everything from social media to direct mail.
by jassen bowman
tax resolution systems
when focusing on tax resolution within your practice, you will need to conduct ongoing lead generation marketing.
more: don’t ignore your existing leads | 3 checklists for office communication | what to say on phone calls about fees | tax resolution staff roles and responsibilities | case study: building a tax resolution business | market to your ideal clients | follow up with leads longer | marketing requires ruthless accountability | one-step vs. two-step marketing | 5 daily tasks for maximum tax resolution profitability
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this is not a comprehensive marketing training manual, and barely scratches the surface of what you can do regarding your lead generation marketing. what’s presented here is intended to give you an idea of what these kinds of checklists look like in order to help you create your own.
example marketing checklists:
- classified ads checklist
- print marketing checklist
- direct mail checklist
- professional networking checklist
- seminar marketing checklist
- blogging marketing checklist
- social networking checklist
- pay-per-click marketing checklist
classified ads lead generation checklist
use the classified ads checklist when you are starting to market your services using classified ads. classified ads include both print classified ads (which we rarely use anymore) and online classified ads like craigslist (yes, it can be effective).
- determine the types of classified ads you are going to use to market.
- place the ads that you are running on:
- craigslist
- backpage
- ebay classifieds
- repost or renew these ads to keep maximum exposure as quickly as the websites you are posting to will allow.
alternatives
- some people still use print classified ads in some markets. for example, in our local market you may want to try:
- local daily newspaper
- usa today
- wall street journal
- investor’s business daily
- american classifieds
craigslist ads lead generation checklist
use the craigslist ads to find clients checklist when you are placing ads on craigslist to find new clients.
log in to craigslist
- log in to craigslist.
- always post your ads from your account to make it easier to track and to renew ads that are performing.
review existing ads
- check to see if the ad is still effective by checking to make sure:
- are you consistently getting clients from it? this usually trumps the other metrics below, but if you are not sure if it is effective yet use the metrics below as additional factors for whether to keep running it, change it or stop running it completely.
- using your website statistics like google analytics for this particular ad as a referrer:
- is the pages/visit for this ad better than the average for your website for the last 30 days?
- is the average time on site for this ad better than the average for your website for the last 30 days?
- is the bounce rate for this ad better than the average for your website for the last 30 days?
- is the number of new visitors for running this ad better than other ads you could be running instead of it?
renew winning ads
- if the ad is still effective and you have not placed or renewed another similar ad in that same category in the last hour, renew it.
- if an ad has been renewed several times, you may need to delete it and repost it instead of renewing it.
add new ads
- test new ads if you don’t have one to renew or if you want to improve on the marketing you have.
- typical categories on craigslist to use:
- financial services
- legal services
- events and classes – use to promote tax, financial or small business seminars or other educational classes you would be holding for prospects
alternatives
- backpages
- ebay classifieds
print marketing lead generation checklist
use the print marketing checklist when doing print marketing for your services. print marketing refers to taking out display ads in publications.
what to run:
- display ads
- sticky notes
- flyer inserts
where to run:
- local newspapers
- local business journal
- local specialty/niche publications
- senior citizen magazine
- neighborhood/hoa newsletters
- american classifieds/nick ads
- “alt weeklies”
- lgbt publication
- tidbits
direct mail lead generation checklists
direct mail to tax liens in particular is the lead generation workhorse of the tax resolution industry. however, tax liens are not the only mailing list you can mail to. you can also send mail to other demographic- and psychographic-based direct mail lists. bear in mind your tax resolution mailings can also be focused on other services, because tax debtors need other help, such as tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping, etc.
- postcards to find clients checklist
- letter to find clients checklist
- handwritten yellow letters to find clients checklist
postcards to find clients checklist
use the postcards to find clients checklist when you plan to use direct mail postcards to find new clients to work with.
- decide which postcard you want to mail:
- make sure postcard has a compelling offer.
- make sure postcard has a headline.
- make sure postcard message speaks to your target market.
- include response mechanism.
- upload postcard to usps click2mail service.
- you may already have done this in your setup phase.
- upload mailing list to usps click2mail service.
- print a copy of the postcard along with the following critical information about the mailing list you sent it to and add it to the “tax resolution” marketing swipe file:
- description of the list: lien amounts, geography covered, individual or business, etc.
- number of postcards mailed
- date of mailing – include any holidays that might affect response rates
- mail it.
alternatives: jumbo full-color postcards are an attractive option. sendpepper.com offers an affordable option for these.
letters to find clients checklist
- decide which letter you want to mail (these examples can be found in other courses on taxmarketinghq.com):
- basic introduction letter
- 3-letter sequence letters
- resolution options letter
- risk of going it alone letter
- how to choose tax representation letter
- tax prep catchup letter
- oic letter
- year-end tax planning letter
- etc.
- print your letter – you may want to do mail merge of your letter to add personalization and to boost response.
- hand address envelopes and use live stamp for best response – yes, i know it takes a million times longer to do the mailing.
- click2mail will send your letters with an indicia and using windowed envelopes with the address appearing on the first printed page that is otherwise blank.
- print a copy of the letter along with the following critical information about the mailing list you sent it to and add it to the “tax resolution” marketing swipe file:
- description of the list: lien amounts, geography covered, individual or business, etc.
