TaxCoach Briefs:    April 16, 2009

Volume 4, Number 18

• Marketing Minute: 2009 TAMMY Awards: Round One
• Member Event: 2009 Roundtables: Marketing Clinic

*****Attention All-Stars and Hall of Fame members ***** The April webinar is Tuesday, April 21. Be sure to register to hear TAMMY Award-winner Dave Toney discuss how he became a published author in just 30 days, during tax season! This is a call you won't want to miss! (If you're not already an All-Star, click here for more information. Apply by Monday and, if accepted, you'll be able to participate in Tuesday's call. Your membership also includes free admission to the upcoming TaxCoach Roundtables!)

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MARKETING MINUTE (EAL)
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2009 TAMMY AWARDS: ROUND ONE

Earlier this year, Keith and I saw our favorite movie stars, TV stars, and musicians gearing up for their Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes, and Grammys. And we asked ourselves, where are the tax professionals? Shouldn't CPAs, EAs, and other tax preparers get a chance to walk the red carpet? Where was our spotlight?

So we created one! On February 5, we started soliciting entries for the TAMMYs -- the Tax Advertising and Marketing Awards. We didn't even have categories ready. We just asked you to send us your best stuff -- and if we liked it, we'd find a place for it.

We really didn't know what to expect. Tax season had just begun, and most of you were gearing up for 10 weeks of hard work. Would anyone even enter?

We were delighted, then, to see entries start rolling in almost immediately. We asked statistician Nate Silver, whose web site at www.fivethirtyeight.com predicted President Obama's historic victory weeks before the final vote, to handicap the contestants. We were astonished to see Vegas odds makers booking thousands of dollars in bets on the final outcome. We even heard rumors that junior attorneys from the IRS Chief Counsel's office were risking disciplinary action by circulating a pool, with separate brackets for print, broadcast, CPA, and EA entries.

(OK, not really. But we did get a bunch of entries, and they did start showing up right away.)

The Academy Awards ceremony features certified public accountants who monitor the voting and keep the results secret until the live announcement. Keith used to work for Price Waterhouse (before Coopers!), so we think we're just as official. So now, a big thanks to all who entered and, without further ado, here are the first four 2009 TAMMY winners!

Best Performance by a First-Time Author

Prospects ask you for business cards all the time, right? What if you wrote an actual book that you could hand them instead of just a card? Do you think it would establish your credibility and expertise? Do you think it would help pre-sell whatever service you have to offer?

The answer, of course, is "yes." It will immediately establish your credibility and expertise, and it will effectively pre-sell your service. I know this because when I launched my personal service practice, I published The Investor's Tax Tuneup through self-publisher iuniverse.com and closed engagements from nearly all the prospects I gave it to.

Cincinnati member Dave Toney and I both participate in our local Glazer-Kennedy Mastermind group, and Dave has long wanted to create a "business card" book to give to prospective clients. Back in March, he set himself the challenge of producing that book -- in just 30 days -- in tax season, no less! We know Dave keeps his promises, so when we met last week, we expected to see his manuscript. But we were all blown away when he brought a box of actual books and handed each of us a copy. (It turned into Dave's first book signing when we all asked him to autograph them.)

What could I say? I was so pleased that I awarded him the very first TAMMY award on the spot! (I should also give credit to Becky Prince, Dave's right hand and "adult supervision," for her work as well.)

Dave's book, The Owners Manual: A Practical Guide for Sustained Business Growth, is a 96-page, perfect-bound volume that would look right at home on the shelf at Borders or Barnes and Noble. It's a business-success guide that focuses on the value of planning and naturally leads readers to his own service. Keith and I are so impressed that we've asked Dave to consider licensing it to fellow TaxCoach members.

Best Video Performance: Broadcast

Tax professionals rarely advertise on television. Broadcast time can seem intimidatingly expensive, and it's harder to track ROI from broadcast advertising than it is from more traditional direct response media. But bargains are available, and appearing on TV helps you stand out from the vast majority of us who don't advertise there. It also pre-sells relationships in a way that a photo on a flyer, brochure, or web site simply can't.

Pam Burns of Gainesville, Florida, started broadcasting on local cable shortly after she opened her office in October, 2007. She picked up over 270 new returns her first season, and is considering shutting her doors to new clients after this season. She hasn't done it all with TV, of course -- she's used direct mail and networks effectively, too. But the TV spots are a cornerstone of her marketing, and new clients often mention seeing her commercials.

Click the following links to see Pam's commercials:

Client Rave Reviews

Tax Planning After April 15

Tax preparation

Pay special attention to how Pam uses client testimonials (and even a familiar TaxCoach face). We can't emphasize enough how powerful testimonials can be. The Federal Trade Commission is preparing to limit results-based testimonials, and this will restrict their effectiveness. But client testimonials still help you stand out from the vast majority of your competitors who use them ineffectively, if they even use them at all!

Best Video Performance: Web

Video has come to dominate the web, with millions of Americans spending time on YouTube and now even watching television on Hula.

Keith and I posted our first online video earlier this year, testing a "squeeze page" to collect email addresses for these Briefs. Keith's 13-year-old son shot the video on his $149 FlipVideo camera, and we uploaded it to YouTube that afternoon. Our opt-ins immediately doubled, and we're looking forward to testing more video.

