Today we want to talk to a specific subset of our readers: accounting marketers. Are you an accounting firm marketing director? Or the administrator or office manager in charge of your firm’s marketing functions? This one’s for you.

 

Key Functions of Accounting Marketers

As accounting marketers, you have a challenging job. First, you have to convince your colleagues to focus attention on a part of a job they traditionally don’t love—business development. Second, you need to be seen as an investment, as opposed to an expense. How can you best solidify your standing within the firm? Read on for a look at some key areas of focus.

 

Monitor Key Relationships

First, to help team members practice at a higher level and command premium fees, it’s key to build meaningful relationships. You can help your colleagues by monitoring their efforts to develop professional intimacy. You should remind them to keep up with key contacts, and encourage them to maintain regular contact. As accounting marketers, you have the ability to oversee key relationships and make sure that they are exactly where they need to be over time.

One helpful method for doing this is employing a survey system to monitor clients’ opinions of your firm. Personally, we’re advocates of the Net Promoter Score® (NPS®) system. This method predicts business growth using a simple, one-question method. It asks, “How likely is it that you would recommend our firm and our services?” You can use survey results to benchmark and monitor the temperature of each client relationship. Your firm can also leverage this data in proposals for new engagements.

 

Build Personal Brands

Next, help your colleagues develop their personal brands. This aids in business growth and helps accounting marketers prove their value. You can do this by sharing content with key contacts on behalf of the practitioners for which you have stewardship. Firm-wide newsletters are one great option. Additionally, you can really set yourself apart by delivering more focused mailings (think a one-to-many email that presents itself as one-to-one). The consistent delivery of quality content to the right contacts at the right time really sets practitioners apart.

 

Track Your Firm’s Pipeline

Finally, taking stewardship for maintaining your firm’s business pipeline is a great way to show your value. As accounting marketers, it is important to understand what your pipeline looks like, and to make sure that nothing is falling through the cracks. Armed with strong familiarity with your firm’s pipeline, you can ensure that your colleagues stay on top of their business.

 

CRM for Accounting Marketers

The jobs of accounting marketers may sound simple as described above, but in reality it’s anything but that. Luckily, there are systems that can make your life much easier. Check out this video to hear ABLE CEO Jeff Pawlow describe how a CRM for CPA firms can facilitate the various responsibilities of accounting marketers:

 

Bottom line, ABLE is a cost-effective and fantastic tool for accounting marketers to use as the hub of their business development activities. By using ABLE, you can very easily represent the value that you’re bringing to your firm as their marketing professional.

Ready to learn more? Schedule a free, no-obligations demo of ABLE today!