- number mailed
- date of mailing – include any holidays that might affect response rates
- mail it.
alternatives: some firms may also want to do letters using usps click2mail. be careful … automated addresses will significantly, negatively impact your response rate. however, when doing massive quantities, it’s the best way to go, and cheapest, too. you must make the call regarding the tradeoffs.
handwritten yellow letters to find clients checklist
use the handwritten yellow letters to find clients checklist when you plan to use handwritten letters as part of your direct mail campaign to find new clients to work with in your business.
- decide the letter text to use.
- create template on white copy paper using the lined paper underneath it as a guide.
- photocopy handwritten version onto yellow lined paper.
- you can rip lined yellow paper (8.5×11) off of yellow note pads and feed them through copiers.
- alignment can be tricky. run test copies and tweak alignment.
- personalize the letters and hand address the envelopes.
- add live stamp and cheesy return address labels.
- print a copy of the letter along with the following critical information about the mailing list you sent it to and add it to the “tax resolution” marketing swipe file:
- description of the list: lien amounts, geography covered, individual or business, etc.
- number of postcards mailed
- date of mailing – include any holidays that might affect response rates
- mail it.
alternatives: some people will want to use a “handwriting” font for their computer or to hire a direct mail firm that has a handwriting-like service. not recommended. instead, consider using a service such as yellowletterscomplete.com to help you with this task. i’ve used them for years, and love their service.
professional networking lead generation checklist
networking with other service professionals is a powerful way to generate referrals. you should be networking with cpas, eas, bankruptcy attorneys, financial planners, mortgage brokers, debt management counselors, real estate agents, etc. most tax/accounting professionals do not do taxpayer representation, and can thus refer you clients. the other professions listed also come into regular contact with individuals who may have a tax problem, and need that tax issue resolved before or as part of doing the thing that professional does. for example, in the process of selling a house, a real estate agent could connect you with one of their clients for purposes of obtaining a certificate of discharge for the house to get it out from under the tax lien.
places you can meet other tax professionals:
- live continuing education classes
- association annual conventions
- state or local association meetings
- marketing seminars
- professional working group meetings
places to meet other service professionals:
- fraternal clubs (elks, rotary, knights of columbus, etc.)
- toastmasters
- leads groups (such as bni)
- chamber of commerce events and mixers
- regional trade shows
- meetup.com small business meetups
to build relationships to increase referral potential:
- connect with these professionals on facebook and linkedin
- using your crm system, schedule to contact every person on a rotating basis by email or phone once every few weeks to schedule a lunch or beverage meeting.
- assemble topical mastermind groups that you meet with frequently.
also:
- tweet, link and facebook on your social media accounts to send useful tax resolution information to your social media professional contacts.
- use a specific crm system tag such as “top referral connection” to be able to find them quickly repeatedly for followup contact.
- attend all networking events in your local area that you can find.
- schedule one-on-one lunches with every financial/legal-related service professional that you can.
- network via meetup.com forum and members.
- focus on high-quality personal contact and relationships.
- hand-write thank you notes after calls, meeting at networking events and one-on-one meetings.
- hand-write “thinking of you” notes relating info about tax debt, tax planning, tax code changes, etc.
- create small parties and social events to connect with key clients, prospects and referral partners.
seminars to find new leads checklist
use the seminars to find clients checklist when you plan to use seminars to find new clients to work with in your tax resolution business.
- select seminar/webinar/conference call topic.
- invite any guest speakers from professional network.
- determine mailing list to use to invite.
- create online registration system.
- instruct staff on handling registration calls.
- send email, postcard or letter invitations to event.
- if using a conference room, ensure conference is booked before event.
- send reminder emails to registrants.
- ensure speakers remember to come.
blogging to find new leads checklist
- if your website does not currently have a blog, add one.
- create an editorial calendar going out at least three months containing the topics you will write about.
- whenever you think of a good idea for a future article, add to the end of your editorial calendar, or bump something else out a week further if it’s a timely tax topic.
- most topic ideas will come from your regular reading of tax/accounting/legal journals and email updates. cpe courses are also a good source of topic ideas.
- pick one day per week to use time in your daily marketing checklist to add to your blog.
- set up blog broadcast syndication of your posts, so that they are automatically emailed to your email list.
- calendar your weekly blogging time as an appointment with yourself.
social networking to find new leads checklist
- create twitter, facebook, linkedin accounts at a minimum.
- each day, post at least one status update.
- spend five minutes per day interacting with other social media users. engage in intelligent conversations related to tax, accounting, etc.
- search groups and tweet feeds for tax questions you can answer, and then answer them.
alternatives: consider using a service such as www.taxpromarketer.com to manage your social media presence for you. or, consider a tool such as hootsuite, meetedgar or bufferapp to help automate some of your social media posting for you.
pay-per-click marketing to find new leads checklist
the major pay-per-click (ppc) services are google, facebook and bing. be extremely careful about overbidding on ppc ads. on google in particular, the per-click price for tax resolution-related keywords is excessive. i personally wouldn’t bother with google adwords at this point in time, but facebook and bing can still be affordable and effective.
- be sure to look at other firms’ ppc ads for comparison first.
- create your website landing pages to collect at least email address.
- the less information you collect on landing page, the higher your response rate. i generally just collect name and email, rather than phone, tax debt amount, etc.
- write your ad.
- select your keywords and other demographics.
- select your click bid. do not overbid.
- post your ad.