery too) have been sharing some insights on applicability of the code, especially as it pertains to the use of products like theirs.

Definitely look at this because, if you think you will use a mail house or a third‐party to distribute things like print or e‐mail newsletters, you may need to get the client’s consent first. Again, "first" means BEFORE you deliver their tax return to them. So you don't have much time.

LOOKING FOR INFORMATION AND RESOURCES?

I'm proud of my long-time trade association, Association for Accounting Marketing, for compiling this list of resources that partners and marketers can use as they embark on interpreting the code and deciding what approaches are best, for THEIR firms.

See AAM's IRC Section 7216 Information and Resource Page (marked Members Only, but access does not seem to be limited) and be sure to check out the AAM/PDI whitepaper found on that page as well as fellow blogger Rick Telberg's post on CPA Trendlines sharing sample consent forms released by the AICPA.

Happy implementing (ugh).

Appended: Also try the IRS Frequently Asked Questions about Section 7216

Marketing Via Differentiation: Music

ACCOUNTING SONGS

The Singing CPA, Steve Zelin, recently released a CD called No Accounting for The Holidays with tracks including:

• Most Deductible Time of the Year

• We Wish You a Great Big Refund

• Joy to the World (The Clients Paid)

• Dreydl, Dreydl, Dreydl (Taxes, Taxes, Taxes)

• Twelve Days of Taxes

• Go Home Ye Weary CPAs

Sounds like a lovely gift for your favorite CPA. He has two other CDs: Just Take A Sick Day and Magical Boxes, and he is available for booking. Might be perfect for a firm holiday party or end-of-tax-season gathering.

Through his music, he is definitely distinguishing himself! He's an alumnus of a Big 4 firm now in private tax practice.

This (similar to blogging) is an effective way to humanize oneself!

ACCOUNTING ROCK BAND?

Other musically inclined CPAs I'm aware of are The Accounting Crows (gotta love that name). Per their website:

The Accounting Crows are "Connecticut's only CPA Rock 'n' Roll Band." However, as auditors who recognize the importance of the rule called "full disclosure," they quickly point out that only 3 of the 4 members (or 75%) of the band are CPAs.

So who is the "other 25 percent" of the band? Mark Zampino, the Crow's keyboard player and only non-CPA, is the Public Affairs Director of the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants (CSCPA) and DNA-tested father of both the band and its name.

They are dynamite! My friend and AAM 2003 conference co-chair, Anne Angera and I booked them to kick off our Boston conference, the theme of which was "Revolutionary Marketing" which they epitomized.

They received a standing ovation.

While their band must be pretty good to have this many bookings, they exude fun, and they poke a lot of fun at themselves on their website.

Lead guitarist Alan Friedman, partner at Friedman Kanneberg in CT, has a practice that includes consulting in the music industry. And he leverages his band extremely well to benefit the accounting business as well as pro bono for important causes.

Their specialization claim is very nicely substantiated on their website, illustrated by his firm's membership in these organizations: National Assoc. of Music Merchants, Retail Print Music Dealers Assoc., National Assoc. of School Music Dealers, Percussive Arts Society, American Music Conference, and Audio Engineering Society. 

As if the memberships weren't support enough, this impressive list of representative clients clinches it.

The band has several other supporting cast members (Crows and Crowquettes) and are always looking for more, according to their (very cheeky) website:

Just read our band bio and you'll understand why we always need some heavy-duty musical stand-ins when last minute gig plans go awry. We never know when Reed is has not-for-profit audit overseas in Outer Slabovia, or Mike has to furnish his board of directors with a 50-page cost containment report requiring him to look up the word "containment" in the dictionary, or John has to be billable for a change, or Mark has to pretend to do something important for the CSCPA, or Alan has to go to the bathroom.

Accordingly, The Accounting Crows need either real CPAs or real musicians (as there's no such thing as a real "CPA musician") to be available when a band member's schedule conflicts with any one of the two important gigs we get each year.

 

All these CPAs deserve kudos and a closer look for gleaning ideas about how to successfully differentiate in a crowded marketplace.

Any other accounting musicians out there? How about rock-n-roll lawyers?

 

Hat tip to Greg Price for posting about Zelin on his blog From Greg's Head!

Dentist is Shining Professional Service Blog Example

A detour today... I used Google to help me learn why my 6 y/o has a white spot on her first grown-up tooth that is just beginning to emerge. The second result in Google for "white spots on teeth" was EXACTLY what I was hoping to find. And exemplifies why I recommend that professionals blog.

Dr Dean Brandon, a pediatric dentist in Huntsville, Alabama, has an outstanding blog www.cyberdentist.blogspot.com.

Dr. Brandon's "white spots" post was informative. He seems knowledgeable and because he shared, makes me think he cares--I wish he were in St Louis! But my point in blogging about him is to extract (no pun intended) some lessons from him.

A testament to the quality of his blog, the page I wanted came up VERY high in Google search results.

Interestingly, Dr. Brandon's post on white spots, written in 2006, has elicited 82 comments to date--though many of these are Dr. Brandon's replies to reader questions. After skimming the comments, I am absolutely certain he cares because he has personally responded to people, especially in the early years of his blog.