We were hoping TaxCoach members would submit their own video for these TAMMYs. So we were pleased to find that San Francisco member Georgia Rogers spent much of January and February creating videos. Her site features videos of herself on her "Home" page, "About Us" page, and "Audits" page. She also features client testimonials on her "Tax Planning," "Small Business Services," File Your Own Return," and "Client Profile" pages.

Video simply packs more punch than words on a page. Prospects who visit Georgia's site see her and hear her, which launches a personal relationship far more effectively than still photos or words on a page. Georgia's videos also distinguish her from the vast majority of tax professionals not using video yet.

If you have a web site, add video as soon as you can. You don't need Hollywood production values to make a difference. You just need the confidence to try something new. In the tax advertising and marketing world, where too many of us fall into "me too" marketing, that's really all you need to stand apart!

Best Joint Venture Marketing

Pittsburgh member Buzz Rose knows that not everyone got a big fat stimulus check from Washington. So he created his own package to mail to his clients.

Buzz's package comes in the form of a bright red, 9x12", attention-getting envelope. Inside, clients find a collection of coupons and flyers from a landscape/lighting service, estate-planning attorney, auto-repair shop, and similar merchants. These offers are accompanied by the following memo:

Does Government Spending of Your Tax Dollars Have You Seeing Red?

For those of you who don't own large banks and won't be receiving any government bailout money for a luxurious trip to Vegas, a cruise to Greece or just to give yourself a big fat bonus after running your company into the ground, B.Rose would like to offer our own stimulus package.

Please find enclosed coupons and special offers from businesses that we know, like, and trust -- and do business with. While we're not offering a blueprint to develop your own Ponzi scheme like Bernie Madoff, we do hope that you (or your friends and family) can take advantage of some of these offers to keep a few bucks in your pocket.

Please let us know if we can be of any assistance. Thank you for your business.

I love this idea. It's clever, creative, and unexpected. It uses the day's big financial news to join the conversation his clients are already having, rather than trying to focus attention on himself out of thin air. He gives his clients immediate and obvious value, with no explicit quid pro quo. And it constitutes an "endorsed mailing" on behalf of his clients, who will certainly feel obligated to reciprocate with referrals of their own.

I might have strengthened the final "call to action." Something like "Please call to let us know how we can stimulate your economy" sounds stronger and continues the theme of the memo. But this is really well done on several levels, and ought to stimulate some ideas you can use with your clients.

Next Week: More 2009 TAMMY Award Winners

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MEMBER EVENT (EAL)
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2009 ROUNDTABLE: MARKETING CLINIC

If you're like most TaxCoach members, you don't have a fancy Madison Avenue ad agency to create brochures, flyers, or web copy. But you don't need the geniuses at Sterling Cooper to stand out from the crowd.

Creating your own marketing materials is easy, if you have the right formula for including all the necessary elements. But where do you find that formula?

We'll be discussing how to create great marketing materials at the upcoming TaxCoach Roundtables. Friday sessions will feature a marketing materials clinic. We’ll dissect and analyze some of your TaxCoach peers’ most effective materials, including web pages, direct mail, print advertising, and even video and television.

This is way more than just "theory." You’ll see actual examples and walk step-by-step through the design, layout, and copy. What works? Why does it work? How can you adapt it for your practice? You'll discover:

• Key components to include in every marketing piece
• How to test and measure results
• Secrets behind the 2009 TAMMY winners

You're even invited to bring your own materials for the group to review!

TaxCoach Roundtables are intensive full-day sessions in hands-on, small-group settings -- hosted at private business clubs, not convention hotels -- dedicated to exploring TaxCoach’s unique combination of tax-planning and business development tools.

There are no outside speakers. No outside sales pitches. Just Keith and I, walking you step-by-step through getting the most from your TaxCoach membership.

For 2009, we’ve picked six convenient locations across the country and six dates from April through October. And this year, each venue offers two sessions:

• On Thursdays, we’ll host Basic Roundtables for new users. This is a reprise of last year’s agenda in case you missed it, you want a refresher, or you want to send an associate. (We're especially pleased to see that over 70% of last year's attendees who have already registered for this year's event are choosing to repeat the Basic presentation. They've all cited the networking and masterminding, as well as the value of the material, to justify the repeat.)

• On Fridays, we’ll host Advanced Roundtables for more experienced users. We suggest you attend the Basic session before joining the Advanced session, but it's not required. (These sessions include the fee discussion I outlined above.)

Come to one or come to both and put your tax-planning practice on steroids! Click here for complete details, including daily agendas, and a registration form. (All-Stars and Hall of Famers, see the Roundtables link on the left (blue) side of the All-Stars page to register for free.)

Space is limited, so reserve your seat now. And we mean it! (The Southern California event is NEXT WEEK and is ALMOST FULL.) Just choose which session best meets your needs:

Click here to register. (All-Stars and Hall of Famers, see the Roundtables link in the blue on the All-Stars page to register for free.) Keith and I look forward to meeting you at a Roundtable in 2009!

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We're happy to answer your questions on TaxCoach content, features, or marketing. While we give first priority to our All-Star and Hall of Fame members, we work to answer all questions. For best response, email support@taxcoachsoftware.com. If we think the answer will be useful to all of our members, we'll publish it (anonymously) here in the 'Member Q & A' section of TaxCoach Briefs.

Regards,

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