{"id":95231,"date":"2022-03-10t12:00:29","date_gmt":"2022-03-10t17:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/?p=95231"},"modified":"2022-12-22t00:40:36","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22t05:40:36","slug":"marketing-via-spreadsheet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2022\/03\/10\/marketing-via-spreadsheet\/","title":{"rendered":"the seven-step plan for marketing by spreadsheet"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>using excel spreadsheets, with a bunch of numbers, adding in some deadlines, and creating a very organized process, is just how we accountants like things.<\/strong><\/p>\n by sandi leyva it\u2019s quite common for accounting firms \u2013 even the regionals \u2013 to have no marketing plan in place.<\/p>\n more: <\/b>five things clients have taught me<\/a> | beyond compliance: what more you can provide<\/a>\u00a0| the biggest seo secret of all: google business listings<\/a> | five ways to get better clients<\/a> | how clients get underserved and accountants get underpaid<\/a> the marketing plan might very well be, \u201cget as many referrals as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n or it might be a number for each partner \u2013 which is not a marketing plan.<\/p>\n or it might be, \u201cif it\u2019s not busy season, i\u2019ll go to my networking group.\u201d<\/p>\n none of these are plans. they are individual marketing tasks and components.<\/p>\n the number of companies that do not have fully functioning marketing plans is certainly not surprising because marketing by cpas was illegal \u2013 and considered quite sleazy \u2013 in most u.s. states until about the 1970s. so we are a profession that has always been behind on our marketing skills.<\/p>\n now that most of us need to market, the relief is we can do it on our terms, using excel spreadsheets, with a bunch of numbers, adding in some deadlines, and creating a very organized process, just how we accountants like things.<\/p>\n so here are seven components of the kind of marketing plans i like to create. we\u00a0start\u00a0with an excel spreadsheet.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n 1. revenue history and forecast by service or industry or both<\/b><\/p>\n assuming you\u2019ve been in business for at least a year, you can start from the momentum you\u2019ve gained to date in your business. what repeat revenue can you count on in 2013, and which services will it come from?<\/p>\n the forecast is where you get to dream. what revenue number do you want to make, and which services will deliver? of course, the bigger the gap in last year\u2019s vs. this year\u2019s numbers, the more you will have to work (and the more you will have to do something different from the way you did it last year). but at least you are in control, and you are calling the shots.<\/b><\/p>\n 2. pricing<\/b><\/p>\n do you need to make any pricing changes from last year? do you have new services that need to be priced?<\/b><\/p>\n 3. positioning<\/b><\/p>\n how do you want to position yourself? alas, this is the part where we need to part from our spreadsheet and do some thinking about what type of clients we can best serve. we also need to answer how clients will be able to use our services. are we meeting their needs or do we need to reposition?<\/b><\/p>\n 4. marketing channels<\/b><\/p>\n as long as you need more clients,\u00a0lead generation\u00a0will need to be part of your marketing plan. here we need to list the places where we can find qualified prospects who need the services we offer.<\/p>\n a few examples of marketing channels include social media, a newsletter, direct mail and referrals. luckily, we can go back to our spreadsheet to\u00a0complete\u00a0this.<\/b><\/p>\n 5. marketing budget<\/b><\/p>\n how much do we need to spend to get the additional revenue we need? more number-crunching.<\/p>\n we can also take a peek at last year\u2019s if we don\u2019t want to start from scratch.<\/b><\/p>\n 6. metrics<\/b><\/p>\n how will we measure our success at marketing? we\u2019ll need to create a set of marketing metrics to help us measure our return on investment.<\/b><\/p>\n 7. action items<\/b><\/p>\n from here, we can create a solid list of tasks we need to do to implement our plan.<\/p>\n i know this sounds simple, and you can make a plan that\u2019s far more complicated (and a lot of consultants do). but in our industry, there\u2019s really no reason to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" with excel, numbers, and deadlines: how we accountants like things.<\/strong>
\nthe complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms<\/a><\/em>
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
\nexclusively for pro members. <\/span><\/strong>log in here<\/a> or 2022世界杯足球排名 today<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nby sandi leyva<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1345,"featured_media":53032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1363,2271,3120,3002,2306,2295],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-marketing","category-pro-member-exclusive","category-special","category-tech-and-fintech","category-solo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n