Marketing Today and tomorrow

Create an advisory board

With all the wonderful marketing ideas that exist –one of the easiest things you can do is form an advisory board. This board can be comprised of a mix of your own clients and business colleagues. They should be people whose advice you trust and whose judgment is respected in the business community.

Personal Marketing and Business Development Plans

When building a brand for a firm – large or small – it is important to have a written marketing plan that guides you, keeping the firm on target to reach its goals. Equally as important is a personal plan for each professional in the organization who is being charged with business development responsibilities. The importance of the development and implementation of personal plans is often overlooked, but it is a critical key to effective business development.

Firms with professional marketers and consultants, and those without as well, have gotten pretty savvy about how to use a range of marketing techniques to distinguish themselves. Everyone has a web site – although not all are equal - and most have figured out that building a strong brand and having a well-recognized name is a key advantage. Most firms of all sizes are using print materials, e-mail alerts, direct mail, newsletters, and the like to develop a presence.

If the playing field is level – then what’s left?

I participated on a panel comprised of three “women of influence” for a business association in New Jersey just last week, and one of the other panelists mentioned that, ‘while it is nice to be important, it is even more important to be nice.’ It was a great wake-up call!

This message may seem so simple as to be downright silly, but the idea of being truly nice to clients may sometimes be overlooked in the search for new and more exciting ways to build the firm’s brand and communicate with the business community, our own clients included.

It is that time of year when you probably don’t feel like you need another lecture from a marketing director. Tax files waiting for you to review are piled everywhere, you are getting bored with even the most creative theme lunches and the stress relief head and neck massages are just not working for you! I get it. Tax season is tough. But I also know that this is a great time to perform well and to please clients by going the extra mile. It provides the perfect chance to demonstrate the value of your firm in a positive way.