Accountants, lawyers, and other professionals might look at this and assert the following:

1. If I got 40 comments on a post, I wouldn't have time to answer everybody!
2. I'm not sure I want to, or should, give away all that "free advice"!
3. How does this blog help his local practice when readers are all over the world?? I'm in [insert city] like he's in Huntsville, so why should I care about a question from a reader in Toledo?

Fair enough. My thoughts below.

Comment volume. My first reassurance is to suggest that you aren't likely to get the same level of inquiry as he does. Frankly, his readers are mommies and daddies worried about their kids and people don't tend to obsess about their accounting or legal issues the way they do about their kids' medical needs or appearance!

Second, by reading a bit deeper on his blog, I learned that Dr. Brandon has subsequently expressed an inability to personally respond to all comments. In October, 2007, he posted this graph of his readership growth wrote: 

By the way, many people ask questions of me. I have been generally happy to give my opinion, but have also tried to get across that I cannot give dental advice that is specific to any one patient (see disclaimer). Over the past few months I have gotten very busy and cannot devote too much time to answering questions. Therefore, I will be posting most of your comments, but will not likely be able to answer any questions.

So, like him, you can manage expectations about how you will behave with readers.

Especically when you start out with a blog, it is just smart, as well as common courtesy, to reply to readers who read you and are moved enough about your content to post a comment. But, yes, at some point, it might become unmanageable. When you hit that point, as our good Dr. did, just say so! People will understand.

By the way, in Dec, 2008, Dr. Brandon added a comment to this Blog Stat post that his stats have again doubled those shown above. This is in light of the fact that he only made SIX postings in 2008!

(NOTE: This few postings in a year isn't optimal, but his blog was so well established since its launch in Sep. 2005, when there was little other similar content out there, that he could pull it off. It's a little tougher to "stand out in the crowd" if you're just starting now. But it is NOT too late.)

Free advice. Yeah, this is a tough one. But it boils down to common sense.

I think there are two kinds of professional service providers when it comes to marketing: those who share information liberally and realize it more than pays for itself, and those who feel the need to bill every minute they help someone.

In my years in marketing accountants and lawyers, I have seen that the former approach is much more fruitful, long-term. Look at the greatest rainmakers you know, and you too may observe that they probably follow the "share liberally" policy when it comes to helping people out, whether the recipient of the help will ever become a client or not. 

This is how to develop a reputation as a caring, helpful person. <--what most people want in their professional service providers!  And it is also how people witness, first hand, and are reassured, that you are a "pro" at what you do. 

If you are worried about liability in advice provided, don't. That is what disclaimers are for. See Dr. Brandon's excellent disclaimer and look at the legal lingo of other blogs for ideas on how to CYA.

Local practice, global readership. I'll share a few rhetorical questions to address this concern.

As a local practitioner in [insert your city], does it enhance your credibility at all to be viewed as a national or international expert?

If you spoke to a national audience of peers, or wrote for a national journal or  professional association publication, would that be something you would include on your biography?

Did you notice that as Dr. Brandon's blog stats soared, that his time to blog rapidly diminished?

And did you notice that among the six posts he made in 2008, two were about significant expansion--major equipment and the construction of a major new facility?

I rest my case.

Summary. I do want to say that, IMHO, a large part of Dr. Brandon's success is due to the excellent quality of his posts AND his participation in his readers' experience through comments. If you scroll down his right-hand sidebar, you'll see his entire list of posts. Note the following three points:

• The posts are about things that patients care about.

• Titles are short and pointed.

• And the content of each post is very thorough, a result of which is the high odds that he uses phrases that will come up in searches like mine.

Congrats Dr. Brandon and, if you read this, thanks for answering my questions about my daughter's spot!

New Year's Marketing Resolutions

Lyne Noella is a wise lady whom I've long admired and known through the accounting marketing circles. Lucky for us, she has a blog called Relationship Marketing Program.

She posted yesterday her Top 5 New Year's Resolutions (all about marketing).

Two New Accounting Blogs Launch: Marks 10th and 11th Niche Blogs

Hooray for (another!) Texas firm, Rylander, Clay & Opitz, LLP who are launching TWO blogs with fantastic team participation and a nice backlog of starting posts. 

Mission: Accountable is for tax exempt organizations serving Ft. Worth and surrounding communities, and Fueling the Business is for Texas oil and gas producers and service providers.

These will be good ones, for sure. Both blogs feature multiple authors including partners AND accounting professionals of varying levels.

Veteran accounting blogger and the newest partner at RCO, Becky DaVee was the founder of another accounting blog, TheMinistryBlog.com, launched two years ago at her former firm. On joining RCO a couple months ago, she encouraged the firm to launch these blogs because she experienced, first hand, how well blogs work in support of successful niche marketing efforts.

We, at Golden Marketing, were honored to be part of the strategy, training and creation of these blogs for RCO! And we want to note that both blog's banners feature photographs taken by one of RCO's auditors, Rocky Miller.

There are now 65 accounting firm blogs that we are aware of. And only 11 are niche focused! Playing field is still VERY wide open...